Learning To Love (The Griffin Brothers Book 4) (24 page)

“No, please, listen
to me.”

“I can’t. I just
can’t. Open your trunk so I can put these boxes in, and then you
need to leave.”

I’ve screwed things
up so badly, but he promised me something once, and I’m going to
hold him to it. “Can Rose stay here, at least?”

“Rose?”

“My parents kicked
her out. You said once she could stay with us, and you’d pay her
tuition.”

“She’s always
welcome, and I’ll pay for her school. I’d do anything for her.”

“Oh, and um, she
needs clothes. They wouldn’t let her take anything.”

“I’ll take care of
whatever she needs.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m not doing it
for you. She’s always had my back.”

And I haven’t. That’s
what he’s left unspoken, but we both know he wants to say it. I
lead him to the car and open the trunk. Rose gets out and looks at
the boxes in his arms.

“What are those?”

“My things.”

“What?”

“Luke wants a
divorce. He’s agreed to let you stay here with him, though.”

“I’m not staying
here. I’m going with you.”

I pull her aside,
because I don’t want Luke to hear what I have to tell her. “Listen,
Rose. My apartment lease is up in two weeks. I already gave notice
that I’m moving out, so I can’t stay there past then. I-I don’t
have much money, and I have no place to live. I need you to stay with
Luke. He’ll take care of you.”

“How do you have no
money? You told me last month that you had over ten thousand dollars
in your savings account.”

“I did, but I wanted
to do something special for Luke for graduation. I thought it would
be okay to spend it because I had a house and food, plus a good job.
That’s all gone now, and I’ll need to figure something out.”

“You have to tell
him. He’s mad, but he wouldn’t want you out on the street.
I
don’t want you out on the street.”

“No. I don’t want
his pity. I’ve already lost his love. Just please stay here and let
him take care of you. And…take care of him, too, okay? I love him
so much, Rose, and I know I’ve hurt him so badly.”

“I’ll do it for
you, Liv. But when you find a place, I want to be with you. I’ll
sleep on the floor. I don’t care.”

“I promise.”

We hug goodbye as we
both cry. I walk back to my car and see that Luke has everything
packed into it. The backseat and the trunk are full. He’s standing
with his arms crossed, glaring at me.

“Thanks for
everything, Luke.”

“Be on the lookout
for the divorce papers, Olivia. I want this over with as soon as
possible.”

That’s not going to
happen. I won’t sign divorce papers. I can’t. I do take my rings
out of my purse and hold them out to him. He looks at me and then
shakes his head before walking inside. I nod for Rose to follow him,
and she does after giving me a sad smile. I get in the car and drive
off, too heartbroken to even worry about how I’m going to survive,
both physically and emotionally.

* * *

Luke

Whoever said living
with a teenager was hard is definitely right. It’s only been one
night, and I’m not sure I’ll survive it. I showed Rose the
downstairs bedroom and bathroom after Olivia left, took her to Target
to get some things to sleep in and wear tomorrow, and then made us
dinner. She answered me in single words only and barely ate anything.
I understand that she’s probably upset about me making her sister
leave, but we were friends before, and I don’t want to lose that.

It’s the next morning
and I knock on her door to see if she’s hungry, or wants to go
shopping, or just, whatever. It takes her a couple minutes to open
the door, and when she does, it’s obvious that she’s been crying.
She must be homesick.

“What’s wrong,
Rose? Do you miss you parents?”

“No. I mean, it’s
weird not being with them, but I don’t want to have anything to do
with them.”

“What is it then?”

“I can’t talk to
you about it.”

“Oh. Is it a female
thing? Do you want to talk to Alex or one of my sister-in-laws?”

“Well, I
do
need to talk to Candi. I guess she can maybe help me with this, too.”

“I’ll call her if
you want to eat. There’s cereal, or I can make you something.”

“Cereal’s fine.
Thanks, Luke.”

“You’re welcome.”

I grab my phone and
call Candi, making sure she’s okay with us coming over. She says
yes, which is what I expected. We talk for a few minutes, and then I
join Rose in the kitchen.

