Page 63 of Two Wrongs

All of these thoughts fly through my head as I’m shoving my things into my duffle bag. I thought it was so sweet that Griffin cleared out a drawer for me to use, but now I wish all of my things were still in my bag.

“What are you doing?” Griffin asks from the doorway to his room.

I ignore him, unconcerned with pissing him off. It’s pretty clear what I’m doing, and I don’t feel like talking to him. I’ve already put up with as much shit from a Hale man as I’m ever going to deal with.

Griffin steps into the room and between me and the dresser I’m removing my clothes from. “Wren, I asked you a question.”

“And I’m choosing not to answer you. Now, please move aside, I need the rest of my stuff.”

“Wren,” he says in a tone that sounds like a warning.

I spin around. My hair whips around me, and I point my finger in Griffin’s face. “Don’tWrenme. I thought you were done acting like an asshole. If you didn’t ‘find what you were looking for’ I’ll move along so you can continue the search.”

Screw the rest of my things. It isn’t like I had designer clothes. I grab my bag with what I’d already been able to shove inside, and push past him to the front door. My keys are sitting on the counter, and for once my car isn’t left at some other location.

Griffin rushes around me, and closes the front door as I start to pull it open. “Would you just wait a minute? You’re right, I’m being an asshole, but before you run away again, let me at least explain what I meant. I guarantee it’s not how you’re taking it.”

“Five minutes, and then you won’t try and stop me from leaving?” I hedge. My body language is still confrontational, but inside I’m practically begging him to have an explanation.

“Come sit with me,” he says and takes my hand. Together we move into the living room and sit on the sofa.

Griffin takes a deep breath, but doesn’t look at me. “I don’t want you to go to the therapy session.”

That takes me by surprise. I thought he wanted to do practically anything to make sure Liam finished rehab. I know a lot has changed between us since then, but I didn’t think it had changed that much. Just a week ago he stood by and let me tell Liam there was a chance to save our marriage if he went to rehab.

“I’m so confused. I thought you wanted me to do whatever was necessary to make sure Liam followed this program,” I say. I can feel the tension gathering the muscles in my forehead.

Slowly he lifts his face and I can see a war brewing inside of him. “I love my son.”

“I know you do,” I interrupt. My heart is breaking for being one of the reasons he feels he needs to even assert that. His entire adult life he’s focused on Liam’s well being.

His hands shake, and I know what he’s about to admit is hard for him. “I also resent him,” he says in a whisper. “I put up with his mother so he could have a shot at a normal family. Then I raised him alone when she cut and run. Never did I think twice about myself, or what I wanted. Everything I did was to make sure he had what he needed and most of what he wanted. I didn’t date, because it felt like too big of an upheaval for Liam if it didn’t work out. I stayed in too much anyway because there was always a practice or game we needed to run out to. Not once did I get frustrated with him over any of that, because he didn’t ask for irresponsible teenagers as parents. Then he married you—“

I nod. “I screwed everything up. I know he gave up too much for me, and now he resents me for it. Maybe if I hadn’t encouraged him to stay, although I don’t really remember doing that, he’d have gone off to school, and not been in such a dark place that he ended up stealing from you. I know you said he didn’t have a scholarship, but maybe he would have gone to community college and played there.”

Griffin is shaking his head. “Of course you wouldn’t have discouraged him from going to school. I have no doubt you’d have waited for him that first year, and moved mountains to join him. The only one who got manipulated out of pursuing an education was you.”

My heart starts to pound too fast and it’s echoing in my ears. “No,” I argue, but I’m not sure why. It makes sense actually. “He said he wanted to go.“ I’m finding it hard to pull in a deep breath. “I know you already told me this, but I guess I had hoped maybe you were wrong. And even if you were right, it was easier to believe he had planned to go.“

He looks at me with a combination of sympathy and pity, and frankly it’s pissing me off all over again. I might have been a fool, but I don’t want anyone’s pity. “Have I just been a joke to all of you? This whole time while you were making sure I didn’t feel like I was good enough, have you, Liam, and Charlie just been laughing at me behind my back?”

Hysterical laughter bubbles up. I can’t sit here facing him anymore, and I start pacing the room. “Did you know he was cheating on me too? Poor, stupid Wren. Why did he even marry me? Was it all about my parents’ insurance money?”

I hold the wrist with the scars with my hand. Sometimes, when emotion gets too high, I can almost feel the sting and burn of the cuts. My doctor said it is phantom pain, but I think it’s fear that I could get that low again. Holding it tight in my hand, I feel like I can hold in the feelings that brought me the scars in the first place.

Griffin doesn’t miss the movement. He stalks across the room and puts his hands on either side of my face. “You need to listen. I didn’t know he lied to you about having a scholarship, nor did I know you gave one up to stay with him. I wondered why you didn’t go off to school, but I believed you loved my son that much.”

“I did,” I whisper. It’s awkward telling the man you’re currently sleeping with that you were madly in love with another man, especially his son, but I don’t have the mental capacity for bullshit at the moment.

He winces and nods. “I know. There turns out to be a lot I didn’t know though. I did not know he was cheating on you. I don’t actually go out that much. I guess I can now, but I probably only make it out a couple of times a month, and only when Charlie drags me out. I’ll be honest though, Charlie admitted to me the other day that he did know.”

“That answers that question,” I mutter.

“What’s that?” Griffin asks.

I shrug. “I’ve just wondered if Charlie felt any loyalty to my father. He’s been rather cold to me the last few years, but when I was a kid, I just remember him being fun and nice.”

He tips my chin up so he can look into my eyes. “Don’t hold Charlie being a dumb ass against me. I’m afraid I’ve got enough stuff of my own to apologize for, and if you add his to my score, I’ll never get right with you.”

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