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His smile is blinding as he reaches for the boxes in my hands. “Let me help you with these.”
“Thank you.”
As we walk up the porch toward the front door, Liam shakes his head. “It’s like walking back in time,” he says softly, his eyes on the swing a short distance away. “We spent a lot of time over there.”
“Yes,” I laugh. “It’s still my favorite spot to sit when I visit.”
“You don’t live here?”
“No.” I take the boxes back from him to bring them inside. I notice that my mom isn’t back yet. “I’m just here because it was rough being alone after everything. Mom has been really great. I’ll be heading home tonight.” Liam continues to hold the door open, hesitant to step inside. I motion for him to come in, and put the boxes on the dining room table.
“Let’s sit in the living room.” I point my arm toward the couch.
“Penny!” He shakes his head and blows out a breath as he looks around. “Nothing has changed at all. It looks exactly the same!”
I laugh with him, shyly lowering my head as he sits beside me on the couch. “I know. I’m glad Mom hasn’t really changed anything. Especially now that I have my own place. Anytime I come to visit, it still feels like home.”
I notice a sorrowful look in his eyes as he continues to glance around before sighing.
“Since coming back home, it’s been the opposite for me.”
“Why?” My eyebrows knit together.
Liam shrugs and rubs his hands on his pants. “Being at my parents’ reminds me of the person I was before I joined the Army.”
My breath hitches at how incredibly dejected he sounds, but before I say anything, he pushes off the couch and walks to the window, his face lightening.
“Remember the night I came over, and your mom sent me home because it was late?”
I laugh as the memory floods me. “You threw stones at my bedroom window until I opened it.”
“That was a bit brazen of me, wasn’t it?” He laughs, shaking his head.
“It definitely was.”
“But it was fun, wasn't it?”
“Looking back now, it was fun. I didn’t see it that way at the time. I was terrified.”
At the humor in his eyes, I feel laughter bubble up. I feel the tension in my body release at the ease in which we fall back into old patterns.
Liam turns his head to stare out the window for a moment before sighing and returning to sit next to me. “We had a lot of good times, didn’t we?”
“We definitely did.” I chuckle. When I look back now, it’s crazy how I worried so much. In truth, the only concern I had was school stuff and the next time I would get to see Liam again.
I glance at Liam, wondering how to ask the question that’s on the tip of my tongue. He notices my stare and smiles.
“What?”
“If you could go back in time and relive those moments, would you?”
Liam narrows his eyes, and in his gaze, I see a world of affection mixed with regret.
“In a heartbeat,” he says without hesitation.
My heart constricts, and my throat tightens at his words. Just as he opens his mouth to say more, the front door opens, and I jerk my head back to see my mom walking in. Liam stands up suddenly at the sight of her.
“Penny, Can you come help me—” My mom looks over at us, her eyes wide with surprise. “Liam?”
