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Sunshine
Air Conditioning
Lilac perfume
Pancakes
Saturdays
Family
Haley
So Liam was doingthe lists now too.
Cute––I supposed––although I wasn’t sure why he was sharing them with me.
Still, I found myself pressing his note into my own notebook and starting my morning.
By the time I got downstairs, Maddy was already making pancakes, Seraph was focusing on air frying bacon with her dad, and Mila was pouring everyone’s orange juice. That must have been a task Liam gave her because I knew better than to trust her with the pitcher.
“Mila, watch your cup, baby,” I warned, garnering attention from Liam and Seraph.
Right as he looked at me, Mila’s hand moved forward too far and the cup spilled over.
“Momma, it spilled!”
Liam jumped over and began wiping things up, and I tried to hide how attracted to him I was when he helped the girls. Maybe it was because I had been on my own with them, or because I was still just in love with him, but I was legitimately ready to jump him whenever he was helpful.
A text vibrated in my pocket, pulling my attention away.
Jeffery:
Hey…I know things between us are awkward, but I left a few tools over at Liam’s. Can I swing by to grab them?
Huh.Think of the devil and he’ll text about tools.
As irritated as I was with him over what he’d said to Liam, it wasn’t like I’d keep a contractor from his tools.
“Jeffery is going to swing by to get his tools,” I said plainly to Liam. The girls ignored us, focusing on their tasks. Liam looked shocked that I spoke directly to him. He blinked, gripped the rag a little tighter than needed then dipped his chin.
“Okay. Thanks for letting me know.”
I knew that was a sore spot for him on more than a few levels, but I didn’t have the energy to coddle Liam’s feelings. Not anymore.
The rest of the morning unwound peacefully, and when Jeffery drove up, I made my way outside. Liam had been doing yard work most of the morning, so I hadn’t really had a chance to tell him that Jeffery was on his way. I exited through the garage from the house, seeing that the large bay door was open, but stopped when I overheard Liam talking.
“Hey…I know I didn’t handle everything right at the town thing. I shouldn’t have hit you. I never thanked you for stepping in to help Haley and the girls while I was gone.”
Jeffery was slow to respond, and since I couldn’t see him, I wasn’t sure if he was nodding or making a hand gesture of some kind.
Then he finally spoke up. “It was no trouble. I enjoyed helping her. Not just because I was slowly trying to steal her from you. It was because I liked being helpful. Sorry I said all that shit about you.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Liam said, like he was waving it away.
I knew those words Jeffery had spoken had gotten under his armor, so him forgiving Jeffery made my heart wilt a little.
“You know the whole town sees you as this larger-than-life celebrity, right? The gym failing wasn’t a thing. I mean, the whole town was failing just last year. I shouldn’t have said it. I was just jealous. I really wanted Haley to pick me.”
