Lorenzo
Don’t let what happened with Linda fuck things up for you with Olivia.
Vince’s words repeated in Lorenzo’s head over and over, and he welcomed them. He needed to keep this in mind. He’d be open-minded, damn it. Just because one call from Margie already had Liv sounding strange, it didn’t have to mean anything.
They’d just had the best two days ever. He’d gotten pretty good about reading her in the past several weeks, and he’d seen it in her eyes plenty of times now. She was just as crazy about him as he was about her. Most importantly, Liv deserved more than the benefit of the doubt. She deserved his full trust. So he waited as she beat around the bush, telling him how Margie had texted her to say she needed Liv now more than anything and how she’d felt compelled to hear her out.
“It’s not just that her family is uber religious, but they’re very old fashioned,” she said as Lorenzo took a deep galling breath because he got the distinct feeling she was prolonging this—avoiding getting to the real reason why she still sounded strange. “Not only did they have her late in life, so they’re much older than parents of someone her age are normally, but she has an uncle who’s a pastor and her parents both have degrees in theology. It’s why I was so surprised when I first found out she was involved with Jay. She never said she’d be waiting until she was married to have sex, but she said her parents had waited and her mom always said she should too. Margie herself has always been religious. She prays about everything, so I kind of had the feeling that would be the case with her. Before Jay, she’d only ever had one relationship that even came close to being a boyfriend. I never told her, but I always got the feeling it was why he sort of disappeared and lost interest with her. Jay . . . well, he’s not the type of guy who would ever have an unconsummated relationship. For a minute there I even thought maybe that’s why they’d gotten engaged. But I was wrong. I should’ve known there’s no way that would be the case with him.”
“Liv, babe,” Lorenzo finally had to speak up.
“Yeah?”
“What’s wrong?”
“She’s pregnant,” she said simply, making Lorenzo swallow hard.
“But they’re engaged so . . . why does that bother you?”
“It doesn’t bother me,” she said defensively. “It’s just that . . .”
Lorenzo could feel the tension he’d already started feeling become heavier with every moment that went by and she didn’t continue. “Just that what?” he finally had to ask.
“He wants her to have an abortion.”
“What?” Lorenzo gripped the phone a little tighter. “Why? He was gonna marry her anyway.”
“He’s not gonna marry her,” she said, exhaling loudly.
As aggravating as this conversation was becoming, hearing her exhale the way she did made it seem as if she were finally going to get to what was bothering her, so he braced himself.
He heard her take a deep breath but said nothing as if she were trying to figure out what to say first. Lorenzo’s gut feeling didn’t like where this was going. It brought back the memory of the first and last time they’d spoken in depth about this guy. She’d been uncomfortable then, too, pausing a lot, and he hated it, but he waited patiently.
“I got a text from him today too,” she finally said, and Lorenzo was on his feet, but she didn’t pause this time, so he listened without interrupting. “Which I didn’t respond to and I deleted it, like I plan on doing if he ever texts me again. So before you get upset or anything, just know that I have zero intention of reconnecting with him in any way. Margie is different. She’s been my closest and only true friend forever. We’ve always known each other better than our own families knew us. Sometimes I thought she knew me better than I knew myself, and we’ve been through so much together. She’s been there for me in some of my darkest hours. It’s why I wanna be there for her now too, but Jay’s totally different.”
“What did he want?”
Lorenzo could feel the anxiety rising up his spine, already making his neck muscles stiffen. He knew from the moment he started seeing Liv it would feel so much worse if he ever experienced anything remotely close to what he had with Linda. This confirmed it because she hadn’t even done anything and already he felt on the verge of losing it.
“I haven’t responded to any of his messages or calls since I found out about him and Margie. He’s insisting he wants to talk to me now. I’m assuming it’s because of her pregnancy.”
“Regardless of why he wants to . . .” Lorenzo stopped talking and walking at the same time, pinching the rim of his nose, and took a deep breath to try and remain calm. He did not want to start regretting having gotten involved with Liv. While she just told him she wouldn’t, he had to reaffirm where he stood on this. “That’s not happening, Liv. You know that, right?”
