Liam didn’t have a ready answer for her.It’s not my place to tell her.At any rate, Liam didn’t know for sure.We hooked up, still love each other, and are dating the same woman for the foreseeable future.That didn’t mean they were back together. They certainly were not engaged again. Benson had made that clear.He might marry someone, but it’s not me.
For the best. But could Drew, their biggest cheerleader, understand that?
“Your dad and I still love each other,” he said. “Beyond that, it’s a discussion for you to have with him.”
Drew chewed on that for a moment before sipping her soda and saying, “He won’t talk to me about it.”
“Do you think he’s any better with me?”
She leveled her gaze at him, eyeliner thickly sweet in a way Liam hadn’t seen in years.Must be coming back around again.Either that, or she was still being hazed in her sorority. “Why did you two break up?”
Liam shrugged. “What did he tell you?”
“Just that it didn’t work out. Which is the same thing he said about his divorce.”
Can only imagine what Sydney’s told her.Oh, no, none of the super personal stuff. But still, Liam couldn’t imagine that woman having a heart-to-heart with Drew about… well, thingsthat weren’t any of her business, let alone when she was much too young to handle it.
“I’m sorry it was sudden. It was for me, too.”
“Did you move back here because of him?”
“No. That was entirely coincidental. Anyway, I invited you out to check in with you, I guess. And because of what happened at the zoo. Eden’s said that you don’t seem to like her.”
“I’ve barely met her.”
“Believe me, it was enough to leave an impression.”
The dramatic sigh could have only come from a teenage girl, which proved to Liam that there was fundamentally no difference between being nineteen and twenty.
“Can youblameme? She’s barely older than me.”
“May I remind you that I’m a full decade younger than your father? We’re all thinking about what home we’re gonna put him in one day.”
Drew snorted her soda, and Liam didn’t care. “Rude!” she said with a big grin. “That’s my job!”
“Like I said,we all.And since I’m only ten years behind him, we’ve gotta make sure it’s a good one. Anyway, the point I’m making is that your dadhappenedto start dating a twenty-five-year-old woman. I’m not going to give you bullshit about how Eden is very mature, but trust me when I say that your father isn’t someone to date a woman just because she’s young. If anything, he’s gone through a lot with Eden, not that it’s any of your business.”
“This makes it better, how?”
Liam pushed his elbows forward, coming closer to Drew as she attempted to ignore his little intimidation tactic while eating her chips and salsa. “Here’s the deal,” he said in a way that reminded her he was her elder, as much as he despised it, “your father is dating Eden.Iam dating Eden. She hasn’t done a damn thing toacquire your ire, and I will be quite cross if you continue to treatmygirlfriend that way.”
“Like what? A gold-digger? Uncle Liam, let me give you some advice from a woman…”
Oh, boy.
“…Half of my sorority is chicks who don’t have a lot of money. They’re at Brown on a scholarship, and they know that if they don’t bag a rich husband at school, they’ve gotta look at each other’sdads.Right now, I’ve got two friends dating each other’s dads without either one of them knowing it! And I’ve got a roommate who has an off-campus sugar daddy funding her study abroad in the fall. All of these dudes are over fifty. Now, I’ve seen Eden. She’sverypretty. Quite the opposite of Mom in the hair and figure department, really.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Daddy’s at that age where attention from a twenty-something is very flattering.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“And he’s got money.”
“Suppose he does.”
“I’m just worried about him long-term. He hasn’t seriously dated anyone like this since… well, since you!”
