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“Shut it, you,” Liv muttered as she lifted her cup. She studied Maya’s delicate china, imagining she really was in an Austen novel, in an attempt to take her mind off this conversation.
“A certain gentleman?” Elise chimed in. “I assume you mean Arran.”
“Yep,” Maya said, doing a poor job of hiding her grin behind her teacup.
“Ugh,” Liv muttered. “I wish you’d let this one go.” This repetitive conversation was more painful and awkward than the time Liv had been on a date with a hot guy and she’d gone to push her glasses up her nose—staring at him while he spoke, mesmerized by his beautiful face. Except she hadn’t actually been wearing her glasses. So, she’d ended up poking herself in the eye instead.
Elise was watching her over the rim of her cup. “Can’t you just tell him how you feel?”
Liv bit her lip, avoiding Elise’s gaze. “We’re just friends. I don’t want to make it awks.” She fiddled with her cup, hoping to avoid scrutiny. “Anyway. He’s always been very vocal about wanting to stay away from relationships after Jess broke it off with him.”
She tried not to cringe as she remembered the sight of him cursing under his breath when he’d seen that it was her. It had made the whole thing even more mortifying. At her insistence, he’d agreed not to tell the others. Liv had pretended to Maya and Elise that the date had been a washout because the guy had a major belly-button-fluff fetish.
“You don’t know for sure unless you address it,” Elise said. Shelifted a jammy dodger from the plate in the middle of the table and dunked it into her tea. “You’re always protecting everyone else. Put your own feelings first for once. And if he doesn’t feel the same way, then he’ll have to deal with it and carry on, like a grown-up. It’s hardly a trauma, having a gorgeous friend say that they fancy the pants off you.”
Liv pondered her tangled emotions where Arran was concerned. “It’s more complicated than that,” she said, aware she was being deliberately vague.
Maya shrugged. “We always think these things are more complicated than they are.”
Liv stirred her already well-stirred tea, imagining that the words she was attempting to carefully choose might suddenly whoosh up through the small brown whirlpool she was creating inside the china cup. “Itispretty complex. He’s my brother’s best friend, and, since he and Jess split, one ofmyclosest friends. And I’ve got a real bond with Jayce. I don’t want to do anything to upset the balance—between us, between his son and me, or among our friends.”
Liv bit her bottom lip, trying to avoid both Maya’s and Elise’s gazes. She desperately wanted this conversation to be over.
“What else is complicating it?” Maya asked, her brow knitting.
Hesitating a beat, Liv searched for something to throw them off. She couldn’t tell them that the idea of a serious committed relationship terrified her. And whatever she did tell them couldn’t be a lie, because she was as shit at lying as Pinocchio. “The fact that Jayce is going to be starting in my nursery school class after Easter.”
Maya wrinkled her nose. “That’s not a major complication.”
Liv decided to steer the conversation further onto Jayce and away from Arran. “I’ve actually offered to babysit Jayce regularly, for a few hours on a Saturday afternoon and evening.”
Maya and Elise both raised their eyebrows, and there was a moment’s silence before Elise broke it. “EverySaturday?”
Liv shook her head. “No. Just one per month, the one that is meant to be Jess’s weekend. The demands on Arran’s one free weekend are going up just as his portrait work has been taking off, and he needs that time to work.”
Elise frowned. “Isn’t there someone else who can babysit? His parents?”
Liv shook her head. “They already have him one day in the week; so does Jess’s mum. Arran won’t want to ask them for any more. And I’m the only one out of our friends who doesn’t have a life.” She shot them a grin.
Maya fake coughed, muttering, “Because you’re too busy pining over him.”
Liv shot Maya her hardest stare. But because she loved Maya to bits, the stare was only about as hard as butter. “I mean—you and Sam have each other, and Elise is busy with work and wee Jack. And Nico—”
“Is busy with all the women about town,” Elise finished, arching a brow as she sipped her tea.
Liv frowned. “I was going to say running his own fitness empire, leading the local Scout group, and helping out with his nieces and nephews. But okay.” She leaned back with a sigh. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I suggested it, but Arran wasn’t keen. Too proud to accept any help.”
Maya leaned her chin on her hand to study Liv. “You know what? You need to stop doing stuff for everyone else and do something for yourself. Like go on a proper date. Not a blind one, but a knowing-what-you’re-getting-yourself-into one.”
A heavy feeling tugged at Liv’s stomach. “With who?”
Had Maya finally gotten the message that Liv and Arran were a lost cause? But aiming her matchmaking sights on someone else was nearly as bad.
“What about Brodie?”
Liv paused to ponder that question. Brodie was handsome and friendly, plus good fun. There was no logical reason not to go on a date with him, if he was interested. But logic wasn’t driving her at the moment. “I dunno.”
“Come on. He’s got those gorgeous baby blues, lovely dark hair.” Maya winked. “Runs a ski shop, where you can get your best friend loads of discounted skiwear…”
