7. Gavin
Gavin
There are some moments in life that just knock the wind clean out of you, and you realize, all at once, that you have been the biggest dumbass walking the planet.
The second Wren announced she was moving in right across the street from us, I understood exactly what that announcement was.
Calculated. Because if she was actually the good friend she kept insisting she was, she never would have picked that exact moment, standing there in the middle of my already-falling-apart marriage, to drop that news.
She knew exactly what would happen next.
She knew it would be the nail in the coffin.
“Gavin asked you to come live closer to us?” Bree said.
“Yeah,” Wren said. “Gavin told me.”
She had this innocent little smile on her face, like she had no idea what kind of damage those two sentences were about to do.
“The night Gavin came over, when I was so scared because my ex had just threatened me, I was terrified, Bree. Gavin told me it’d be a good idea to move closer to you guys.
He said it’d be so much safer for me.” She looked over at me.
“Remember, Gav? You told me there was nothing to even ask Bree about, that you knew she’d be just as worried about me as you.
” She turned back to Bree. “I can’t believe how lucky I am, honestly.
I already feel so safe, and I haven’t even moved in yet. ”
I turned to Bree, doing my best to ignore Wren entirely. “Bree, Bree, it’s not what you think. I was worried about her safety, so…”
Bree lifted a hand in front of my face before I could get another word out.
I stopped talking.
“Leave,” she said. “Right now.”
She was looking straight at me when she said it. Tears in her eyes, but her voice completely steady.
I put my head down. I couldn’t reach her anymore. Not from where I was standing. Not with any of the words I had left in me.
I could read a blitz before it even showed.
I could audible at the line faster than any quarterback in the league.
I could find the one soft spot in a zone coverage with my eyes closed.
And somehow, with all of that, I hadn’t been able to see my own marriage getting picked apart, piece by piece, right in front of me.
I hadn’t seen how I’d been putting Bree down, a little at a time, every single day.
How I’d taken Wren’s side, over and over, right in front of the woman I loved.
How I’d dismissed her every single time she’d tried to reach out and tell me something was wrong.
I walked out quietly.
On my way out, I caught Melvin’s eyes for a second. I thought I saw something like sympathy in there, just a flicker, but maybe I was imagining it, looking for anything that wasn’t pure hate. I tried to look at Bree too, but she wasn’t looking back. She was staring down at the counter.
I got out to the parking lot and realized Wren’s car was blocking mine in. I turned around, and there she was, standing right behind me.
“Move your car, Wren.”
She stepped closer instead. “I’m so sorry, Gav. Is Bree upset because of what I said? I’ll go back in right now and apologize.”
“Just stop it, Wren.”
“I’m only trying to help make things better between you two.”
“You don’t need to,” I said. “You can leave now.”
“If I may say something,” she said, “I think she should be a little more considerate of your schedule. You’re an NFA quarterback, Gavin.
You’re not just some regular guy with nothing better to do.
You’ve got the final game of the season in four days, and does she even care about that?
No. Clearly not. This whole thing, honestly, this is exactly the moment for her and her family to show a little maturity and just step back.
Whatever this is, it can wait until after your season’s over, can’t it?
I can’t believe Bree is being this unsupportive. This immature.”
Immature.
Hadn’t I said that exact word to Bree’s face myself, just a few days ago?
Heat rushed straight up my neck when I realized what I’d actually been doing this whole time.
Wren had the nerve to stand there and call my wife unsupportive and immature, and the only reason she even had those words to throw around was because I’d handed them to her myself.
It was just my own words, coming right back around to bite me.
“I don’t need your opinion on Bree,” I said. “Just leave, Wren. Right now.”
“Why, Gavin? I’ve only ever been supportive of you. I’ve always shown up. I drove three hours out here just so you wouldn’t miss practice. And what has she done this whole time? Just caused problem after problem between us.”
“Between us?” I said. “We’re not a fucking couple, Wren. I know I’ve been slow catching on. But I’m all caught up now. You’ve been the one causing every single problem here. Not her.”
“What are you even talking about, Gav? Just last night you told me you can only be yourself when you’re with me. You said your life at home with Bree feels like baggage. What changed?”
“What changed,” I said, “is I figured out what an asshole I’ve been.
And I figured out you’re a conniving woman who’s been working hard to break my marriage apart.
That’s what changed. I actually believed you were just lonely.
That you were genuinely reaching out to me as a friend.
I believed whatever history we had was behind us, and we were just reconnecting. ”
Wren’s whole face softened, that exact expression from the night her ex showed up at her apartment.
“Gav.” She put a hand on my arm. “I was never trying to break up your marriage. I was genuinely just trying to be your friend. But if Bree has a problem with me, I’ll back off.
I promise, I will. Right after the documentary wraps.
I don’t want to cause any problems for you two.
I just— I already paid a full year on the lease.
Moving out right now would be really difficult for me. ”
“I understand,” I said. “That’s not even what this is about. It’s, it’s?—“
I couldn’t get any further than that.
“I’ll see you at practice,” I said instead.
She squeezed my arm. “Okay, Gavin. I’ll see you there.” She paused.
“Can you move your car so I can move mine?” I said.
“Sure, Gav. I’ll see you there. You’re coming straight there, right?”
I nodded. She got in her car, moved it out of the way, gave me a little wave through the windshield, and drove off.
After she left, I sat in my car for a minute, just staring at the steering wheel. Then I pulled out my phone and typed in the name of her ex-husband.
Xavier.
I knew the town they’d lived in together, back before the divorce. Brookhaven.
So I typed it in. Xavier Wren Brookhaven.
The search results came back fast.
His full name was Xavier Sullivan. And he lived just half an hour away.