Chapter Seventeen Chess Pieces
Quinn arrived back home shortly before dinner time. She could have happily spent the rest of the evening with Tenn, but Quill had texted and asked her to meet him for supper, so she wanted to change and freshen up before he came to pick her up. She showered, put on a yellow sundress, short jean jacket, and white tennis shoes, braided her hair, pulled a few tendrils loose to frame her face, and did a light makeup job. She was scrolling on her phone in the living room while she waited when Joel walked in.
“Hey.” He looked her over, leaning his shoulder on the archway. “You look great.”
“Thanks. You're home early.” She didn't look up from her phone. She was still royally pissed off about the lies he had told Viki and was afraid that if she looked at him, she would throw her phone at his head.
“Yeah, I was hoping we could spend some time together, but I'm guessing you have plans.” His voice sounded defeated, and she glanced up to see him looking sad and hurt.
“Quill is taking me out for dinner.” She answered shortly, her anger intensifying at his sheer shamelessness to be upset about anything she did.
Joel sighed and came to sit beside her. “Quinn, you have to try to meet me halfway here.”
“What does meeting you halfway look like?” It took everything in her not to get up and walk out of the room while telling him exactly what she thought of him.
“Talk to me? Spend some time with me? Try cuddling with me? I don't know. I wasn't looking for sex last night; I just wanted to hold my wife.” He tentatively reached out and took her hand, holding it in both of his. “I just want something from you that says you’re at least receptive to fixing things.”
“Why?” She didn’t know what to say to that without giving everything away.
“What do you mean why?”
“Why is this suddenly important to you?” She put down her phone in her lap and stared at the wall opposite them. “I have been asking for exactly that for four months. Four goddamn months Joel! Why wasn't it important to you then?” She finally looked at him. “If this is because you're worried I'll relapse...”
“I admit that is part of it, but I know I've been a shitty, distant husband, and I didn't realize how serious you were. I had no idea you were at the point where you were considering divorce. I knew I was hurting you, but with everything at work, I didn't have the capacity to deal with the issues here. I just kept thinking I'll fix that soon; she'll understand. I didn't even realize it's been four months.” He was continuing to look at her like he was pleading for her to understand which only made her madder.
“Well, that made me feel so much better about everything!” She exploded. “You haven't even noticed it's been four months since we had any intimacy besides the odd hug or kiss on the cheek. Me having a complete meltdown, crying and begging you to please make some changes or leave me, even laying out exactly what I wanted those changes to be, meant nothing to you because I'll understand!” Quinn's phone buzzed; she picked up, saw Quill was waiting out front, and stood up. “If you want to stay because you're afraid I'll relapse and not because you love me and want this to work out, don't bother. I'm not gonna relapse; I have a lot of great people in my life who will make sure of that.” She headed to the front door, completely done with the conversation and him.
“Is Tenn one of those people?” Joel asked quietly.
“Tenn is one of those people, just like Bishop, Rilla, and Quill.” She paused in the archway and looked back at him. “Ask me.”
“Ask you what?” Quinn knew he was stalling. It was one of his tactics when they fought. He would ask her to clarify what she meant when he knew exactly what she was saying to buy himself time to think while she explained.
“If Tenn and I are sleeping together. I know Viki asked him.”
“Are you?” She noticed his hands curled into fists as he spoke and wondered why he was so jealous. He couldn’t love her as much as he claimed to if he was so willing to step out on their marriage.
“No. Are you sleeping with Viki?” She instantly saw she had caught him off guard.
“No. Why would you ask that?” The look of surprise on his face was almost convincing. Almost.
“No reason.” She smiled innocently. “Just wanted you to see how it felt to have your integrity questioned. Are you going bowling tomorrow night?
“Yeah.” He stood up and came toward her, looking appropriately contrite. “I really am trying to fix this, and I'd like to spend some time with you this week. I've been asked to do some training in Atlanta at One Porsche Drive this weekend. I'll be leaving Friday morning and back Sunday night. My sales have been low lately, and Rhyme wants me to do a refresher. And just so you hear it from me, not Tenn, Viki is going. She wants to switch to sales.”
“I'd make sure she knows about Trina's experience there before she signs up for that.” Her phone buzzed again, and she moved toward the door. “I have to go.”
“How late are you going to be? I want to watch a movie with you.” He followed her to the door and reached out to grab her hand again.
“I don't know.” She shrugged; she wasn’t saying it to be a brat either; she had no idea what was going on with Quill or what he wanted to get dinner for. “I can't remember the last time Quill wanted to have dinner for no reason, so I'm not sure what's going on. If it's not too late, sure.”
“Okay, good.” He looked relieved. “I'm gonna move the mattresses around in the spare room and put my stuff away... unless you'll let me move back?” His voice and expression turned hopeful, and she almost laughed out loud at him.
“Nope.” Quinn opened the front door. “Don't hurt yourself. See you later.” She ran across the lawn and climbed into the car with Quill. “Hey, sorry, Joel was trying to get me to change my mind about leaving him.” She leaned across the console to kiss his cheek.
“Oh yeah, how did that work out for him?” Quill grinned as he pulled away from the curb, and she buckled her seatbelt.
“About as well as you think it did.” She looked at her brother. “So, what's up?”
“I wanted to take you out to thank you for giving Chrissy the tires. The old ones were almost bald; that's why they popped when she hit the pothole.” He paused. “When she saw I had replaced all four, she got upset. We didn't break up exactly, but it didn't end well.”
