“But you really are strong. You are. This is just a normal human breaking point thing.”
She shook her head. She didn’t feel strong. “I’ve learned how to act. How to survive. But this has been coming for a while.”
“You’ve been knocked down how many times? Anyone would snap. And you haven’t snapped. You’re just…done with pretending, maybe? But you’ve climbed a hard ladder, princess. Hard. I had no idea until I saw you at work in Nashville. How many people try to do what you’ve done and fail?”
She wasn’t sure she wasn’t failing at the moment. Darkness crept in closer, cold and clammy, because given what his family was preparing for, that was so weak. “You should go home.”
“What? No. I’m right where I need to be.”
“Your brother—”
“Has two other brothers. And one of them isn’t an idiot. He has best friends and an entire community, including one of your best friends, too. You have me. It’s a fair trade.”
She laughed, because he was being funny, and he was funny, but it still hurt.
“You’re awesome, you know that?”
She shook her head and tried to twist away from him.
He caught her hands in his and held her still. “Listen to me. Listen. Stop and hear me.”
“No, don’t do this.” When she realized he wasn’t going to let her get away, she tried to kiss him instead, but he rolled her onto her back.
“I’m doing this.” He gave her a soft smile, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
Her heart was going to explode. Was it wrong to feel happy and sad at the same time?
“I’m telling you how awesome you are, and you’re going to hear it.”
Swallowing hard, she forced herself to be quiet. Forced the voices in her head to stop arguing and let him do this, even if it was a lie.
I’ve made him think these wonderful things. I’ve manipulated him somehow and he’ll realize it soon enough.She didn’t feel the tears on her cheeks until his fingers wiped them away.
“Is that so hard to hear?”
“Maybe,” she whispered.
“Damn it, Liana.” He stared down at her, then shook his head. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Yoga?”
Instead, he kissed her, and that was better.
— —
The next morning, a therapist came to the hotel for a private session.
To her eternal relief, Liana liked the guy right off the bat. His name was Howard, and he wasn’t a big fan of country music.
She laughed when he told her that. “That’s an interesting introduction tack.”
“I don’t want you to be surprised when I don’t know any of your colleagues, or anything like that. The context, relationships, etc. My wife likes to watch Austin City Limits, though, that’s a good time.”
“It is.” She gave a little shrug. “I’ve been on that, you know.”
“That’s neat.” But he said it like one might comment on bright purple argyle socks. And where someone else might get uppity about that, Liana just relaxed.
This guy didn’t care at all about her job. Which meant she could trust him to do his. She took a deep breath. “Okay. So. Where do we start?”
