I laugh brightly. “So did I negate your waiting scheme?”
He doesn’t answer until we’re inside, the front flap zipped shut. Liam and I dump our weekenders in the corners. He takes my cheeks in his hands while we kneel, facing each other, and he says, so softly, “When I ask you to be my girlfriend, Paige, I’ll be asking you for a lot more than just that.” His thumbs coast over my cheekbones, back and forth. “Do you get what I’m saying, and why I’m waiting?”
I nod, feeling safer with him, more trusting of him, than Icould’ve ever fathomed. A college pitcher playboy I never even tried to change.
Liam isn’t delaying this to play with me. He’s doing it because he’s making plans. He’s only twenty-one, at the cusp of his big, bright future, and making plans forus, even though he never anticipated there’d be a me to make plans with at all.
One of his palms goes to the back of my neck, and he holds me against him in the muted afternoon light, the air around us smelling like him.
When we exit the tent, Heather and the baby have joined the others in the backyard, though Liam’s mom still hasn’t made an appearance. Kayla hands me a glass of white wine, Liam a domestic beer, and grills us about how we met. Which we explain, abbreviated.
“What do you study, Paige?” one of the guys—I still don’t know which is which—asks.
“I’m not in school. I’m just a waitress.”
“You’re notjustanything,” Liam says, face stern. “And Paige can play, like, ten instruments. She’s a very talented musician.”
“Do you freelance with that?” Heather asks. “For weddings and stuff?”
“It’s just a hobby,” I say.
“For now,” Liam says.
“You probably won’t have to work anyway, Paige, once Liam’s bankrolling you.”
“Benny!” Heather snaps.
That one must be her husband. He’s burly, his face rounding off with age.
“What?” His shoulders lift. “No shame in it. He’ll be bankrolling all of us.”
“I’m not using my brother for money,” Kayla says, turning to Liam. “I just wish you’d come home more often.”
His answer is a mumble. “I’m sorry, Kay.”
“Hang on, sweetheart.” Kayla’s fiancé leans forward. “We can use him for money alittle bit, right?” When Kayla glares, his hands go up. “I’m kidding! Liam, you know I’m kidding, right?”
“Where’s Mom?” Liam asks.
“Sleeping off a migraine,” Heather says tightly.
“Since?”
“Noon.”
“Paige, let’s go check on her.”
He grabs my hand and pulls me into the house. We stop in the hallway.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
I nod. “Sisters, I’m used to. The brothers-in-law are…”
“An adjustment,” Liam agrees. “But they’re family now. For the record, I know you’re not dating me for the bankroll.”
What I think is,You don’t have to try to appease me after every knee-jerk thing your family says.But what I say is, “That’s where you’re wrong. You owe me so many ice-cream cones.”
He smirks, rapping lightly on the door at the end of the hall. “Mom?” he calls.