“Yes. I know,” she said immediately. “I don’t want us arguing because of him, and I want nothing to do with him. I hate what he’s doing to Margie.”
“I don’t wanna argue either, babe. Believe me. I don’t. But you have to tell me everything I need to know. Did he say anything else?”
Liv made another one of her exasperating pauses before finally speaking again. “Aside from being smug and saying he knows I want to talk to him, he didn’t say anything else, but Margie did. Lorenzo”—she exhaled but thankfully didn’t pause for long—“I’m only telling you this because I want to be completely honest with you. I don’t want to keep anything from you. But I refuse to give him the power to still mess with my life. If this upsets you, then it’s exactly what I’m doing and he wins. So please believe me when I say this doesn’t matter to me at all, okay?”
“Okay,” he said immediately.
Feeling his heartbeat spike because he already had a feeling what was coming, he grabbed a glass out of the cabinet and poured himself some water from the water dispenser on the fridge.
“According to what he told Margie, he still has feelings for me.” For the first time in this entire exasperating conversation, Liv sped up instead of pausing as she’d been doing and started spitting it all out at once. “He’s trying to guilt her into aborting the baby because he says if anyone knows how much he and I belong together it’s her. He says a baby with her will ruin any chance for us reuniting. Remember I told you she was the only one who knew about my relationship with him? She was there from the very beginning to the bitter end through all the tears. She knows what he meant to me once upon a time. It’s the only reason I think someone who is so strongly against abortion would even consider it.”
Lorenzo had started pacing but stopped after hearing that last sentence. “Why? Does she believe you still have feelings for him?”
“I guess she did.” It was like a punch in the gut, but he waited for her to go on. “I reminded her that I’d moved on before I even left Texas, but she knew we’d kept in touch still. I guess she just assumed that deep down I still wasn’t over him.”
“Any reason why your best friend who sometimes knows you better than you know yourself would think that?”
Again she was silent, and without thought, he smashed his glass in the sink.
“What was that?” she asked, the alarm apparent in her voice.
“Nothing. I dropped something,” he said quickly, running his fingers through his hair and needing to get a grip. “Answer the question, Liv. Why would your best friend believe him?”
“She had no way of knowing about you. If she’d been around when I first met you and I gave her the blow-by-blow on everything that’s happened, she probably would’ve pointed out before I even admitted to myself how hard I was falling for you. I guarantee you she’d agree that what I feel for you is totally different from what I felt for him.”
She stopped because she said she had a call from her brother she had to take but asked him to please hold on. Lorenzo took the moment to grab paper towels and clean out the mess he’d made in his sink. By the time she was back on the line, he’d pretty much cleaned it all up, so he walked off into his living room, but he still felt too pumped up to sit, so he continued to pace.
After explaining briefly about her brother asking if she wanted him to bring her anything from the drive-thru, she took a deep breath and continued her explanation.
“I need you to understand something, Lorenzo. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to share this with you because it’s embarrassing, but if I have to, I’m glad this is happening early on so I can just get this over with. I, uh, I’ve thought about it a lot. Why in the world was I so infatuated with Jay for so long? I said there were some good times with Jay and me, but if I really think about it, there were a hell of a lot more depressing times and drama than there were good. The embarrassing part is now that I’m with you I know what the main thing was about Jay that kept me around because it was the only time I felt even a fraction as excited with him as I do with you.” She paused for just a moment before blurting it out. “It was the sex.”
Lorenzo dropped down on the sofa, letting his head fall back. This was the last fucking thing he needed to hear.