“Why did she get upset?” Quinn frowned. She wasn’t immediately going to jump to her twin's defence; if she had to guess, there was more behind it than he realized. “I was going to give them away for free anyway.”
“I don't know, something about bringing my family in on her private business.” He sighed in evident frustration. “I don’t understand her thought process at all. I told her I was on my way to your house and would get the tire patched. You’d think she’d be happy to have four new tires for free and have time to save up for winter ones.”
“Did she give you back the tires?” Quinn looked at him quizzically.
“I offered to bring them back to you, and she got even angrier because it would make her come across as ungrateful, and she hasn't even met you yet.” Quill frowned as he changed lanes and merged onto the I93.
“So, where are you with this?” Quinn adjusted in her seat to get a better look at him, needing to know where his head was before she could offer her opinion.
“I'm frustrated, honestly. I get wanting to be self-sufficient and not needing to rely on someone, but those tires were a hazard. She was going to end up killing herself and her kid. The few times I have done something for her, she's gotten mad at me for doing it. I like some dynamics of our relationship, but I was the last person she called for help yesterday. She called her ex before she called me, and I was the one who dropped everything to help her. To have it thrown back in my face like that? I think I'm done.”
“Well, if that's the case, wait for her to reach out to you, and when she does, meet her and tell her it's over.” Quinn reached out and squeezed his arm. “You deserve someone who will appreciate you and all your awesomeness, Porcupine.”
“Pest.” Quill chuckled. “Thanks Q.”
“Anytime.” Quinn smiled and released his arm. Wanting to take his mind off Chrissy, she quickly came up with an idea for the weekend. “So, Joel is going out of town this weekend; want to have a sleepover? We can set up the switch in the living room and have a Mario Kart Party, with lots of drinks and food. Bishop, Rilla, and Tenn can come too.”
“So, I'll be the fifth wheel? That'll be fun.” He playfully rolled his eyes at her.
“It will be one couple and three semi-single people. You're about to break up, and Tenn and I are about to divorce our cheating spouses.” She reassured him. “I think it will be fun.”
“How are things going with Tenn anyway?” Quill's smirk was very smug.
“It's going fine.”
“Uh-huh. Fine.” He teased, clearly delighted with how it was working out.
“Why didn't you introduce us?” Quinn tilted her head at him. This went well beyond the whole not wanting to share people thing. “How long have you known him?”
“I honestly wish I had. You would never have gone back to Joel, and he would have left Viki and been much happier. We’ve known each other for five years and became good friends three, three and half years ago. When I realized you two would be perfect together, you weren't in a good place, he wasn't in a good place, and I decided to wait until you both were.” His smug smirk grew into a smug grin. “It was a strange and weird coincidence that Viki ended up working at the dealership.”
Quinn stared at him, realizing what he had done. “Was it? Didn't you design Rhyme's house?” She had told Gorden Rhyme about Quill and Q Architecture at a Christmas party several years ago when he told her he was looking to redesign his house and wanted to go green, which was her brother's specialty. Rhyme had been thrilled after the consult and redesign and recommended Quill to all his friends, which was one of the biggest reasons Q Architecture gained so much traction so quickly.
Quill laughed. “Yeah, you're right, I did. That's one of my favourites. He gave me full creative control and told me what he wanted to be included. That house is one hundred percent green, zero carbon footprint.” He pulled up to the restaurant, parked, and got out, still going on about the house.
“QUILL! Stop trying to avoid the question!” Quinn got out of the car and chased him across the parking lot, grabbing his arm as he reached the door. “Did you do something?”
“I helped a friend's wife get a job by passing along her resume that she sent to me. That's all.” He gently pulled free of her grasp and opened the door, gesturing for her to go through ahead of him.
“She applied at Q?” Quinn was momentarily distracted from the fact that her twin had most likely set her husband and his friend's wife up.
“Yeah, for a position as my executive assistant. I interviewed her more out of loyalty to Tenn than anything else.” He spoke to the hostess, and they followed her to a table. When they were seated and had given their drink orders, he continued. “Tenn told me she was draining his bank account, and he suspected she was having an affair but had no proof. After her interview, during which she blatantly flirted with me, I told her I'd be in touch and went to a meeting with Gordon about possibly redoing the dealership. He said he needed a receptionist, and I passed her resume along. Told him she wasn't what I was looking for, but she might work for him.” He shrugged. “I didn’t know for sure that she and Joel would hit it off so well, but I had a feeling.”
“Uh-huh.” She eyed her twin suspiciously. She knew he loved her, and she also knew he carried a lot of guilt for not being there when they were kids. Q Architecture was a nod to her, the nickname he gave her, not just the first letter of his name, as everyone assumed, because she pushed him to change majors in his first year from Sports Physiotherapy to Architecture and helped him with the start-up costs. He tended to play the long game with things, and she could see him setting up pieces to push into place when he thought the time was right. “You getting tired of looking after me, Porcupine?” She asked after their drinks came and they placed their orders for their mains.
Quill reached out and took her hand. “Quinn, I will always look after you and have your back, just like you will always look after me and have mine. I think you're finally getting to a place where you don’t need me to be as militant in looking after you. You've got this under control and just need someone to be there for you occasionally. I will happily be that person for the rest of my life, but you deserve someone who loves you in a less fraternal way.”
“Did you bring me here to make me cry in public? Because not cool.” Quill rolled his eyes and let her hand go so she could dab her tears with a napkin.
“Always with the tears, Quinn.”