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I had to see this through.
Make it better somehow.
“Liz?” Clearing my throat, I reached for my mug of hot chocolate and curled my hands around the ceramic, glad to feel the heat caress my fingertips. “Why didn’t you say anything about your dad moving out back in March?”
“Mike moved out?” Confusion swept over my brother’s face as he pulled out the chair next to Lizzie’s and sank down. “Liz?”
“Because it didn’t seem important,” she bit out, attention glued to the untouched mug in front of her. “At least not in the grand scheme of things.”
“When your friend’s parents separate and her dad leaves the county, I’d say is pretty important in any scheme of things,” I replied. “Liz, you never said a word.”
“How could I say anything?” she snapped back, body rigid with tension. “Shannon was going through everything with her family back then.”
Aw, crap.
Guilt swirled inside of me.
“You still could have come to me, chickie,” I strangled out, voice thick with emotion. “I could have tried to help you.”
“Kind of like how you tried to help me today?” came her angry response. “I told you what happened, Claire. I fell. Over a fucking gate and landed on barbed wire. If you didn’t believe me, you could’ve asked Patrick. It was on his farm that it happened. You didn’t have to run to my mam and traumatize her worse than she already is.” Tears filled her eyes as she spoke. “You have no idea how tough this year has been on us, and you just went and made it so much worse.”
“Oh god.” My shoulders slumped in defeat. “I’m so sorry.”
“You could have come to me.”
Lizzie’s gaze immediately flicked to my brother, and she choked out a pained breath. “Yeah, because that would have gone down really well.”
“You could have come to me,” Hugh repeated, eyes locked on hers in what felt like a blazing stare-down. “You can always come to me.” He swallowed deeply, Adam’s apple bopping before whispering, “No matter what.”
“No matter what,” Lizzie repeated, whispering the words to herself, as she retrained her attention on her mug.
_______________
After a great deal of groveling and a whole heap of holding my tongue, I thankfully managed to worm my way back into my friend’s good graces. Lizzie still wasn’t my number one fan, but when she climbed into the passenger seat of Hugh’s car a little after nine o’clock, she did offer me a half-hearted wave before he drove her home.
I was taking that as a huge win.
The moment my brother’s car was out of sight with Lizzie safely tucked inside, I wasted no time in scampering around the street to check on my other bestie.
I wasn’t entirely sure what I expected to find when I let myself inside Gerard’s house, but a huge stack of suitcases and travel luggage camped out in the front hallway was not it.
“What the…” Brows creased in confusion, I wandered through the downstairs, checking each room in my search to find the culprit of said luggage. “Gerard? Sadhbh? Keith?”
Aside from Brian snoozing in the living room armchair, the house was empty. Which was super weird because the front door was unlocked.
“Gerard?” I called out again, backpedaling into the hallway before clambering up the staircase. “You here?”
More silence.
Feeling foolish for not checking for his car in the driveway first, I hurried over to the front landing window and peered outside.
Dammit, the Allens’ driveway was minus one silver Ford Focus.
Feeling oddly bereft, I padded into his bedroom and flicked on the light.
“What the…” My words trailed off when my eyes took in the carnage.
Gerard’s room was trashed.