“After yesterday and today, I know now that it wasn’t even because it was that great. It was just that sex was brand new to me. I was so young,” she continued again, blurting it all out. “He was older—far more experienced—and he knew exactly what to say and do to me to make me not want to walk away or to lure me back into that toxic relationship. My mom was working all the time and counted on my brothers to watch over me, and while they did, and I’m sure they would’ve murdered Jay if they’d known he’d deflowered their little sister, they trusted me. I was always with Margie, and they knew how holier-than-thou her entire family was, so they never suspected what I was up to. Jay’s older brother lived in the basement of Jay’s parent’s house. It had a separate entrance, so we had access to it whenever he wasn’t home, and he was gone a lot. But other than the times he was seducing me, most of the time it was drama, heartache, and tears. Since I couldn’t cry to anyone else, it was always Margie who was there to console me. I know now that wasn’t love, Lorenzo. I was completely infatuated, but I was never in love. I was actually beginning to think I was one of those stupid girls who enjoyed being treated badly. But after that first night with you, despite how drawn to you I was since your departure wasn’t the, uh, nicest, I had no desire to try and reconnect with you. Admittedly”—she chuckled in what he could only guess was her attempt to lighten the mood a bit though Lorenzo couldn’t even conjure up a smile—“there was something about you I couldn’t quite stop thinking about even weeks later. But I was still completely against going for anything more. Even when I realized you knew my cousin, and technically, I could try to reconnect with you that way, since you didn’t seem at all interested, I wasn’t going to bother trying. In fact, after I realized you were Rose’s brother-in-law, I was actually kind of sad that I might have to cut down on hanging out with her because I wasn’t putting myself in that kind of situation ever again. I told you I’m not that person anymore, and I’ll never go back to that again. And now that I know what Jay so coldheartedly and calculatingly did to Margie, I certainly have no desire to ever speak to him again.”
“You can block him, you know.”
Lorenzo wouldn’t ask her to block Jay outright, but if she really meant what she’d just said, he didn’t see why she wouldn’t.
“I’m going to,” she said without hesitation, and Lorenzo felt such enormous relief he decided to refrain from asking why she hadn’t already.
As much as he cared about Liv now, he would not be letting his guard down about this. His affection for her was beyond anything he’d ever felt for anyone—including Linda, someone he’d felt strongly enough to ask to marry. He’d made an exception for Liv by giving in to the insane attraction he felt for her, but he vowed he’d never be blindsided again.
At least, he knew Liv got it. Blocking her idiot ex should do the trick since he did live out of state. If Lorenzo didn’t have to worry about his trying to contact her, then they should be okay. They wouldn’t have to argue about him and neither of them wanted to. “Is that the only way he contacts you? Via your cell?”
“We used to Skype, and he has access to all my social media, but first chance I get I’ll be blocking him from everything. I’d do it tonight, but I’d rather talk to you and not about him anymore. Okay?” Her voice went a little sweeter, and the strangeness he’d heard in it earlier was gone. “Will you please promise me you believe me when I say you have nothing to worry about when it comes to Jay?”
His Liv was suddenly back, the one he was certain now he’d fallen so terrifyingly hard for. Lorenzo could even hear the sweet smile in her voice again. The thought of Jay still not being over her didn’t sit well with Lorenzo, especially since he understood completely why that would be. But he had to trust that she was being sincere about having zero interest in even talking to Jay anymore. She was willingly blocking him out of her life. That should be more than enough to satisfy Lorenzo’s anxiety about the guy. Looking back now, he could only remember asking Linda once maybe twice about her feelings for her ex. He’d never been an insecure guy, so he hadn’t bothered with worrying about it once Linda assured him she was over him. It wasn’t fair that Liv had to deal with something brought out in him by someone else’s betrayal.
“I promise,” he said, walking to his bedroom, glad that this hadn’t escalated as he’d begun to think it might.
Once he was in bed and they were long over the annoying subject of her ex, other thoughts invaded his mind. How soon would she be spending the night in his arms again? How long should he wait before dropping hints about her moving in with him? After waking a few times last night to the amazing feeling of having her in his arms, Lorenzo knew it wouldn’t take too many more times of waking with her like that before he’d be addicted. In fact, already he wished she was there in his bed with him now.
By the time he hung up with her and he lay there thinking about everything they’d discussed, Lorenzo had made a new vow. He was still determined to never be blindsided again. But as long as Liv didn’t give him any reason to question her, he’d be damned if he was letting this asshole come between them just because he still had feelings for her.
So far she’d handled every one of his suspicions perfectly. Despite still feeling a little agitated, he felt even more determined. His new vow? He wouldn’t let Jay or his experience with Linda ruin things for him and Olivia.
