“I thought yesterday…I thought you understood.”
“I did, part of it. But now…it seems as though it was all for nothing. All the hurt, all the time we were apart. There was no reason for it.”
She didn’t answer. She got up, walked into her room, grabbed her shoes and jacket, and went upstairs. “Stay with her,” she snapped at him.
She didn’t see her mother when she got upstairs, but Ben was sitting at the table with the boys. They were eating ice cream.
“Where ya off to?” he asked.
“Going for a walk,” she answered, and slammed the front door closed behind her.
“What was that all about?” Liv asked, walking back into the kitchen.
The three of them shrugged their shoulders.
Liv found Billy sitting on the floor outside of the bedroom when she went downstairs.
“What’s going on with you, Patterson?”
“I’m pissed.”
“I never would’ve guessed.” She paused. “What are you pissed about?”
“That it’s fine. It’s all fine. Why the hell did it take us eight months to get here if there’s no fucking problem?” He took a deep breath.
“Shit, Liv, Willow loves Renie. Here I thought I was gonna have to run interference between them, ya know? But no, she’s fine. And I’m not talkin’ about Willow, I’m talkin’ about Renie. Did you see her? She was fine. She was better than fine. She’s great with Willow.”
Liv took a deep breath.
“I missed her so much. And there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I couldn’t leave Willow to come chasin’ after Renie. Not when she was so little.” He put his head back down on his arms.
“It’s got to be one way or the other Billy. You have to decide which it will be and stick with it.”
“What the hell are you talkin’ about now, Liv?”
“You can’t tell her you understood how she felt one minute, and then turn around and tell her you don’t understand her actions the next. Her feelings drove her actions.”
“But she’s fine.”
“Billy, you know her. When has Renie not been fine?”
He didn’t answer.
“If you stopped for a minute and paid attention, you’d see she’s not fine. You’d see she’s scared to death by all of this. It’s what she does. She keeps her feelings to herself when she thinks it might upset someone else. She pretends as though everything is fine until she gets to the point where she implodes. That’s what these last eight months have been about. They haven’t been about you, or about your daughter. They’ve been about my daughter.”
Billy looked up at Liv.
“Instead of being mad at her, maybe you should talk to her, and see how she is. You won’t find out by looking at her, Billy. Jesus, haven’t you learned anything?” Now Liv was mad at him.
“Okay, okay, settle down,” he said. Jeez, he didn’t need Liv mad at him too.
“Don’t you tell me to settle down, Billy Patterson. Do you realize your mother was the only person who realized what was going on with Renie? I didn’t know how she felt about you. I never saw it, and I’m her mother. How do you think that makes me feel?”
She stood. “So pull your head out of your ass, Billy. Go find her and tell her you’re sorry.”
“But—”
“Go!” She stomped her foot and pointed at the stairs.