What do you need?
Later that morning, I find Ora in the kitchen folding laundry and fill her in on the plan.
She sighs like it’s the best news she’s heard all year. “Oh, it’s about time! Do you think she’ll go for it?”
“I’m going to try to talk to her,” I say. “But if it doesn’t go well can you step in?”
“I can.” She grins. “This is so romantic.”
Yeah.
So romantic.
Too bad the other person orchestrating it thinks I’m just a kid.
But I do what any friend would do, and I convince Olive to go back to Broken Heart Creek. Once she agrees, I drop the next bombshell. We leave tonight.
The first “date” Liam sets up is meant to recreate the night he met Olive.
Obviously, he’s not about to ask her to enter a wet t-shirt contest again. He might be dumb, but he’s not suicidal. So instead, he settles on neutral ground.
Will’s bar.
I bite back a groan as I pull into the parking lot. Of course it’s here. But this isn’t about me. It’s about Olive. So I hand her the folded white T-shirt Liam requested and force a smile as I lead her inside. The second we step through the door, one of Sam’s songs is playing on the jukebox. Totally unplanned but weirdly perfect.
I point across the room. “Our table’s over there.”
We sit. I grab the glass of water waiting for me and nod toward the ginger ale in front of Olive. Will had it ready, just like I asked. Her morning sickness’s been hell lately.
Olive glances around, suspicious but amused. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I say, trying not to sound as rehearsed as I feel. “You’re just home.”
Right on cue, the song changes. It’s the same song that was playing the night they met. And then I see Liam heading toward us with his heart in his throat and nerves all over his face.
I scoot out of the way just before he reaches the table, giving them space.
Over the next thirty minutes, I sit and sip my water and watch them try to piece together what fell apart. It’s not magic, not instant. There’s still tension. Still hesitation.
But Liam’s trying.
Reallytrying.
And for once, I think he might finally be ready to pull his head out of his ass and do something that matters.
When Liam finally walks off after securing a second date, Olive excuses herself to the bathroom.
The moment she’s gone, Will approaches like he’s been waiting for the opening.
“Good job, kiddo.”
I snort before I can stop it, lifting my glass and muttering into it, “Jesus.”
“What?” he asks, brows pulling together. “You don’t think it went well?”
“Oh, I think it went perfectly well, old man.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “What?”
