“B-but the c-couch we had w-was three years old! The Cunninghams never have couches three years old.”

“I know, but ours was still a perfectly good couch,” I crooned softly. “Just because your parents and the Cunninghams can refurnish their entire houses every few years doesn’t mean we can, all right?”

She nodded vigorously. “I just—I just needed something to do.”

I took a deep breath in and scrunched my face together as I prepared for what might happen next. I knew this could turn out bad again, but I had to try. “Maybe we should get a dog.”

“A dog? A damn dog? No! You can’t just give me a dog and make it all better, Brody!” She scrambled off my lap and sprinted down the hall, heading for her side of the house.

Yes, I said her side of the house. I normally don’t even see her because she prefers to spend her days at her parents’ house unless she’s in a mood like the one tonight. It usually lasts a week, as this one has, and we go through every emotion possible about fifteen times a day. I try to be patient with her because I know I’m the reason she’s like this, but after four and a half years of this constant happy-depressed-flirty-pissed-horny-sweet-flat-out-bitch roller coaster, I feel like I’m losing my damn mind. And what’s worse? As soon as we’re in public she’s normal Liv—not the Liv I fell in love with in high school, but the one who’s confident in herself and her parents’ money, and the one who will eat you alive if you cross her.

Her door slammed shut, and I stood to stumble over to my bed, thankful again that I was able to buy a big enough house that we could have our own spaces. We’d been married for almost six years, and I could count on one hand the number of times we’d had sex in those years. We hadn’t even slept in the same bed since a few months after I got back from the Army.

As I tried to get comfortable enough to go back to sleep, I rubbed at the ache in my chest and prayed the nightmares stayed away.

2

Kamryn

May 5, 2015

“KINLEE, YOUR HUSBAND thinks I’m a freak now.”

“Did he not before?”

“Funny,” I mumbled drily. “I just burst out laughing as soon as I saw him because I thought of y’all’s crazy sex life.”

Kinlee froze with the boxes of cupcakes still in her hands. “Did you just say y’all’s? I’m adding that to wald and shew. Where’d you say you were from again?”

“East of here.” I smirked. We were almost on the coastline of Oregon. Everything was east of here. To avoid her narrowed eyes, I took the boxes back from her and started arranging the cupcakes in the holders I’d brought with me.

Jace came into the kitchen talking on his phone and grinned at me curiously before kissing Kinlee’s head and snatching a red velvet cupcake. “Sweet, I’m glad you’ll be here. Yeah, man, see you soon.”

“Who’s coming, babe?” Kinlee took a piece of his cupcake and shoved it in her mouth before helping me arrange the rest of them.

“Brody. Guess the bitch is letting him out of the house without her for once.”

“Oh, thank God. I thought you were about to say she was coming too.”

Jace gave his wife a horrified look. “Uh, no. She’s not allowed here, and she knows that.”

Kinlee was shaking her head back and forth as she said in a softer tone, “Well, I’m glad he’s coming. It’ll be good for him to get out. We haven’t seen him in a long time. Poor guy.”

“Um, who is Brody?” I asked sheepishly. Not like it was my business, but Kinlee had sat in my lap to finish arranging the cupcakes, so it wasn’t like I could leave the conversation.

“Jace’s brother—”

“Jace, you have a brother? How did I not know this?”

“’Cause his wife’s a bitch and doesn’t let him do anything other than work,” Jace said around the rest of the cupcake.

“That must be hard for him if y’all—you guys—don’t get along with his wife.”

Kinlee turned in my lap, her eyes wide. “No way. Honestly . . . bitch is practically a compliment for that woman. Brody doesn’t even like her.”

“Then why is he with her?”

“He—it’s just been difficult for them,” she said, eyeing Jace, and I saw him nod his head at her. “It’s really sad. Brody’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet, but he’s just stuck in this marriage with her. And it’s wearing on him—every time we see him he looks a little worse. Like she’s just making everything that makes Brody Brody disappear.”

“Shouldn’t have married her,” Jace said with a small shake of his head.

“Babe, he was just trying to—”

“He shouldn’t have married her,” Jace repeated, then walked toward the living room when there was a knock on the door.

Kinlee sighed and leaned her back against the table, still facing me. “Jace hates Olivia. Well, we all do, but I think he hates her more than anyone. Jace and Brody were inseparable growing up, probably because they’re only a little over a year apart, but like I said, we almost never see him anymore. And it’s all because of her.”

I just nodded my head and kept my mouth shut. I knew from experience there could always be some underlying situation that kept a bad couple together. And Brody and Olivia were married—it wasn’t like he could just break up with her . . . or disappear like I had. Obviously, whatever was going on with them, Jace and Kinlee knew all about it, but I doubted they realized how hard it must be for Brody to have his family so against his wife. Whether he liked her or not.