Page 29 of Love Her Always

“Will’s right honey,” their father stated. “She won’t be able to let go of the pain and everything else that’s going on being constantly watched.”

“We want her to be our Livy again, don’t we, Jess?” Will added. “If she stays all she’s going to see is people watching her, wondering what they’re thinking, and it’ll just keep what happened in her head. I’ll be there with her, for however long she needs to stay, and you all can come out to see her anytime.”

“You think she’s going to be there that long?” Dan asked.

“We’ll be there for however long she wants or needs,” he repeated.

“We?” he questioned. “What exactly does that mean?”

“What are you asking Dan?” Will returned at the tone of Dan’s question.

“I’m asking why you were so concerned with what was going on with Liv that day at the bar, and now taking her to the ranch, and from the sound of it, staying there with her?”

“She’s my friend Dan. She’s been my friend for a long time, and I feel horrible that I didn’t notice the changes since I saw her daily. She’s been beside me at the office for six and a half years. I know her better than you probably, and I never bothered to see that she was acting like a completely different person. Until her birthday things seemed normal…”

“Is that it?” her father asked.

“No,” he admitted, not about to hide it any longer, not with everything that she’d been through was going through. He’d kill to keep her safe and he didn’t care one bit who knew it. “I’m in love with her but I won’t ever do anything to push that onto her not after what she’s done for all of us. I’ll be there with her to help her, be her friend and that’s it. I won’t hurt her or press her for anything George.”

“I knew it,” Jess said with a smile. “You were looking at her differently this year at Christmas.”

“How long exactly have you been in love with Liv?” Dan questioned trying to figure out his feelings regarding that declaration.

“Since Vancouver…that’s when I knew it at least.”

“How’s that? Because if I recall you were sharing a suite,” he countered.

“We were but separate bedrooms. We were going down to dinner and she fixed my tie. It was the same thing she’d done a hundred times before but that time…I don’t know it was different.”

“Alright,” Helen said as the bell rang. She ushered Dan out to get it looking at Will, “Just don’t pressure her…”

“Never,” he promised, meaning it.

It took almost two hours for them to finally get a statement together that she was comfortable with, and he waited until after Jordan had given it to head over to her place with the list she’d given him. Dan came with him, and they saw the police cruiser sitting at the edge of the driveway. He stopped as the man got out and rolled down the window.

“No trespassing gentlemen this is private property,” he said giving them both long looks.

“We’re not reporters,” Dan stated reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. He passed it over adding, “Olivia’s my sister.”

“And you?” the guy asked reading the id before passing it back.

“Will Masters, family friend and Olivia’s boss,” he said showing him his.

“Sorry we were doing drive-byes a few days ago and saw there’d been some vandalism on the outside of the place and for Mrs. Jackson’s safety we’ve been parking here to ward off more attempts.”

“I wouldn’t suggest calling her Mrs. Jackson right now,” Dan warned. “We’re just picking up some stuff for Liv. She’s going out of town for a bit.”

“I’ll let the others know. We’re really sorry about what happened to her. I knew Scott and never would have believed it to be true.”

“That’s why she’s going out of town,” Will replied. “Everyone thought he was a good guy and now they’re all curious.”

“If you want to help Liv see if you can’t get the reporters off the front lawn of our parents’ place so she can get out without having to face them,” Dan added. “She’s released a statement and that’s all she’s going to do about it.”

“I’ll call it in. Just drive around the car I’m going to do a walk around to make sure no one else came in on foot,” he told them before grabbing his radio.

Will unlocked the door and entered the alarm code once they reached the house. He moved into the entryway and saw the mess still there from that night, hating the bastard hurt her yet again when he could have stopped it.

He headed to the stairs and paused when he saw the bleached spot. His fingers slip over it knowing now that it wasn’t red wine that’d been there but her blood.

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