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Sawyer: We’re going to need to get her to open up soon
Nolan: We can’t push her too fast though
Lake: She had nightmares last night. She walked into the kitchen for water and I scared her. We talked for a bit and then I dozed in the hall outside her door in case she had another one.
Nolan: I’m not planning on sleeping at my place anytime soon.
Lake: Same
I close the text chain and watch Liv out of the corner of my eye. She’s looking around the apartment as she takes small bites. Her eyes linger on a photo of the guys and I on a trip we took to Machu Picchu.
“We took that trip three years ago.” She turns her head to look at me. “Every year one of us picks a vacation to go on as a group.”
“Who picked that trip?”
“Grant.”
A small smile lifts her lips at that. It fills my chest with a warmth that has been missing so long I forgot what it felt like.
“What’s that little smile for?” I ask.
“He and I used to talk about going there someday. Did you know I lived in Peru for a year with my parents?” She looks over at me, her face totally relaxed.
“No, I didn’t.” A thought crosses my mind about her parents. They were never around. Her dad patented a medical procedure and two of the tools used to perform it. They lived off the money from the latter and volunteered with a traveling medical NGO. “How are your parents?” I’m genuinely curious as to how they didn’t realize what was happening to her.
Her forehead wrinkles in confusion as she looks at me. “They died three months after my wedding.”
“What?” Surprise has me raising my voice.
“Yeah, they were in a car accident outside Aspen. They were on a ski vacation. Tripp told you—” she stops as I shake my head.
“He most certainly did not tell us. Liv, we would have been there for you in a heartbeat.”
Tears fill her eyes as she looks down at her lap. I’m up and pulling her to me as her shoulders start to heave with sobs. She clings to me as she says through hiccups, “I was so hurt and confused about why you didn’t come.”
“I’m sorry. If we had known, we would have been there. We would have been blowing up your phone with calls and texts.”
“Oh God.” She pulls away and looks up at me with huge, haunted brown eyes. “He sent a plant and said it was from you four. It wasn’t even an oversight not telling you. It was deliberate.”
I don’t know what to say to console her. Tripp was always a slimy bastard. The only one who was remotely friendly with him was Grant, and that’s not surprising because they both had family ties in the same line of business.
Liv darts down the hall and into her room. I follow just in time to hear her throwing up into the toilet. I walk in behind her and hold her hair back. Tears stream down her cheeks as she retches. I wish with all my being that I could make this better for her. Unfortunately, we’ll probably continue to discover worse and worse truths as we dig into him.
I lead her to sink when she’s finished and use a warm washcloth to clean her face off. “Go lay down while I clean up here.”
“Oh, I can do it. You’ve already done so much.” Her voice is scratchy, and unshed tears still fill her eyes. But still she protests, slipping into the caretaker role she once had with all of us.
“No. This is nothing. I’ve cleaned up after Nolan on a three-day vacation bender.”
She stays put.
“Seriously, go. This is a five-minute, one-person clean up.”
“Okay,” she agrees after another second of hesitation. “Will you lay with me when you’re finished?” she asks quietly.
“Of course.” I watch her walk away before I go back to cleaning up. When I’m done, I walk out into the bedroom and find her laying on her side staring vacantly out of the window. I grab a blanket from the closet and lay down behind her.
“Is this okay?” I ask as I spoon her.
