“Are you coming on to me, Liam? I’m flattered, but….”
Liam was suddenly tired of games. “I’m only staying over because of you. Because I like the idea of talkingto you. So if that’s not going to happen, there’s no point in going through all the rest of it, and I’d appreciate it if you could just tell me that now and save me the trouble of—” He stopped. Calvin was Ben’s uncle, his only real family. If Calvin wanted to make Liam jump through some pointless hoops, Liam needed to just shut up and take it. “Sorry. Okay. I’ll go see the Ingrams. And if youhave some time later—”
“Come for dinner. Six o’clock.”
Liam tried to find the trap. “Yeah?”
“You haven’t turned vegan or gone gluten-free or anything?”
“No….”
“Good. I’ll grill some steaks. Bring a nice red wine.”
“Anything else? To go with the steaks?”
“What, are you all city-fancy now? You can’t just have a steak and be glad of it?”
“You’ll make garlic potatoes,” Liam said. He was beginningto remember who he was dealing with. “And something green. You honestly won’t worry about it other than that—could be spinach or asparagus or beans or lime Jell-O as long as it’s green. And I’m not complaining about that. But you tend to want something sweet as well. Should I pick up dessert somewhere?”
“I prefer homemade.”
“Do you like apples?” Liam forced himself away from aGood Will Huntingreference he didn’t think he could pull off. “Because I’m not currentlyatmy home, so if you want anything fancier than apples—”
“Are you saying you have homemade apples? Apples you made in your home, in New York City? Yes, please. Bring me some of those. And the wine. Probably two bottles. At least.”
Liam should have engaged more. But how? He could have explained that his apples wouldn’t behomegrown, which Calvin clearly knew. What a waste of breath. Why the hell had he thought it would be good to spend more time with this maddening, juvenile pain in the ass?
“Bring some scotch too,” Calvin said, and Liam immediately found himself thinking much more favorably about his plans for the evening. “And something warm to wear, so we can sit by the fire. Well, you probably don’t have anythinglike that with you. But I have some of Ben’s other castoffs stored away somewhere. I can dig them up for you.”
Liam let himself take the hit. Had Ben cast him off? Technically, yes. In the eyes of a doting—well, no,dotingwasn’t the right word—in the eyes of anaffectionateuncle, had Ben been the one to end their relationship? Yes.
And Liam would accept that. He’d let himself be painted asthe victim rather than the villain. Here, in North Falls, he’d let that happen. Nowhere but here.
So he didn’t argue with Calvin’s “castoffs” comment. What Liam had done to make Ben cast him off? Well, it was nothing he and Uncle Calvin needed to discuss.
“Six o’clock,” he confirmed, then left. The B&B, the liquor store, and maybe a bakery or something. He could hit the little department storenext to the bank and get a pair of sweatpants to sleep in, maybe some clean underwear.
Hell, he had lots of time. He could drive over to Monticello and do his shopping there, or even find a motel to stay in. B&Bs were unnatural and wrong.
But he found himself reluctant to leave North Falls. It wasn’t logical, but he felt like he’d set something—he had no idea what—in motion, and he needed tostick around until it was resolved. Somehow. He’d stumbled into Brigadoon, and if he left now, he’d never be able to find it again.
Yeah, that was some excellent decision making. Very wise of him to not be back in the city putting his life in order; totally logical that he was hanging around in North Falls instead, preparing himself for dinner with Ben’s uncle.Ben’suncle.
Maybe it was nothingto do with Ben. Maybe… maybe Liam’s subconscious was helping him out. New York was a big city, but the architecture world was pretty small. Word of Liam’s departure would be circulating by now, creating a stir. Enterprising firms would be recognizing the possibilities.
In a couple days, Liam would be able to make some calls and be greeted with “We were hoping you’d think of us” with no need forawkward explanations.
He was playing hard to get, building up anticipation and demand—something like that. Yeah, it made sense. He was wise to be staying in North Falls for a couple days.
No, wait. Foroneday. Not a couple.Oneday in North Falls. Then back to the city where he belonged.
