Chapter 27
Everly
“Late night?” Miranda asks as she takes the coffee cup that I hand her. “That is the second time I’ve seen you yawn in five minutes.”
Of course, she would point that out. Typical of Grant’s overly critical mom. Fuck my life. I wonder what she would think if I told her the real reason I can’t stop yawning— that I was up all night doing filthy things on Facetime with my boyfriend.
“The move has kept me busy, and Birdie isn’t sleeping well.”
Miranda frowns. “Is she not happy to be back at Brentwood Academy?”
I look at Birdie on the couch in the other room playing with her dolls. It’s been three weeks since we moved. Three weeks of reminding myself daily that things could be worse. “She’s having a hard time with some of the girls.”
“Birdie? I find that hard to believe.”
Miranda knows very little about her granddaughter. She’s seen her a handful of times in the past year, and even then, she rarely really talks to her. “She does get along well with others, but that doesn’t matter to mean girls, and Brentwood has its fair share.”
Miranda harumphs. “There are mean girls everywhere. It’s just a part of life. It will toughen her up. Birdie can be a little sensitive like…”
She stops before finishing her thought, but I know exactly what she’s thinking. Why did I invite her here? She’s been over for all of 15 minutes, and I already can’t wait for her to leave.
We manage to be cordial, for two people who can barely tolerate one another. We talk about Thanksgiving coming up and she invites Birdie and I for dinner. I wonder what Jake will be doing. I miss him terribly. Not being able to see him after work or when I wake up in the morning is hard. He has visited a few times already, but it still doesn’t feel like enough. Grant, on the other hand, hasn’t asked to see Birdie once.
“Have you and Grant come to some sort of an understanding for Birdie’s sake?” The way she asks that makes me want to vomit. How can you reason with Grant? It’s like talking to a petulant toddler. No, we haven’t come to any type of understanding. He insisted I move back here, and now he keeps making up excuses not to see her.
“I haven’t seen him to be able to come to any kind of understanding, although it’s not for my lack of trying.”
“What do you mean? You’ve been here for three weeks, and you haven’t spoken to him? Has he not seen Birdie?”
Why do you sound surprised? Your son is a dick.
“He hasn’t seen her. Hasn’t even tried.” And because I am done playing nice, I continue. “Grant made it very difficult to be his wife; it’s not easy when you’re not the only woman in your marriage. Now he’s making it very difficult for me to co-parent with him. He has seen her twice this year and it’s already the middle of October. He didn’t even bother to call her on her birthday.”
Holy shit, did I just say all of that to my mother-in-law? A jolt of panic momentarily races through my veins. But when I look at Miranda, I almost think I can see empathy in her eyes.
“I knew there were problems in your marriage. I wasn’t clear on what they were. I’m sorry my son put you through that. I’m sorry he has hurt you and Birdie.”
Ummm, did I just hear her correctly? She has always taken Grant’s side. She has never been kind to me. What has changed all of a sudden?
“Miranda, why did Grant come home early from North Carolina?” I ask carefully.
She doesn’t answer. She just shakes her head before taking a sip of her coffee. All this time I’ve wondered what happened. I’ve wondered what he did to get himself sent back to Brookmont. But she’s not going to tell me. Why would she?
My phone rings on the counter and I get up from the table to grab it, smiling when I see that it’s Jake.
“Hi babe.”
“Is that Jake?” Birdie hollers from the living room. “I want to talk to him.”
“Jake, I have Miranda here, so I’ll call you later, but Birdie wants to say hi.” He asks me to put her on the phone, but not before telling me he loves me. My heart burns for him. I would do anything to see him in person right now. To see the intensity in his green eyes when he wants to undress me.
“Here baby, but don’t be too long, he’s at work,” I say, handing my phone to Birdie, who is basically climbing up my leg to grab the device from my hand.
She walks to the living room, jabbering away with bright eyes and a smile that reaches her ears. “Jake. I miss you. When are you coming to visit? I hate living this far away from you, and I really want you to take me bike riding again.”
Miranda is listening with pursed lips, but surprisingly there isn’t a single trace of anger.
“Those two are close,” she remarks, and I brace myself for whatever judgemental comment comes next. But she says nothing.
“They are. He loves her.” A warm sensation spreads through my body thinking about the way Jakes treats my daughter. She isn’t his, but he chooses her. Birdie is his choice.
Birdie walks back into the kitchen with my phone, clutching the stuffed cat Jake gave her. “I miss Jake, Mommy. I want to go back to Reed Point. I hate it here.”
I look at her pointedly. “Mind your manners, Birdie. We don’t use that word in this house.”
“Well, I mean it. I miss Reed Point. I want Jake. He tucks me in and takes me bike riding. When can we go home and see Jake?” she protests in her little voice, and I can tell that she is fighting back tears.
