I was ready to call him up and demand to know why he’d spilled the beans.
“Come on, Liz, you know he’d never tell me anything. I just heard it from a little bird, that’s all.”
Her mischievous grin made me groan.
“Lills, you weren’t supposed to know anything.”
But she just shushed me.
“Not the point here, Liz. Tell me what happened with Noah.”
I groaned again, my mind drifting back to last night—the way his hands had gripped my hips, how he pulled me in close, that low growl in my ear that had left me feeling all sorts of flustered.
“Liz?”
Lillian’s voice pulled me back to reality, and I met her gaze.
“Well, I kissed him.”
And just like that, time froze.
“YOU DID WHAT?”
Both Lillian and Mary exclaimed in unison, and I flinched a little at their excitement.
“Liz, you know he likes you. He’s always chatting with Liam, asking questions whenever you guys go on those special trips.”
Mary pointed out, her air quotes making me roll my eyes. Apparently, we hadn’t been as discreet as we thought.
“Liz, why don’t you give him a—”
I shot Lillian a panicked look.
“No, Lills, I can’t. He hurt you, and I won’t ever forgive him for that.”
“Uncy Noah hurt you, Mommy?”
Aurora chimed in, and I froze under Lillian’s sharp gaze. I glanced at her, apologetic.
“Yes, sweetie, he did, but—”
Lillian seemed to weigh her next words.
“Uncle Noah knows he was wrong. He came to Mommy and asked for her forgiveness. I didn’t want to at first, but sometimes people hurt others because they want the truth to come out.”
She said this while looking straight at me, and I recoiled at the thought. If it hadn’t been for that night, Lillian would never have discovered my own secret.
“So, it’s okay to forgive someone for making a mistake,”
She added, and my shoulders slumped. Maybe it was time to forgive Noah. Maybe it was time to move on.
“So uncy Noah hurt auntie Listh 'cause he wuvs her?”
Aurora piped up, and I shot Lillian a glance. She shrugged.
“Who knows? Auntie Liz will never know if she doesn’t forgive him, will she?”
Aurora beamed at me.