~~~
Over a week had gone by since they’d spoken of Jay. The only thing Liv had said since was when she mentioned having talked to Margie again. She said Margie was still on the fence about having the baby. According to her calculations, she still had about three weeks to decide.
During that conversation, she’d told him about blocking Jay in every way she could think of: her phone, her email, her social media. She even blocked him on her sister’s phone and social media. She said she would’ve also blocked her brothers’ phones and social media in case he figured out how to get a hold of her through them. But then she assured Lorenzo she didn’t think Jay stupid enough to do that. “Remember they never liked him and he knows it.”
As previously vowed, Lorenzo didn’t touch on the subject again and wasn’t planning to unless something happened. She’d done everything right so far. At this point, he felt fairly certain he had nothing to worry about.
“Have you seen her brother play?” Romero asked, taking a practice swing, and then squinted back at Lorenzo. “Andreas,” he added to clarify, but when Lorenzo still looked confused he continued. “AJ, her younger brother, he’s a catcher for the minor leagues.”
“Oh yeah,” Lorenzo said then clarified. “She’s never referred to him as Andreas. Just AJ.”
“I don’t see him often enough since he’s out of town so much,” Romero explained, setting up. “Manny and Max always called him ‘the little one.’”
Romero paused then took a swing, and all of them watched the golf ball fly up high and away and then fall.
“Nice,” Sal and Isaiah said at the same time.
Lorenzo was too busy still smirking about Romero’s comment. He’d met all three of her brothers, and he’d hardly call any of them little. When Romero turned back to them, Lorenzo chuckled. “Little one, huh? I haven’t seen him play, but none of these guys”—he turned to Isaiah with a smirk—“not even AJ are what I’d call little guys.”
He wasn’t kidding either. If Liv hadn’t told him beforehand that she had a younger brother, he would’ve assumed when he met them that they were all older. All three towered over her and her sister. And he didn’t even consider Liv and Emilia short girls either.
“Ha!” Romero said. “That’s what I told them when they kept calling him that, but I guess it’s just ’cause he’s the youngest of the three.” He shrugged. “Oh and Max just loves to brag that AJ is his nephew.” Romero made a face and started imitating his uncle. “Oh yeah, my nephew Andreas, he plays for the big leagues.” Romero shook his head. “First of all, it’s the minors, not that I’m taking anything from the kid,” he said, eyeing Isaiah playfully. “I’ve seen him play. He’s pretty damn good. He’ll be up there soon enough, but Max has been going on and on ever since the kid made single-A ball.”
“Sounds to me like someone’s a little jealous,” Sal said, smiling as he set up his ball. “AJ stealing your thunder with your uncles?”
Romero waved him away, laughing. “Nah, you kidding me? I’ll be fifty someday, and Max and Manny will still be proudly telling stories of when I was in middle school. Those two just love to brag about everyone in the family, so they can take credit for all their accomplishments. They throw around how they have a nephew who’s a firefighter too. And”—he turned to Lorenzo—“I heard him brag about Livi before and how young she started her own business.”
“Has he?” Lorenzo smiled, remembering how proudly they’d spoken of her at the repast. He turned to Isaiah. “I gotta tell you I was pretty impressed myself. Not much longer and it’s all hers.”
Isaiah, who’d been preoccupied with his putting gloves, turned to Lorenzo strangely. “It’s already hers.”
“I mean once she’s done paying off the van it’s hers. It’s how she explained it to me anyway,” he said quickly, feeling a little foolish. “Maybe I misunderstood her. I thought she had to pay off the guy who’s technically her silent partner. There you go,” he said, suddenly relieved that he had it right. “That’s what she called him: her silent partner.”
Before Isaiah, who was still considering him strangely, could respond, Sal spoke up. “Oh, yeah, that must be the guy who showed up the other day to inspect her van when she was done with our dogs.”
Lorenzo and Isaiah turned to Sal and asked the same question as the same time. “What guy?”
They glanced at each other before glancing back at Sal. “The guy who stopped by just as she was wrapping it up with Grace,” Sal said. “Grace said she thought maybe it was just someone in the neighborhood who saw the van. That’s happened before. That thing’s a moving billboard!” Sal must’ve noticed neither Isaiah nor Lorenzo seemed amused because his demeanor seemed to change a bit before he continued as casually as possible. “She introduced him to Grace as her boss.”
