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Maybe my skewed notion of love is why I never felt the need to fall into it. Not if it meant being trapped without anywhere to go like my mother seemed to believe. She had no degree, no job experience, and no money of her own.
The only grudge I have is that life couldn’t have given me a better home that I wouldn’t have wanted to run away from.”
“I dare you to hate me, Ivy. Because we both know you don’t. You couldn’t even if you tried.”
“Who says I’m loyal to you, Aiden Griffith?” The slowest, most calculated smile forms on his face, making an eerie feeling creep into my chest and wrap around the beating organ that drums in my ribcage. “Baby, I don’t think you’ve ever stopped.”
“I want to be the person you can rely on if you need someone, even if you can do it on your own. I want to cheer you on like you always did for me. To support you with whatever makes you happy. And I want that to be me.”
“Let me be a reason to smile,” he whispers so quietly it’s almost drowned out with the pitter-patter of rain around us.
Some people grow from the chaos because that’s how they survive, and others thrive in it because chaos is all they know. Ivy does both.
You were always mine, Chaos. Five years doesn’t change the fact that it’s always been me. Nobody else had a chance. So, that’s what I want. You. Not just your body. But you. Your personality. Your mind. Your problems. Your goddamn companionship. Because that’s what I’ve missed since the day I watched you disappear into the night. Stop trying to push me away. It won’t work.”
“Your girl reminds me a lot of the missus when she handed me my ass during our talk, son. Scared me to hell to know there’s a clone of my Liza. All I can say is good luck. It may be you bringing home the big paychecks, but it’s her who’s going to wear the pants in that relationship.”
“Above all else,” she says softly, “choose happiness. Not anybody else’s, but yours. Because at the end of the day, you’ll find a lot more of it when you open yourself up to everything life has to offer when you’re truly content with where you are in it.”
Porter is still pale when Mr. Griffith greets the two people I haven’t seen in over four years at the front door. My brother and I stand shoulder to shoulder, arms entwined by the elbow, with Aiden on my other side and his mother slightly in front of me as if they’ve formed a barrier between me and the past.
