Page 80 of Two Wrongs

“Psh. What is it my granddaughter says? I’m a grown-ass woman. I’ve made it eighty-two years, I don’t need you fussin’ over me like I’m a small child.”

“I can come back here. I don’t like you being all alone in this big house,” I say.

“Now you sound like my son. I’m fine, dear. You don’t have to worry anyway, your stud muffin took away my bike. He says he needs to fix it, but I think he’s just keeping it from me,” she grumbles.

“That sounds like something he’d do. For now, call if you need a ride. You know I’ll come over and take you,” I tell her.

“And you know you’ve always got a home here. For now I want you to stay with Griffin. Maybe everything will work out.”

I pull my keys out of the pocket of my hoodie. “I think you’re more optimistic than I am. I’ll be back soon.”

* * *

I waitin line at the pharmacy to pick up Dolores’s meds. A couple people are in front of me, so I play on my phone while I’m waiting for my turn. A familiar voice makes me look up.

“Is there a generic?” I see Audrey negotiating with old Mr. Phelps.

“I’m sorry, Audrey, these are the only brands I carry in the store,” he informs her.

The person behind her starts to get irritated. “Are you getting them or not? Some of us have places to be.”

She looks back and sees me trying to make myself invisible.

“I’ll have to come back,” she mumbles, and sets the large bottle down.

For a second I feel sympathy for her, but then I remember it’s my husband’s baby she’s carrying. She moves out of line, but I’m not lucky enough to avoid talking to her. Audrey stops next to me. “Have you talked to him?”

My jaw clenches. “Are you seriously asking me if I’ve talked tomyhusband?”

Her hand falls to her bump. “Look, I know you’re pissed at me. You’re not my favorite person either, but my baby is innocent in this, and Liamisthe father.”

I scoff. “What did I ever do to you?” The question has been nagging me since I found out she was the one Liam was having an affair with.

“Oh come on, you knew I was into Liam back in high school. I thought I’d just wait the two of you out and I’d get my chance. I didn’t think you’d marry him. You were supposed to leave this town, Wren. Why didn’t you leave?”

“The why’s don’t matter. The only thing that does is that I didn’t, and you decided to go after my husband. I don’t blame you for the affair. He was married to me, not you, but I do blame you for ruining our friendship.”

Audrey rolls her eyes, and starts to turn her body away. “What friendship? I stayed close to you for him.”

I shake my head. “All that time we spent alone together, what did that get you?”

She idly rubs her swollen stomach. “We always talked about Liam.”

“So that’s it, we talked about my husband, and you kept hanging out with me?” I ask in disbelief.

She shrugs. “You married young. Those are the kinds of marriages that usually end in divorce.

“Wow, my husband is more fucking stupid than I thought.” My lips twitch, and I have to fight a hysterical laugh from breaking free.

Audrey has a guilty look on her face, and she cradles her belly. My mouth falls open. “You got pregnant on purpose.”

This time I do laugh. “He told you he wouldn’t leave me, so you thought you could force him to.”

“We belong together. He’ll love this baby, and we’ll be a family, like it always should have been,” she says with a dreamy look on her face.

“Good luck with that,” I say dismissively. Part of me wants to cling to my anger. It fills the void inside of me that wants to suffocate everything around me. That feeling is cold and so, so empty. My anger feels alive.

But, I realize I don’t really need the anger. From the moment I let Griffin lead me into the storage closet I’ve been losing little bits of it. Liam is my past. A part of my youth I outgrew. If it wasn’t his cheating, it would have been something else that came between us. We couldn’t even agree on starting a family.

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