Page 50 of Harboring Secrets
“How did she know about Brodie? I hadn’t come out to anyone yet. Carol didn’t even know.”
John took a deep breath. “When you were so quick to shut her down after the ribbon cutting, she was distraught. And then she tried to get an injunction filed to stop the eggs from being destroyed. She wanted to sue you. Only, by the time she got calmed down enough to get a hold of her lawyers, you’d taken care of that. She wanted to confront you, but you’d left. So she confessed to hiring someone to find out where you were. And you can guess what happened after that.” John sounded weary.
“You were like parents to me.” Liam’s voice cracked and his fingers dug further into my flesh.
I wanted to crawl inside him and take his pain away. I would’ve given anything to be able to do that for him. To shoulder some of the burden.
“I know. We didn’t handle anything well and I can’t undo the damage that’s been done.”
Liam cleared his throat. “I’m selling my condo. There’s a box or two of Piper’s things. Just some random stuff I haven’t been able to part with. I’m due to fly back soon and take care of some business and I’ll ship her things to you. And after that, I think it’s best if we don’t speak.”
“That’s kind of you. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
Liam ended the call and rested his forehead on my knee. My heart battered against my ribs as I played Liam’s words in my head. He was going back. Logically, I knew he’d have things to take care of, but I thought he’d have talked about it with me and made plans. I wasn’t currently tied down to any sort of schedule. Going with him would be easy, but he hadn’t asked. It hurt more than I’d admit. I couldn’t help but wonder if he planned to take me with him at all or if I was going to be left behind again.
Chapter 24
Liam
Brodie’sfamilyswoopedinand proved to be an excellent distraction from whatever was suddenly plaguing him. A rainstorm rolling in dampened Patricia’s enthusiasm for sitting outside, but her kitchen was big enough to accommodate everyone. Especially since Clay had seemed to take up permanent residence on Kieran’s lap.
Brodie had told me about what happened between Archer and Clay, so it wasn’t a huge shock when Archer and Clay’s interactions seemed stilted and awkward. Everyone seemed to ignore it, preferring to let the men sort it out themselves. I had a feeling that they’d be friends again before long. Maybe not best friends, but some relationships couldn’t be put back together the same way once they were destroyed.
Patricia, however, was in her element. The more people she had to dote on, the more she lit up. She practically glowed, buzzing around her kitchen getting lunch for seven sorted out like it was nothing out of the ordinary.
My own mother hadn’t been half as happy around her children. At least not with me. She and Carol had been closer, but my memories of the two of them together were shaky at best. It had been a long time since I thought about it, but even before Mom and Dad passed away, Carol had been a sort of parent to me. The difference in our ages was far more profound when we were younger. Ten years now was a drop in the bucket.
I pulled my phone out and shot off a quick text to let her know that I’d be coming for a visit soon. As I tucked my phone away, I caught Brodie’s gaze. His eyes were dark and troubled, and I could almost see the storm brewing behind them.
Leaning close, I lowered my voice. “You okay?”
He’d seemed distracted for the past little while, but I figured it was the events of the morning that were keeping his attention.
“I’m fine.” He gave my leg a squeeze, but turned to Clay. “How’s the app coming?”
Clay let out a sigh. “It’s not. At least not yet. I’m still solidifying the idea and working on art for it, though. But it’s going to be a long time before it’s up and running. If ever.”
“What app?” I asked out of equal parts curiosity and politeness. This was the first I’d heard of an app. Mind you, Brodie and I had spent most of our time talking about our own futures. Our focus had been singular and I was glad now for this reprieve. It was good to not be so isolated.
Clayton fidgeted with a coaster as he talked. “I want it to be sort of like an art therapy app, but free. I have a lot of ideas for it, but I don’t know how to build an app, and I’d like to connect with actual art therapists to help me make it something beneficial for people. But there’s like a million things I don’t know how to do, so mostly I’ve just been drawing and messing around making vision boards.”
“It’s all he does when he’s not working.” Kieran took the coaster from Clay and tangled their hands together, keeping him from fidgeting. Grounding him.
Up until now, I hadn’t thought I’d done much of anything of use at the family company. I didn’t really want to be there, but it had been expected. Business degree. Family company. Married with two point four kids. My whole life had been mapped out for me once upon a time, and I’d willingly gone along with it. But Piper’s death blew everything up. In some ways, I felt like I’d been given a second chance.
Especially now when it occurred to me that I did have some skills that I could put to use.
“Back when I worked at the family company, part of my job was bringing different parts of the company into the twenty-first century. I may not have built any apps myself, but I spearheaded the projects. If you’d like some help, I could talk to my sister and see if she could loan us a couple of people.”
It felt good to be able to offer a potential solution to Clay’s problem. Clay shot me a beaming smile, making me feel like I’d won the lottery. Or at the very least, the approval of Patricia and Kieran, whose stares I was aware of. But I kept my focus on Clay.
“I would say that you don’t have to,” Clay’s hands shook. “And you don’t, but I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t excited about getting someone to help me who knows what they’re doing. My therapist says I need to accept help more often, and I think she’ll be impressed when I tell her about this.” Clay’s excitement made him look like a golden retriever, all happy, bouncy excitement and nowhere for it to go.
“I’ll talk to Carol about it.” Even if I had to hire someone myself, I was going to get Clay help with his app. More than anything, I wanted to be someone Brodie could be proud to be with. I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, but helping Clay with his app seemed like a good place to start.
I motioned for Clay’s phone. “I’d like to give you my information so you can send me your plans for the app. Send me everything you have so far.” Clay handed me his phone and I put in my email and my phone number. “I’ll reach out to my friend Oren, he’s a lawyer, to get some legal protection in place for you. Not that I intend to steal your app, but I want you to trust me.”
“If you want me to trust you, why would you get me a lawyer?”
