Page 30 of What We Got Wrong

“Something just popped into my head, but I don’t want to change the subject.”

“Please, God, change the subject,” Liv replied, and they both let out a soft laugh, releasing some of the tension of the moment.

“There was a notice on the bulletin board in the dorm. I’ve been meaning to ask you about it,” Quinn said. And, oh, that. Yeah, Liv knew where this was going. “About requesting roommate assignments for next year. They’re due by the end of this week. I was just wondering, like. What are your thoughts on that?”

Liv bit her lip, quite literally, to keep herself from saying the first thought that crossed her mind at the question, which was that she couldn’t imagine a world in which she’d choose not to be close with Quinn in any way she could. “What are your thoughts? Especially now that you know I have issues.”

“I already figured you had issues,” Quinn replied, though she softened it with a wink. “I like living with you. I’m in if you are.”

“Scarlet.” It was all she had to say for Quinn to sigh, shrugging.

“She’s not going to like it, but she doesn’t get to tell me who I can and can’t be friends with,” Quinn explained. “I get it, though. It’s okay if you don’t want to deal with the drama.”

“No, I just,” Liv started, but then she stopped, unsure of how she would even finish that sentence. Finally, she just spoke honestly. “I like living with you, too.”

“Yeah,” Quinn replied, a question in her tone, though her grin peeked out.

“Yeah,” Liv confirmed quietly.

“Can I give you a hug?” Quinn asked. “That was a super intense therapy session, and I could sure use one.”

“Of course,” she replied, and Quinn stood from the bench, pulling Liv into her arms.

Liv held on for longer than she should have, but she’d ripped herself open for this conversation, and the way she felt with Quinn in this moment—in the way that she held space for her, the way she expressed sorrow with her, the way she asked questions but didn’t push, but also, yes, simply in the way she held her—it made her feel like Quinn was stitching her back together.

She wasn’t ready to let go, and now that she knew they were living together again, she was overcome with gratitude because it felt like she didn’t have to.

Chapter 11

Liv

Now

Liv woke up on Tuesday morning to a text from her cousin.

Audrey: Breakfast?

Oof. She wasn’t ready for the day. She had an emotional hangover.

After speaking with Quinn the previous morning following the keynote, she’d gone to her first breakout, a session on operations strategy for which she was the moderator. Over the lunch break, she’d taken a call with a manager from her Cleveland, OH team—a recently promoted employee who had chosen to forego the conference because her daughter’s birthday was this week—talking her off a ledge of frustration and ordering a bucket of Chicago style popcorn shipped to her home as a treat. Then, Liv attended one of the first afternoon groups, before feigning a headache and bowing out for the rest of the day.

She’d immediately come to her room to cry, nap, order room service, and then cry some more.

Because Olivia Palmer was almost thirty-two years old, and it was making her physically ill thinking about how her life was defined almost entirely by the things that she regretted.

Having to tell Quinn that she wasn’t married felt wild to her, but the fact that she had gotten married was, in and of itself, the baffling thing. She’d been young, sure, but it’s not like she was a teenager. She’d been lost, and sad, and thought she was doing what her parents wanted… She’d let her life be dictated by what she thought she was supposed to do, without considering what she wanted, and now she was here, alone.

And, stupidly, she’d thought it meant something that Quinn had applied to come. That maybe there was a chance she could make things right. She wasn’t delusional enough to think that they could just pick up where things had left off. She wasn’t sure if she even wanted that, but she thought that the possibility existed that Quinn would be happy to see her. That she wanted to see her, and that’s why she wanted to come to Chicago, why she pitched to work with her company.

But Quinn thought she was married when she applied to come here, that she had been this whole time. Clearly, she just thought this would be a good move for her business, and she was right about that.

So Liv was going to keep her distance. She would try her best not to think about Quinn. If only it wasn’t for the celebrity guest that Liv had pushed for… She was going to make a fool of herself again.

Her phone buzzed in her hand.

Audrey: I’m bringing you coffee and yogurt. I’ll be at your room in 2 minutes.

Liv sighed to herself before rolling out of bed, pulling a brush through her hair and splashing some cold water on her face, trying to make herself as presentable as possible. She was about to brush her teeth when she heard Audrey banging on the door, the cacophony wholly unaligned with the size of the person making the noise.