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I remembered his eyes when they’d looked at me. When they’d locked on mine. There was one moment where my stomach had swooped weightlessly, and then guilt had followed in the very next breath. And when I’d set my book down, his gaze had moved straight to my ring, shuttering immediately.
His expression had only closed further when Charles arrived, straight from the office and high off closing a big settlement for the hospital. He’d kissed me on the top of my head and asked if I was being rude again, ignoring the people around me for the people in my books.
That was when Liam’s eyes had flattened and he’d walked out of the room.
“Where’d you go?” Rosa asked gently.
I blinked a few times. “The past.”
She hummed thoughtfully.
“Sometimes it’s simple to change your perspective of your past,” I said. “The way we view our own choices and our culpability in how things played out. I don’t think this is one of those simple ones. It feels complicated.”
“What are you going to do now that you know?” Martha asked.
I ate the last bite of my ice cream, set my bowl down on the coffee table, and slowly looked at each of their faces.
“Now I try to get to know Liam Davies.” I smiled. “One question at a time.”
Phyllis’s face lit up, and she reached for her phone, peering over her glasses as she typed slowly with her thumbs. “I googled this the other day.”
Rosa hid her smile.
Martha rolled her eyes. “Googled what?”
“What questions to ask your crush,” Phyllis said. “I had that date with the retired doctor and didn’t want to screw it up.”
I blew out a slow breath through puffed cheeks.
“Liam’s not her crush,” Martha said.
He wasn’t. I was just ... obsessing over the way he smelled and the way he freaked out over Mira’s fever and the fact that he’d thought I was a literary heroine come to life when he’d had a crush on me.
Curiousis what I was.
He was a problem to be solved.
A story that I wanted to unpack.
I’d never been able to resist a great story, and I had a feeling that Liam had one, if he’d let me see a little bit beyond what he was already showing.
“Oh, this is a good one,” Phyllis said. “What would you do if I called you in the middle of the night?”
With a groan, I covered my face with my hands.
Rosa laughed delightedly. “She doesn’t have to call him,” she said slyly. “He’s just a quick trip down the stairs.”
A sound escaped my lips. A whimper, maybe.
Martha snickered.
“Wait,” Phyllis added, “this one is better. Have you ever had a crush on a teacher?”
“That reminds me,” Martha said, “that we should add a teacher-student book to our list.”
Rosa pulled out her notepad. “Got it.”
I sat up, hands raised. “Thank you, truly, but I think I’ve got it handled.”
