Our dads were old buddies, and it didn’t even surprise me that he’d talked to Liv’s dad about this while I had no idea.
“Of course he is. I guess the public persona makes sense now. The good old family man with his perfect wife and kids makes for better optics than the neglectful, divorced asshole who pretends his firstborn doesn’t exist.”
“Are things any better with your mom?”
I shook my head. “She’s the same as she always was. I feel bad for Riley. She’s way more attentive with her than she was with me, but she’s still so wrapped up in Ken that Riley is always second.”
“She’s boy crazy.” Liv squeezed my hand again. “My sister is like that. She’s so desperate for companionship, to feel wanted and loved, that she throws herself headfirst into every relationship, and it becomes her whole world. She distances herself from friends, from us. She lives for whoever her man of the moment is.”
“That’s definitely Mom.” I sighed and looked down at our joined hands. “I just don’t get why I wasn’t enough for her. She was miserable with Dad, but I was right there, begging her to be my mom. Why wasn’t I good enough?”
Liv wrapped her arm around my shoulder and pulled me against her.
She was a tall girl, nearly five nine barefoot, but she was slight, and we had to wiggle and rearrange ourselves so she could hug me.
“Do you remember when we used to do sleepovers?” she asked. “How we’d stay up late looking through my dad’s telescope and trying to discover a new star?”
“Yeah.” I smiled at the memories.
“Sometimes I miss those days. When we were young and innocent and our biggest worry was learning long division.”
“Same. Growing up sucks.”
“It does.”
“I’m happy for you, Liv. It’s like what you told me. You seem settled and happy.”
“I finally am.”
We sat for a few more minutes in silence, then untangled ourselves.
“I’m not in the mood to be here tonight.”
“Same.” She nodded to the house. “Want to get out of here? My parents are at a party tonight. We could commandeer my dad’s telescope again, for old time’s sake.”
“I’d like that.”
“Need a ride?”
“Nah, I’ve got my wheels.”
“You got a car?”
“Mom gave Jules and me the minivan to use at school.”
“The mom-mobile?” She snort-laughed. “Not exactly the kind of car a kid wants to be driving around at college.”
We stood and headed back toward the house.
“Let me find Darren so I can say hi before we leave.” I scanned the crowd that was gathered around the outdoor barbeque pit.
“Pretty sure he’s in a room with Evie by now.”
“Really?” We skirted around various groups and made our way into the house. “You think they’ll ever get their heads out of their asses and just date?”
“Doubtful. I think they like this back-and-forth shit more than an actual relationship.”
“Remember when they’d have those blow-out fights?”