Page 23

Chapter 23

Brodie

Never before did I hate people I’d never met, but Liam’s in-laws had definitely crossed a line. I understood that the weight of grief could make people do things they wouldn’t normally do, but grief didn’t absolve them of accountability.

“What are you going to do?” I asked Liam. We were still holed up in Ethan’s office at the diner. It was a less than ideal hideout, but it would do for the now.

“I’m going to call John and see what the hell they want. I’ve been dodging their calls.” Guilt flashed across Liam’s face.

I reached for him. Cradled his face in my hands. His eyes fluttered shut and he took a breath. He wound his arms around my waist and relaxed into me.

“Look at me.”

His eyes opened and I met his tortured gaze. “You have nothing to feel guilty about. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Logically, I know that.” He leaned in and stole a kiss. “Emotionally, however … I always felt like I could do more to help them move past it.”

“That’s not on you. And I’m not sure there’s such a thing as moving past something like that. I think that some things stay with us no matter what we do. But we have to choose how we carry it.”

“I don’t want to talk to them here.” Liam glanced around. He looked like a cornered animal, trembling with fear and adrenaline.

“Give me your keys.” I held out my hand. Confused, Liam fished into his pocket and pulled them out.

“I thought you didn’t drive.”

“I can. I just don’t like to. But you need a few minutes to get yourself together, and that’s not going to happen here.” I tugged Liam out of the office and through the kitchen. Ethan met us with a concerned expression.

“All good?” he asked.

“Yeah, thanks for letting me hide back there. I’ll tell Shane he owes you a drink. I’m going to get us out of here. Mind if we slip out the back?”

“Go ahead. I hope your day gets better,” Ethan told us as I steered Liam out the back door. He climbed into the passenger seat and I got behind the wheel.

After doing up my seatbelt, I put the key in the ignition and grinned at him. “It’s like riding a bike.”

It was not like riding a bike, but we made it to Mom’s in one piece.

“Where are we?” Liam asked as we got out of the car and headed for the front door.

“You’ll see.” I rang the bell and a minute later the front door swung open. Mom, as always, was covered in flour, her hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun.

“Brodie, what a nice surprise.” Her gaze slid over to Liam and her smile brightened. “And you brought your boyfriend. Come in, come in. I’ll get the coffee on.”

Liam’s hand tightened on mine as I pulled him inside. I shut the door behind us and, after taking our shoes off, we met Mom in the kitchen. She buzzed around the room like a happy little bumblebee, making coffee and plating cookies for us.

“What brings you boys by? Not that I mind. I just wasn’t expecting you for a few more days.” She set the cookies on the table, then stuck her hand out toward Liam. “I’m Patricia, but you can call me Pat, Patty, or Mom.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Brodie has told me all about you. You’re a remarkable woman.”

“Lies.” She rolled her eyes and took a seat at the table across from Liam. “So, you’re the one Brodie met on his travels. He’s told me precious little about you, but that was always his way. He likes to keep things close to his chest.” Mom pushed the plate of cookies closer to Liam. “Snickerdoodles, oatmeal chocolate chip, and lemon drops. Help yourself.”

Liam took a lemon drop and Mom caught my eye, sending me a look of triumph. I’d told her about the lemon bars he’d found and how he ate nearly the whole box himself.

The pleased sound that Liam made would have had me climbing into his lap were we not at my mother’s kitchen table.

“It’s quiet around here,” I said to Mom as Liam reached for another cookie.

“I’ve just got the one girl, and she has classes today. She’s going to finish up her courses and then transfer her credits and go live with her aunt while she finishes up.”

Mom was good about sharing about her girls. She’d never say why they were there or who they were running from, but she often bragged up their accomplishments. Some of them were only there long enough to make arrangements to get even farther away, but Mom had helped more than a few put their lives back together.

“Brodie told me about all the women you help. It’s pretty amazing.”

“I do what I can. My sister had a bad marriage and I do for these girls what I wish I could have done for her.” Mom nudged the plate of cookies closer to Liam. “Help yourself, dear.”

“That must have been hard.” Liam’s voice was tight. “To watch her go through that.”

Mom stood and busied herself getting coffee mugs and cream and sugar. She set them on the table and Liam picked at another cookie, breaking it in half first before taking a bite.

When the coffee had been poured, she sat back down. “Are you boys staying for lunch? I should get the other boys over and we can take advantage of how warm it is today and fire up the barbeque.”

I glanced at Liam and raised my eyebrow in a silent question. Liam shrugged back, but he looked more relaxed, even if the worry and the anger were still etched into his expression. John and Marsha’s reckoning was coming, even if I had to deliver it myself.

“We’ll stay, Mom.” Under the table, I put my hand on Liam’s thigh and gave it a gentle squeeze. Liam put his hand over mine and squeezed back, and more of the angst melted out of his expression.

“Great. I’ll get Shane to swing by the store on his way over. Do you have any allergies or special diets, Liam?”

“No, uh, no allergies. Or special diets.”

“He’ll eat anything, Mom. The street vendors around our hotel in Kalamata knew him by name. Mister Liam , they’d say. Mister Liam, come here and try this . Every time we stepped out of the hotel, or went back to it, they were always happy to see him.” Liam squeezed my hand.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. A subtle vibration followed by several more in quick succession. He fished it out of his pocket and glared at the screen. “It’s John.”

