Chapter 34 Lydia
Lydia
Seven Months Ago
The steak was almost done, but Blake still wasn’t home.
The potatoes were being warmed in the oven, and the roasted cauliflower would need to be thrown in again when he got in, but at least everything was made and ready to serve.
I glanced at the clock on the stove and sighed.
He would hate a reheated meal, and I really wanted him to be in a good mood today.
I wanted him to be in a good mood every day, but on a day when I was going to tell him something he wasn’t going to like…
it was fine. He would just need to deal with it.
I heard his footsteps coming up the stairs before the door opened. I plastered a smile on my face, just like he liked, and greeted him affectionately.
“Hi, honey. I’m just finishing up dinner. How was your day?”
He dropped his computer bag by the door and walked into the kitchen.
“Smells good. Let’s hope you didn’t overcook it again. I don’t want rubbery steak like last time,” he laughed.
“Let’s hope not,” I said with my smile still in place.
We sat down at the table a few minutes later, and I listened to Blake tell me all about his day.
I was beginning to look forward to these daily rundowns.
After I lost my job in June, I couldn’t find another one.
Not one that would allow me to be home early enough to make dinner and didn’t run into the evening hours, at least not one in the art world.
Blake had convinced me it was for the best. He made enough money to support us.
And really, what was so wrong with being a homemaker?
Absolutely nothing. It was even kind of nice for a while, to not have to work.
But that got old pretty fast, and since I hadn’t talked to any of my old friends for months, I didn’t have anyone I could hit up during the day to hang out with.
Just me, in this little apartment all day. It was making me stir-crazy. Blake’s stories of his work colleagues and projects, his boss, or what he had for lunch were about as much glimmer of the outside world as I got most days
Which brought me back to what I wanted to talk to Blake about.
I waited until he had finished his story before I started. “Since we did Christmas here, just the two of us, my family invited me down to a Calla Bay for a big New Year’s Eve party.”
“Why would we go to some small town in Massachusetts for New Year’s Eve when we’re in the biggest and best city in the world? If you want to go out for the night, we can do that here, and it will be one hundred times better.”
“Yeah, but my brothers are really pushing for it. And I haven’t seen them in a while.”
“It’s too dangerous to drive on New Year’s, what with everyone drinking. We wouldn’t even get back home until after 5:00 a.m.”
“I was thinking we could stay there overnight. The party is also a housewarming party for Reid and his girlfriend, Claire.” I barely even knew Claire, but I knew that Reid was serious about her. Hell, I barely even knew Wyatt’s daughters, and they were my nieces.
“Family things like that aren’t really my thing. Tell them we’ll catch up with them another time. Maybe next summer or something,” Blake said dismissively.
Next summer?
I didn’t go home very often, that habit starting well before Blake.
But after missing two Christmases back-to-back, I hadn’t seen my family since last Thanksgiving, over a year ago.
Reid had been pushing me to come to this party.
It clearly meant a lot to him. So much so that he even had Luke pester me about it.
“I want you to come, Blake. But I’m not asking for your permission for me to go. I’m going to Calla Bay for New Year’s Eve, with or without you,” I told him.
So much for hoping he’d be in a good mood. Blake dropped his fork on his plate with a loud clank.
“I said you weren’t going. They don’t really want you there, Lydia.
If they cared, they would have come up here to see you anytime in the last year.
They haven’t. I’m the one who’s been here for you every fucking day.
Listening to you whine about having the life of luxury.
Eating your shit cooking.” He threw his plate on the floor, shattering it instantly.
“Don’t think for one second that those people are your real family.
They don’t give a shit about you. I do.”
It was true that they hadn’t tried to come up to visit.
But what Blake didn’t understand was that when I first moved to the city, I didn’t want my family to visit.
I shut them down every time they tried and would always go to them.
Ten years was a long time to have that routine in place.
Them coming to me was just not the way we did things.
But that didn’t mean that my family didn’t love me. I knew they did. More than anything, I knew that my dad and my brothers loved me. And they wanted me home for this holiday for whatever reason.
Maybe just because they missed me.
“Blake,” I said, my frustration turning to anger. “I’m going to Calla Bay. And you need to clean up that mess because I’m not doing it.”
