“I didn’t say you should stop.” He nodded in agreement. “It was quite pleasant to listen to.”
“Sure it was.” I laughed. “My brothers pay me to stop singing.” I smiled at the memories. “In fact, my brother Scott once gave me twenty dollars.”
“Twenty dollars? Wow.” Xander tilted his head. “He must really hate your singing.”
“I think it was the song and the occasion.” I giggled. “He was eighteen and had brought home his first proper girlfriend for Thanksgiving.” I thought back to the holiday. “They were sitting out here, talking about some class they were taking, and I came out and started singing, ‘Love is a truly splendid thing.’ ” I started laughing harder. “You should have seen the look on his face when I burst into the chorus and started throwing ripped-up pieces of paper on them.”
“Ripped-up pieces of paper?” Xander asked with a look of surprise.
“I didn’t have rose petals.” I giggled and started rocking back and forth. “If looks could kill, Scott would have committed murder that night. Instead, he gave me twenty bucks, so I made out pretty well.”
“See? Your singing career has been profitable.”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” I sighed as I rocked back and forth.
I could no longer see Xander, but I could still feel his presence behind me.
“Sounds like you were a troublesome child,” he said lightly.
I stopped rocking and looked back at him again. This time, I didn’t bother hiding my smile or laughter.
“It doesn’t seem to have ended though, has it?”
I raised an eyebrow at him, and he looked back at me in surprise. I knew that he was shocked at my laughter and that I was able to laugh at the situation we were in, given how dramatic I’d been earlier, but really, how could I not laugh?
“Are you okay?” He frowned at me, and I could see him searching my face as I laughed harder.
He probably thought I was crazy or having a meltdown. He wouldn’t be far off the mark.
“I’m fine. Why?” I said, finally calming down.
“I don’t know. You just seemed like you were losing it.”
“I’m fine. I just thought your comment was ironic, considering the mess we’re in.”
“I see.” His lip twitched. “It is slightly unusual, isn’t it?”
“You can say that again.”
I laughed, and his eyes fell to my lips and then back up to my eyes. His gaze was intense and searching, and my breath caught as we stared at each other. The only sounds in the air were our breathing and a distant bird calling out to its lost mate.
“The baby isn’t mine,” he said simply as he gazed at me.
“What?” I frowned, my heart racing. Was he telling the truth?
“Your sister’s baby—it’s not mine.” He looked away then. “I wasn’t meant to tell you that.”
“Why not?”
“It’s complicated.” He sighed and looked back at me. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you that.”
“Have you slept with Gabby?” I asked breathlessly.Please say no, please say no, please say no.
“Liv …” He started to speak and then stopped himself. “I should go inside now.”
“But you just came out.”
All of a sudden, I didn’t want him to leave. All of a sudden, I wanted us to have this conversation. All of a sudden, I felt lightheaded and giddy. Maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t so in the wrong after all. Maybe I didn’t need to be on an episode ofJerry. Maybe I wasn’t a backstabbing bitch.
