Page 122 of Not Made to Last

After the win, we celebrate Liv’s birthday in a private room at Pino’s. My family, her family, and all the extended family we’ve picked up along the way. My parents gift her with something I didn’t even know they’d been working on—guardianship papers for Max and a check from her mother equaling the amount she’d stolen from Olivia all those years ago.

According to them, Dad hired a private investigator to find Liv’s mother, and when they did, they threatened legal action for child abandonment unless she did exactly what they wanted—what Liv deserves. She folded, as anyone under the wrath of my mother would. The lawyers had drawn up different papers depending on how Liv and Dom wanted to go about his guardianship, and it’s something they’ll discuss later, in private. The money was great, Liv said, but it’s nothing compared to the gift of not having to worry about Max’s future anymore. She cried, as we all expected her to, and then everyone else joined in, because how could you not? After everything she’d been throughand the fears she’d had to face, her family’s stability was the greatest gift anyone could give her.

Now, it’s just her and me, in my car, and she turns to me. “Do you need to get something from your parents’ house?”

“No.” My parents still own the house I grew up in, and it’s fine. My mom and dad schedule who is where, when, making sure that at least one of them is with me or my sister most of the time. Izzy and her boyfriend fly down more often now, because—as she puts it—she loves “her new found family.” She and Liv get along great, but she and Max—they can nerd out together for hours. Max has spent the night at the house a few times, mainly to build LEGOs with my dad and try out new cake recipes for my mom, and the boys and I go there often to use the gym and pool. I didn’t realize when I told Dad I didn’t want to live there that it had nothing to do with the house. I just didn’t want to be away from Liv. And I haven’t been.

I’ve spent every night with her, and Dom and Max don’t seem to mind it. Granted, I’ve only been there just over a month. I do what I can around the house, and I’m now part of the dinner cooking—or in my case,ordering—schedule. And since I’m a lot more flexible with my time, I can hang out with Max and pick him up from school when Dom and Liv are busy. I even bought the safest car seat on the market, so we didn’t have to keep transferring one over.

I’m working with my dad more, doing what I would’ve been doing had I moved to Colorado. But mainly, I’m focusing on the building I purchased. I have big plans for it, starting with giving Belinda an office she deserves. I can’t wait to see it come to life.

“So, where are we going?” Liv asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

I shake my head, continue to drive. “You recognize this street?”

She groans. “You’re never going to let me forget, are you?”

“Nope.”

“I tapped you with the truck, Garrett.”

“No, you crashed into me with a Boeing 747, causing my body to fly a million feet in the air! By the time I landed, I was dismembered from limb to limb. Torso. Two legs. One arm.” I glance at her, smiling when I see her laughing silently. “I’m still looking for my other arm.”

“And your head.”

“Oh, yeah. That, too.”

“Where are we going?” she almost squeals, and I chuckle.

“You’ll see.”

In under a minute I’m driving past my parents’ house and entering a property two doors down, on the opposite side of the road. I pass the gates and make my way toward a house with a light brick facade and dark brown doors and shutters illuminated by ground lights. Liv sits higher in her seat to get a better look. “What’s this?”

I stop at the end of the driveway, just outside the garage. “Remember how my parents were waiting for the perfect house for me to live in?”

Her gaze shifts to mine. “They bought this for you?”

“Yeah…” I watch her, gauging her reaction, my stomach dropping a little when she doesn’t seem all that excited. “I mean, it’s not as extravagant as theirs, I know, but wait till you see the view.”

I get out of the car and wait for her to do the same. The brick driveway goes all the way to the front door, with only a few steps up to the house. Liv hesitates at the bottom of the stairs, her eyes narrowed. “You don’t want to see it?”

She blinks, as if coming to. “Of course I do.”

I open the door and wait for her to step inside. “It’s a little outdated,” I tell her. “So I want to do a few upgrades, but the layout is perfect, and bones are solid.” The house has floorboards throughout, and it’s empty, so my voice and our footsteps echo around us. I show her upstairs first, the bedrooms and bathrooms, the entire time watching her, waiting for a reaction. So far,nothing, and so I take her back down to the kitchen and living areas, and still… not even a smile or beat of excitement. “This is the best part,” I say, flicking on the outdoor lights. The pool lights up, and I keep my eyes on her as she steps outside. I ask, confused and a little crestfallen, “What do you think?”

“It’s nice,” she says.

Nice.That’s all I get? “Like I said, it’s not as big or flashy as my parents’ house, but none of the houses lakeside are.”

“There’s a lake?” she asks, her tone flat.

“Yeah.” I sigh, then slip off my shoes. I sit at the edge of the pool, facing the lake that’s currently invisible through the darkness. “I should’ve brought you here during the day so you could see it.”

Liv slips off her shoes, and joins me, our legs knee-deep in the water. She hugs my arm to her chest, rests her head on it. “I’m sure it’s beautiful, Rhys.”

“Then what’s wrong?” I ask, turning to her.

She looks up. “What do you mean?”

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