“Tell me about the new restaurant,” he eventually said.
“It was barbecue,” I said. “Which we have plenty of in Austin. But the atmosphere was really good and the service was awesome. That makes a big difference.”
“Who’d you go with?” he asked. “The girls?”
“No, I went with my friend Greg. He’s a major foodie so most of my best cuisine discoveries happen when I’m hanging out with him.”
Liam was quiet for such a long beat I wondered if he’d hung up. “Are you there?”
He cleared his throat. “Your friend Greg, huh?”
I frowned. He sounded a little pissed.
“Yeah,” I said uncertainly. “He works with Andy. He’s the head of the marketing department.”
“Uh huh.”
I made a face at my empty room. What was going on? Since Liam had lapsed into silence again, I rambled on, not sure what else to do.
“He was one of the first hires,” I said. “He came on board when Knight Corp was still in Minnesota so we’ve known him forever and?—”
“And you’re seeing him?”
“Seeing him?”
His words were clipped, almost sharp. “Seeing him. Dating him.”
“What? No.” The idea was kind of laughable. All of that core group of people who helped Andy start the business were like family to me at this point.
“No? You just go out to eat with him all the time? Just the two of you?”
“What the hell, Liam?” I snapped. “Why are you acting like an asshole all of a sudden?”
“Maybe because I’m fucking jealous,” he bit out.
Oh. That pulled me up short.
My heart suddenly pounding, I cleared my throat. My mouth had gone dry and I was sure he’d be able to sense my sudden nerves if I spoke. “Why are you jealous?” I half whispered.
“Seriously?” He almost sounded amused. “Come on, Gracie. You know exactly why I’m jealous.”
This silence was even longer, a thick tension settling over us. I had no idea how to respond to that. There was a part of me that wanted to whoop in celebration. Liam cared about me. Cared enough to get jealous of another guy. That had to mean something, right? He was jealous and he’d kissed me last weekend and that definitely meant he cared.
But there was a larger part of me that couldn’t help but be terrified. I had been convinced before and somehow had misread it. Few things had ever hurt me as bad as the pain of losing Liam all those years ago. I didn’t think I could stand to do it again.
“I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to call you over the last decade,” he finally murmured.
“I wish you would have.” There had been so many times throughout the years when I had been lonely, so many times I had missed him.
“I want to see you when I get home,” he said, his voice much stronger than it had been, more certain.
“I…” I didn’t know how to respond to that. Did I want to see him? Of course I did. But that didn’t mean it would be a good idea.
“You don’t want to see me?” he asked. “From the way you kissed me back the other day I didn’t get the impression you objected to my company.”
There was a sharp note to his voice, and I swallowed, trying to gather my thoughts.
“I always like to see you,” I finally admitted. “I just…think that this is complicated.”