“Candi said we can
come over any time we want. I’ll take you to the mall after so you
can get more stuff. Do you need school supplies?”

“Thanks, and yeah, I
guess I need supplies. My books and stuff are at my parents’ house.
I don’t know how I’ll study.”

“We’ll get whatever
we can at the store and I’ll ask my mom to go see your parents to
get your school things. She won’t take no for an answer, and not
many people say no to her anyway.”

“That would be great.
I have finals soon.”

“No problem. And, oh,
I guess we should go over your Harvard stuff so I can pay.”

“I could just go to
UNLV, Luke. I’d have free tuition.”

“Nope. You worked
your ass off for Harvard, and I can easily pay your tuition.”

She shakes her head and
looks like she wants to say something, but she stops herself and just
thanks me again. She finishes her cereal while I call my mom, and
then we head out. Rose is quiet again, and just looks out the window
while I drive. When we get to the converted warehouse that Owen and
Candi live in, she practically runs out of my car to get inside.

I follow her inside a
minute later and only see Owen and Hope in their apartment. I smile
and take my goddaughter out of Owen’s arms. “Where’d Rose go?”

“She said she needed
to talk to Candi alone, so they went down to her studio.”

“I hope she’s okay.
She was crying this morning. I asked her if she missed her parents,
and she said no.”

“What’s the deal
with her at your house, anyway? Are you and Liv back together?”

“Definitely not back
together. She came by and said her parents disowned her, so she was
ready to come back. I guess Rose left with her, too. I told her I
packed her stuff and she needed to leave, but Rose could stay.”

“She specifically
said that she came home because they disowned her?”

“Not specifically,
but both things were in the same sentence.”

“So maybe she told
them she was choosing you, and then they disowned her.”

“Do you think that’s
what happened?”

“I don’t know, but
maybe you should’ve asked before kicking her out. I know better
than anyone how important it is to give the person you love a chance
to explain.”

“Ryan’s guy said
he’ll have the divorce papers ready tomorrow.”

“Is that really what
you want? You said marrying her was like ‘coming home.’”

“Fuck, no. I don’t
want to divorce her. Just being without her in bed with me last night
was torture. I couldn’t sleep for shit.”

“Maybe give it a few
weeks and then talk to her. You could do it at the other graduation
party. Have Ryan’s guy back off and I’ll see what I can find out
when she comes into work.”

“If you’re talking
about Liv, she’s not coming back to work. She asked Rose to tell me
she’s quitting.”

“Quitting? Why would
she do that? She loves working for you. She even told me she was
giving up her internship because she wanted to work for you instead.”

Candi walks over and
takes Hope from me. I didn’t even notice her squirming, but I guess
the tension coming off me is affecting her. “She doesn’t feel
right working for me since you and I are so close. It’s bullshit,
but I told all of you this would happen. She’s going to cut us all
off and hide, in order to protect herself.”

“Don’t try to guilt
me, Candi. I’m not the bad guy here.” Or at least I don’t think
I am.

“My sister isn’t
bad. She was trying to make everyone happy, and she’s paying for
that now. I appreciate you letting me live with you and paying my
tuition, but I won’t let you say things about her.”

“I’m sorry, Rose.
You’re right. We just weren’t right for each other, but neither
one of us meant for this to happen.”

“Not right for each
other? You’re an idiot.”

“Don’t sugarcoat
it, Candi.”

She hands the baby to
Owen so she can be free to put her hands on her hips as she glares at
me. “Listen to me, Luke. You are one of my best friends, and you
know I love you. When I was being stupid and refusing to talk to your
brother, you supported me. I’ll support you, too, but I wish you’d
learn from what I did instead of repeating it. Talk to your wife.”

“I can’t. Not yet,
at least. I’m scared of what she’ll tell me when I ask the
questions I need to.”

“I think you’ll
like her answers, Luke,” Rose tells me.

I take a deep breath
and then say what I need to because I know they’re all right, and I
need to talk to her. I owe us both that much, at least. “I’ll
talk to her at your graduation party, okay? That will give me some
time to think.”

