My mouth hangs open. “You know? How? The last time we talked about any of this you didn’t seem to believe me. We’ve only had one therapy session.”
“Scott told me that I need to practice listening. Apparently, what I was doing was hearing. I figured that since he was able to lock Harlow down from the beginning without being a bumbling idiot like the rest of us, I should probably pay attention,” Griffin says.
“Okay, you listened. What did you hear?” I ask.
I watch his Adam’s apple bounce in his throat. “Pain. I heard lots of pain. I don’t know what you’re dealing with right now, but I know that I haven’t been much help to you with it. Worse, I’ve added to it by always focusing on Liam.”
I bite my lip. There’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to him about since I heard Liam mention it. “What did Liam mean that you kept me from finding out?”
Griffin closes his eyes and inhales slowly. All these eggshells around us are making it hard to navigate our marriage. Neither of us knows where to step.
“When I heard people talking, mostly at the bar, but also at the pharmacy, that Liam was cheating on you, I may havethreatened a few people. You have to believe me, Baby Bird, I didn’t believe them when I heard the rumors. I know I should have. I guess I just didn’t want to believe that he could be like that. Also, I just couldn’t comprehend that he would have you in his life, his bed, and take that for granted. Not when I would have done anything to have you for myself. I shouldn’t have stopped you from finding out. I wasn’t just trying to protect him. I thought I was saving you from hearing hurtful lies that would take away your family.”
I stretch up and kiss him on the cheek. “You’re full of shit, but I love you. I think you think that is why you did it, though, so I forgive you.”
“What do you mean by that?” he asks me.
I shrug. “That’s something you’re going to have to work out for yourself. You can’t tell me why I’m struggling with old memories, and I can’t answer for you why you kept me in the dark for over a year while Liam screwed every available woman in Harriston.”
“Is this some kind of revenge?”
“No,” I reply. “I could guess, but I might not be any more accurate than you were when you thought I was still in love with Liam. I don’t want to get in the habit of telling you how you feel and why.”
I take a couple of steps back. “I’m going to work from home today. I just can’t be in the same building as him. Not with so many sharp things lying around.”
“I’ll come with you,” he says, dangling his keys from his index finger. “Ride with me.”
I purse my lips. “I can do billing from home, but as far as I know, you can’t really do your job from our house.”
Griffin shrugs. “I could do a lot from our garage, but then they’d know where we live.”
“How about we don’t do that,” I suggest.
“Okay, then I’m going to go and tell Liam that I’m taking the day off and that he is going to be working late tonight. Does that work?”
I don’t have to think long about this. “You mean that I get to spend the entire day with you, and inconvenience Liam at the same time? I’m in.”
For the secondtime this week, we sit in Dr. Manning’s waiting room. I’m less anxious this time that talking about all of our issues is going to somehow rip an irreparable hole in the fabric of our relationship. I should be ashamed of myself for having so little faith in us, or maybe it’s more a lack of faith in myself.
A lot is churning inside my mind, and I’m lost inside it. So lost that I don’t immediately register Griffin fidgeting next to me.
“What are you doing here?” Griffin snaps.
It’s been a while since I’ve heard him speak with that level of irritation. Not since he forced himself to talk to me that way, actually. Hearing that tone snaps me out of my head, and I look up to see Liam hovering in the doorway.
“I tricked Charlie into telling me about your appointment. I’ve been thinking about what you said, and—” Liam starts to speak.
“And, what? You thought, ‘I know what won’t make me look like a self-centered jackass, I’ll crash my Dad’s marriage counseling?’ I’ve got news for you, it isn’t working,” Griffin interrupts.
“I have been thinking about what you said to me the other day, and I—” Liam shoves his hand through his hair, a habit hegot from his dad, “I don’t know, I thought that maybe it might be good for all of us to talk it out with help. I see that I’ve become an issue in your marriage. There was a time I’d have celebrated that, but not anymore. I want all of us to be able to move on as much as we can. Short of cutting you out of my life, Dad, we’re going to be around each other. I didn’t cut you out after you two first got together, doing so ten years later makes no sense,” Liam tries to explain.
Before I get a chance to lash out at him, Dr. Manning opens the door for us. She, too, freezes when she sees Liam in the waiting room.
A crease forms between her eyes. “Did we schedule a group therapy session? I don’t have that written down.”
Without pulling his eyes away from Liam, Griffin answers her. “No, we didn’t. My son just doesn’t understand boundaries.”
Her mouth falls open in a perfect O. Great, Liam managed to break our therapist. I guess he’s still got a perfect record in destroying everything he touches.
