Chapter 22

Talia

“You need to leave!” I cried to Andrew, falling into the front chair in the living room. My frame was shaking, my knees tapping together involuntarily. “Please. I can’t… I can’t even look at you.”

Andrew dropped to his knees in front of me, reaching for my hand. His blonde locks caught the sun, and his eyes seemed deeper, sincere. I remembered the boy who’d tried to help me during the months after Fox had left. How he’d held my hand, saying I didn’t deserve to be treated this way.

“Talia, come on. I’ll help you keep Lily-Rose if I have to. But I won’t let you keep her if you have Fox in your life. He’s poisonous, Talia.”

“Who ever said it was your decision who keeps Lily-Rose?” I whispered, my voice strained. “Why are you suddenly so involved in my life?”

“I’ve always been involved,” Andrew said, his eyebrows lowering. “Who drove you to the funeral for your sister, huh? When you couldn’t breathe, you were crying so hard? And who made sure you ate during those first few weeks? I was always bringing you food, remember?”

I felt a wave of rage, knowing he was trying to use my most vulnerable moments for the good of his mission to destroy his brother. I brought my legs toward my chest, forming a ball. I could feel the chaotic beatings of my heart against the tops of my thighs. I so wanted to be left alone.

“Please, Andrew. Can you just leave? I… I promise I’ll call you tonight. I promise. I just… I need to think, okay? This has all just been too much,” I murmured.

“Talia, how could you let him back in your life?” Andrew continued to spew. “You know he ruined you. And now, just because he got himself in some shit situations in Los Angeles, you’re letting him…”

“Please. Please, I’m begging you,” I cried, ripping up from the chair. I strode toward the steps. “Just leave me alone.”

I raced up the stairs and fell into bed, sobbing. After several minutes, I heard Andrew leave, latching the door behind him. Just Lily-Rose and I remained in the house, both of us simmering in fear and sadness. Both of us in love with Fox—actually in love with him, just in very different ways. Perhaps I had been foolish to let Fox back in. But given the fact that we were all damaged in individual, horrible ways, didn’t it make more sense to stick together?

Hours later, I awoke, my cheek scratching against my tear-soaked pillow. Drawing my head up, I gazed outside at the sun beginning to set, casting orange light across downtown. My stomach churned with hunger. Stepping into the hallway, I walked toward Lily-Rose’s room, where she was stretched out, asleep on her bed. Her hair was spread out behind her, illuminated in the orange light. My heart ached with the fear of losing her.

Feeling I was living in some kind of nightmare, I heard a knock at the door. I streamed down the steps, finding Evelyn’s now-familiar crop of bright hair bleeding through the window. Beside her were several members of the community, including Cynthia, and a few of the people I volunteered with at the local animal shelter. They had their arms pressed over their chests; their eyes were stony, staring through the screen door at me.

“Talia. So good of you to wake up for us,” Cynthia said, sounding sarcastic. “I know it’s terribly hard to get out of bed these days, dear, given your… um… shall we say ‘lovesickness?’ But we do have something to speak to you about.”

Unable to speak, I moved forward and opened the door. Again, I felt at the tumultuous mercy of the town I’d given my entire life to. Evelyn leered at me, before bouncing into the house and taking up residence on the couch, her thick thighs crossing. Cynthia and the others, Amanda and Megan, perched on either side. They leaned toward me, like some kind of horrible judgmental body.

“Andrew just found me at my hotel, sweetie,” Evelyn sighed, sounding regretful. “And I have to tell you, I really don’t like the news he shared.”

Cynthia shook her head, clucking her tongue. “Go on, Evelyn. This is your blood, too. Your granddaughter. You’re doing the right thing.”

“It’s just, we heard that Fox went wild while here. That he was so volatile that he was potentially dangerous for Lily-Rose. That he almost… hit her…” Evelyn trailed off, her eyes burning.

“That is simply unacceptable,” Megan said, her voice tart.

“Andrew said that he cares about you very deeply, Talia. That he’s watched out for you in the years since Fox left town. He feels that you’re not paying attention to the very direct ways he’s attempting to… to care for you. He says he’s afraid to say it to your face, but that if you continue to see Fox, he will support me in taking custody,” Evelyn continued, her eyes flashing. “I’m not the greatest guardian, I admit it. But I don’t bring Lily-Rose around people like… well, people like Fox.”

I rose up on my toes, anger filling me. “Your son – Lily-Rose’s father – is in prison, Evelyn,” I scoffed. “In case you forgot that already? That’s the reason you’re here, isn’t it? You’re just so freaking lonely, you need to come mess up someone else’s life?”

Evelyn continued to stare at me. This was my first outright outburst, and I immediately felt shame. My cheeks grew bright red. Megan, Cynthia, and Amanda scowled at me, with Megan reaching for Evelyn’s wrinkled hand.

“How dare you speak to her like that?” Cynthia cried. “This poor woman, just wanting to build a family with you.”

“That’s not what she’s doing!” I cried. “She’s… every one of you is trying to take Fox away from us! And Fox has been the single greatest thing in Lily-Rose’s life since she lost her mother! He gave her music, Evelyn! It’s the only thing that’s calmed her down, and that has brought her happiness! It wasn’t pizza. It wasn’t all the stupid toys you bought her. No, it was music.”

Suddenly, enraged, I burst back up the steps and flung into Lily-Rose’s room. She blinked up at me, bleary-eyed. Wrapping my arms around her, I lifted her and carried her downstairs. She mumbled into my shoulder. “Where are we going, Aunt Talia?” In my ear, she sounded so much like her lost self, the four-year old that Billie and I had carried through the town fair, her mouth sticky from cotton candy. How I ached for that lost time.

“Where the hell are you taking her?” Evelyn cried as we burst past. “Don’t you dare take her to that horrible man. You don’t know how much damage you’re doing!”

But already, I was clipping Lily-Rose into the backseat of the car, making sure that her head eased against the headrest. I blasted my foot against the gas pedal, tearing us toward Fox’s cabin. I felt the calls of the women behind me, telling me to stop. But I didn’t know how. The same refrain continued to blare in my brain: We need each other. We’re all so broken. We’re all each other has. Fox needs us. And we need him, too. Doesn’t he see that? Doesn’t he sense it too?