Page 331 of Releasing 10
“Why are you being like this?” I said, feeling wounded. “Why are you talking to me that way?”
“What way, Liz?”
“Like you hate me.”
“I don’t hate you, Liz.”
“But you don’t love me anymore?”
His nostrils flared but he didn’t respond.
“Hugh!”
“I know you’re sick, Liz,” I heard him say. “I get that, but it doesn’t take away what you did.”
“What did I do?”
“The fact that you’re asking me that assures me that you’re even sicker than I thought.”
“I’m not sick, Hugh,” I hurried to tell him. “I’m fine, I promise. I’m just…” Shaking my head, I choked out an awkward laugh. “I don’t know what I am.”
Devastation filled his eyes. “I begged you, Liz.”
“You begged me what?”
Giving me his back, Hugh walked into the kitchen and stared out the closed patio doors. “I fucking begged you to take your meds, but you couldn’t do that one thing for me.”
“So because I don’t want to feel dead inside, I’m the bad guy?”
“No, Liz, you’re the bad guy because you fucked my friend!” he roared, vibrating with tension. “You’re the bad guy because you broke my fucking heart last night!”
“Listen, don’t overreact.” I tried to reason with him, repressing the urge to roll my eyes. “It’s fine. It’s okay. You didn’t want to do it, and I did.” I shrugged. “I fixed our problem, so if you think about it, we’re in a better place than we were this morning.”
“You are un-fucking-believable.”
“Oh my God, just stop, okay!” I threw my hands up and screamed. “I said I was sorry! Why aren’t you listening to me?” Furious, I tugged on his arm, pleading with him to understand. “Is it really that deep, Hugh?”
His entire frame stiffened, and he reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Ask me that when you’re you again, and I’ll tell ya.”
A car horn honked then, and I started to panic.
“Your mam’s outside.”
“No, no, no, Hugh, please!” Grabbing his arm, I pleaded with him to not make me leave. “I love you, I do, I swear I do!” Digging my heels in, I tried to stop him from walking us to the door. “Please don’t send me away.”
“You have to go home now, Liz,” he strangled out, physically picking me up and walking outside. “I can’t do this,” he told my mother, who was waiting at the car. “I’m sorry.”
“Oh, Hugh, sweetheart.” Mam’s eyes were laced with concern. “What happened?”
“Take her, Catherine,” Hugh begged, voice cracking. “Please justtake her.”
“Where are you going?” I called after him.
PROMISE ME, LADS
Hugh
NOVEMBER 2, 2003
