Page 41 of Two Wrongs

I set the pan of lasagne I made on a hot pad in the middle of the table and go about serving her food first. Once we’ve both got food on our plates, I start talking. I’ve had hours to think while she slept and even had a chance to talk to a lawyer I’d helped rebuild an engine for last year.

“I spoke to a lawyer earlier,” I begin.

Her mouth falls open, and her eyes spark with anger. Before she gets a chance to argue, I hold up my hand. “Let me explain, and if you still want to yell at me, go for it.”

Wren closes her mouth and nods.

When I’m sure she’s listening, I continue. “He thinks we can cut a deal with the prosecutor. He’ll go with us to help file the charges. It will go on record that Liam committed fraud, but he’ll get probation as long as he completes rehab and pays you restitution. I even had a chance to speak to Greg Johnson again. He said if we were able to pay off the debt, they’d report it to the credit bureaus as fraud without waiting for a court decision, and remove the negative marks on your credit.”

She shakes her head, and I brace myself for her to turn down everything I’ve managed to arrange. As usual she surprises me. “How would I do that? I don’t have any money. You can’t pay it, because you need to pay for Liam’s rehab.”

I smile at her. Of course she’d be worried about me. I don’t think Wren knows how to be concerned about herself.

“You don’t have any idea how much Liam’s car is worth, do you?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “I know he’s put a lot of work into it. There was some body work, and I honestly didn’t understand all the stuff he said he did to it.”

“Charlie took a look at it earlier. He did good work. How much did you give him for it?” I ask.

“I had ten thousand from my parents after we moved into our apartment. I wanted to save it for college, but I felt bad about that after he gave up his chance to go for me.”

I wince. “Wren, he never gave up anything for you. I never knew until the other day that you thought he had a scholarship. There were some scouts interested in signing him his senior year, but he didn’t have the grades. I offered to get him a tutor, but he was lucky to graduate at all.”

She clenches her fork in her hand. “What?”

A laugh bursts past her lips. “Why am I surprised? Was anything about my marriage true?”

I shrug. “I wish I could answer that for you. I’m afraid we’re kind of in this together. Nothing I’ve been learning about my son gives me the warm and fuzzies. And I’ve been on your side of things when his mom ran off with another man. Be happy you’re not pregnant on top of everything else.”

Just thinking of her carrying someone else’s child causes a surge of anger to burn in my chest.

She laughs again, this time it carries an edge of hysteria. “If I was, it would be yours.”

I shake my head. “You can’t know that.”

Her green eyes rise to meet mine. “Oh, I can. I haven’t had sex with Liam in five months.”

“How is that possible?” I wonder out loud.

She shrugs. “He didn’t want me. Hasn’t for months. The last time we were intimate was after a party and we’d both had a lot to drink. Now, looking back, I’m not even sure it was me he was with. Not in his mind at least.”

Clearing her throat she brings the conversation back on track. “You were telling me about Liam’s car.”

I smile at her, grateful. “The work he did brought value back to the car. It’s worth about twenty thousand dollars. Charlie confirmed it’s in your name. If you sell it there’ll be almost enough to cover the cost of rehab and pay off all the money he took out in your name. Especially if I apply a bit of pressure to Greg and get him to remove interest and late fees from the total. If he won’t, I can figure out how to come up with one thousand dollars much easier than twenty-one thousand.”

Wren stands from the table and carries her plate to the kitchen. She’s barely eaten, so I take it from her. “I’ll wrap this up. I don’t have much of an appetite right now either.”

She stops in front of the window and stares out. Her arms are wrapped around her middle, as if she’s trying to comfort herself. I wonder how many times over the last several months she’s stood like this waiting for him to throw her some small morsel of attention.

I’m done fighting this, whatever this is. She’s hurting so much, and I know that I can hold her together for now. I hug her from behind, and she shudders in my arms. “We’ve got one other thing to discuss tonight,” I whisper.

“What’s that?” she asks. There’s a weariness in her tone that makes her sound closer to my age than her own.

“Us. I told you earlier that for now, you’re mine. It’s time we went over what that means.”

She turns in my arms, and for the first time, she kisses me rather than waiting for my move. I lift her in my arms and carry her back to my bedroom.

17

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