Page 72 of Off The Ice
And while we were clearing the air, I dared to ask, “Why did you tell them we weren’t related?” I asked, nodding my head toward the door.
“Oh, that?” she said, her voice sounding guilty. “You saw them. One person finds out you’re my brother, and suddenly, every woman in the vicinity is dropping hints on what great sisters-in-law we’d be.”
Jesus Christ, some people were weird as hell.
But I wasn’t buying that excuse. At least not entirely.
“Maggie.” I fixed her with a look. “Tell me the truth.”
She stared back at me, her green eyes a mirror of my own, before she finally heaved a sigh.
“Fine,” she admitted. “I guess I just hate being known only asLiam Brynn’s sister.I’ve had my identity linked to you my entire life. Even before you got famous.”
“Bullshit,” I argued. “You’ve always been your own person. Everyone always talks about how you couldn’t be any more different than me.”
“Right, but even then, I’m still talked about in relation to you. Sometimes I just want to stand on my own, you know? Be looked at for who I am and what I’m doing, not how I compare to you.”
“I’m sorry, Mags,” I said, now feeling some guilt of my own. “I didn’t realize it was like that for you.”
“Two apologies in one day?” She feigned a dramatic gasp. “What is the world coming to?”
I laughed, shaking my head at her theatrics.
“But the thing about the woman flocking to me over you was still true. And just so you know, I don’t want a creepy sister-in-law, okay?”
“Well, lucky for you, I don’t have a wife.”
“Yeah, well. Keep it in mind for the future.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to run her by you before any proposals are made.”
“As you should.” She laughed, and the air around us felt lighter. Easier to breathe. But I knew if I really wanted to get the point across that I cared, I’d have to make it a little uncomfortable again.
“So,” I said, about to detonate the carefully constructed peace. “Did you see him?”
I held my breath, waiting for her answer.
“Yeah, I did,” she said, a slight smile creeping across her face.
“Good.” I nodded. “I’m glad if that’s what you wanted. For closure.”
“He really wants to see you, Liam,” she said, causing me to scoff. “Please, Liam. Just one dinner?”
“Absolutely not.”
“But—”
I cut her off. “Maggie, you can do whatever you want, and I’m sorry I was such a dick about it. But I have no desire to ever see that man again for the rest of my life.”
Maggie’s face deflated as if, somehow, my words were still a shock to her.
“Don’t you think you’re being overly harsh?” she appealed.
“He left us, Maggie. And now that we’re grown and don’t need anything from him, he suddenly wants to be back in our lives? He never even paid child support, Mags,” I emphasized, trying to show her not only was he absent but also a deadbeat on top of it all.
“That’s on Mom for never going after him about it!” she cried as if my words were an insult to her rather than the guy who abandoned us all.
“No the fuck it’s not,” I retorted. “Don’t you see how screwed up it is? That a man can just walk out on his kids, on hiswife,and not even worry about how they’re going to get by without him? If I had a—” I stopped myself. It was irrelevant. “He fucked up, Mags. And I don’t have to forgive him for it, even if you want to.”