I do my best to explain that we are home. I silently curse Grant again for the way he ignores her. She doesn’t deserve to be forgotten about, but I can’t change that. I just need to love her enough on my own. I hug her to my chest until she’s calm again, and then my little spitfire is gone running to the living room to play with her dolls.
Miranda and I sit in silence for a moment before she turns to me. “Everly?”
I nod.
“I want you to know I’m sorry Grant hasn’t been a present father. It is not okay with me.”
“It isn’t?”
“How could it be? I like to think I raised him better than that, but now I’m not so sure. I obviously made mistakes along the way.”
I inwardly wonder if she got anything right. “I’m sure you did your best.”
“You’re a good mom, Everly. You have always put Birdie first. It’s admirable.”
This is one of the hardest conversations I think I’ve ever had. Miranda has made it clear over the years that she doesn’t like me.
“Are you sure about this guy?”
I sit straighter in my chair, looking her in the eyes. “If you are asking if I’m sure about Jake, the answer is yes. If I wasn’t, he wouldn’t be in our lives. I would never take a chance when it comes to Birdie’s heart.”
Her lips turn into a flat line before she sips again from her coffee cup.
I’ve known this woman for close to a decade, and I should know what that look in her eyes means… but I don’t. In all honesty, I am done worrying about what she thinks.
JAKE
I tossmy iPhone onto my desk, then massage my scalp with my fingers. My hair is long, falling over my forehead. I haven’t bothered to get it cut. I haven’t bothered to shave either. I haven’t felt like doing much.
I also haven’t been sleeping. I lie in bed every night, staring at the ceiling until I give up and turn on the TV. Last night, I fell asleep watching reruns of Seinfeld. The night before, I went for a run, hoping to clear my head. The only time I sleep well is when I’m in Brookmont with Everly. I’ve gotten so used to having her in my bed that when she isn’t there, I can’t turn my brain off.
I miss her. Fuck, how I miss her. And it only seems to get worse every day. I miss the way she snuggles in next to me when we’re watching TV on the couch. I miss the scent of her body lotion that has faded from my bed sheets. If it wasn’t for the fact that I own my own company, I probably would have quit my job by now and moved to Brookmont, but for obvious reasons I can’t. I’m stuck here while she’s stuck two hours away. And there’s nothing either of us can do about it.
A yawn overtakes me, and I rub my blurry eyes. I have a contract to go over that will take me at least an hour. Then I need to meet with potential new clients to talk through a kitchen and bathroom renovation.
Work is what’s getting me through my days, it is the distraction I need to stop thinking about Everly and Birdie. Ev says she is doing well at school, but she misses her friends in Reed Point. And me. I miss her too. So much some days it physically hurts.
Saying goodbye to the two of them was fucking hard. Will we find a way to be together? And how long will it take? My biggest fear is that she’ll get tired of doing long distance. What if she decides it’s not worth it? I hate everything about this arrangement. I just wish I saw a way to change it.
My phone rings. I check the screen hoping it’s Everly, but it’s not. It’s Liam Bennett, and I’m a little surprised to get a call from him in the middle of a workday.
“Hey Liam,” I answer. “What’s up?”
“Hey, man. Can you talk?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” I say, checking the clock on my desk. “What’s up? Everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine. Question for you. Did you say Everly’s last name is Billings?”
“Yeah, why are you asking?” I sit up straighter in my chair.
“Is her ex-husband Grant Billings? He lives in Brookmont?”
“That’s him. Why are you asking?”
“I was talking to a buddy of mine who knows him. He started to tell me about a guy that he works with and then I put two and two together and figured out he was talking about Everly’s ex. He mentioned he has an ex-wife and a daughter, and some of the details seemed familiar. And Birdie isn’t a common name, so I figured it had to be the guy.”
“Get to the point, Liam. You’re fucking killing me.”
“I get it… you don’t like the guy.” Liam chuckles. “You’re not the only one. He’s a douchebag. Apparently, he was sent down to North Carolina to run operations for at least a year at his family’s steel company and ended up lasting eight weeks. He drank too much at a company dinner and got handsy with the CFO’s niece. She lodged a complaint against him with HR. Said he was saying inappropriate things to her all night and when she got up to go to the bathroom, he cornered her in the hallway where she had to push him off her. From what I’ve been told, she was going to file charges, but the family intervened.”
It makes sense. Everly said that Grant wouldn’t give her the whole story as to why he was suddenly back in town. Turns out it’s because he sexuallyassaulted someone. What a fucking sleaze bag.
I wonder who else knows about this. I would assume his parents are trying to keep a lid on it to avoid humiliating the family and their company.
The sad part? Grant is Birdie’s dad. A man with no moral compass. One day she’s going to find out who her father really is, and it will break her heart.
“They had no choice but to get him out of there,” Liam continues. “The guy sounds like a total piece of shit from a few of the other stories my buddy told me.”
“You have no idea.”
