But of course Liam couldn’t say that. Hewouldn’tsay it, at least. He’d been impulsive before and Ben had gotten hurt; he neededto be more controlled, more careful now. He couldn’t give in to some ridiculous berry-induced euphoria. He was an adult, and he had his own life, his own ambitions and dreams, far away from North Falls. Far away from Ben Harding.
And his phone rang as if on cue. It broke the spell, which was probably a good thing, and he stepped away as he fished the device out of his pocket.
It was Marius,Tristan’s assistant. There was no reason for him to be calling, surely? The thing with Tristan was done.
But it wouldn’t betrulydone until it was finished in Liam’s head, and that wouldn’t happen until he was able to take a simple phone call without his chest racing and his stomach churning unpleasantly. He made himself answer.
“Liam,” Marius said. He sounded agitated. “We need you here—Tristanneeds you.”
“He needs me for what?”
“He’s had a heart attack—well, maybe. He’s with the doctors now. We’re at the hospital. But he asked me to get hold of you. It only makes sense—he won’t be back at work for a while at least, and he needs someone who can hold it all together for him. That’s you, right?”
“I don’t work for Tristan anymore, Marius. Did the two of you forget that?”
“He’s in thehospital! He could havedied! This is no time for pride or stubbornness or whatever it was that got between you two. He needs you now, Liam. Don’t let him down.”
It was an opportunity. Impossible to deny that.
Liam looked around at the ragged backyard, the half-pruned raspberry patch. Seth and his daughter. Ben.
Ben.
But Liam couldn’t live in a magical garden forever. He’d traveled back intime, but it was only for a visit. He wasn’t a kid anymore, and his adult life was in the city. It wasn’t with Ben. Was it?
“I’ll call you back in a couple minutes,” he told Marius, then hung up without waiting for a reply.
Ben was watching him, waiting.
“I might have to go back to the city,” Liam said.
Ben nodded. “Well, yeah. That’s where you live, right?”
“Soon. Like, now. I might needto go back right away. A friend—well, no, not a friend, but my boss—my former boss—is in the hospital.”
“I hope it’s nothing serious?” Polite concern. That was all.
Of course that was all, because Ben had always been the one with common sense. He’d been the one to keep his feet on the ground and stay connected to reality. He’d humored Liam’s flights of fancy, maybe even encouraged them, buthe’d never indulged in them himself.
So of course he knew that this visit was something short-term. Of course he knew Liam had to go back to the city.
“They think it may be a heart attack.”
“Your car’s at my place. You’ll have to walk back there and get changed. There’s coffee still in the pot, and I have lots of travel mugs—they give them out like popcorn at teachers’ conferences. You wouldn’thave to worry about returning it or anything.”
Wow. Yeah, Ben was more than happy to see him leave.
“What about the raspberry bushes?”
“I’ll stay here and finish them off. We’ve made a good start, but it’s already pretty late in the year. Seth should have gotten this done over the winter. I should get them taken care of before they overgrow the house and eat Tamara.”
Right. Liam wasn’t needed.Ben had it all under control.
Of course he did.
Still, Liam couldn’t quite give up. “I can come back,” he said. “When I get all this sorted out? I can come back.”
Ben looked at him for far too long, and Liam braced himself for what was coming next.
