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“I thought so.”
“How did you guess?”
“If you’d just been fired, you’d have stayed in the city. You’d have found a new job and moved on. You certainly wouldn’t have let it get to you this much.”
“I—I couldn’t stay, Mom. I had nothing left.”
“Because Hunter had hurt you?” Mom says, pushing her cup away.
“Yes, but also most of my things were at his place… and I can’t go back there now.”
“Oh… I see.” I’ve never seen my mom look so embarrassed before, but there’s a definite hint of a blush on her cheeks, and in any other circumstances, I’d probably smile.
“I miss him so much…” My voice cracks and she gets up, coming to sit right beside me, and takes my hand in hers. “I really do. But I’m so damn angry with him.”
“That’s understandable.”
“Is it? Is it possible to love someone and be on the verge of hating them at the same time? I was lying awake last night, thinking that I wanna call him. I imagined tears and explanations. In reality, though, if he was standing right in front of me now, I think I’d yell at him for hurting me so much.”
“In which case, I think it’s a good thing you’ve come home. You’ve put some distance between the two of you.”
“I didn’t do that, Mom. He did. He broke up with me.”
“Hmm… but how do you know he’s not sitting in Boston, imagining tears and explanations, too?”
“You didn’t see his face when he told me to go. You didn’t hear his voice.”
She squeezes my hand. “You need to make allowances, Livia.”
“What for?”
“Hunter would have been old enough to know what was going on when Ken did what he did,” she says. “This isn’t a figment of his imagination, or a story that’s been kept from him. It’s not like it is for you. He lived it. He’ll remember what happened.”
“I still don’t understand why that makes it my fault.”
“It doesn’t. But his family lost almost everything they had when Ken stole from them.”
“And? They got it all back, didn’t they? I’ve been to Hunter’s home in Newport, Mom. Trust me, our house would fit inside it several times over. They’re not poor, and they don’t need our pity.”
“I’m not suggesting they do. But we’re not poor either. It may sound strange, but in a way, I’ll always be grateful for what happened.”
“Grateful?”
“Yes. If Ken hadn’t stolen that money, I’d never have had to move here. I’d never have met Connor, and you’d never have had such a loving and caring father in your life. There’s no way I can be anything but grateful for the life we’ve had. I know things have been harder since your dad had his stroke, but that’s got nothing to do with the Bennett family, has it? And however you look at it, Ken stole from them. The money wasn’t his to take. It belonged to Theodore Bennett, and he was the one who insisted we should lose everything, not his son. Be careful not to judge Hunter too harshly…”
“Like he’s judged me, you mean?”
“Exactly. I’m not condoning what he’s said or done, and I’m not saying you have to call him straight away… or even at all. I’m not saying you have to speak to him, if he calls you…”
“He’s not gonna call.”
“You don’t know that. If he loves you as much as you love him, he’ll call, and when he does, you need to think long and hard before you push him away. Love is fragile, Livia.”
“Is it? I thought it was eternal.”
She smiles. “Men have written poems and made speeches about how love is the strongest thing in the world… about how it endures, no matter what, and binds us all together. But what they fail to mention is that it takes little more than a breath of wind to shatter it forever.”
***