“Thank you! You won’t
be sorry. I promise.” Rose launches herself at me and I hug her
tight.

“Alright. Now we
should go to the mall and get you some clothes and stuff.”

“Thanks for that,
too.”

“You’re family,
Rose. I’m going to do anything I can for you. Always. You never
have to worry about getting anything you need.”

I look behind her and
Owen raises his eyebrows while waving his phone at me. I nod. “I
have a quick call to make before we go. I’ll be right back.”

I go into one of the
guest bedrooms and call Ryan. I tell him to ask his friend to get the
divorce papers ready, but not to file them yet. He asks if I’m
sure, and when I tell him yes, he says he’s relieved. I let him
know I’m talking to Olivia at the party and hoping we can just get
rid of the papers after that.

I love my wife and miss
her so damn much. I want her to have chosen me. Owen thinks she might
have, and with Rose saying I’ll be happy if I talk to her, I’m
feeling really hopeful. If she tells me that she did, I’ll
apologize for kicking her out and do everything I can to show her
that I mean it. Although I believe in God, I’m not particularly
religious. But I
am
praying
that my wife will be back home in a couple weeks.

* * *

Olivia

I’m packing up my
apartment today. I have one week left here, and I don’t know where
I’ll put my things or even how I’ll get them there, but I have to
pack and at least pretend that everything will be okay. I’ve just
boxed up the clothes I won’t need for summer when there’s a knock
at my door.

When I open it, I’m
surprised to see Candi on the other side. It’s been a week since
Rose told her I quit, and she didn’t reach out to me. I assumed she
just didn’t care and was probably relieved to not have to fire me.
Then I realize why she’s here. “Oh Candi, you want the SUV, don’t
you? I-I’ll get you the keys.” I’d been hoping to keep it
longer, but I should have known my luck wasn’t going to hold up.

“I’m not here for
the car, Liv. It’s yours. Consider it a graduation gift if you
want. Although there’s an actual gift from me and Owen with all
your other presents at Gary and Maggie’s house.”

“Thank you.” I sigh
in relief since I
need
that car.

“You’re welcome.
Can I come in now?”

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.”

I move to the side and
let her in. Candi walks to my couch and sits down. She glances around
at the flat and full boxes scattered around the room. “You’re
moving.”

“My lease is up, and
I’d already given notice.”

“Where’s your new
place.”

“I’m not sure yet.”

“You don’t have a
place?” I shake my head. “When do you have to move out?”

“In about a week. I
figured I’d just move into a weekly hotel or something.”

“You can move in with
Owe and me. We have extra room.”

“You also have a new
baby. Plus, Owen’s brother is about to serve me with divorce papers
any day now. So, thanks, but no.”

“I don’t want you
in a weekly place.”

I smile at her. “You’ve
given me so much and taught me so much. The most important thing
you’ve taught me is how to be my own self and make my own choices.
As much as I love you, this is my choice.”

“I love you, too,
Liv. I want you to be safe. Being independent is great, but running
and hiding from the people who care about you isn’t. Letting people
help you doesn’t mean you’re weak. I was hoping that was the
biggest lesson you’d learned from me.”

“I’m not against
accepting help, but I can’t have you look like you’ve taken a
side. I heard about what that did to the Griffin family before. I
don’t want to cause problems for anyone.”

“I’m not going to
take a side. I couldn’t choose between you and Luke. As for the
Griffins, they’re tighter than ever after what happened to me and
Owen. They won’t give me any trouble for helping you.”

“That’s good to
know, and I really appreciate you letting me keep the car, but I
won’t move in with you, Candi.”

“Then at least let me
pay to have your things moved and put into storage.”

“They’re just
things. I don’t need them.”

“I know, but it would
make me feel better.”

I know she’s not
going to go without doing something for me, so I’ll concede this. I
didn’t really want to have to give up all my stuff. I
am
hoping to find a job and a place to live. “Okay. I’ll pay you
back when I can, though. I insist on that.”

“You don’t have
to.”

“Yeah, I do. And I
need you to do something else for me.”