“Is this Hollingsworth?” Isaiah asked with that still annoyed expression.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Sal said quickly.
“Her boss? Inspecting her van?” Isaiah’s expression went even more severe, but then he glanced at Lorenzo. Isaiah looked away as soon as their eyes met, and it seemed he attempted to shrug it off. “That’s not what I call the guy,” he said, pulling out a putter from his bag with a noticeable scowl. “I guess she just thought it would be easier to explain him that way.”
Instantly, the curiosity about this Hollingsworth guy was sparked. No doubt Sal picked up on the same tension Lorenzo did and wisely didn’t add more. Instead, he grabbed a beer out of the ice chest on the cart and offered Lorenzo and Romero one.
Lorenzo took one, reasoning that while he told Liv about his job and they’d talked about his temporary deployments with the reserves, he didn’t give her all the details. Her not mentioning the guy stopping by to inspect her van shouldn’t be a big deal. But her brother’s reaction to it was.
What was that about?
He’d felt his phone buzz earlier but had been in the middle of putting, so he checked it now. They only had about forty more minutes until they were done here. After that, he was picking Liv up and they were going to catch a movie. This wasn’t a big deal. He could wait until later to casually bring it up. He was just curious mostly.
When he saw he had a text from her, he let out a slow breath. Alright, only because she’d texted him, maybe he could ask one thing. He clicked on her text.
Cirillo is out for the rest of the season. =( You and Vince jinxed my Cowboys!
I’m done early just so you know. So in case you’re as anxious to see me again as I am you, come and get me whenever you want!
For a second, he thought about not mentioning her boss and ruining her playful mood. Even as he texted he was still debating whether or not he should mention it, and at the last second he decided against it. It was probably nothing, and he wouldn’t make something out of nothing.
Cirillo shouldn’t have even been playing this season. He’s done! Just like the Cowboys will be soon. I’ll be out of here in under an hour.
Slipping the phone in his pocket, he felt slightly proud of himself for letting it go. But a part of him was still curious. He shrugged it off as they all laughed at Isaiah’s suck-ass putt.
“Alright, maybe you can just caddy for us and refill us when we’re empty,” Romero said, laughing heartedly. “No offense but my daughter would put your ass to shame!” Romero turned to Sal and Lorenzo when they laughed. “Seriously, Mandy’s the shits. Manny and Max are already all over it!”
The conversation swayed completely off Liv as Romero told them about Max and Manny not just buying golf clubs for Mandy but for his oldest son Romeo as well. They started them off by taking them to shoot balls into the lake, and the second Mandy asked about lessons both were enrolled.
A couple holes later they were done. Isaiah was a cool enough guy and all, but Lorenzo didn’t feel close enough to him yet to ask him about Hollingsworth. Clearly Isaiah backed off when he realized he’d said too much about something he perhaps considered a private matter between him and his sister. So when they walked away from Romero and Sal because Lorenzo and Isaiah had parked in the opposite direction from them, he refrained from asking him anything about it.
It was too soon to now, but in time, Lorenzo would make sure it was clear that anything regarding Liv was his business now too. Just as they began to part ways, Isaiah turned to Lorenzo. “You coming down tomorrow?”
Lorenzo thought about it for a moment then smirked. “To watch the Raiders kill the Cowboys? I don’t know. I thought that might be awkward watching in the same room with you guys.”
Isaiah shook his head, rolling his eyes. “Whack, whack, whack,” he said, opening and closing his hand by his ear and smiling big. “Put your money with your mouth is if you’re so sure that’s gonna happen.”
After throwing stats back and forth and looking up the spread on their phones, they settled on a bet. Lorenzo felt a little more comfortable with the guy, and he had a feeling that after tomorrow and spending more time with her brothers he was really going to like them. But he still didn’t feel comfortable enough to bring up Hollingsworth, so he let it go.
Halfway to her place he decided it wasn’t worth even a tense discussion, and unless it came up again directly from her, he didn’t even need to know.