Page 14

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After breakfast had been eaten and cleaned up, the four of them loaded into Tasha’s car and headed out for the day. Claire had been more than disappointed to learn Liam would be joining them, but she was determined not to allow him to soil her spirits any longer. She would have an amazing Christmas vacation if it was the last thing she did.

Seated on the right side of the car behind Liam driving, Claire shifted closer to the window, out of sight of the rear-view mirror. The drive to the gardens was only twenty minutes, but she didn’t want to see him any more than what was necessary that day.

“So how did the two of you become friends, Melody?” Liam asked from the front as soon as they reached the freeway—or rather, the motorway.

“We roomed in college,” Melody responded from where she sat in the back with Claire. “We were put in the same dorm our freshman year, and after that, Claire just loved me so much, she couldn’t handle not being my roommate.”

For a moment, Claire forgot about her decision to not speak around Liam. She didn’t want to give him any more ammo than he already had against her, but Melody needed to be corrected.

“Yeah, right,” Claire responded. “More like I was the only person who you could convince to room with you again.”

Tasha laughed from the passenger seat. “That sounds more like our Melody.”

“What?” Melody exclaimed, her jaw dropping in exaggerated dismay. “I was the perfect roommate.”

“Oh, so perfect,” Claire said. “Throwing parties on the weekdays, forcing me to go get tacos with you at midnight before finals at six the next morning, making me take Fencing and Natural Disasters courses just so you could follow boys around, going to—”

“Alright, alright,” Melody said, though she was grinning from ear to ear. “I wasn’t all bad, though. I took that Soils class for you so you wouldn’t be alone, didn’t I?”

“Soils class?” Liam questioned. Claire had almost forgotten he was in the car with them. “Now that sounds like a riveting course.”

Claire shifted in her seat, pulling herself farther to the right so he couldn’t see her clenched jaw.

“It was the worst class I’ve ever taken,” Melody said. “Seriously. So boring. But I did it for Claire because I’m just that nice of a person.”

Claire sent a sidelong glance at Melody, hoping her lowered voice was too quiet for Liam to hear. “You were in the class for a week before dropping out.”

“Well, can you blame me?”

“Did you find the class interesting, Claire?” Tasha asked, turning around to face her with a kind smile.

Claire glanced warily at the back of Liam’s headrest. “Yeah, I did. It was for my major, so it was required. I promise it wasn’t as bad as Melody is saying.”

“Yeah, it was,” Melody slipped in before Tasha spoke again.

“What was your major?”

“I graduated with a Bachelor’s in Horticulture and Floriculture.”

“Ah,” Liam piped in. “So you are the reason we’re going to Kew Gardens today.”

Claire’s defenses started to build one on top of the other, a fence positioning around her heart. First the soils comment, now this. He obviously had no interest in floriculture or anything of the like, but to have him poke fun at her greatest passion in life? She couldn’t take much more of this.

Before she could think of a response in her defense, he continued. “Did you manage to use your degree after graduating then?”

She pulled back. It was a fair enough question, but she knew he was wondering what a person could do with such a mediocre major. “Yes, I’m a florist,” she stated stiffly.

She could just make out his head moving up and down in response. Had he nothing to say to her, nothing to make fun of? Oh, of course. He would never do anything to give away his meanness in front of his family.

“Claire’s hoping to open a flower shop of her own one day. Aren’t you, Claire?” Melody prompted.

Claire could only nod.

“That sounds like such a lovely job,” Tasha responded when Liam didn’t. “Do you enjoy it?”

How could such a nice woman be the mother of such a terrible boy?