I pushed my chair back and stood from the table.
“You don’t make the rules, Lydia. I do. Get the broom before I make you clean it up with your teeth.”
“No.”
I threw the rest of my uneaten food in the trash and dropped my plate in the sink.
I hadn’t even heard Blake get up from the table, but suddenly, he was behind me.
He wrapped his hand around my neck, his other arm pinning my hands to my side.
I couldn’t breathe, Blake’s fist closing around my windpipe.
I tried to free my arms, kick my legs, but Blake was too strong, and we were too close to get any momentum on my side.
“Know your fucking place, Lydia. Clean this dogshit you call dinner off the floor. You’re not going anywhere without me, and I’m not going to some family shindig for New Year’s Eve. Do you understand?” he snarled.
My eyes watered, blood rushing through my ears, blocking out all other sounds. I tried to pull in a breath, but I couldn’t. I felt dizzy. My vision started to dim from the outer edges. My limbs were heavy, completely powerless as Blake held them tightly to my sides.
Just as quickly as he grabbed me, he released me, pushing me forward into the counter, bouncing my hip off one of the drawer handle.
I sucked in a barbed-wire breath, my throat burning in protest. I coughed, and choked, and sputtered for what felt like hours but was actually only minutes.
By the time I could breathe again, Blake was gone.
Probably to his friend Anthony’s place to get high.
The broken plate with remnants of steak, potatoes, and cauliflower was still scattered on the floor.
I lowered myself to the floor, leaning my back against the cabinets, and let myself cry.
Who was this person I had become? When did I let it get this bad? How did I let it go this far?
I couldn’t keep doing this. I couldn’t pretend that I didn’t see what this really was. I was in an abusive relationship, and I needed to get out.
* * *
Present Day
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk to him?” Reid asked, glancing at my phone as Sebastian’s name lit up the screen.
“No,” I sighed, clicking the Decline button on the side and sending him to voicemail.
“No, you’re not sure? Or no, you don’t want to talk to him?” he chuckled.
Thank God my little brother had the space and willingness to take me in when I just up and left the other night.
I really did appreciate it. I did not appreciate him laughing at my utter confusion at what to do next though.
I shot him some serious side-eye, which just had him upping his slight chuckle to full-on laughter.
“Okay. It’s your call. I’ve got your back regardless.”
“Thanks, Reid,” I said.
“Me too,” Claire called from behind me as she came in from the kitchen with fresh-popped popcorn—and not even the microwaved kind.
“Thanks, guys. Do you think I may have, um, overreacted?” I asked quietly.
“You? Never!” Reid exclaimed sarcastically.
“Shut up.” I pushed his shoulder, causing him to throw himself back like I had even the slightest strength to move him like that.
“Ugh. Jeez, someone’s touchy.”
A knock sounded at the front door, and then someone was calling from the foyer, having let herself in. A second later, Scarlett came into the family room with Colton in his portable car seat and a gray-and-blue diaper bag hanging from her arm.
“Hey, you could have called. I would have helped you carry everything,” Reid said, getting up to help her unload.
“It’s fine. I’m getting used to carrying forty extra pounds everywhere I go.” She shrugged.
Reid unbuckled Colton and lifted him gently from his car seat, smiling adorably at his little round face.
He looked back at Claire with a meaningful glance.
I swear I saw his eyes drift over her flat abdomen.
She smiled softly at him, then picked up her phone from the side table and snapped a shot of them together.
“Maeve should be here any…” Before Claire could finish her sentence, the doorbell rang. “I don’t know why she insists on using that thing. I’ve told her a million times to just come inside,” she laughed, shaking her head.
Claire and Maeve were back a minute later, and with them a bottle of wine.
“Alright, I’m taking this guy for some uncle-nephew bonding time in the other room.
You ladies have fun,” Reid said. With Colton cradled in his arm, he leaned into Claire, placing a sweet kiss on her lips.
He whispered something to her that had her face lighting up, and her hand swiped a path across Colton’s forehead.
I had a feeling some big announcement was right around the corner.
“Call me if you need anything. Or if he seems cranky. He’ll need to eat in a couple of hours. I have some bottles prepared in the bag, but if you want, you can just bring him back here,” Scarlett said.