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‘I had a long conversation with Cassie last night and it was her who made me see sense, really.’
‘What did she say?’
‘She wrote me a letter when I was out at rehearsal the other night. She said she was in the wrong when she stole from Lily. She had to convince me of that, really. She explained how hard she found moving back. Even though she was young when … it happened, this place means something to her and she had trouble processing that. I couldn’t see it myself when I was trying to be a parent.’ He sat down on the chair opposite Sophie’s, passed her Cassie’s letter and brushed his curls behind his ear.
‘You weren’t trying to be a parent, Liam. You were being one. And I totally understand why you would feel let down by what happened, by me.’ She looked down at her knees, reflecting on how she could have dealt with the situation better. She opened Cassie’s letter and smoothed it out on her lap.
‘I should never have doubted you would do everything you could to look after her. I was just angry, and I dealt with it in a really stupid way.’
‘Yes, well,’ Sophie said, nodding. A smile played at her lips. ‘I’ve had better conversations with parents.’ She looked over Cassie’s festive doodles and smiley faces and read the lovely sentiments in her letter. Sophie really had made a difference.
‘Well, anyway, Cassie told me that actually you’ve been a real comfort to her over the past few weeks. She told me how she’d been feeling about Emily. I’d not even realised she’d been carrying all that around with her for such a long time. We talked and we’re going to look into some professional counselling for her. She had been speaking to a doctor but I think it’s time to find someone who she can really talk to about things so she can start to heal.’
‘That sounds like a good idea.’
‘But whatever you’ve been doing in the meantime, I really appreciate it. And so does Cassie,’ he added.
Sophie looked over at Liam as he spoke. He seemed a little shy, playing with his hands as he explained. He brushed some of his curls back off his face. His hazel eyes met hers, and they held each other’s gaze for a few delicious moments.
‘You and Cassie are very welcome,’ Sophie said eventually, breaking the moment. ‘I was just doing my job,’ she added with a friendly smile, and stood to carry on packing her things away.
Liam stood too and made to leave. He hesitated at the door and turned back. ‘You really were unbelievable tonight,’ he said.
‘Thanks, Liam.’ She took a deep breath, suddenly feeling very sad about the whole situation, about how it could have turned out so differently. She realised she didn’t want him to leave. ‘Thanks for helping me to get there.’
Liam smiled and turned to leave. As Sophie placed her jumper into the bag, her hand brushed the carefully wrapped bauble she’d been carrying with her hopefully for the past few days. She’d only bought it a couple of weeks ago; so much had happened since then.
She lifted it out of the bag and said, ‘I bought this for you.’ Her cheeks instantly coloured as she said it, feeling foolish for offering him a present when he’d made it clear they were nothing more than friends at the very most.
Liam paused and turned to take the object from her hand, his fingertips brushing her palm and making her stomach flip like she knew it would when he was near. He unwrapped it and held the ornament up to the light. ‘It’s beautiful, Soph.’
‘I saw it when I went to London and it reminded me of you, even if things were all a bit horrible at that point.’
‘I love it,’ he said, smiling at her. ‘And I can’t wait to add it to the tree.’
Sophie smiled sadly. She was pleased and relieved that Liam and Cassie would finally get to enjoy a Christmas tree, but disappointed at the thought of the ornament not being Sophie and Liam’s first ornament together on the tree. For a while there, she thought she was about to get what she’d wanted all those weeks ago when she was first putting up her Christmas tree: the boyfriend and the ornament from their first Christmas together. But it wasn’t to be.
As the silence hung between them, Sophie turned to gather her belongings from the dressing table. If she lingered any longer, she was worried that she might shed a tear. Putting everything back into her make-up bag, she sensed Liam turn to leave. Sophie sighed a heavy sigh of disappointment.
‘Soph.’
She looked up to see Liam taking several steps back across the room. He reached out to hold one of her hands, his sudden but welcome touch radiating through her body. ‘I really am sorry.’
She looked down at where he held her hand in his and for a moment thought about taking it away. It was the sensible, safe thing to do. But she really didn’t want to. She liked the feel of his rough palm on hers.
‘I’m sorry too.’ Her breath responded to his touch.
‘Come here,’ he said, using his grip on her hand to pull her closer. The make-up bag she held fell to the floor, and she let out a yelp, falling against his chest. Liam tilted her chin up towards his and kissed her, brushing her hair back from her face and running his fingers down her neck, along her collarbone. His touch was exquisite, and Sophie realised she had wanted this more than she knew. Before she had time to think about why she shouldn’t be doing it, they were kissing like teenagers. Their hands were everywhere, and the kiss became something more, very quickly. Sophie pulled away, breathless.
‘Liam, my parents …’ She searched for what she wanted to say, but was overwhelmed and distracted by her pounding heart and fluttering butterflies.
‘Are not who I want to talk about right now,’ Liam said with a laugh. He pulled her to him again, brushing her hair away from her face. ‘I think I might be falling in love with you, Miss Lawson.’
‘I think I might be falling in love with you too,’ Sophie said, as Liam leant down to kiss her once again.
Epilogue
One year later
