Page 27 of If I Didn’t Have You

“Well, clearly, he’s frustrated, and he needs to take his anger out on something,” Jeff grinned.

“Wipe that smile off your face,” I sneered.

“Since when do you let Ma get to you this much?”

“What are you talking about?” Liam asked his brother.

“Well, isn’t it obvious? Ma did something. Or Pop did something and now Ma’s pissed. I thought that much was pretty clear.”

“Only to you. Still not sure why it is that you can tell when our parents are fighting, but you can’t manage to keep a woman,” Liam retorted.

“I’ll have you know that I entertain plenty of women. I’m choosy.”

“Choosy is when you have women fawning over you, and you have to turn them away. You, my friend⁠—”

I ignored their bickering and went outside for some fresh air. I had never fought with Clara so much in all my life, and now things were falling apart left and right.

I didn’t know what to say to make her so angry, but it seemed like everything out of my mouth lately set her off. All I wanted was for her to be happy, but I didn’t know what that was anymore.

After she was poisoned, I found myself hovering over her, needing to know that she was okay. I took care of her and made sure she was comfortable, but she quickly got irritated with me, pushing me further away. Nothing I could say or do could bring back what we once had, and the more time that passed, the more I worried that she blamed me for her poisoning.

“Pop, tell him that when a woman smiles at him, that’s not the same thing as her flirting with him,” Liam snapped as he shoved the screen door open. “He’s gonna have assault charges brought against him if he doesn’t stop hitting on every woman that looks at him.”

“When they wink at you, that’s flirting!”

“Sometimes! Not every time! Delilah had something in her eye. She told you that!”

“I still say she was flirting with me,” Jeff argued.

“She likes Remi. Everyone around town knows that they belong together!”

“If they belonged together, they would already be together, which they clearly aren’t!”

“Because they’re both stubborn! You know something about that!”

Jeff immediately backed down, which meant he was hiding something. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, so that wasn’t you stumbling into Delaney’s house the other night?”

He barked out a laugh. “I was drunk and she gave me someplace to crash.”

“Uh-uh. Keep telling yourself that.”

“Delaney? That rock and gem woman?” I asked.

“She’s a friend,” Jeff argued.

“You don’t stumble into a woman’s house at night without it meaning something,” Liam snapped. “Not in this town.”

“Well, that’s what happened. I’m sorry to burst your bubble.”

I’d seen some idiotic things in my time, but never had I gone to a woman’s house and stayed there overnight. “Are you a fucking idiot?”

“Possibly,” he shrugged.

“Because I know no son of mine is stupid enough to stay at a woman’s house overnight.” My eyes shot to Liam since he was that idiot. The crap he put Bailey through disappointed me more than I could ever express, but he wouldn’t listen to anything I had to say.

“Like I said, nothing happened, Pop. We’re friends. That’s all.”