She Has a Point

Between Saturday night and Sunday, I got almost everything unpacked.  Brody texted me Sunday morning with his flight time; he was arriving at DIA around 6pm.  When I was done unpacking, I did a little cleaning then showered.  I had roasted a chicken while I was unpacking and cleaning and I made a salad and mashed potatoes and threw everything into the fridge for later.  The busier I stayed, the easier it was to ignore Lauren's phone calls.

I was absolutely furious at her.  I was hurt that she would insinuate things and try to get me to question what was happening.  I knew that she was trying to protect me, but I could think of better ways for her to accomplish that than how it went down the night before.

Finally, it was time to go pick Brody up, and I was relieved that soon I wouldn't have to be alone with my thoughts anymore.  I greeted him cheerfully when he got in my car, trying to force the last little bit of lingering negative thoughts out of my head.

Once we were on the road, Brody said, "You could have brought my car, you know.  No need to put all the extra miles on yours now."

I shrugged.  "It feels weird driving your car without you.  I'll keep it mind for next time though."

Nearly 45 minutes later I finally pulled my car into the garage.  "Wow," Brody said as we walked in.  "It's so clean.  Are you all unpacked already?"

"Mostly," I replied.  "I have a few more boxes downstairs that I have no idea what I'm going to do with.  So they can stay down there for awhile."

"You were busy this weekend," he commented over his shoulder as he headed upstairs with his suitcase.

I grinned.  "I made dinner too."

He turned and smiled back.  "I'm going to shower, and then can we eat?"

"Sounds good," I replied.  "I'll get it ready."

When he came back down I was just finishing getting out plates and silverware for us.  He wrapped his arms around me from behind and kissed my cheek.  "I know you don't want to be a stay-at-home-wife, and I don't want you to be, but I could get awfully used to this if you're not careful," he joked.

I laughed and shrugged away from him.  "Watch it," I warned, smirking at him.  "You might push me too far in the opposite direction.

He grinned and caught my arm, pulling me back to him.  With his other hand he tilted my chin up and kissed me.  After he broke our kiss, he rested his forehead against mine for a few seconds before kissing the tip of my nose, then my forehead.  "Your dinner is getting cold," I teased him.

"I guess we'd better eat it then, huh?" he replied, stepping away and sitting down at the table.

"How was Dallas?" I asked, once we both had food and had started eating.

Brody shrugged.  "Fine.  I spend more time there managing my client's attorney than dealing with anything my client's done.  That's a little irritating.  But I got it all taken care of, and Pete gets the pleasure of on-call duties starting tomorrow."

"That's good," I said.

"Oh!" he said suddenly.  I gave him a questioning look.  "I was talking to Alex earlier, and his birthday is next weekend.  I asked if he wanted to go out or anything and he said no, what he really wanted to do was get away for a couple days.  I offered up the cabin, and we figured we could all go.  I know you work, though.  If you still wanted to come up on Saturday, I could come get you if you didn't want to drive out."  I frowned, realizing that Lauren would likely be there.  Brody misinterpreted my frown and said, "I know, I'm sorry.  It sucks that you work.  And I probably should have talked to you first, since I was gone this weekend."

"No," I said quickly.  "That's not it, it's fine."

Brody gave me a weird look.  "What's wrong, then?"

I sighed and told him about my argument with Lauren the night before.  He considered my story thoughtfully before saying, "She does have a point."

"You agree with her?" I demanded indignantly.

"No," he said pointedly.  "I said she has a point, not that I agreed with it."  I gave him a confused look.  The difference seemed like semantics to me.  "The whole thing was strange before Cassie moved back to her parents' house in the middle of the night.  Now it's bizarre.  I also agree that her accusations had to have come from somewhere."

"I don't disagree," I said impatiently.  "But I'm just so tired of giving energy to it.  Everyone else wants to talk about it and I just want it to go away.  Whatever is going on with Cassie is Cassie's deal and if she wants to explain it all someday, I'll listen.  But until then, I'm tired of her half-assed apologies and explanations and I just want to forget about it!"

Brody raised his eyebrows.  "Okay," he said soothingly.  "That's fine.  We don't need to talk about it.  I didn't mean to hit such a nerve."

"Sorry," I muttered.  "It just seems like everyone wants to talk about this all the time and it's starting to wear me out."

"Don't apologize," Brody said.  "Let me know later this week about what you want to do about this weekend."  I nodded.  "And since I was gone this weekend and will be gone next weekend too, pick a day this week and I'll come home early.  I'll do whatever you want.  Put me to work unpacking, I'll make dinner, I'll watch another stupid Disney movie with you.  Whatever you want."

"Hmmmm," I said deviously.  "I'll have to think very carefully about what I want.  I think Wednesday is the day I'm done the earliest this week, so how about then?"

"I'll make it happen," he promised.  He stood and took both of our plates to the sink, rinsed them, and put them in the dishwasher.  Then he came over and held out a hand to me.  "Come upstairs with me?" he asked.  I was happy to fulfill that request.


