I drop a hand to the handle and tug on it.
I don’t give a shit that I’m covered in sweat and that my heart took a bigger beating on that court than my body did.
Watching Rhys with Gareth was humbling.
Deidre lost more than I realized when she took her last breath in that hospital bed.
She missed the chance to see her son fall in love. She lost every opportunity she could have had to sit down and talk with him one-to-one about life and choice and honor.
I step inside Athena’s shop and gaze around.
I don’t recognize anyone but Leanna, the woman who was here last week when I stopped in to see lilac.
“Liam.” She drops the flowers in her hand and approaches me. “Can I help you?”
“Where’s Athena?”
“Setting up for a wedding.” She gives me a once over. “I’m heading over there in twenty minutes to help.”
I want to know where it is so I can go there and wrap myself around her. I want her to chase away all the pain that’s been living inside of me for years. I want a fresh start with her and I want to give her the same.
“I’ll tell her that you stopped by,” she offers. “I can ask her to call you when we’re done.”
I give her a curt nod. “Please.”
Her hand moves to touch me, but she pulls back. “Can I help you with anything?”
Compassion swims in her tone. I know I must look like hell. I feel like it.
“Just let Athena know that I’d like to speak with her.”
“Sure thing.” She smiles. “I’ll let her know.”
I exit the shop and head across the street. It’s time to face my future and leave my past behind. Tonight I’m taking the first step.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Athena
“You’resure he said that he wanted me to call him?” I glance down at my phone even though the question is directed at Leanna.
“Yes,” she says solemnly. “I can tell you word-for-word what he said that night, Athena.”
That night.
It was days ago.
I was busy prepping the flowers for the last minute wedding order. Liam dropped by Wild Lilac.
Leanna said he was dripping in sweat and seemed on edge. He asked her to relay a message to me that he wanted to talk. She forgot to tell me until the next morning because we were both so focused on setting up the wedding flowers.
Twelve calls and close to twenty text messages later, and I still haven’t heard a word from him.
I even stopped by the Dehaven Center. A temp was sitting in Audrey’s chair since she had scheduled a few days off for a girls’ trip with her sister before the wedding.
The only thing the man sitting behind the reception desk would tell me was that Liam was unavailable.
“There’s an explanation for this.” Leanna sets a lily in the middle of an arrangement before she tugs it back out. “He hasn’t ghosted you, Athena.”
