“Youdon’t?”
I shook my head, still clutching the piece ofpaper.
“What aboutLiam?”
“Liam?” I almost choked on his name. “He and I broke up a whileago.”
The day your son died. . . Like paddles, the memory of Everest delivered an electrical jab inside mychest.
I slid my feet out of the pretty heels and tossed the piece of paper in the box, but lines of black ink caught my eye. I picked it back up and smoothed it out. As I read the words on it, my breathsnagged.
Hoping my face didn’t betray my emotions, I said, “I should get ready.” I hurried to my bedroom, already dialing Liam. The second he answered, I blurted out, “Liam, the Creeks are coming after the Pines’ stash of Sillin. They know where you hidit.”
“How do you know that?” His voice was hushed, as though he was somewhere he couldn’ttalk.
“I can’t tell you, but you have to moveit.”
He was so silent I thought the line went dead. “Okay. I’ll call Lucas.” I was about to say bye, when he added, “Happy birthday, by theway.”
“Thankyou.”
Hinges groaned, and then air rushed through the receiver. “Got any plans?” he asked, louder thistime.
“Just dinner with Evelyn, Frank, and Jeb.” I didn’t mention the Watts would bethere.
There was another beat of silence. Was he waiting for me to invitehim?
He sighed and said, “I’ll call you later,” before hangingup.
I thought Tamara’s pregnancy would lessen his feelings for me, but what if it hadn’t? Perhaps it was a matter of time. Or perhaps it was a matter of me beingsingle.
Maybe Amanda was right. Maybe if I was in a relationship, Liam would stop seeing me as anoption.
Frank, Nelson,and Isobel were already seated at a table in the back of the restaurant when I arrived with Jeb. All three got up. Where Frank and Nelson offered me one-armed hugs and whispered happy birthdays, Isobel kissed my cheeks and then held me in a hug that was almost as fierce as my mother’s used tobe.
As my heart pinched, I was dragged into a set of newarms.
“Feliz cumpleaños, querida.” Evelyn pecked my forehead. “You are sitting here. Next tome.”
After lowering herself into her seat, which Frank gallantly held out for her, she leaned over and scrubbed her thumb over my forehead. “I am always leaving marks onyou.”
I didn’t mind the marks she left on me. I let her wipe away the kiss, even though I was certain I’d get more before the evening wasover.
The vacant seat at the end of the table had me glancing at Isobel. “Is Augustcoming?”
“He said he was on his way. You look beautiful tonight. Doesn’t she,Evelyn?”
“She always looks beautiful,” Evelyn answered, her tone a littlegruff.
Isobel’s lips flexed into a wide smile as she leaned over and whispered, “Remind me never to get on her badside.”
Trent, The Silver Bowl’s owner, arrived then, and I got up to shake his hand and thank him for hosting us. “It’s my pleasure.” He uncorked a bottle of champagne from my year of birth. Which meant he knew I was underage, and yet he filled the champagne flute on the table. He winked at me. “A little gift from my wife and myself.Enjoy.”
Just as he was finishing pouring champagne into everyone’s flutes, the door of the restaurant opened. I didn’t have to look up to know who’d arrived, but I looked anyway, because the tether thrummed. August smiled at the hostess at the door, who smiled right back. He spoke a couple words to her, and she tittered, fingers dropping to the V-collar of her dress. Was she trying to drag August’s eyes down to herbreasts?
Subtle.
Finally, she turned sideways and pointed to our table. His eyes locked with mine as she led the way toward us. I should’ve probably looked away, and I sort of did. I looked down, first at his white dress shirt which he’d left unbuttoned at the top, and then lower, at his dark-gray slacks that hugged his long, muscularlegs.
