He’s quiet for a long moment. I can’t fully blame him for ruining things, or showing up, but I want to. And I think he knows how much I want to blame him for ruining everything all over again.
“Alright. I won’t fix things, but I don’t want to make them worse,” he offers quietly, and I have a hard time holding back a comment that he most likely will. He watches me carefully. “I just want to stay for my brother’s wedding. I’ll stay away from you, and I won’t tell them about us.”
Us.
The word makes me grit my teeth.
6
Shawn
Elise, here. Here, like actually here. I still don’t believe it.
The shock of seeing her again and watching her leave,again, has worn off, but I’ve still yet to process it.
She looked so different I didn’t even realize it was her at first. But at the same time, all the familiar things about her reveal themselves. The way she chews her lip while she’s thinking, the scattering of freckles, the flit of her dark eyelashes when her eyes look up into mine.
I wouldn’t have thought it possible to dread going back into the house more than I have been while getting here the last couple days. I really just thought the whole ex-wife thing was going to be ignored for a while, then come up as an uncomfortable conversation during dinner or something.
Never in a million years did I think I’d find her in the fucking dining room.
The house is quiet when I step back inside, practically haunted by Elise’s scent. I don’t know how I didn’t recognize it before. It conjures memories of her that I haven’t thought about in years, suddenly fresh as the day they were made.
I’m so lost in thought, I barely notice Aiden come into the room I’m sitting in, until he tumbles over the back of the couch, shoulder checking me on the way down. It’s just occurring to me now that I shouldn’t be sitting on the couch after standing in therain for several minutes. Mom might...ground me? Can she still do that?
“I did say Mom was going to go nuts when she saw you.” Aiden hums, sounding all too pleased with himself for the accuracy of his prediction.
I slouch down in the cushions, scrubbing my hands over my face. “I don’t think you can take credit for predicting all of that. If you could do that, you should have warned me or something.”
“I would have thought Elise would have seen it coming. She’s convinced she’s psychic or whatever, but I guess not.” He nods, and I can feel his stare on me. “When do we get the explanation?”
I glance to the hallway, where it seems empty, but that’s not something that can necessarily be trusted in this house. “Never.”
“Come oooooon.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Dude. It’s obvious she’s an ex-girlfriend or whatever. We all have eyes; it wasn’t hard to figure that much out. I just want to know the rest of the story.”
I guess that much would be transparent.
It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be to just not tell Aiden everything. He’s always been the easiest to talk to and, out of all my family members, probably the most understanding.
I shrug and sigh. “Ok. I’ll tell you right after you tell Mom it was you that peed in the baptism water—”
His eyes widen and he claps a hand over my mouth before I can get out the whole threat. It’s a memory so old, I don’t actually remember if that had been my idea or not.
That is the moment my mom chooses to step back into the foyer, however.
There’s something incredibly nostalgic about my mom appearing at the exact moment one of my brothers is trying to force me into a headlock while I try to twist his arm around the wrong way.
It almost feels like things have gone back to normal for a second.
“What did you do? Do you know her?” our mother demands, looking reproachfully at me.
Aiden releases me, falling back on the couch, pretending he wasn’t just wrestling in a room that it’s forbidden in.
“Glad to be home,” I deadpan, not withholding any bitterness from my tone. The urge to just shake all the rain off over the polished tile floors rises in me, and I just barely hold it back.
