“He said he emailed you because he was desperate to help me and knew you would come and try,” she said.
“Wish I’d known that at Laura’s funeral,” I said, mumbling.
“What was that?” Theresa asked.
I whipped my gaze over to hers and found her eyes growing wide.
“Nothing,” I said.
“No, you said something. What did you say?”
“It doesn't matter. It’s in the past.”
“For the love of fuck, Grant. What did you say?” she asked.
I was going to nail my own damn coffin shut with what I was about to say, but there was no getting out of it. Theresa didn’t know I’d been at her mother’s funeral. I’d kept myself out of her sight for a damn reason. Partially because I didn’t want to run into Glen and partially because I saw her with Ike and didn’t like what I saw. And I knew if I reconnected with her, I’d tell her exactly what I thought of that man.
In hindsight, maybe I should’ve said something at her mother’s funeral.
Maybe those bruises around her neck would never have happened had I manned the fuck up.
I planted my forearm on the table and watched as Theresa’s eyes grew wider. She’d heard me. I could tell by the look on her face. But she was trying to convince herself she hadn’t.
“I said, ‘I wish I had known about that at Laura’s funeral.’”
And I watched as tears brewed in Theresa’s eyes.
CHAPTER 29
THERESA
“You were there?” I asked.
My voice was weak. I could hear it. I tried blinking back the tears, but instead, they went the wrong way. Forced over my cheek instead of back behind my eyes.
“I was,” Grant said.
“Of course, you were there. You talked to Hollis, right? Hollis, but not me?”
“I did.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
I couldn't believe it. I stood up from the chair on the balcony and brushed past him. I didn’t want to sit with him another second. He was at my mother’s funeral. He was there during the darkest day of my life, and he spoke to Hollis without speaking to me. It felt like a knife had pierced my gut. I felt my heart shattering inside my chest. If I had known that Grant had been there, maybe things would’ve turned out differently. If he had re-emerged during that time, maybe things could’ve been avoided with Ike. We could’ve started this way back then instead of trekking through all the bullshit and the lies and the deceit just to get to the moment we were at.
I could have had years with him. Years of happiness and love. Years of my life where I could’ve blossomed into the strong woman I felt myself finally becoming. I could’ve bypassed years of heartache and sorrow and manipulation if he had told me he was there. If he had wrapped his arms around me at my mother’s funeral.
But he didn’t.
And we would never know what could’ve become of us.
“Theresa, please don’t.”
Without thinking, I turned around and cracked my hand against Grant’s cheek. His head flew off to the side, and I watched his jaw clench with fury. My tears of sorrow and regret turned to tears of anger and frustration.
“You should have told me,” I said.
Grant slowly turned his gaze back to mine, and I watched as he grew in stature, hovering over me with his stoic eyes hooked onto mine.