On Monday, I got a text from Lauren that said, "Please have dinner with me.  We need to talk."  I considered this for nearly an hour before deciding that I would go.  I was mad, but I hated it.  I texted her back saying I would and naming a time and place.  She agreed.

When I got the restaurant we'd agreed on, she was already there.  She smiled weakly as I sat, and I returned it with about as much enthusiasm.  A waiter promptly appeared to take my drink order, and when he was gone, I looked expectantly at Lauren.  She'd invited me, she could talk first.

"Liv," she started nervously.  "I know that you're pissed, but I have to be honest...I'm not entirely sure why you're as angry as you are.  Can you explain?"

I sighed, and bit back a smart remark.  That wasn't going to help the situation.  "Lauren, I don't think you have any idea how much this whole thing has been weighing on me, and on Brody, and on our relationship lately.  He's doing what he needs to do at work to clear his name, and I hate that no one will just let it go.  And I'm as angry as I am because I can't believe that you, of all people, would imply that I should be suspicious of him."

Now Lauren looked confused.  "What?  I didn't!" she protested.

I raised my eyebrows and said, "So when you said, 'it's hard to imagine Brody doing anything unscrupulous' and then said I was being naive for not being more concerned, that wasn't implying that I should be suspicious of him?"

"Oh, shit," she said, her eyes wide.  "No, Liv.  I didn't mean it like that!  I was agreeing with you--I can't imagine him doing anything like that.  All I meant was that something weird is going on--"

"Yes, we know that," I said impatiently, but I felt guilty for getting so angry over what was looking to be a misunderstanding.

Lauren continued smoothly, "and I don't understand why you're not more concerned about what is happening with Cassie, since everything went off the rails so suddenly.  That's all.  I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to imply anything about Brody.  I mean, if I'm being honest, I kind of wondered at one point, but I realized that the FBI probably would have been able to pick up on anything shady while they were investigating his dad."

I considered what she said.  "So I flipped out for no reason?" I said finally, looking away.

"Well, I wouldn't say no reason, because I can see being annoyed that it keeps getting brought up.  And I didn't exactly choose my words well.  And I am sorry for both of those things," Lauren said generously.

"I do think it's all really weird," I admitted.  "But I don't feel like launching a full scale investigation, you know? Maybe I should be more concerned, but it just doesn't feel like a good use of my energy right now."

"That's fair," Lauren replied.  "I won't bring it up again.  Let's talk about this weekend instead, are you coming to the cabin?"

"I was thinking about it.  I won't be able to come until Saturday, but a night away would be fun.  It's not like it's that far."  I left out the part that I had been leaning towards not coming because I didn't want to deal with Lauren.

The rest of our dinner was pleasant, and I was relieved to have things back to normal with Lauren.  I had missed my best friend, even with just two days of being angry at her.


Brody had asked what I wanted from him on Wednesday, and I told him I really just wanted to spend some time with him--preferably uninterrupted by phones if possible.  He had agreed easily, and I was looking forward to it.  I ducked out of work as soon as my last client was out the door and headed home.

I was surprised to find Brody already home when I got there.  I was even more surprised when I walked in to find the kitchen a semi-disaster of food prep.  Brody walked in from the deck and grinned.  "It's about time you got home, I've been here for hours!"

"Hours?" I echoed, as I walked over to kiss him hello.

He kissed me softly and then said, "No, more like an hour.  Maybe a little more.  I'm making dinner."
"I see that," I said with a grin.  "And I love it.  What are you making?"

"New York strips, twice baked potatoes, and grilled veggies.  Well, actually the potatoes are once-baked and once-grilled, and I cheated and bought them already baked, but they look delicious."

I laughed.  "That sounds awesome," I said.  "I'm going to go change."

When I returned to the kitchen in a pair of leggings and a soft, fitted t-shirt, I found a glass of wine waiting for me.  "It's too bad I'll never make enough money for you to be a stay at home husband," I mused, taking a sip.

"That's definitely too bad, because I would that," he agreed, laughing.  "Did you see I hung your print?"

"I did, thank you!" I replied.  The single piece of decor that I owned was now hanging above our bed, like we had talked about.

"You're welcome," he said, backing me up against the counter and kissing me.  His hands slid across my hips and his fingers gripped me tightly.  I slid my hands up his arms, over his shoulders, and down onto his chest.  Then he pulled away, squeezed my hips, and said ,"Can't overcook the steaks."  I groaned as he walked over to the sliding door onto the deck, and he laughed.  Jerk.

We ate our delicious dinner outside on the deck, because it was so nice out.  When we were finished eating, we gathered our plates and silverware and glasses and took them inside.  I loaded the dishwasher, then started to pour some more wine.  Brody took the bottle out of my hand and set it to the side, then began to massage my shoulders.  I sighed happily and leaned back into his touch, closing my eyes.  Just as I was starting to relax, Brody's phone rang loudly from his pocket.

"Damn it," he muttered.  He took it out, glanced at the screen, and held up one finger to me as he answered.  He spoke for less than a minute, then hung up and turned the phone off.  "Sorry," he said sheepishly.  "Now, where were we?"

I smirked and answered, "You were about to take me upstairs and give me a real massage."

He laughed. "I think I can handle that."