But it wasn’t her place. Liza hastily said goodbye to the Captain and made her way back to the waiting car, closed the door, and broke into heaving sobs.
“Can you…can you…” she attempted to say to the driver.
The middle-aged man looked back at her with alarm. “You all right, miss?”
She forced a nod and pulled out her phone. “Just hang on a second.” She dialed Brennan’s phone number with shaking hands and cursed herself for what she was about to do.
He answered on the second ring. “Hey, L.”
“Hi, B., I’m so sorry for calling,”she instantly sobbed into the phone.“I’m so sorry for calling right now. I know you’re busy, but—”
“Honey, where are you?”
“Algiers Point,” she wailed.“I just dropped off Connor, and—”
“Are you driving, or do you have a cab or something?”
“I’m in an Uber.”
“Give your phone to the driver, sweetheart.”
Liza leaned forward to pass off the phone, weeping into her free hand, and the driver took it from her while wearing a bewildered look. “Yes, hello?”
23
Irish Channel, New Orleans
Brennan’s fancy BMW pulled up in front of Liza’s house at the same time the Uber driver did, and she was honestly never so relieved to see anyone. He practically leaped out of his car, making a beeline to open Liza’s door for her, and wrapped his arm around her to help her step out. The driver, who’d spent the whole drive completely bewildered and concerned about Liza’s hysterical crying, stepped out as well. Brennan released her long enough to speak to the man and pay him, offering a handshake and a shoulder pat, and then rejoined her to walk her up the concrete path to her door.
Once inside, Brennan made her sit on the couch, slipped off her heels, and then went to the kitchen to fetch a glass of water.
“First of all,never, never, never, everapologize for calling me,” he began, handing the water to her. He sat on one of the chairs that was perpendicular to the couch and leaned toward her. “Especially when you’re upset like this. There is nothing more important to me than my people, and you are my people, L.” He paused, and his eyes did a sweep up and down her form like he was looking for something physically wrong with her. “I know you’re not okay, so I’m not going to ask. Just talk to me, honey.”
Liza managed to breathe herself away from hysteria and sipped some of the water. “I took Connor home. He was really drunk. Captain Deneau was there.” She swallowed thickly as another lump formed in her throat. “He told me everything.”
Brennan paled. “Meaning everything from back then.”
Liza nodded. “Connor brought Javier home with him, and they went on a bender. One of their friends killed himself. Javier overdosed. Connor lost his mind, and that’s why he broke up with me.” She looked at Brennan through bleary eyes. “You knew all that.”
A muscle in his jaw pulsed. “Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “I mean, I wasn’t around then. I met Connor later, but he told me all about it.”
Liza brought her hand to her mouth and shook her head. “I feel so stupid. All this time I’ve been making this aboutme. Poorme. Woe isme. My boyfriend broke up with me. Boo-fucking-hoo.” She sniffled. “Never mind that he’d just gone through somethingcatastrophic. One of his friends died from suicide, and another one accidentally overdosed, and somehowIwas the victim.”
“L., what you went through was just as catastrophic.” He rubbed the dense, dark stubble on his jaw. “You’re not stupid. You had no idea what he was going through, and he had no idea what happened to you. Nobody’s stupid. Everyone is just hurting.”
Hurtingwas an understatement, and Liza looked at him with spilling eyes and a trembling chin. “I loved Javier. He was a good friend. He was the sweetest guy.” She gave a sad laugh. “He was a lot like you. He would’ve done anything for anyone.”
Brennan sat back in the chair. He loosened his steel blue tie, unbuttoned his collar, and rested his chin in his palm. “I know Connor loved him a lot.”
“Yeah.” Liza set down the glass and hugged her arms around herself, leaning back against the couch. “Sometimes I think it’s possible to die of a broken heart.”
Brennan nodded slowly, stroking his fingers across his mouth as his gaze drifted. The low light of the living room made his eyes glitter like they’d welled up. “I know it feels that way.”
They sat in silence for a long time. The living room suddenly felt frigid, and Liza began to shiver.
“What do I do now, B?” she eventually asked.
He shook his head slowly and then stood up. “I don’t know, honey.” Picking up a throw blanket off the back of the couch, he draped it over her and then sat next to her, slipping his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into his side and rested her head on his shoulder. “Just be there. Keep being there like you have been. Wait ‘til he tells you or try to talk to him about it first.” He paused for several seconds. “You both are going to have to clear the air eventually. I think you should just rip off the Band-Aid.”
