Page 14 of Right the Wrongs (Broken Vows #5)

Chapter Ten

Griffin - Present

Early two thousand’s rock blasts over the speakers in the garage. It’s pushing seven p.m. when the sound of a hood slamming interrupts the piercing wail of the guitar solo in Audio Slave’s “Be Yourself.”

Charlie walks around in circles while he stretches his arms across his body. “When does Liam come home from rehab? We can’t keep going like this, Griff. It’s not ten years ago. Hell, even then, we were pushing middle age. If he ends up staying another thirty days, my body isn’t going to make it.”

The last time Liam went to rehab, he ended up staying a full ninety days, but this time he didn’t spend the first thirty days coming to terms with the fact that he’s an addict.

“His sixty days are almost up, and he’s not extending another thirty days. But we can take on a part-time employee to help lighten the load. I’m not sure Liam will be ready to jump right into everything again anyway.”

“What is he coming home to?” Charlie asks. He wipes the grease from his hands and throws the rag into the laundry bin. “His family is still gone, he’s still going to be in pain, so what is going to keep him sober?”

“It isn’t Claudia’s job to keep him sober. And she couldn’t do it even if she were here watching over him like a hawk. If Liam wants to pop pills or drink, that’s what he’s going to do, trust me.” We both jump at hearing Wren’s voice coming from her open office door.

She holds up her laptop. “Didn’t mean to scare you. I forgot my computer on my desk because Parker had her first soccer practice today. But then I remembered some bills I needed to take care of for the cafe.”

Her head tips back, and she closes her eyes. It’s a tell that she forgot something else. I know better than to chuckle. Mommy brain is a real thing. With Elisa still in diapers, Wren is likely to be forgetting things for a bit longer.

“I have the computer, but I left my keys on my desk. Someone should probably go check on Claudia, though.” Wren turns to go back into her office, then stops and looks over her shoulder.

“It can’t be me, and not just because Bess is watching our kids.

Claudia and I agreed a long time ago not to talk about Liam. ”

Charlie and I wait a few minutes for her to gather up all of her things and head home before we continue our discussion.

When the sound of her SUV rumbles out front, Charlie turns to me. “Two things. First, we are very unobservant. How the hell did she come back in here, and neither of us noticed?”

I shrug. With the stereo blaring and both of us using impact wrenches, it’s unlikely we’d have heard anything even if we weren’t both in our fifties.

Charlie had his head under the hood of a fifty-thousand-dollar truck while I was under it for most of the day because some idiot with more money than sense thought it was a good gift to give their recent high school graduate.

I guess it’s good they made it through most of the school year before they managed to blow the shocks, break the drive train, and cause general fuckery in the engine.

I jerk my thumb over my shoulder at the truck. I don’t need to tell him anything else. We’re both trying to work out kinks and spasms we know won’t go away without Advil and a heavy application of Ben-Gay.

He’s right, we’re getting too old for the past to play on repeat. I need to do something. Maybe it’s impulsive, and it’s definitely selfish, but the only way that Liam is coming back here to stay is if he has something to come home to. He’s going to need his family back.

I won’t push, but Wren is right, someone should speak to Claudia and find out if she needs something. We’ve told her for years now that she’s family, and at the first sign of trouble, we leave her to sort it out alone.

Yeah, I’ve called, but that’s a halfhearted effort at best, and I mostly talked about wanting to see the kids. It isn’t like I don’t know where she’s staying. Sure, at first we were questioning her absence, but it’s been over eight weeks, which means she’s more than likely at her parents’ home.

They aren’t even that far away. She’s still teaching at the school here in Centralia, and Natalie is still going to school.

I’ve gotten to hug her a few times when I’ve done the school drop-off or pick-up run, but her Grandma Julia has been picking her up every day after school since Claudia isn’t off for another hour after the kids get out.

The fact that Natalie has still been coming to her same school, forty-five minutes away from where Claudia’s parents live, gives me hope that she’s planning on coming back.

Charlie studies me for a few seconds before rolling his eyes. “She might not appreciate you showing up without calling.”

