Reno said gently, “The purpose of her lawsuit will probably be to harass you openly and in a way that she can do the harassing herself. I’m given to understand she’s very wealthy. She undoubtedly expects to drown you in legal fees until you go out of business.”
“I won’t let her drive me out of business. And this is good news. I’d rather have this woman sue me than have somebody hurt Lily.”
“You’re willing to fight the suit?” Reno asked without inflection.
“Absolutely. Will you help me fight it?” she asked. “If you don’t want to be a lawyer for me, I understand. But maybe you could advise me?”
“Babe, this is exactly the kind of case I went to law school for. It’ll be my pleasure to represent you.”
She’d never heard that stone cold tone in his voice before. But abruptly she understood why he’d been such a successful, high-powered litigator.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she said.
He nodded. He didn’t say the words hanging in the air between them, and she was grateful he didn’t. She wasn’t ready to hear them yet. But she thought she would be soon. She would know when she knew.
She wished him sweet dreams, which earned her a wry smile, and went to Lily’s room to kiss her forehead and pull up the covers. Her daughter was already asleep, and Cinnabun was on guard duty as always.
She went into her own bedroom and closed the door behind her.
She turned on the small lamp on her dresser, the one with the silk shade Liam had brought back from a trip somewhere in Asia, which was all he was allowed to tell her about the trip.
The light fell on the photo of Liam.
She and Liam had been in lockstep since they were six years old. They’d learned to read together. Ate lunch side-by-side every day of elementary school. They shared their first kiss. Went to prom together. They’d done everything together for most of their lives, and they’d been almost exactly the same age every single one of those days.
She was not the same age as him anymore.
She was almost thirty-two and he was still twenty-five. By the time Lily was his age now, Liam would be a distant, poignant memory, a young man Grace had loved a lifetime ago. When Grace turned eighty, if she was lucky enough to live that long, Liam would still be a laughing young man.
She looked at him in the photograph. He was so young in it. He was younger than the deputy who had waved at her from the lot at Lily’s preschool this afternoon. He was younger than Reno had been three years ago when he walked away from her entire life. Reno was thirty-three now. Liam would never be thirty-three.
Ever since the fire, she’d continued to think of herself as continuing on with their life together. She lived in their house, raised their daughter, followed the dream Liam had encouraged her to follow.
But the truth was, she was no longer in Liam’s life or in their life together. She was in her own. His life was trapped in a photograph and hers was out here in the real world.
She’d been carrying it around quietly for at least a year, refusing to acknowledge it because she wasn’t ready to let go. But tonight was the night she was finally saying it to herself in words.
She put something else to words as well.
If I don’t live alone for the rest of my life, Liam, I need you to be okay with that.
She listened to the part of herself that was as much Liam as her, waiting to hear how that part of her heart responded. She didn’t rush herself, and the answer came slowly. But it came.
Liam would be okay with that.
And she was starting to think she would okay with not living out her life alone, too.
She set the picture down and turned out the lamp.
In the dark, she spoke to Liam silently, the way she had a thousand nights before this one.
Liam, I don’t think I’m asking for permission anymore. I think I’m telling you what I’ve decided.
And then she slept.
15
Reno pulled up at Buns ’N’ Roses to drop off Grace.
