Page 71 of Liam (Preston Brothers #4)

Addie

“I’m worried.”

Amanda, my therapist, looks at me over the frame of her glasses. “Girl, you gotta give me more to work with here, because worried can mean a lot of things. Are you worried about world hunger? Peace in the Middle East? Taxes? Death? That Mexican place now serving French cuisine?”

I giggle, get more comfortable on the couch. This is my third week with her now. The first week and a half, we had daily sessions. Now, we’re every other day. That, to me, is progress. “I worry that I’m doing… better than I should be?”

She adjusts her glasses and sighs. Then murmurs jokingly, “That’s not really a vote of confidence for my life’s work, but sure… tell me more.”

I smile. “I just mean… the first week I was here, I was so low. And then…” I trail off.

“And then what ?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug. “It’s like Liam tells me he loves me, and all of a sudden everything is great.

And I keep thinking, maybe I’m just climbing that peak and waiting to reach the top so I can jump…

but I keep climbing and climbing and the peak is nowhere to be seen.

It’s like he said those words, and everything else just faded away. It doesn’t seem right.”

Amanda takes in my words, her eyes distant as she mulls them over. Then she shifts the notepad and pen from her lap and sets it on the table beside her. “Can I tell you something, off the record?”

I sit taller. “Sure.”

“You know that Logan Preston is a client of mine, so that’s not a secret, but… I also have interactions with him outside of these four walls, so while I can’t tell you the things we’ve discussed in this office, I can tell you about the things he’s brought up when we’re just two people talking.”

“Okay…”

“Logan used to be really worried about Liam. He saw a change in him earlier this year, kind of like he was isolating himself in that cabin, and he didn’t interact much with the family. Logan called it a… stillness , like he was stagnant . Almost frozen in time.”

“So what changed?”

“What do you think?”

I point to myself. “Me?”

“Let’s just say Logan isn’t so worried anymore.”

I bite back a smile just as the door opens. A man walks in, looking down at his phone. “What are we?—”

“Logan!” Amanda hisses, and Logan looks up, sees me on the couch.

“Shit, my bad. Your schedule?—”

“It was a last-minute appointment.”

I cock my head to the side. “You’re Logan Matthews .”

His eyebrows rise.

“You played catcher on my brother’s high school baseball team.”

His grin is the type that has women falling at their feet. Other women. Not me. “Who’s your brother?”

“Roman,” Amanda and I say at the same time.

“Shut up! Little Addie Baker all grown up! We used to play catch on the sidelines.”

“We did?”

Logan nods. “You got some arm.”

“I’m more of a batter now,” I say, ignoring the slight sinking in my gut.

I was a batter. I haven’t decided if I still will be.

And that’s a decision I need to make soon .

Like, yesterday. “Wait.” I point between them.

“If you two are together, and you both know Roman, does that mean you know Heidi?”

Amanda gasps, then points to the door, snapping at Logan, “Be gone.”

“What? I want the tea!”

“We’re in the middle of a session, Logan.”

“But—”

“Go!” Amanda laughs.

Logan mumbles under his breath before exiting the room, closing the door between us.

Amanda waits a beat before leaning forward, lowering her voice. “Oh, my God! Are he and Heidi—wait.” Her eyes drift shut as she blows out a breath. “I’m sorry. I have to remain professional.”

“No, please,” I almost beg. “I need this… more than anything . Tell me what you know!”

Amanda huffs out a breath, looks from the closed door and back again. “Okay, so last year… Christmas… wait, turn around!”

I turn around.

“Oh, my gosh. Okay, so Roman made a braided veil?—”

“ Veil ?”

“I’m skipping too far ahead. I’m too excited, okay…” She takes a calming breath. “So they all went to high school together—the entire friend group, minus me and Mikayla. Heidi and Roman knew each other from then, but they didn’t really interact because Heidi was with Dylan?—”

“Roman’s boss?”

She waves a hand between us. “He’s married to Riley now. Anyway, last year, Christmas…”

She goes on and on, and I listen intently, trying to make sense of it all.

From what I gather, there was a Christmas get-together, a fake wedding between Heidi and Roman, they left together, and no one else knows anything .

Besides me. Clearly, because the look on Amanda’s face when I tell her that Heidi calls him is priceless.

Before either of us is ready, the timer goes off, indicating the end of our gossip session.

“Shoot,” Amanda says. “That was my bad, sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I laugh out. “I needed the distraction.”

“From the worry?” she asks, and I nod.

She tilts her head, a gentle smile creeping on her lips.

“Addie, the sudden change you experienced wasn’t because Liam said he loved you.

It’s because he chose to love you. And I think, when you don’t feel that from the two people who should love you unconditionally, that choice he made is far more meaningful.

Liam choosing to love you allowed you to open up to the idea of loving yourself . And that’s why it changed you.”

We’ve set up my latest therapy sessions so they finish just in time for Roman to pick me up after he’s done with work.

He’s usually waiting out front for me when I get out, which is exactly what happens now.

I slip into the front seat and immediately ask, “Why didn’t you tell me Amanda was your friend? ”

He shrugs, drives away from the curb. “I don’t know. I didn’t want you to think you were getting special treatment or whatever.”

“Am I?”

“No.”

“Who’s paying for all of this?”

“Addie, what the fuck with the twenty questions?” he laughs out.

“We talked about Heidi.”

He groans, and if he didn’t have to focus on the road, I’m sure he’d be slamming his head on the steering wheel right now. “The state pays for your therapy. Just like your school. All part of the foster care system.”

“Hmm.”

“Hmm what?”

“Are you and Heidi married? ”

“No!”

Gosh, I love messing with him.

“You braided a veil for her.”

“I’m finding you a new therapist.”

“Nooooo!” I fake cry. “I love Amanda.”

“Yeah?” he asks, peering sideways at me. “So you want to keep going?”

And that’s the million-dollar question right there.

Roman chuckles. “Not so fun when you’re in the hot seat, huh?”

“You’re mean.”

“You’re a brat.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He pauses a breath. “Hey, I have to stop by the office?—”

“What office?”

“My work office.”

“Which work?”

He turns to me. “Are you well?”

“What?” I scoff. “Which office? The auto shop?”

“No. Tom paid me for the days I was off, and I need to clear it up with payroll.”

I’m so confused. “They have an office?”

“Yes. Why wouldn’t they?”

“What goes on in this office?”

He reaches across the front seat, places his hand on my forehead. “Are you sick?”

I swat his hand away. “No. Where is this office?”

“It’s an old house they converted to an office, just off Main St. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Who all works there?”

“Addie!”

“What? Who all works there?”

“Admin, payroll, marketing… I don’t know.”

“Roman!”

“ What? ”

“If Preston, Gordon and Sons have an entire office, why the fuck am I working at the cabin?”

He slows to a stop at the only set of lights in town and turns to me, his look of confusion matching my own. “Good question.”

Good question, indeed.