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"A mistake? What kind of mistake?"
Adam threw up his hands. "You tell me, Lucas. What the fuck happened at the press conference? It's all over the news."
"That's a whole other mind fuck of a story," I sighed. What in the world did Olive think she made a mistake about? I tried to replay our conversation, but everything felt so harried and muddled that I couldn't differentiate between my emotions and what I'd said. I know I'd been upset that she'd chosen to leave, but I'd never told her she was making a mistake. "So she just left?"
"No, she told me to text you."
"What? Why? She just came here to tell you that she made a mistake and then she and Claire left?"
Adam's eyes closed. "Come inside, Lucas."
"What? What exactly did she say?"
Adam sighed. "She said that she needed to find herself. She said that she was never good enough for me. That she wasn't good enough for you. And that she wasn't good enough for Claire."
My heart sank. "What?" I gasped. "How could she feel like that?" Oh my God. How could I make her feel like she was that worthless when what I felt about her was the exact opposite? I was the one who had failed her.
"It's not a new feeling," Adam whispered.
"What do you mean?"
"Olive's never felt like she was good enough for anyone. And part of that is probably my fault, if I'm being honest."
"How so?"
Adam looked me in the eyes. "Because she started feeling like that in college after you left. I mean, after I lied to her and told her that you didn't want anything to do with her and Claire. That's when she started feeling like that. And that's on me. I'm the one who failed her."
I shook my head. "We both made mistakes, Adam. I wasn't open with her. I didn't fight for her. Not like I should have."
"Will you come inside?" Adam asked.
"I feel like I should go look for them."
Adam gripped my shoulder. "Trust me. You'll want to come inside."
The determination in his eyes made me nod. "Okay."
He opened the door, and I followed him through the foyer and into the living room.
"Daddy!"
Claire jumped up from the floor, knocking over the board game she and Adam's husband, Mike, had been playing. I wrapped my arms around Claire as she hugged me, trying to process what this meant. Olive had left Claire with Adam. This was bad.
Mike and Adam looked up at me, concern etched on their face.
"Where's mommy?" Claire asked me.
I grabbed my phone and pulled the number of my private investigator. "Don't worry, honey. I'm going to find out soon."
25
OLIVE
Ididn't know where I was going when I took the taxi to the bus station, I just needed to get away. Get away from what? How could I even answer that when the escape I needed was from myself? Suddenly, a rush of nausea gripped me, and I leaned over and hurled at the spot. The stress was affecting me worse than I thought. I hated this.
After forwarding the sixth call from Lucas to voicemail, I'd finally shut off my phone. And as I tucked it into my backpack, I decided then and there that I wouldn't turn it back on until I knew where I was going.
Lucas's words haunted me in a way I couldn't understand, a trigger beneath my skin, an itch I couldn't reach. I had been about to make a choice that would have kept me entrenched in the same cyclical patten I'd been stuck in my entire life. It was as if the entire facade of my life had been stripped away.
