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“Liam,” Dad calls to me, his voice weak and pathetic.
“No.” I shake my head and start walking out of the room.
“Liam!” Mama shouts, but I can’t do this.
Slipping out the door, I head for the elevators. Rachel’s quick steps are just behind me, followed swiftly by my mom’s. She’s still calling out to me, and I’m forced to stand by the elevator and wait while it rises to our floor.
“Mijo.” Mama’s voice has lost all its tenderness as she steps in front of me and looks up with a fierce frown. Her Spanish is fast and clipped as she tells me off. “You need to forgive him. You need to let him apologize.”
“Why should I let him do anything?” I argue.
“Because he’s your father! And you will regret it if you don’t.”
I scoff and shake my head.
The elevator arrives with a ding, but we stay put, staring at each other in huffing anger, until Mama eventually tuts. “I expected more from you. You’re a better man than this, Liam Carlisle. A better man.”
She clips away from me, and I remain still, glaring at the buttons on the wall. The elevator has disappeared again, so I slap my hand against the down arrow with a growl.
Rachel’s fingers trail down my back, her sad sigh ringing in my ears.
“I can’t do it, Ray. You don’t know what he was like.”
“It’s okay.” She slips her hand into mine. “I get it.”
But I’m not sure she does.
I curl my fingers around hers, and we step into the elevator together and ride to the bottom floor.
I feel like crap.
Like an asshole.
Maybe it’s justified, but shit… why the hell did Mama have to tell me I was better than this?
CHAPTER 37
RACHEL
The car ride back to Nolan is as quiet as the one to the hospital, but the feeling is completely different. The energy on the way there was sparking with underlying anger and unrest. The energy on the way back is heavy and sad.
Liam spends most of the time staring out the window.
I put music on, something quiet to break through the silence, but I don’t know if it helps. I guess it gives me something to focus on.
When we pull into the driveway, the door pops open and Ethan runs out. He’s obviously been worried about his friend, and I leave them to it. Maybe he can tend wounds that I obviously can’t.
Walking into the house, I find Mikayla at the dining room table. Her blue-gray eyes give me a sad smile. “How was it?”
Plunking down with a heavy sigh, I rest my head in my hand. “Not great. His dad’s really sick. He looked awful the other night when he came here, but he looked so much worse at the hospital.”
Mikayla’s lips pull into a frown. “How’d Liam take it?”
I shake my head. “He’s not in a good space. His family wants him to forgive his father, and it just feels like too much. His mother’s annoyed with him, I think, and his sisters don’t understand why he can’t do this one simple thing.”
“Forgiveness is not simple,” Mikayla murmurs, and I know she’s thinking about her mom right now.
“Yeah.” I bite my lips together. “But my parents always taught me that it sets you free, you know? Like, if you can forgive, then it doesn’t burden you anymore.”
