He crosses his arms over his bare chest, which melts into his partially unzipped wetsuit. “I was pretty pissed at you for doing that, but after I calmed down, I realized it felt good to hear it out loud after all theseyears.”
“How did it all happen? I felt so shocked when I read the letter, but to me, it kind of all made sense afterward.” I’m not sure if he wants to talk about it, but I’m obviously more than a little curious to know the wholestory.
“There’s not much to it, really. My dad left when I was ten—never called, wrote, sent money, nothing. He was just gone. It destroyed my life and my mom’s. We were poor, she didn’t have a job, and we barely had enough money for food. Every night of hunger, every day we had to figure out how to fix a leak or a clogged toilet in our crap apartment, I blamed him. I’ll never forgive him. My mother was forced to work early mornings, all day, and late nights just to keep usgoing.”
“I wouldn’t be able to forgive him either.” While mom didn’t leave us high and dry, the feelings can’t be much different. Dad has been paying the consequences of her departure for years, and watching him unhappy has hurt me more thananything.
“Anyway, he got in touch with me a few years ago and confessed a bunch of shit, but he was drunk. He said he had a new family, but I shouldn’t feel bad because he left them too. At the time, Sam still had his last name, so I did a lot of searching and found a record with my dad’s name on Sam’s address.” I can’t help looking at him the way I feel—broken. A parent leaving causes more damage to an innocent child’s soul than anyone could ever imagine. “I lived just a few towns over so I came here to introduce myself to her. I just needed to know who she was and if she was okay, but before I could get a word out to her, I saw Dylan running around behind her. I wasspeechless.”
Everything is piecing together, sadly, heartbreakingly. “So how come you didn’t know until just now that he was truly your half-brother?”
“The next thing out of Sam’s mouth was her asking if I was there to apply for their housekeeping position. Having a mother who runs a popular cleaning company seemed like fate at the time. I told her about my experience, even though it was a little fluffed, and Dylan ran over to me, asking if I’d play with him, which he never did with other people, as I found out later. It was all history after that, but I couldn’t get myself to admit to the truth of who I was and why I was reallythere.”
He presses his lips together, closes his eyes and sighs. “I still can’t tell Sam ... not yet. I think it would hurt her, and I’m scared she’d make me leave. Plus, I sort of did the test without her consent, and I’m worried she’d never let me see Dylan again. All that matters to me is that I make sure he has a male figure in his life who loves him, who wants to be there for him. It’s just something I need to do for me—andhim.”
“So, were you yelling at your dad on the phone after youfoundout?”
“To his voicemail, yeah. It’s been years since we’vespoken.”
Trying to ignore the gumminess in my throat, I look up at him through my lashes, wishing I could take some of his pain away, while at the same time knowing what it’s like to feel like someone doesn’t love you enough to make the right decision. “I guess we have something in common, huh?” I told him about my mom taking off on us, and that was the day he admitted to liking me a little more than he already had. I didn’t understand then what that had to do with anything, but now it makessense.
Liam places his hand on my shoulder, and with more sincerity than I’ve seen from him, he says, “Yup. It sucks. No one deserves to go through that, and I know all about your mom now. Your dad likes to talk and—” I laugh because I can hear in my head how the conversation wentbetweenthem.
“Thank you for inviting himouthere.”
“Did he get his carfixed?”
“Yeah, he should be heading out here in the next couple of days,hopefully.”
“Good, I’m looking forward to meeting him.” I’m questioning my feelings, his feelings, and everything in between now, wondering how this will work. Are things just going to be amicable in the house, and we’ll live our lives knowing there are no hurt feelings, or what? “You are coming back to work after your week long vacation ... you know, after working almost a full week, right?” His brow quirks to the right and the corner of his lip follows suit, which is adorable.No. Notadorable.Stop.
“Yes, if Sam and Daniel will havemeback.”
Liam laughs and shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “It’s not Sam and Daniel you need to worry about. Dylan’s grudge is what should beconcerningyou.”
“I can only imagine.” I glance down between us, feeling a bit awkward now. I wrap the loose strands of my hair behind my ear and try to take a deepbreath.
Liam’s finger slips under my chin, and he lifts my face up to look at his, which appears to be glowing as it covers my exact view of the sun. “You’re a spitfire, and I think it’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. I like you, Julia, and I don’t like a lot ofpeople.”
“I guess I messed up then,” I tell him, looking over at the pretty woman trying not to look at us as she appears to be glancing out at the beach behind us. She’s with Cale, and Cleary, but not interacting with them. I didn’t realize they are friends. They’re all surfers, so I suppose it makes sense. “I don’t want to get in the middle of whatever you have going on—you know with—” I nod my head toward thewoman.
“So, you’re not into threesomes?” My heart pretty much drops so heavily into the sand, it may have hit China. What’s with the threesomestoday?
“You’re kidding me, right?” I clear my throat, sounding like a sick frog asking him. Clearly, he’s not kidding though, because he waves this super model-looking surfer chick over to us. “That was a no, like a definitive no. Like a not swaying from my answer in a million years kindofno.”
Liam just laughs at me as the girl steps into the shade we’ve created with our closeness. I take a step back, feeling like I might be stepping on this girl’s toes if she’s seeing Liam, or whatever the case is. It has only been a week since I last saw him, and I wonder what may have happened between the two of them in that period of time. I remember what happened between Liam and me in that amount of time, and it was also long enough to develop ridiculous feelings for him that I shouldn’t have. “Would you be up for a threesome, Mandy?” heasksher.
“Liam!” I snap, grunt, whatever it sounded like. “Isaidno.”
The woman reaches over and runs her fingers through the ends of my hair. “You sure are pretty,” she says, smiling oddly before she sighs. “I don’t know, Liam, baby, she’s not reallymytype.”
Liam places his arm around her shoulders, and I’m positive I’ve never been this uncomfortable in my entire life. “Well, um, it’s been super nice meeting you and chatting,” I trail off as I head upthepath.
The entire way back to the house, I hear giggling and snickering, which pisses me off. She must not have known what Liam was doing to me just a week ago if she’s already calling him baby.What a pig. He’s telling me all about how Sterling is a player, and I find this. Unbelievable. No, it’s not unbelievable—he’s just too into himself. There, my book is officiallyplotted.
I speed up so I can get to the house first, ringing the doorbell and hoping Sam answers the door quickly. It’s Sunday, so she should be home since it’s the only day she doesn’t teach.Come on, come on. Openthedoor.
I hear her talking on the other side, and I start dancing around like I have to go to the bathroom, quickly adding my hand waving as I hear their voices trailing up the path.Comeon,Sam.
