I hung up and stared at my phone for a second, then set it face down on the cushion. Liam turned back to me. The sternness in his face was gone and had been replaced by something warm and unguarded.
I looked at him for a second longer than I meant to, then quickly looked down at my hands. They were still tense. Fingers curled slightly, like they were waiting for something else to do. Something else to fix.
There was nothing.
The problem had already been handled.
Cleanly. Completely.
My jaw tightened before I caught it. I forced it to release, flexing my fingers once against my palm.
That… didn’t happen to me. Not like that. Not without follow-up. Not without someone circling back, asking for more, reminding me what I owed them.
There was always a cost.
I glanced up at Liam again.
He had already moved on. There was no expectation radiating from him, no look that said I now owed him something.
My chest loosened slightly before I could stop it.
Relief.
My gaze dropped back to my hands.
This was how it started. Small things. Someone stepping in. Someone making things easier. And then suddenly they were inside everything. Every decision. Every problem. Every part of your life that used to belong to you.
I knew that pattern.
I had built my entire adult life around not repeating it.
But this didn’t feel the same.
There was no pressure attached to it. No expectation sitting underneath the gesture, waiting to be collected later.
Just… space.
I exhaled slowly.
The relief didn’t go away.
It just sat there.
And, against my better judgment, I welcomed it.
Liam looked at me. “Do you want dessert?”
I blinked rapidly. “Yes.”
Chapter 9
Liam
I wastwo steps away from the kitchen when Markie started screaming again.
“PLEASE HOLD,” the bird yelled. “MAMA. HAVE YOU TRIED TURNING IT OFF AND ON AGAIN? MAMA.”
I stopped in my tracks.
