Page 12 of Remember When We
Fucking asshole was so loved up it made me sick sometimes.
He and Maria had been married for just over a month. Flynn was Maria’s son from a previous relationship who Dante had welcomed as his own. And, Dante had a baby on the way.
He practically had a new life, all set up in the last few months—newlyweds, new kids, new life.
I was more than grateful to him for coming with me.
“I’m happy for you.”
He smirked, got up and came over to sit on the sofa opposite me. It creaked and he shook his head. Everything in this house was old. Just like my Uncle Rory, old, and purposefully tacky. It looked like he was setting up for a yard sale with all the boxes stacked here and there, but really that was just how the house looked.
It was his place. He was away on some fishing expedition, as he called it, and had loaned me the house. It definitely came in handy for our stay.
“Thanks man.”
“Where’s Gibbs?”
“Out, he’ll be back soon. Left just after you did. Did you find anything?” He switched from his jovial manner to serious. “Or see anything?”
Now how did I answer that question?
Not with a lie, because Dante would be the first person to see through my bullshit if I even tried it.
“I saw someone.”
“Yeah? Who?”
“The one person I shouldn’t see.” The minute I said that he raised his brows looking utterly surprised and pleased.
“You went to see Lyssa? How did it go?”
I shook my head. “Nothing like that bro. Nothing like that. It’s like the fucking universe is out to get me. I was there and she was there. We didn’t see each other. I just saw her, getting into her car and driving away.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Driving away. You sure she didn’t see you?”
“No, I don’t think … I don’t know. I just …”
I just felt off balance from the whole thing. I clasped my hands together and rested my chin on them.
Fuck, this was all such a mess.
“Gio, why don’t you go see her?” he asked.
“No, I shouldn’t.” He knew my story with Lyssa all too well. He knew all of it and even how I felt. Apart from the shame I felt for not being there for Marshall I just couldn’t face her. Not after last time.
“Shouldn’t? Gio, fuck that shit about shouldn’t. Why the fuck shouldn’t you? You’re here. In Philly and she’s here too. I know she must have crossed your mind more than once prior to getting here.”
I sighed. “Dante, the doll never left my fucking mind. All these years I wanted to forget her. I can’t.”
“Okay, Gio so you basically just provided the answer to this whole thing. Go see her.”
“I’m staying away.” I replied with more determination. “There are just some people you should stay away from. She’s one of them. I messed up her brother’s life and I’m here, because I have hope that I can get justice for what clearly was some kind of set up. His family deserve answers. I deserve answers too. I want to lay my friend to rest properly and do what I should have done in the first place by leaving his sister alone. Fuck, Dante. He asked me. He asked me to go with him to that fucking place and I didn’t go. If I had he’d still be alive today and she’d just … she’d just hate me. So that part would have been the same. I made the wrong choice.”
Dante’s sighed and shook his head. “Can’t blame yourself man. Nobody knows that more than me. You can’t blame yourself.”
“I do. What happened with Christina is different. We have a lot of similarities Dante, but there’s some major differences. You never had a chance to save your sister. I had a chance and didn’t take it. I knew where he was going. Knew he was heading to hell, to the fucking devil himself, and I let him go. I allowed him to go without me. It was selfish.” Coming back here made all of my guilt flood back in on me. It all came back just like fucking nightmares, ghosts haunting me.
“Gio, making a choice based on what your heart wants isn’t something you can be blamed for. Also, we know there was more to what you think happened that night man. There’s more to what happened to Marshall. It’s what we’re here to find out and work on. We know that different shit happened than what was reported. So, in my opinion something else went down that was beyond your control.”
