If You Only Knew (And Then Came Love Book 1) (35 page)

“Julian.” She stood and tried to touch his face, only to find her belly in the way. She sat down on the bed and reached over to caress his cheek. “Julian.”

“Liza?”

She heaved a heavy breath, sobbed, and dropped her head against his chest.

“Ma’am, I need to check his vitals.” The nurse touched Liza’s shoulder.

Liza lifted her head, wiping at the tears.

Julian gripped her shoulder in a weak hug, bringing her down against him.

“I love you.” Julian’s eyes drifted closed again and his hand slid off her shoulder.

“Ma’am, I really need to check him out.” The nurse touched Liza’s shoulder again.

She pressed a kiss to Julian’s cheek.

Drew offered her his hand and she let him pull her to her feet. “I’m gonna get out of here. I need to rally the troops if we’re going to put an intervention together.” He tucked a necklace into his shirt that Liza swore had a ring on it.

“What’s on your necklace?”

“It’s the tree one I always wear.” He deflected her question and turned to his dad. “I’ll catch you at home. Let me know if we need anything.”

Liza cocked her head and looked at Drew.

He shook his head. “Not the time.” He mouthed and then gave Gramps a hug. “I’ll see you all later.”

“Bye, Drew.” Gramps and Everett waved.

She turned to Julian.

His mouth moved.

She grabbed the cup of water off the table and brought it over to him. Liza put the straw between his lips.

He took a drink and blinked up at her. “Thank you.”

She put the water down.

He touched her hand.

She met his gaze.

“What happened?”

She looked back at Everett and Gramps not sure what to do.

The nurse finished checking his vitals. “We’ll finish this bag of fluids and give him another. Now that he’s awake the doctor will run some more blood tests to make sure he didn’t do any major damage to his liver or kidneys. You should be able to take him home in a few hours.” She looked down her nose at him, shook her head, and headed for the door.

“Bitch.” Julian said.

The nurse turned around and glared at him, before stalking out of the room.

Liza chuckled. “Someone’s feeling better.” She dropped into the chair next to him.

“A little.” He closed his eyes again.

Liza touched his hand.

He moved his hand so it was covering hers and squeezed. “So is someone going to answer my question?”

Everett moved into Julian’s line of vision. “You tried to drown your woes in a bath of whiskey.”

“I wasn’t trying to kill myself.” He brought his hand up to his face and pulled the oxygen candela out of his nose. Rubbing his face, he stopped at the gauze on his temple. “What happened?”

“Your brother said he found you on the floor and it appeared you hit your head on the way down.” Gramps came over at sat down next to Liza.

Julian looked from Gramps to Everett. “This is a familiar scene.”

“One I had hoped not to relive.” Everett jingled the change in his pocket. “What were you thinking?”

“Hell if I remember. I tried to forget something and must have succeeded.” His gaze went to Liza.

He didn’t remember. She tugged her hand away from his and wiped at a tear.

“Oh shit, what did I do?” He used his hands to lift his body and pushed himself up on the bed.

Liza shook her head, couldn’t speak. She managed to blink to clear the tears from her eyes but refused to meet his gaze.

“Dad?” Julian tried to reach for Liza’s hand, but she moved out of his range. “Must have been something pretty bad.”

“From what I understand, you left her.” Everett folded his arms.

Julian rubbed his forehead careful not to hit the bandage. “Oh God, Liza. I’m sorry.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and then looked over at her. “Will . . . can you ever forgive me?”

She couldn’t look at him. Her heart screamed for her to forgive him. Her brain reminded her he’d been stupid and forgotten what it meant to be a responsible adult. She sobbed.

Gramps hauled her into his arms.

“I fucked up something royally.”

Something snapped. Liza moved out of Gramps arms, shoved herself to her feet, and marched to Julian’s side. “That’s the understatement of the year. You showed up at my apartment three sheets to the wind, telling me you’d send money, but wanted nothing to do with me or the baby. Nothing, Julian. You wanted nothing to do with us. And then to prove it, you proceed to drink yourself into oblivion. Yeah – I’d say you fucked up.” She jabbed her finger against his chest. Turning on her heels, she marched out of the room.

*****

Julian watched her go. He blew out a heavy breath and tried to hoist up into a sitting position. “Help me up.” He ripped the blood pressure cuff off his arm and reached for his IV when his dad caught his hand.

“Stop.”

“No, I’m going after her.”

“You’re going to leave her alone.”

“Get the fuck out of my way.”

“And what do you hope to accomplish by dragging your sorry ass after her?” Everett crossed his arms. “Because if you go after her now all you’re going to end up doing is making it worse. She needs time.”

“I need to apologize.” Julian let his head fall back on the pillow and growled. His body refused to cooperate. He hit his forehead with the palm of his hand.

“Did you ever consider this has nothing to do with what
you
need?” Everett raised his hand, then dropped it. “And how many apologies does that poor girl have to accept before
you
change the way you think and stop hurting her.”

“I can’t lose her.”

“Maybe you should have thought about that before you went on a weeklong bender and poisoned yourself with alcohol.” Everett slammed his fist against his hand. “Damn it, Julian! What in the hell were you thinking?”

Julian clenched his fists in his hair. “I don’t fucking know.”

“You lost her when you told her you wanted nothing to do with her or your baby. The only thing I see right now is a selfish boy who has no respect for himself, Liza, or the baby. So unless something drastically changes and you’re ready to commit leave her alone. It’s not fair to let her hope only for you to keep pulling the rug out from under her.”

Julian pursed his lips as his father’s comment percolated in his brain.

“Everett.” Gramps stood and put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go check on Liza? Give Jackie a call let her know he’s awake and going to make it?”