By the time I end the call, it’s nearly lunch, but I’ve lost my appetite. Instead, I clear my calendar for the next two days. I have someone I need to talk to.
EVERLY
The dizzy feelingin my head has finally eased up. Jake unexpectedly showed up at my house, and while I was thrilled to find him at my door, the reason for his surprise visit made me sick to my stomach. The news he shared about the real reason Grant came back to Brookmont left me in absolute shock. Grant being unfaithful in our marriage is one thing, but sexually assaulting someone is something I just can’t wrap my head around.
Once the shock started to wear off, my emotions shifted to anger. How could he ever do such a thing? This was bad. It made me feel physically ill. We share a daughter, and Grant’s actions not only affect me, they also affect Birdie. What would happen if she were to ever find out? My skin crawls at the thought.
Jake and I talked about it for over an hour, trying to decide the best way to handle this. In the end, I decided that I needed to confront Grant about it. I needed to know the whole truth—and I wanted to hear it from him.
The car ride to his house seemed to take forever, the minutes ticking by slowly. My adrenaline pumps hard through my veins as Jake and I walk to Grant’s front door.
This is it. I square my shoulders and look Grant in his familiar icy blue eyes when he opens the door.
He looks surprised. “What are you doing here?”
“We need to talk,” I say, Jake’s big hand resting on the base of my spine, giving me courage.
I expected to have the conversation on his doorstep, thinking he wouldn’t let us in. Instead, he huffs and gestures for us to come inside. We follow him into the living room where we each take a seat, my hands trembling in my lap. I open my mouth to speak, but he goes first.
“I want to see Birdie this weekend. I’ll pick her up on Saturday morning.”
I shake my head. “We won’t be here. We’re going to Reed Point. It’s my dad’s birthday. I sent you a message about this weeks ago.”
“Evy, why is everything always so difficult with you?”
I blink. Difficult with me? Is he joking? My shaking hands ball into fists as I explain to him that I can’t always drop everything when he feels like seeing his daughter—which is basically never.
“For fuck’s sake, Everly. I have a life, okay? A job. Responsibilities. You wouldn’t know—”
“A job, right,” I seethe, cutting him off. “Speaking of that, why did you really come back from North Carolina so early, Grant?” He pales—it’s only for a moment, but it’s all I need to know the truth. “Because I heard that it’s because you forced yourself on a woman.” I stare at him, waiting for his response.
He blinks. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” I glare. “It’s the real reason you left North Carolina early. Admit it, Grant. You know what, never mind. It’s too vile to even hear. I know you, and I can tell just by looking at you that it’s true. You are damn lucky your parents own the company and are covering for you.”
A vein in Grant’s neck looks like it’s going to burst as his posture stiffens. “Is this what you came here to talk about? Because if it is, the two of you can get out.”
“No.” Jake’s voice bounces off the walls, a muscle firing in his jaw. The way he’s looking at Grant— it’s scary and hot all at the same time. “We’re going to talk about this now.” I’ve never seen Jake this mad. Grant is in trouble. “First, you cheat on your wife the entire time you are married. Then, you assault a female co-worker?” Jake glares. “You may have been able to silence that poor woman, but you will not be able to silence me. You won’t speak to Everly the way you do ever again. You won’t tell her how to live her life. Or you will have me to deal with, and believe me, I would like nothing more than to put my fist to your face.”
I look at Jake next to me then at Grant, who just got his ass handed to him. I love Jake for this.
“You don’t deserve a kid like Birdie,” Jake continues, his voice low and steady. “And if I were you, I wouldn’t be fighting Everly for sole custody. I wouldn’t be fighting Everly on anything she feels is best for Birdie, including where she wants to live. Unless you’d like to have your name dragged through the mud. And trust me, we will take what you did to that girl public.”
The anger on Grant’s face is palpable. He opens his mouth, probably to tell Jake where to go, but Jake pushes to standing from the couch before he does, reaching for my hand.
We ignore him, walking towards the door. Then we walk out of Grant’s house—the house I used to live in—and we get into my car.
My jaw hits the floor for the second time in 20 minutes. Jake left Grant Billings speechless. That must be a first.
A wave of intense relief washes over me as the reality of this sinks in. There is nothing else Grant can do to me. I will never allow him to make me feel small and unimportant again. I’m done playing his games. Jake has shown me how I deserve to be treated, he’s given me my self-confidence back, and with him by my side I am stronger.
“Are you okay, baby?”
I nod. “I’m okay, but did that just really happen?”
“He isn’t going to bother you, Ev. Never again.”
With a smile, I lean over the console, and he meets me halfway. “I love you,” I say, my hand on his jaw, my eyes locked on his.
“I love you too.”
Then he seals his lips to mine.
The kiss goes on for minutes. And when his hand loops behind my neck pulling me closer, I feel a wild, burning sensation in my chest.
And I secretly hope Grant is watching from the window.