“If I call first, she might tell me not to come,” I point out. This seems perfectly rational to me.

“That’s typically what people do when they don’t want to see someone,” he deadpans.

I grab my keys off my workbench and spin them around my index finger. “Like I’ve ever let that stop me.”

I call Wren from the car to let her know what I’m up to. She’s not surprised. I think the moment she said that she won’t be the one to talk to Claudia about what is going on, she knew I’d go immediately.

The last time Liam went through the process of getting sober, I had been caught off guard by some of the lingering impact his actions had on both Wren and me. This time, I choose to face everything head-on.

The drive to Pine Bluff is a little over half an hour from Centralia, and I make it there just before eight.

The sky is slowly darkening, and the stars are just barely appearing in the sky.

With the sun still lingering, slipping out of sight, I hope it isn’t too late to stop by.

Claudia’s parents weren’t teenagers when she was born, so they are about a decade older than me.

I have no idea if they are the type to go to bed right after the nightly news or something.

These Norman Rockwell-kind of families baffle me.

I knock on the door and wait. It takes a few minutes, but eventually I hear a mumbled conversation on the other side of the door before it opens.

“Griffin? What are you doing here?” Claudia asks.

I’m silent for a moment. I thought about what her being gone would do to Liam, why it was important for him to have her come home, but one little innocuous question brings back the memories of the past in a wave. I’m not sure I like the realizations it brings with it either.

This isn’t the first time I’ve considered how I feel, what I need, and what my son needs while completely ignoring the young woman at the center of the storm. Only, this time, I really am only concerned about how it will impact my son because I want him to come home whole.

Even if my intentions are better than before, that doesn’t mean I can bulldoze into her life and make demands based on what will suit us best. If I truly see Claudia as a member of the family, I also have to look out for what is best for her.

“I came here to see how you and the kids are doing. We thought you might be home before now, but we’re getting worried,” I finally say to her.

One of her dark eyebrows curves up. “Worried about me, or that your son won’t come home without me back there?”

I nod my head a few times. “You’re right, I did come over here to see if you were coming back, because I don’t think he’s going to do well without you.

Wren told me that you can’t be responsible for his sobriety.

It took the drive over here for that to fully sink in.

I really do want to know how you and the kids are doing, and if there’s anything you need. ”

One minute she’s standing in front of me with a wary stiffness, as if she’s prepared to defend herself, then the next she deflates.

“I feel so stupid. For all these years, I’ve silently patted myself on the back because I never saw the side of Liam that I’ve heard stories about.

I think I let it get to my head and imagined I must be a better wife than Wren was, or I don’t know.

I’ve tried hard to ignore the past and live in the present, but I know I’ve held myself back from everyone because I couldn’t really let go of the jealousy that comes with comparing myself to Wren. ”

Claudia takes a deep breath and lifts her dark eyes to mine.

The pain I see there is something I haven’t seen since the night Wren and I caught Liam bare-assed and mid-pump into her best friend.

“Telling you this might be the most selfish thing I will ever do, but I can’t keep it to myself.

The night I left, I came back late from Parent/Teacher conferences, and found Liam unconscious on the stairs.

He must have hit his head when he went down, because he had a huge goose egg on his forehead.

I was trying to see if he had a concussion, or what happened, when the smell of whiskey hit me. ”

She shakes her head. I don’t think she’s even seeing me right now. Her eyes are glazed over, and she’s shaking slightly. Her arms wrap around her middle, and I know I’m really not going to like the rest of this story.

“He looked at me, and the man I saw was a stranger.”

Her voice lowers in an impression of Liam.

“‘Don’t look at me with that judgmental face. I’m sorry I can’t live up to the standards of someone as perfect as you.

I bet your family will be happy. I’ve finally proven them right.

Too bad for you, my dad is still obsessed with my ex-wife, or you could have really taught me a lesson like she did. ”

“I asked him if he missed her, and he didn’t answer, but he didn’t deny it. He just said that he didn’t hate himself as much when he was married to her.”