Everett let out a deep breath. “You’re going to have to make some changes if you want to keep her.”

Everything his father said to him leached into his brain. If he had any respect for her, he wouldn’t have accused her of cheating on him in the first place. “I know, Dad.” Julian nodded. “I know.”

Everett hugged his son. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Julian nodded.

Gramps patted his son on the shoulder as Everett headed out of the room. He waited until Everett left before peering at Julian. “You and your father are quite a bit alike. You may have spent the first twelve years of your life away from him, but you two are two peas in a pod.”

“No, Dad has his head screwed on straight.”

“He didn’t always.” Gramps sat down on the bed next to Julian. “Looks like you and I could use another talk.”

Julian glanced toward the window. The sky was dark. The clock on the wall read three after four in the morning.

“I can’t do it on my own, Gramps. I need help.”

“We never expected you, too.” Gramps patted Julian’s leg. “We’re a very large, very close family. We want you to succeed, Julian.”

“I’m going to walk into an intervention when I get to Mom and Dad’s aren’t I?”

Gramps shrugged. “I don’t know what the boys have planned for you. They’re all worried about you.”

“How’s Drew doing?”

“He went home to get some sleep. He’s more than a little worried about you, but he’s distracted by something else. Liza noticed it earlier.” Gramps yanked a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his nose.

“He’s in love with Ava and she doesn’t want anything more than friends with benefits.” It wasn’t right to give up his brother’s secret.

Gramps smiled and shook his head. “You boys can’t have normal relationships can you.”

Julian started to chuckle then winced and grasped his head. “Come on, Gramps, normal wouldn’t be any fun.” He rested his head against the pillow and yawned. His eyes drifted closed and he fought to keep them open.

Gramps stood. “You get some rest. I’m going to sack out in the chair over there and when they release you, your dad or I will take you home.”

“No, you’ll take me to Mom and Dad’s so I can be dealt with.” Julian let out a sigh. He wanted to tell Gramps to go home, he didn’t need to stay the rest of the night, but his eyes drifted closed and he lost his battle with sleep.  

*****

Ava and Audrey headed to Liza’s apartment with her. Part of her wanted to be alone, but the other part knew she needed her friends. She stopped and picked up her mail before heading to the elevator. She rubbed her belly. Abigail. They’d decided on Abigail Kathryne Ivy. Jackie’s middle name was Abigail and Kathryne was her mother’s middle name. With everyone in his family having two middle names they had both agreed on Ivy.

“Lindsay and Ari are working, but they said they’d come by later.” Ava touched her fingers as she mentioned the names. “Terra’s on her way and Jackie said she’d stop by later.”

“You didn’t have to drop everything to be with me. I’ll be fine.” Liza pressed her hand against her belly. She loved her baby, but things would have been so much easier if things were different.

“We’re not leaving you alone.” Ava shook her head. “Not with everything going on.”

“The boys are planning an intervention for Julian. They want to make sure he gets the help he needs.” Audrey put her hand on Liza’s shoulder.

The elevator doors slid open and they headed to her apartment.

Liza unlocked the door and thrust it open.

A envelope sat on the floor, her named typed on it.

Ava swooped down to pick it up. Rather than waiting she opened the letter. “You’re being evicted? Why?”

Liza snatched the letter from Ava and read it. “Shit.” She dropped onto the couch. “He said he’d take care of it.” She dug through her mail to find her utility bill. She ripped open the letter only to find a shut off notice for November 12
th
. She held the bill out to Ava. “I’m being evicted and my utilities will be shut off tomorrow.”

“How did that happen?” Audrey sat down next to her. “Wasn’t Julian supposed to take care of this?”

“When I quit my job in August, he said he’d take care of everything. He knows my rent is due on the first of the month and I’ve given him my last two utility bills.”

“And he hasn’t paid for any of them.” Ava handed the bill over to Audrey.

“Even if by some miracle I find a way to pay for this today, what about the next two months? My lease is up in December and the plan was for me to move in with him after Thanksgiving, but after last night, no way. I have nowhere else to go. I’m going to have to call my parents.”

Ava pulled out her phone. “I’m calling Drew. They’re already having the intervention they can let him tell him what kind of fuck up he is.”

“No.” Audrey shook her head. “We can deal with this. I’ll pay your electric bill. Jackie and Terra are on their way over, between the two of them they should be able to get you out of your lease. We’ll go from there.”

“I can’t ask any of you to do that.” Liza looked down at her swollen belly. She still had a month to go and she already felt like a whale. “Damn it, I knew I shouldn’t have quit my job. Who’s going to hire me in my condition? What am I going to do after Abigail is born?”

“Let us help you.” Audrey rested her hand on Liza’s shoulder. “I know you don’t want to rely on other people. It took me two months to finally tell Jackie and Everett what happened with Jake and I, so I understand. Two months I spent killing myself trying to make ends meet to save a condo that cost more than two months salary as it was. I had no idea what I was doing and worked myself into a tizzy, rather than asking for help from the people who could help me.”

“But I won’t ask for their help!” Liza exclaimed as she stood and began to pace in front of them. “This is my problem. I got myself into this mess, I’m the one who needs to get myself out.”

Ava laughed. “Honey, the last time I checked . . . it takes two to make a baby. And no matter what crazy-ass excuse he comes up with, your baby is as much his responsibility as she is yours. This will be taken care of. I don’t care if I have to knock him on the head with a hammer.”

“Let me find out how long Jackie’s going to be.” Audrey pulled out her phone. “We’ll call the boys later and let them know what’s going on. He’s not even home from the hospital yet. If we give them a chance to talk to him before we throw this on him it may work better.”