With Miranda here in Lubbock, I had no chance to make things right with Heidi. Even to apologize and let Heidi be. It might be for the better to keep her out of my baggage at the moment, but I still felt bad. Standing her up after how I’d acted last night had been unnecessarily cruel. I would never have done that if I’d had a way to get away.
Instead, I’d stayed at Austin’s and listened to Miranda talk for hours. Maybe she was serious about making things right. I wasn’t sure. I’d need some more time to process. Between my injury, golf, and Miranda, I needed more than a day to figure out what to do with my life.
After a painful afternoon, I decided that it would be better for the two of us to go home. With the reunion over and Heidi refusing to speak to me, there was really nothing for me in Lubbock. I had another doctor’s appointment on Monday. I had serious pain in my lower back, and I knew it was fucked up. I was really not looking forward to him talking to me about it some more.
But that wasn’t an option with my career on the line.
I shook my head to clear away the cobwebs. Everything felt as if I were walking on a tightrope without a net. One wrong move, and I’d lose it all.
Miranda must have noticed my somber mood because she dried her tears and became completely compliant. I might be pissed at her for the argument we’d gotten into before I had left. After overhearing her conversation with Janice and confronting her about it, she’d tried waterworks. When she realized that wouldn’t work, she’d screamed that it was true.
Fine, she didn’t want kids. Was I happy?
Happy?
How could I possibly be happy?
I’d stayed with her for the kids. For the possibility to fix our marriage with children.
Now, she was saying that she hadn’t meant all of that. She’d sounded pretty fucking serious when she’d said it. Both to me and Janice. And I didn’t know if I could believe her even though I kept doling out second chances to her like candy. We’d see how this one went, because I fucking meant it. I’d stick to my word. This was the last one she got. I couldn’t keep living my life like this.
Sunday morning, I dialed Jensen’s number as I was packing up my meager belongings. I knew he would answer. My eldest brother was a bit of an insomniac vampire.
“Hey,” Jensen said groggily into the phone.
I startled at him sounding tired. That was new. “Hey, did I wake you up?”
“No, no. Go back to sleep,” Jensen whispered. I assumed he was talking to Emery. Then, he was back to me. “Sorry about that. I’m up. What’s going on?”
“I wanted to let you know that Miranda and I are taking an early flight out this morning.”
Jensen blew out a harsh breath. “You’re leaving already?”
“Yeah. I think I need to get back to my life and figure out what’s going on.”
“With Miranda?”
“Yes,” I said slowly. “And golf.”
“Your injury isn’t healing,” Jensen guessed. “I noticed you were careful with it at the reunion.”
I winced. I hadn’t even realized I’d been doing that. I’d had some pain ever since I injured my back four years ago, and I’d had to pull out of the middle of my last tournament. Then a couple weeks ago I’d completely thrown it out. It was no surprise that I was hurting the way I was.
“Yeah. We’ll see what happens.”
“And you’re going to miss church,” he accused.
This was the hardest part about telling Jensen that I was leaving early. Church was a Lubbock necessity and a Wright tradition. Our mother had gone to church every Sunday, and we continued to do so in her memory every single Sunday. Leaving ahead of church was nothing short of blasphemy, and I was doing it. Again.
“Yeah, sorry. You know I want to be there, but—”
“Yeah, yeah. Just figure out your life. Call me if you need me…or a lawyer.”
I sighed. “Thanks, man. I’ll keep that in mind.”
After I hung up, I said my good-byes to Austin and then Miranda and I headed to the airport. Our flight had a layover in Dallas, and Miranda insisted we upgrade to first class for the long leg of the flight. I didn’t want to argue, so I just did it. She ordered a mimosa as soon as we were in the air again. I didn’t need a drink; I needed a new body.
The landing was hell on my back, and in that moment, I was glad for the first-class seat. If the pain could flame up that quickly, I had a feeling that surgery was going to come sooner rather than later. A problem for another day.
After we picked up Miranda’s bag from baggage claim, we walked out to my Mercedes SUV parked in the deck and drove into Clearwater. We lived in a gated country club on the water with a full golf course that, up until this recent injury, I had played at nearly every day. Big enough to house a college spring break, our house was a sprawling two-story overlooking the Gulf of Mexico with a pool and hot tub out back.
Miranda had been silent and fidgeting the entire drive from the airport. She hopped out of the car as soon as I pulled into the garage. She seemed nervous, and I didn’t know why. But the vibe from her was coming off strong.
I didn’t really want to deal right now. I wanted to get our luggage inside and pass out for a few hours. I had not gotten enough sleep this weekend.
With a groan, I pulled Miranda’s enormous suitcase out of the trunk. Why she’d had to bring a full-sized suitcase for a last-minute weekend trip, I would never understand. My back certainly didn’t approve. Then, I lugged it along with my own bag inside.
And I stopped dead in my tracks. “What the fuck?”
The house was a wreck.
I’d left it in pristine condition, and I came home to find it…vandalized. The furniture had been moved, and pillows were scattered across the room. Pictures had been ripped off the walls. All the frames of me and Miranda had been overturned, or the glass had shattered onto the hardwood floor. Some decorative display with green glass pebbles had been strewn across the room.
Miranda whirled around with her brows scrunched together and her mouth open. “I can explain.”
“You can…explain?” I asked in confusion. “We’ve been robbed.”
It was the only explanation that seemed to fit. Someone must have broken in and trashed the place, looking for money or valuables.
“We haven’t,” she said softly.
“How the hell do you know that?”
I dropped the luggage and slammed the garage door behind me. My fury reignited, like pouring gasoline on a flame. I’d been gone for three days, and this had fucking happened!
“Because I did it,” she whispered.
“You did what?”
“I was upset, and I got carried away,” she said so evenly that it was as if she were delivering news about where we were going for lunch. It was nothing of importance. Just something that had happened. Something she hadn’t even blinked at when she left the house like this to come get me from Lubbock.
“You trashed our house,” I said slowly through gritted teeth.
“I said I was upset.” She lifted one petite shoulder, as if to say, Oops.
My gaze shifted around the room once more. This was what had happened when she was upset. She had turned into a Tasmanian devil and leveled the living room. What in the hell was wrong with someone who could do something like that?
Finally, my eyes landed back on her.
She seemed perfectly content. We’d talked. I was home. Her world was in the right.