Page 117 of Unspoken Words
Because it was the only thing I could do.
*
After cleaning Connor’s face,weheaded to Lilah’s unit to drop off Max. I thought it best to stay in the car and pretend to focus on something really important on my lap, like the pulled thread in my trousers. But no matter how hard I tried to focus on the expanding hole in my pants, I couldn’t help but glance up at the two of them conversing, Connor appearing to keep his distance, Lilah, too, until she stepped up to him and placed her hand on his face, as if to assess the damage to his nose. He stepped out of her reach and quickly looked my way, so I glanced down again until a tap on the car window startled me.
Winding it down, I gritted my teeth together and kept my face impassive.
“Ellie, hi! I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to catch up last night. Wow, talk about ghost from the past, right?” She laughed, but it was clearly strained.
I couldn’t help but scoff. “Yeah. It’s been a while.”
Looking past her, I searched for Connor. I really didn’t want to be anywhere in her vicinity.
“He’s takenourson inside,” she said, still smiling like the Joker.
I didn’t bother responding to that.
“So, Connor tells me you’re working together on his album. How … convenient.”
“Convenient?” I blinked a couple of times and pressed my lips together. She was baiting me, so I tried to avoid the hook. “For whom, him or me?”
“Both of you, of course.”
Nodding, I pressed my lips even harder.
“So I gather you’re moving or have moved back to Greenhills already?”
“I haven’t decided yet.” My response just slipped from my mouth even though I had no intention to permanently move back. Or maybe I did.
Lilah stepped closer to the car and lowered her voice, her words sharp as they passed her blood-red lips. “As you can see, we have something really good going on here. Connor is happy. Max is happy. I’m happy. I won’t let anything screw that up. Not even you.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I slowly turned my head to face her and exhaled. “Here’s the thing, Lilah, you have no control over what I do or say, so if I choose to screw anything up, so fucking be it.”
Her black pencil-rimmed eyes narrowed. “I wouldn’t threaten me if I were you, because I can make things very … let’s say … inconvenient.”
“I can make things very … let’s say … unfuckenhappy.”
Before I could punch the bitch with more words, Connor opened the driver’s side door and climbed in. “Right. Max is settled on his little cushion couch watching The Wiggles.” He started the engine and then rested his arm on the back of my headrest. “I’ll see you next week, Lilah.”
She offered us a half smile and waved her stick fingers. “You will.”
I, too, smiled and waved. “Bye, Lilah. It was nice seeing you again.” I wound up the window and our eyes locked until Connor pulled away. My heart was racing, anger simmering. “She loves you,” I said, shifting in my seat.
“She loves the idea of me, of the three of us. There’s a difference.”
“You sure about that?”
He glanced over at me. “Of course I’m sure.”
“Regardless of whether there’s a difference or not, she’s very protective of you and Max, and what you share.”
“Max is theonlything we share, Ellie.” Connor turned the car into my old street, and I realised how close everyone lived to one another. “She said something to you back at her house, didn’t she?”
I didn’t answer him.
“Ellie, what’d she say?”
We stopped out front of my parents’ house, and I sighed. “It doesn’t matter.”
