Page 158 of Contentious

“No, I didn’t, but believe it or not, I understood where it was coming from.”

“That’s no excuse.”

“Maybe not, but it is an explanation. You haven’t said much about the latest development.”

In all the time they’d spent together, he’d never spoken to her about his parents’ divorce or the fallout for him and his siblings. However, she knew the story because everyone did. “What’s there to say? They dragged us through hell for an entire decade of our lives that we’ll never get back, and now they’re back together? Like… what? All I want to do is tell them to eff off with that crap.”

“That must be so hard for you and your siblings.”

“It’s insanity. They want to ‘talk’ to us.”

“Yikes.”

“Yeah, we’re avoiding them, which is harder than you might think since we all work for them.”

“And why is that exactly?”

“Because.”

She laughed and then covered her mouth with her hand. “Sorry, it’s not funny.”

“It kind of is when you look at the big picture. Our firm is well known, highly respected, the go-to for anyone in need of a successful divorce or custody case or any number of other family-related issues. Going somewhere else in LA with our last name would’ve been stupid and counterproductive, so we joined one of the family firms, and it’s really been fine until recently.”

“The internet is having a free-for-all with their reconciliation.”

“I’ve heard.”

“Lots of memes from the TV show.”

Griffin groaned. “Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, they put it on TV. What a freaking nightmare that was.”

“It had to be awful.”

“I was in eighth grade… I wanted to quit school.”

“I’m sorry you had to endure that. I wish they’d thought more of their children than they did about themselves.”

“Yeah, me, too, but the paradox is that they were actually good parents the rest of the time. They supported us in everything we wanted to do and pulled my brother Carson back from the brink of certain death when he was fully addicted to heroin. They’ve always been there for us when we needed them.”

“Maybe that was their way of making amends for what they put you through.”

“I don’t know. I think they would’ve been those parents even without the divorce.”

“What broke them up?”

“We have no idea. They’ve shared every detail except that one.”

“What do you think it was?”

“One of them cheated or accused the other one of cheating or something like that.”

“Have you ever come right out and asked them?”

“Hell no. None of us wants to know that badly.”

“I’m sorry they hurt you this way.”

“It’s fine. I’m okay.”