Page 112 of Shameless

“When did it start?” I ask.

“Pretty much straight after Eddie came back to town. You guys had tried out and made the team and we went out looking for Eddie to talk, remember?”

I feel sick. “Yeah. To make sure that Star Thunders wasn’t a scam.”

Mom nods. “Yeah, well. That night after Arianna and Tom dropped me home, Eddie came to see me. He wanted to talk.”

“And what? Did you fall on his dick?”

I know my reaction is immature, but I've never been so disappointed in my mom before. Even the idea that she could have pulled the trigger on Eddie is preferable to the thought that she slept with him.

“You don’t understand, Crew. After Arianna and I found out he was cheating, I didn’t even get any closure. Your father just left and I didn’t see him again until the day of the tryouts.”

That doesn’t help me understand why she would ever want to give Eddie the time of day.

“So what happened?” Jules asks before I can even begin to put my emotions in order.

“Eddie and I started seeing each other. He sent me flowers, presents. He wooed me in a way he never could when we were young and broke. He said he had never stopped loving me, that it had always been me. I thought that was it. That the last ten years had been a hiatus he needed to grow up and understand what he wanted. I thought that he had come back to Star Cove for me. He said as much.”

My fury turns into pity. I can’t even imagine how it must feel to love someone so desperately and to find out that person isn’t who you thought they were.

“Then we went to the gala,” Mom continues. “And I met Eddie’s girlfriend.”

Lula

Arianna takes Tilly’s hand, squeezing it in solidarity.

“Tilly was devastated. I saw her drinking whiskey at the bar and I asked her what was wrong. When she told me about her and Eddie, I couldn’t believe it. Eddie had been pursuing me hard from the second we saw him again.”

Jules shakes his head, disgusted. “Please don’t tell me you were sleeping with him too.”

Arianna covers her heart with her hands. “What? No,” she gasps. “I would have never gotten back together with Eddie. Tom has always been the love of my life. I would never have put what we have in jeopardy. Not for Eddie, not for anyone.”

Stefan gets up to get a beer from the cooler. “Thank fuck,” he sighs, retuning to his seat and taking one long drink. “So what happened?”

“I confronted Eddie,” Tilly says. “He swore left and right that he was going to break up with his girlfriend and denied he had been texting Arianna. He even showed me his phone as proof.”

I’m a little confused. “But the phone in that bag has messages to both of you.”

“That’s his burner phone.” Arianna scowls. “What’s that saying that a leopard never changes his spots or something? That’s how Eddie used to get away with having two families for years. He had more than one phone. He had other affairs when he was married to us too.”

Tilly is full-on crying now. “All I wanted was for him to love me. I wanted to believe that he had changed. But he kept lying. He said he loved me but he would carry on seeing hisgirlfriendand he kept trying to win back Arianna. Every time I confronted him, he would say I was paranoid and spin more lies. I didn’t know what to believe anymore. I gave him everything he wanted and it still wasn’t enough. I had been sober for eight years but he wanted to drink together, so I went along with it.”

The look of devastation on Crew’s face breaks my heart. “Mom, why didn’t you tell me? I could have helped you.”

She dries her tears with the back of her hand. “No one could help me this time. And you had your own problems, Crew. You always carry the whole world on your shoulders, baby. It’s not your job to fix everything.”

I know Crew doesn’t feel that way. He’s the most generous person I know. He’d do anything for the people he loves.

“So what? You killed him?”

“Yes.” Tilly’s answer is cold, detached. “You have to understand, someone had to stop Eddie. Why do you think your brother developed a drug problem? When Rikki didn’t try out for the team, Eddie kept inviting him to his house to hang out with him and Trevor. He was pitting you guys against each other by making you compete even though you were teammates. He was back in town to destroy us all.”

Jules sighs. “I’m sorry Tilly, but I have to agree with Crew here. Why didn’t you tell us what Eddie was doing? We’re adults, we could’ve?—”

Dad interrupts him. “You all had your own reason why you thought you needed Eddie’s money. Would you have listened if we told you that we thought your father had an agenda? We had no idea where he got all that crazy money. No matter how much we looked into his finances, he seemed legit. We had nothing but our suspicions.”

“You aren’t wrong, Tom. Eddie fooled us all.”

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