Stay with me.
Be with me.
Come back to me.
From my mother first, and others later, abandonment was a behavior I learned to model. I learned it up close, studied it over and over.
And then, with Liam, I regurgitated the same behavior I’d come to despise without consciously knowing what I’d done.
I don’t think I realized it until now.
“Over everything,” I whisper, breathing him in, feeling the realness of him under my palms. “Through everything. We’ll stay.”
Chapter 24
June, Four Years Ago
“You don’t come from a naked family, do you?”
Liam peels his eyes off the road. “Excuse me?”
“A naked family. Where everyone still walks around naked even once you’re all adults.”
“Families like thatexist?”
“I’ve heard firsthand accounts.” From Maisy’s varied dating history, in fact, but I don’t mention this part to Liam.
I told him about my last conversation with her and explained that Maisy was trying to be different, but otherwise, I’ve tried not to bring her up.
It makes missing her a little less painful.
I rip open the bag of sunflower seeds and offer it to Liam.
“No, thanks.”
I blink. “Aren’t baseball players supposed to love chewing on these?”
His lips twitch. “Did you buy them just because you assumed?”
“Yes. As a bonding activity.”
“Well, that’s cute,” he says, grinning. “I’ll have a few.”
We each toss back a mouthful and get to work chewing the seeds out of their shells. It’s not remotely tasty, or fun. It’s actually kind of like chewing on splinters. I twist to Liam, whose eyes are dancing at my sour expression.
“Where the spih cup?” he babbles.
I smack my palm to my forehead. Liam rolls down his window and spits onto the interstate. I copy him.
“Yeah.” He wipes his mouth, reaches for his Gatorade. “I’m not really into that.”
“So, not a naked family,” I loop back, fishing for the sour gummy worms instead. “Are you illegal dog breeders?”
“Not that they’ve let me in on.”
“Do you grow devil’s lettuce in the backyard garden?”
He laughs. “I wish my family was that cool.”
