AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Liam’s face was implacable, but he managed a tight nod.
“A healthy life choice,” I said, voice even and dry and only mildly sarcastic.
He gave me a look. “I didn’t say my reaction was healthy, I just ... hated him that first night, and even more as the years went by and you looked so ...” His voice trailed off. “Never mind. It’s not important; it was a long time ago.”
It felt important to me. Really important.
Everything about the last few years of my life had left me feeling just a little bit battered. My divorce and my breakup and the fact that I was burned out from a career I loved.
That I’d changed, been hurt, and wasn’t exactly sure what moving forward looked like.
All of it added up to a version of myself that I hardly recognized. Someone tired and weary from all those shifts and changes.
Not less, though. None of those things made me a lesser version of Zoe Valentine.
But it was still nice to hear that in the midst of some of those things, someone hadseenme.
But I wouldn’t ask, wouldn’t push. The fact that he’d admitted this much was a big deal. A decade of keeping himself locked down wouldn’t change overnight, and I knew that too.
It was enough right now that I knew. That he’d trusted me enough to share it.
“Thank you for telling me,” I said.
He heard the sincerity in my voice, because he held my gaze for a long moment before jerking his chin in a short nod. “Welcome,” he answered, voice tight and uncomfortable.
Oh yeah. My mom would have a field day with him.
My hand rested on the slider again, my finger tapping against the frame. “So ... two questions a day on the weekends, huh?”
“Fucking hell,” he muttered. “I wasn’t being literal, Valentine.”
With a laugh, I left the house, pulling the slider door shut behind me. Immediately, I tugged my phone out of my pocket.
“Rosa,” I said when she picked up. “You are never gonna believe this.”
Chapter Thirteen
ZOE
“And then what did he say?”
Martha crowded in on the couch next to Phyllis, the former elbowing the latter when she wouldn’t move quickly enough.
“I know Rosa already told you this story.”
Phyllis elbowed Martha right back. “I missed this part. I didn’t have my hearing aid in when she called.”
“I told you not to take those out,” Martha yelled.
Phyllis glared. “It’s innow. You don’t have to yell, for gosh sake.”
Rosa shook her head from her perch in the armchair. “Martha never listens to my stories anyway.”
Martha sniffed. “I’d rather hear Zoe tell it, because then I can watch her facial expressions and figure out what we need to do about this little development.”
The little development, as they were calling it, was Liam’s bombshell from the day before. As soon as I’d gotten off the phone with Rosa, she’d in turn called the girls.
A few years ago, I would’ve sat around with a group of my coworkers, or Amie. And now ... I had these three.
