“Tell you what, brochacho, you get down on one knee tomorrow before dumping, and I’ll take your word for it.” Uh,no.No!
“You are not proposing to me tomorrow, Liam, I’m sorry. Sterling, what the hell?” Iinterrupt.
They both jerk their heads back and turn toward me. “What? Why would Liam propose to youtomorrow?”
“You just told him to get down on one knee?” Is this some kind ofsickjoke?
“What did you think we were talking about, Julia?”Sterlingasks.
“Yeah, what the hell?” Liam asks. He’s pissed at whatever I’m assuming right now, but I’m more pissed at what I justheard.
“Well, Sterling, Liam was just nice enough to tell you I smell like chowder down there after telling you I have some weird kind of wax job that I don’t. It’s Brazilian by the way, not Chinese. Who has a Chinese wax job? I’ve never even heard of that. And really, Liam, you think it’s appropriate to talk about going into my back door? Is nothing private withyou?God.”
“Uh, Julia,” Liam mutters under hisbreath.
He should feel bad.Unbelievable.
“No, you know what, I thought you were different. I did.” No I didn’t. I was just caught up in the sex and his fucking good looks.Asshole.
“Julia,” he saysagain.
“Whatever, Liam, or should I refer to you as ... manservant. Shouldn’t you be cleaning something?” I try to laugh, but it comes out sounding like a dying animal. “There you go, you get your wish. I quit. I’m going back to Indiana just like you originallywanted.”
Liam looks surprised, and he’s quiet. “How nice, coming from the failure of allMary Poppinseshere ...” He’s looking at the few people still standing around us and then backatme.
“Oh please ... maybe I have no experience, but you’re the one with ulterior motives. I know your little secret. You don’t really clean houses, you’re just here to reconnect with your long-lost half-brother.”
“Julia!” Liam shouts again. “First, you should know that Sterling and I were talking about the surf from the other day, not you oryourass.”
“You were talking about wax jobs, backdoors, andchowder...and—”
“Yeah, surfboards need wax. Backdoor means breaking into the peak of a wave from behind, and chowder just means there was a lot of seaweed and shit in the water.” He laughs ... and doesn’t sound like a dying animal. He thinks this is all real funny. “You thought I was talkingaboutyou?”
Okay, right now would be a good time for an earthquake so the ground could just rip apart and swallow me up. I have never been more embarrassed in my life. What was Ithinking?
“You two are screwing?” Sterling finally pipes in. “We just went out to dinner last night! What the fuck, Julia?” Everyone is quiet for a minute before the unsuspecting bomb drop. “Wow, well, congrats on the win, Liam. You finally won one ofthem.”Won?
This is like one of those horrible stories where a woman walks in on the love of her life screwing their best friend, who happens to be a guy. I don’t think this could get any worse right now, and on top of everything else, I was just a game. It just makes all the sense in the world now. How could I have been sostupid?
I swallow hard, or I try to, but I feel like I might throw up. I turn to run inside, enduring the last of the comments from Liam. “Oh, and thanks a lot for reading my certified letter, which you do know is illegal, right? Don’t start thinking you know a goddamn thingaboutme!”
“I’m sorry, Liam, but really? I was a game? I should have known,” I croak out as I run inside, finding Sam in the kitchen. “I—um—”
“Hey, what’s wrong? Did something happen? Oh shit, did Daniel freaking grab your ass?” What? Here I am, thinking this moment couldn’t get anyworse.
“No, no, why would you think that? He does that? No. Sam, I’m so so sorry, but I have to quit. I never wanted to do this to you, but I can’t stay here. My dad needs me, and Liam ... ugh, that was such a big mistake. I can’t tell you how you badly I feel right now, but I think I know the reason why you’re losing nannies bytheweek.”
Sam’s face contorts with a mess of confusion and sadness. “Wait, please, don’t go. You can’t go, actually. I was going to be talking to you later tonight about something, but—I hope I didn’t overstep my boundariesalready.”
“What are you talking about?Sam,I—”
“Liam told me about your dad’s situation and asked if we could help somehow. God, Julia, we have more money than I know what to do with sometimes, and I try to help people out when I can.” Where is she goingwiththis?
“Liam called your dad today. I guess he got the number from your phone. He invited him to come stay in our guest house out back until he can figure things out. Your dad was going to surprise you in themorning.”
Listening to every word, digesting it all, the sweetness of what Liam did, and Sam ... just as I ruin the summer for both of them. The reality of the situation makes me sick, and I run to the bathroom and vomit because there’s nowhere else for the acidity in my stomach to go. Why would Liam do that if I was just a game between him andSterling?
“Where is she?” I hear Jade frantically ask from thekitchen.