“His late wife’s family have been hard to deal with,” I summed up for Mom, whose curious gaze wasn’t missed.

“If you need privacy, there’s an office just off the kitchen. Brodie can show you the way.”

I stood and tugged Liam to his feet. His phone had stopped vibrating, but it was only a matter of time before John tried again.

“We won’t be long.”

“Take your time. I’m going to wrangle the boys and then get a start on lunch.”

I shepherded Liam into the office and shut the door. “Did he leave a message?”

I pulled out a chair for Liam and motioned for him to sit.

“I haven’t wanted to look at my voicemail. I don’t know why that still exists. I should get rid of it. I don’t think there’s a thing on this planet that I like less than checking my voicemail.”

“Spoken like a true millennial.” My quip earned me a smirk from Liam, even though his heart wasn’t in it.

“I wish people would text me and then I know what they want and can get back to them when it’s convenient.”

“Did you want me to call John? Because I will.” I sat on the desk and Liam wheeled over to sit between my legs. He looked up at me, uncertainty in his eyes.

“You’d do that?”

“There’s not much I wouldn’t do for you. I wouldn’t eat asparagus for you, or avocado. And I draw the line at jumping out of things or off of things. But if it’s not one of those things, then yes, I would do anything for you.”

“Remind me to read your terms and conditions later.”

“Smart ass.”

Liam’s chest swelled when he took a deep breath and I watched him deflate when he breathed out. “I feel like the bad guy. Ever since she got sick. I’ve been so helpless. I couldn’t do anything to help her. And when she was gone, it was worse because I thought maybe I could make it easier for them.”

“That was never your job.”

“I didn’t want to just abandon them.” Liam’s hands shook and I took his phone from him. I opened up the recent callers and hit the top button, then put it on speaker.

“I’m not letting you do this alone.” Liam nodded and we waited three long rings before the call was answered.

“Liam, finally. I’ve been trying to reach you.”

“I’m not alone, John. I’m here with Brodie, my boyfriend. You’re on speaker.” Liam’s face had lost all color and he looked like he wanted to be sick. It was the same expression he’d worn that night when everything went to shit between us.

My stomach tightened and a chill crawled up my spine. Then Liam reached for me and grabbed my leg. His fingers curled around the back of my calf and he clung to me like I was a lifeline. I loved to hear him claim me as his boyfriend, but I hated that it had happened under these circumstances.

“Liam—listen, son—”

“No, John. Not son. Not anymore. Please. I just—I have done everything I could for the two of you. I did everything you asked of me. Except that one thing. You never should have asked me to do that, John. I also never should have delayed destroying them for so long, but I did the right thing, John. It’s what we wanted.”

The longer Liam talked, the stronger his voice sounded. He’d started off tired and unsure, but it was like he was pulling strength from my presence.

“And leave my boyfriend alone. He has nothing to do with any of this. I’m disappointed in you and Marsha. I loved Piper, but I can’t keep acting like she just died. She’s been gone for a couple of years. I want to move on.” Liam looked up at me. “I have moved on.”

“Liam—I’m sorry. Marsha and I …” John’s breath shook through the phone. His voice returned sounding choked with emotion. “I left her. This morning. I’m at my brother’s house for the time being.”

“You left her?” Liam’s fingers dug into my flesh.

“She’s not the same. I lost Piper too, but I also lost Marsha. I called her nephew, he’s the one with the gossip rag that’s been hounding you. I might have fudged the truth a bit, but I led him to believe that there’d be lawsuits if he kept harassing you. He wasn’t aware of how bad Marsha is. Her sister and I are trying to get her into a therapist.”

Liam scoffed. “That’s two years too late, John.”

“I know. I’m sorry. Looking back, we asked a lot of you and you were always so good about it. And we repaid you by hounding you. I didn’t know she’d orchestrated a news story until it hit. None of this is okay, but I want to make it right.”

“How did she know about Brodie? I hadn’t come out to anyone yet. Carol didn’t even know.”

John took a deep breath. “When you were so quick to shut her down after the ribbon cutting, she was distraught. And then she tried to get an injunction filed to stop the eggs from being destroyed. She wanted to sue you. Only, by the time she got calmed down enough to get a hold of her lawyers, you’d taken care of that. She wanted to confront you, but you’d left. So she confessed to hiring someone to find out where you were. And you can guess what happened after that.” John sounded weary.

“You were like parents to me.” Liam’s voice cracked and his fingers dug further into my flesh.

I wanted to crawl inside him and take his pain away. I would’ve given anything to be able to do that for him. To shoulder some of the burden.

“I know. We didn’t handle anything well and I can’t undo the damage that’s been done.”

Liam cleared his throat. “I’m selling my condo. There’s a box or two of Piper’s things. Just some random stuff I haven’t been able to part with. I’m due to fly back soon and take care of some business and I’ll ship her things to you. And after that, I think it’s best if we don’t speak.”

“That’s kind of you. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

Liam ended the call and rested his forehead on my knee. My heart battered against my ribs as I played Liam’s words in my head. He was going back. Logically, I knew he’d have things to take care of, but I thought he’d have talked about it with me and made plans. I wasn’t currently tied down to any sort of schedule. Going with him would be easy, but he hadn’t asked. It hurt more than I’d admit. I couldn’t help but wonder if he planned to take me with him at all or if I was going to be left behind again.