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A soft gasp broke the stunned silence.Kenny.“Bruce…”
He whipped his head toward her, his gaze pleading with her, like he wanted her to confirm that she thought the same thing.
Her eyes filled with tears, and she pressed her fingers to her lips.
I couldn’t move.This guy had just said he wished I had died in place of his son.After a lifetime of making it clear he thought I shouldn’t have been born in the first place.
Tears streaked down Kenny’s cheeks.“You can’t mean that.”
Bruce shook his head, then he bent and crumpled the rest of the way to the ground, sobs racking his body.Kenny rushed to his side.“Bruce, are you okay?”
I took a step back.And another.Spinning, I walked numbly around the pickup to the driver’s side.
“Liam.”Kenny ran up behind me.I didn’t think she’d abandon Bruce.“He didn’t mean that.”
“Yeah.He did.”
“No, he just needs to calm down.I need to make sure he’s okay and then I’ll talk to him.”
I’d be an ass if I told her that I needed her now too.That after hearing a man who had made me feel like shit my entire life tell me that he wished I were dead, I might need a little support too.But I wasn’t collapsed on her front lawn.
What was it Grandma Gin had said?It’s okay to do what’s best for me too.
Leaving was best.And if she wasn’t coming with me, so be it.“Take your time.Don’t worry about me.”
“Liam?”Hurt and confusion scrawled over her features.She glanced back at Bruce.He was sitting with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.
“Look, I don’t mean to add more pressure.Just take some time.Think about what you really want.Because Bruce isn’t going to take this well, and I can’t have another person who’s supposed to be important to me flake on me.I just wanna go be with Eli and Owen.Grandma Gin.Their love is unconditional.They accept me, and I just really need to be surrounded by that right now.”
A divot formed between her brows.She gave her head a slight shake, like she didn’t understand something that was so clear to me.
Right.
I got in my pickup and drove off, and I didn’t bother to look in my rearview mirror.
Kennedy
Liam drove away.He didn’t spin out.He didn’t speed off and roar around the corner and out of sight.He didn’t hesitate to go, but he hadn’t made a scene.
Unconditional love.
I hadn’t even told him I loved him, yet my love had come with so many conditions.
Shit.
The last few minutes replayed in my head.What must that have been like for Liam to hear?
And I’d gone to Bruce first.What he’d said had shocked me, and then he’d collapsed.Liam had stood there, being strong and enduring the abuse like he’d always done.How much less severe would Bruce’s reaction have been if I had told him the truth earlier, sat down and talked to him, and then held Liam’s hand as the fallout happened?
I had messed up.
I went to Bruce and squatted in front of him.“Bruce, are you okay?”
“I can’t believe I said that to him.I can’t believe…” He hung his head.“I just really miss my son.”
“I know.So do I.But I think it’s past time we had an honest discussion.”I put my hand on his shoulder.“You and Willow have cared for me so much, and you have my undying appreciation.But you need to realize that I’m going to have a life that’s different from what I had with Derek, and who I choose to do that with is my business and mine alone.I want you to be in my life, but not at the cost of keeping others out.”
“I can’t… I just don’t know what to think right now.”He scrubbed his face.“I can’t believe I said that to him.”
