Page 70 of Return to Us
If I thought there was a mess before, I was sorely mistaken. This is next level. The office is small, but there’s spray paint on the walls, papers strewn around, and the desk light is shattered on the ground. This person was out for something.
“Did you call the cops?”
Oliver shakes his head. “I’m pretty sure that’s who did this.”
Okay, now I’m confused. “You think the cops destroyed your office? Were you fucking the lieutenant’s daughter?”
He releases a heavy breath and walks over to the desk area. “I wasn’t, but I think another member of the Parkerson family was.”
“Fuck,” I say, taking the note from his hand.
There in black and white is what my brother feared.
“You disgust me. You’re a liar and I never want to see you again. You said you weren’t married, and then I saw the photos!”
“Did you, by chance, marry someone and not tell us?”
Oliver laughs without humor. “Nope.”
“So, you think one of his side pieces in the area found out and wrecked the place?”
“Well, the charity dinner was newsworthy, and I’m going to assume our mother wanted to bask in her glory, which means press was there. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why this happened now.”
“Jesus. You’d think . . .”
“What? That he wasn’t this way anymore? Come on, Grayson. You’re not a fucking idiot. Well, you are, but not that way. Look at all of us. Five kids. Five, and we’re all like this. We date people who will never be more than casual. We fight back against anything that feels real. I dated Devney for years, knowing the entire time that she was in love with her best friend. I couldn’t even manage to be pissed about it when I found out she kissed him.”
“I would’ve married Yvonne,” I say, needing to prove him wrong. We can’t all be fucked up. There has to be at least one of us that has hope.
“Yeah, and that was a healthy relationship?”
No, it wasn’t. It was toxic and I’m glad I didn’t marry her, but really, none of us are the models of healthy relationships. I think about each of my siblings, trying to see where our parents may not have totally ruined us, and I feel like total shit. Stella has never really dated anyone. She’s had short-lived bursts of something, but she always walks away at the first sign of anything deep. Josh has been denying his feelings for Delia for as long as I can remember, trying to say he’s “too old” for her. Alex is the happiest, loneliest person I know. He has zero intentions of marrying, and we know Ollie is a mess.
God, this is a sad group.
“It was what I needed at the time,” I say honestly.
“And that’s what Devney was for me. I would’ve married her. I planned on asking her, even though a part of me was hesitant. I don’t doubt that I loved her, but how fucked up is it that I would’ve married her, knowing that she loved another dude?”
I clasp his shoulder, squeezing tight. “At least you’re not in love with the girl who broke your heart, showed up again, made out with twice, and then pushed away.”
“I see you’re the healthy one out of us.”
“Far fucking from it.”
“What’s the issue with her? Why are you pushing her away?”
I glance at the mess around me, feeling like this room looks. “Because of this.”
“What?” He pulls his head back and quirks his lip.
“This is what happens. Things are destroyed when it doesn’t work out.”
Oliver doesn’t say anything as he leans down, gathering the papers and putting them in a box. He lifts it and then hands it to me. “And then there’s this.”
Now it’s my turn to be confused. “A box?”
“No, it’s cleaned up. I keep thinking how we’re all making these mistakes by trying to not make them.”
