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Claire had fit far too perfectly in the crook of his arm—and her long curls had smelt far too much like flowers—for it to do him any good.

“There you are, Liam,” his mum greeted with a weakened smile. “We were wondering when you were going to come down.”

Liam could count on one hand the number of times he’d seen his mum sick. Even when she’d become ill when he was a boy, she’d still wake up to make his school lunches and be ready when he came home to listen to how his day had gone.

“How are you two feeling?” he asked, noting Mum’s face had regained its color while Melody’s had faded to an even lighter pallid.

Melody mumbled incoherently, shifting to the side and clutching her stomach.

Mum smiled compassionately before responding. “I’m feeling better than Melody.” Then she motioned to Claire. “We were just listening to Claire recount the day you had together. It sounds like you were able to see everything on the list.”

He moved farther into the room, sitting on the arm of the couch Claire occupied, a few feet still between them. “Yes, we were on a very tight schedule.”

Claire glanced up at him but remained silent. Ah, so she only had the courage to speak to him when the others weren’t around.

“So what will you be seeing tomorrow, then?” his mum asked next.

Liam’s eyes snapped to Claire’s. Tomorrow? Had he been roped into spending all of tomorrow with her, too?

“The museums,” Claire responded. “So long as Melody is feeling up to it.”

Something akin to relief—or was it disappointment?—rushed through him. So Claire and Melody would be spending the day together tomorrow, not Claire and Liam.

Melody groaned, drawing the attention to her again. “I hope I feel better. I can’t handle another day like this.”

Liam looked at his cousin, her face still white with bags under her eyes. “What are you talking about, Mel? You look much better than this morning. Very…chipper.”

Melody rolled her eyes toward him. “If by looking ‘chipper,’ you mean that the fluids are only coming out of one end of me instead of two, then yes. I am feeling chipper.” Then she closed her eyes and groaned. “Speaking of, if any of you need to go to the bathroom, go now, or you’ll have to wait a half hour for me to be done with it.”

Liam grimaced, catching Claire’s cringing eye. Unable to help himself, he leaned toward her, whispering, ““Highway to Hell,” indeed.”

To his delight, Claire pressed a hand to her mouth, stifling a laugh, but it still sounded at the back of her throat. Liam fought a smile as his mum and Melody both looked up at him.

“What?” Melody asked, glancing between him and Claire.

Liam stood, moving to the adjoining kitchen. “I was just asking what the plan is for tea.”

“Ugh, nothing,” Melody said, flapping her head back against the couch. “Everything sounds disgusting.”

“So you’d take issue with my making a bacon butty, then?”

Melody made a gagging noise, but Claire looked up at him, smiling at his teasing.

It had been a long time since he’d been able to make someone smile. He’d forgotten how good it felt. At work, he was too busy getting productions completed and putting out figurative fires to do much joking at all.

“I’m with Melody, I think,” his mum responded, shifting on the couch so her back was no longer turned to him. “You and Claire could always go out to eat, though.”

Alarm bells rang inside of him. He was supposed to have already done his duty with Claire. Was he really going to be roped into spending the evening with her now?

He closed the fridge, averting his eyes. “I wouldn’t want to leave you and Melody out. What if I picked something up that we all wanted, then we could eat it together here.”

Claire was looking at him. He could feel it. But he wouldn’t meet her gaze.

“No, seriously,” Melody said, exhaling heavily as she stood from the couch and faced him. “I’m not eating tonight, so you and Claire can do whatever. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment with the toilet.” She wandered down the hallway, murmuring to herself along the way. “If I haven’t lost at least ten pounds by the end of this, I’m going to be livid.”

Mum stood with slightly less dramatic flair. “I really feel the same way,” she said, pressing a hand against her stomach. “I don’t have much of an appetite right now. And,” she paused, looking over her shoulder before continuing in a lower voice, “I think anything you bring back here will just set Melody off. She is still feeling awful.” Mum shifted her gaze to Claire. “She ate so much of that shrimp.”

“Seriously pounded them,” Claire responded with a grin.