Page 36 of Right the Wrongs (Broken Vows #5)

It strikes me that it’s been over thirty years since I’ve seen her, and yet I still have anger inside of me toward her.

This isn’t news; I’ve never hidden my dislike of her from myself.

What is hitting me so hard right now is that Wren has spent nearly every day seeing Liam either in the yard, at work, or at family dinners.

She’s had to watch all the things that I’ve only ever heard rumors about with Melinda.

“I hate to be cliché about this, but our hour is up. I hate to leave things for an entire week like this. If you are available, I’d like to see you in a couple of days.”

She flips a page in her planner. “I’ve got an opening in a few days, early afternoon. I know you run a business, but it is before school lets out.”

“Sold,” I say immediately. I shrug when Dr. Manning studies me. “Wren and I swap turns getting the kids from school. This week is mine. I like to get there early. The moms are scary.”

“You’ve been avoiding me,” Liam accuses when he corners me at the garage the next day.

I look over my shoulder to make sure that Wren is still in the office before I answer him.

“Not avoiding you, just prioritizing my wife. I’d like to keep mine,” I grumble.

“Are you saying I don’t want to keep mine? You think I haven’t been trying to get Claudia to come home?” he snaps.

I start to shove my hand into my hair, then stop when I see the grease covering my hands. It wouldn’t be the first time, but I’d like to avoid having to scrub my head with dish soap.

“So you’re ignoring me and avoiding me then?” Liam pushes. I can hear his irritation rising.

“I’m not ignoring you or avoiding you. I’ve got my own shit to deal with. Shit you frequently seem to drop on my doorstep,” I snap back at him.

“What the fuck are you talking about? Is this about the argument Wren and I had a couple of weeks ago? You married my ex-wife, what do you expect? We are forced together all the fucking time. Just because you want everyone to get along doesn’t mean that there aren’t going to be moments when we don’t. ”

I sigh. What had I expected? That’s been the question everyone has been asking me lately. “I guess I expected my son to want me to be happy. I thought you would be man enough to recognize your mistakes and not continue to try and fuck up my life the way you keep fucking up yours.”

Liam rolls his eyes. It makes me wonder how I raised someone so selfish.

I’ll have to keep thinking about that so my boys don’t grow up to be as much of an asshole as their brother.

Twin assholes are a bit too much to unleash on the world.

Now, if my daughter grows up to be an asshole, I’m okay with that. I’m actually hoping for it.

“How exactly am I fucking up your life right now? Mine? Yeah, okay, that is true, but yours? What happened with Wren and me was a lifetime ago. Leave it in the past, I have,” he says.

“It’s not in the past for her,” I shout and jab my hand toward the office where Wren is working. Not a great way for me to keep her from knowing about Liam and me arguing about her.

Liam sets down the wrench in his hands. “Explain.”

“Do you know what you were like when you were drinking and using drugs? I didn’t really know, but she shared some things in therapy, and I don’t know how I ever expected her to put that in the past. I’m disappointed with myself for ever having expected her to just move on.

I guess I’m just as selfish as you are,” I ramble.

“What do I do with this? I need to focus on convincing Claudia to come home. I can’t care what is going on with Wren now,” he replies.

A laugh sounds behind me. If a laugh could be sarcastic, then Wren nailed it. “When did you ever care about me?” she asks him.

In the past, I’d have tried to separate them.

I’d have found some way to minimize the damage he’d left, or I’d have at least let myself believe I had.

I might have thought I was saving her, or maybe helping my son, but really, the only person I was protecting was myself.

This time, I would fight against my instincts and let Wren speak for herself.

“C’mon, Liam, tell me. When did you give a single shit about me? Was it when you lied to me about giving up your scholarship so I’d feel guilty and give up mine in return to stay with you?”

She doesn’t wait for him to answer her question. It isn’t needed. All three of us already know that he lied to convince her to stay.

“Why did you lie to me about that? Why fight so hard to keep me if you didn’t even want me?”

In the past, hell, even just a couple of weeks ago, I would have allowed myself to feel insecure hearing that question.

I don’t hear it the same way I did then.

I mistook the pain I heard for love. That’s because I was thinking about myself, not about all the things that she’s endured.

I didn’t want to see my son in this light either.

I knew he’d hurt her, of course, but I guess I chalked it up to a broken heart, not a broken soul.

Wren has come a long way to repair herself. I’d like to think I’ve helped, but there are still cracks. She’s so good at pretending to be solid, I let myself forget.

“Of course I cared about you, you were my wife. What do you want from me?” Liam asks Wren.

“I don’t know,” she says, looking a little lost. “Answers, I guess. I really just want to know why you had to come in and fuck up my life when it was already in pieces around me. What did it do for you to tear me down?”

“I don’t know!” Liam shouts. “I just don’t know, okay. Back then, I thought I needed you, and I hated you for it. After a while, I convinced myself that you really were the one who held me back. I think I liked it being your fault.”

“Except it never was,” she says. Without another word, she turns and walks away.

We both wait in silence while she walks straight out of the garage. Liam shifts his weight back and forth. I know he’s waiting for me to say something, but I still have no words.

“I get it. I’m an asshole, okay? What do you want me to do about it now?” he demands.

“I don’t know, son, but I’m willing to bet if you want your wife back, maybe you should figure out how to stop being a selfish prick.”

I’m not as stupid as I used to be, so I turn and chase after my wife, showing that at least one of us is capable of learning from their mistakes.