Page 105 of Situationship
“Why did you leave rehab?” she asked. “We had a deal. I’d clean up the mess; you’d work on recovery.”
“That’s just it. I didn’t want you to have to do it alone. I wanted to help. Which is why I went back to rehab, to work on myself,” Frank said.
“Wait, how does your gambling still affect my sister’s credit?” Harley looked at her sister. “I thought the divorce would sever your finances.”
“It should have,” Teagan said, her hands shaking. “So explain how this happened. And don’t give me some line about The Man.”
“It may have happened during that time between you signing the papers and me signing the papers.”
Teagan sat as if her legs were about to buckle. “You promised. Never to bring me into your troubles again. Those were your exact words.”
“That’s why I kept going and went big, so that I’d come out even and wouldn’t have to get you involved.”
“I am involved!” And this time a single tear popped out.
“You son of a bitch, get out,” Colin yelled.
Poppy started wailing. Lily hopped down and said, “Don’t yell at my daddy.”
The whole room went silent. Lily had placed herself between the two men in her life, her lips quivering. Making Colin feel like a class-A jerk. Her first words were to tell Colin to back away from the man she loved most.
Her father.
“Hey, why don’t you come with Auntie Harley,” Harley said, picking up Lily and taking Poppy’s little hand. “I’ve got a box of Otter Pops behind the frozen broccoli that we can eat on the beach.”
Even the promise of contraband frozen sugar and food coloring didn’t keep Lily from staring back at Colin as she disappeared from the kitchen. When they were out of range, he stepped up to Frank, who had wisely stood.
“You need to get out and go,” Colin said. “And not just from this house. You need to get your shit and get out of town.”
“Sorry, bud. That’s not your call.”
They both looked at Teagan, who hesitated. All Colin had left was this one last plan. His plan with Teagan. And she hesitated, leaving him plan negative. It was like taking a wrecking ball to the chest.
“I’m sorry,” she began. “I promised Lily and Poppy he could stay until their birthday.”
“That doesn’t mean he has to stay with you. He can drive back from his hole for the party.”
“I can’t. I promised them their daddy could visit until their birthday,” she repeated.
He stepped close and quietly said to the woman who had told him she’d be his safe harbor, “What about your promise to me?”
She took his hand and guided him to the seat beside her. “This has nothing do with us.”
“But it does.” He covered her hand with his. “You’re defending him to me, after he made a massive mess that I’m going to have to clean up. This threatens everything I’ve already committed to.”
“I’ll fix it,” she said.
“How? You have an extra thirty grand lying around to reimburse Jack for the renovations?”
“No, but . . .” Again, she hesitated.
“You said you had it. I trusted that you had it, and now I’m stuck holding the bag. How are you going to cover the four grand in rent every month? Rent that would have been double except Jack gave you a deal. Gave us a deal.”
“I know that,” she said quietly—wistfully. “I know what you put on the line for me, Colin. I know.”
“Do you?” Because it was more than his signature on that lease. He didn’t care about the signature; he cared about the fact that his chest felt as if it was crushing his heart. “I’m wondering how we went from ‘us’ to you totally failing to tell me what was going on.” It was as if he was eighteen again, wondering what he’d done wrong as she left him in her rearview with a heartful of questions. “I have to reevaluate everything, move things around, important things. Not because of something I did or something I wanted, but because you didn’t trust me.”
“That’s not it at all. I trust you.”
