Page 78 of What We Got Wrong

Liv honestly didn’t even hear the conversation from that point, unsure of who was going where with who, but she was aware that her people were unsubtly doing her a solid, making themselves scarce, because after a few minutes, it was just Liv and Quinn.

“Your place or mine?” Quinn asked with a charming grin. She seemed to be in a good place after her presentation, after the conversation with Liv’s dad.

“Mine,” Liv suggested, just to provide an answer. Quinn nodded, and they headed in that direction. “Did it go well with my dad?”

“He said he’s thinking about partnering with Prism on, what sounds like, if it works out, a pretty major scale,” Quinn said, sounding slightly overwhelmed at the idea. “You didn’t ask him to do that, did you?”

“No, I haven’t talked to him about you at all,” Liv said, instantly regretting it when she saw Quinn’s entire demeanor change.

“Of course not.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Liv said.

“Right,” Quinn replied, her jaw tightening. “Anyways. What does the rest of your day look like?”

“I need to attend the meeting at 1:00 PM, and I’ll probably be busy until about 9:00… I have to make an appearance at the party tonight. It’s my mom’s big contribution to the week,” Liv said.

“Your mom is here, too,” Quinn replied, surprised.

Maybe Liv should have mentioned it earlier, but her mom always floated in and out of the conference. Of work in general, really. “She is…”

“Ah,” Quinn replied, and she ran her fingers through her hair, altogether uncomfortable.

“Do you want to meet her?” Liv asked.

Quinn’s eyes went wide, but she seemed to consider it for the briefest of moments before shaking her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

If Liv’s heart broke just the slightest at that, she did her best to not let it show. “Right.”

“I have to be honest, though… I know I said it already once this week, but I imagined your dad differently. Back in college, it seemed…I don’t know. He’s just not what I had pictured in my mind.”

Liv didn’t want to overstep, but she wanted to try to explain. They were walking into her hotel room when she asked, “Can I frame it for you a little bit?” Quinn’s curiosity won out, and she nodded. “That man is not the man who raised me.”

“I’m going to need you to say more,” Quinn replied. Liv was pleased to see that she chose to sit at the table by the window, instead of immediately moving towards the bed.

Liv laughed, sitting in the chair opposite Quinn. “Yeah, that came out wrong. But I just meant…after we graduated, when I came home, I was…not well. For a while. And I think that eventually… Well, I think some small part of them needed me to get to a point where they thought they might lose me, too, before they remembered they needed to see me, too. I guess they needed to get worried enough about me to snap out of their fog.”

“I’m sorry that you were having such a rough time,” Quinn said, and she sounded genuinely upset for Liv.

“I take full responsibility for my mental state at that time,” Liv assured her. “And I’ve had therapy, so much therapy, and my parents have, too. It’s helped.”

“That’s good,” Quinn replied, voice thick with emotion.

“I honestly still don’t think I fully understand, like…what was them and their rules or their expectations, and what were my own assumptions,” Liv added. “It’s still sort of jumbled in my head.”

“That definitely sounds confusing,” Quinn admitted.

“I need to say one more thing, and then we can turn off our brains, if that’s what you want,” Liv continued after a pause. Quinn nodded. “I misspoke before, Quinn. I meant I haven’t talked to my dad much about you and the business. They know about you.”

“You told them about me?” Quinn asked, taken aback. “About us?”

“I did,” Liv answered. “I mean…not everything. But yes. They know there was someone at school who meant a lot to me? It came up quite a lot in family therapy, to be honest.”

Though 100% true, she said the last bit like it was a joke, and was grateful to see Quinn take pity on her, gifting Liv with the slightest of smiles.

“That’s, like…kind of a lot, Liv,” Quinn said slowly. “I don’t really know what to say.”

“I get that,” Liv assured her. “And I’m not asking you for anything, I promise. I just…I wanted you to know.”