But that had been a hobby Tani had only occasionally had time for. She certainly had never sat around and drawn pictures for her kids.
“You don’t remember the mural on your bedroom wall?” Maile asked.
Tani glanced at Maile, and Livvy didn’t miss the frown on her mother’s face. It cleared quickly, leaving her brow smooth again.
“The mural?” Livvy tracked the stray memory floating through her brain like a wispy ghost. “Wait. I do.” A castle, with a tiny, dark-haired, light-brown-skinned, freckled princess inside, with dark eyes just like hers. She and Jackson had shared a room then, and he’d been featured as a small knight on a steed, his wavy dark hair peeking out from under the helmet. “God, how old was I?”
Tani bowed her head and smoothed the paper out. “Four or five.”
“Six, I think she was,” Maile said. Her fingers flew, the yarn between them working up rapidly. “But you only had it up for a few months.”
After that, her room had been a soft baby blue until she’d hit high school and thrown a tantrumfor blood red. “I remember being sad it got painted over so quick. Why did you spend all that time working on it if we were redecorating?”
“Well—” Maile started.
Tani closed her sketchbook with a sense of finality. “A whim.”
“I should get going,” Sadia said. “Livvy, I texted you all the emergency numbers, though Mom and Auntie have them too. Remember—”
“Noor will be here at 6:30. Got it.”
“Are you working at the bar tonight?” Maile asked, then continued before Sadia could answer. “Livvy, why don’t you go with Sadia tonight? You’ve been cooped up here with us since you got back. It’s not healthy.” Maile’s needles moved faster. Livvy had no idea what her aunt was making. She’d once peeked into her aunt’s closet to find it filled with plastic containers stuffed with yarn, but she didn’t know where the woman stashed her finished goods.
“I haven’t been cooped up.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Tani said crisply. “You don’t need to be here.”
Oof.
She hid her flinch. She knew her mother meant she didn’t need to be at home tonight, but she couldn’t help but interpret it asyou don’t need to be here at all.
Sadia glanced at her. “Sounds fun. It’s Friday, so I might get swamped, but we’ll surely have chances to talk.”
Livvy forced a smile. “Sure. That sounds great.”She didn’t know if it would be great or not, but what else did she have going on? Sitting at home and cooking and cleaning and trying to bond with her mom? Or staring and rereading her text messages to Nicholas? Neither of those things sounded particularly healthy.
And damn it. She was going to be healthy, even if it killed her.
Chapter 5
LIVVY WASN’Tsure whether she was so relaxed at O’Killian’s because Sadia was here or because she had no memories attached to it. Either way, one drink in and the twisted knot that had turned her stomach into a mess for a week was finally unraveling.
The bar was about one step up from being classified as a dive, with retro booths lining the room, patrons eating greasy pub food and drinking affordable beer and creative cocktails. Livvy tapped her foot on the stool in time to the music coming from the jukebox and snagged a handful of peanuts. Loitering while her BFF worked wasn’t exactly the same as a proper girls’ night out, but they’d managed to chat between customers.
Sadia drifted over. “There are, like, two men at the other end of the bar who will not stop staring at you.”
“Cute?”
“Definite sevens, I would say.”
Livvy made a dismissive noise, not bothering tocheck them out. “Sevens aren’t worth the hassle of a hookup for me in this town.”
“They look a little on the young side. They may not know who you are.”
“With my luck, they work for Nicholas.” A pang hit her when she said his name, but the alcohol had dulled it. Why, she barely felt the urge to pull out her phone and stare at those fucking messages.
Barely.
“Oof.” Sadia winced. “That’s a definite risk. Never mind, you’re right. Can I get you another drink?”
