I nod, still confused. “But Carlos told me your mom will be here first thing in the morning.”
Guilt smothers him. “Shit,” he rumbles, eyes widening goofily again. “I need to see the hospital bill first.”
“Insurance will cover most of it,” I say, even though I have no clue if that’s true.
Liam looks unconvinced.
I frown. “Don’t worry about that right now.”
“Not the moment to talk about money either?” He tries to wink at me, but in fact, both of his eyes blink closed.
I laugh out loud; I think Carlos might have been listening for something like it, because he knocks and comes in a few seconds later.
“Vols lost” is the first thing he says to Liam, who groans, palms his forehead, and moans, “All for naught!”
Carlos and I burst into laughter then. He pulls up a chair on Liam’s other side. We stay with him until visiting hours end. And we’re back first thing in the morning to keep him company up until the moment his mother arrives.
Chapter 29
August, Now
I’m in a love bubble so big I can’t see the walls of it.
It moves with us everywhere we go. From St. Louis down to Texas, over to New Orleans, up to Atlanta, then Charlotte. Migrating and protecting us and never threatening to pop.
Liam tells me what he wants. What he’s after.
“You, mostly,” he says around a smirk, one free afternoon when we’re walking on a greenway in Atlanta. “But I also want to start taking actual vacations, not just settle for passing through places for work. I’m interested in getting into cycling, since I wouldn’t have to move my arms. And I think I could focus on all sorts of home-improvement projects someday.”
“Where?” I ask.
“Savannah,” he admits quietly. A pause. “Would you…?”
“If you do,” I answer.
His brow lifts at my quick response. “You didn’t even think about that.”
I shrug. “My family’s everywhere. Yours is there. Are things better now?”
Liam’s hand goes to the back of his neck. “Not really. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m not a fan of either of my brothers-in-law. Which is—I mean, they’re the fathers of my nieces andnephews. I struggle with it. But if I visit and say anything against them, I’m the odd man out.”
He sighs. “So, I’ll keep away, because that’s the only way to make it easier on my sisters. But then my mom will call, asking me when I’m coming home to see the family next, and I’ll think,maybe this time will be different, but it never is. We’re stuck in this cycle of wanting to be close, but nobody has a solution, and every year, I lose faith that I’m close to—that I’mknownby any of them.”
My dad was the sunshine,Liam once told me.He kept everyone happy, including me.
I stop him on the path and peer into his deep eyes. “That sounds really hard. I’m so sorry.”
His hand comes under my chin. “You think I’m crazy to want to keep trying? To imagine a future where I make a home there?”
“I think you’re a great son, and a wonderful brother.” I wink. “And a fantastic lay.”
He swoops down for a kiss and mumbles, “If you wanted to hook up in the nearest bathroom, all you had to do was ask.”
“Fuck, you’re so good at romance.”
Liam laughs, tugging on my hand to keep us walking. Like he’s commenting on how nice of a day it is, he says, “You want romance? I would take a thousand SLAP tears over a single day apart from you.”
“You can’t just casually say that!” I exclaim. “I wasn’t prepared!”
