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He reacted with a laugh at her message then sent his final text.

Liam: See you tomorrow.

Her spirits lowered just a fraction at his ending the exchange, but she shook the thought from her mind. This was better. She didn’t need to text him after spending the entire day with him.

Claire: Goodnight!

She turned the phone off and tucked it under her pillow. She would go to sleep now. And she wouldn’t think about Liam down the hallway.

Thank goodness she would be spending the day with Melody tomorrow. Her friend was sure to be as vocal as usual so Claire wouldn’t have time to think about Liam—or compare her time with the both of them. Because as of right now, Claire was finding it extremely difficult to believe that a day out with Melody would be as incredible as her day out with Liam had been.

NINETEEN

To Claire’s relief, Melody was finally feeling more like herself the next day. With Tasha already at work and Liam who-knew-where, Claire and Melody set off for their day around London. They stopped by a few museums and the Tower of London—under much duress from Melody—before they headed to Covent Garden.

Peppermint and chocolate permeated the air as Claire followed Melody around the indoor Apple Market, browsing high-end, handmade goods ranging from jewelry and watercolors to prints and soaps.

Claire was grateful for the sheer number of things to look at, as it helped distract her mind from straying to Liam. What was he up to today? He was gone from his mom’s house before Claire and Melody had left that morning. Was he taking photos? Working from his own house, even though he’d taken time off?

She shook the thought from her mind for the hundredth time, looking to Melody for a distraction, but her friend was staring down at her phone again.

Claire had just assumed she’d been messaging back and forth with her family all morning, but as Melody’s secretive smiles continued to grow as the day progressed, Claire’s suspicions rose.

“Who are you messaging?” she asked with narrowed eyes. Normally, she didn’t like to pry, but Melody was hiding something—as was made evident when she turned her phone off and faced Claire with wide eyes.

“What?” she asked. “Oh, no one. Just a friend.” Then she bumped her elbow into Claire’s. “So you still haven’t told me about your day with Liam yesterday. How was it?”

So much for Melody being a distraction.

Claire stifled a sigh. She’d already answered that question at the Tower of London, but Melody had been too distracted with her phone to listen.

“It was good,” she said truthfully.

Because her time with Liam had been good. After her back-and-forth the night before, Claire had woken up with a clearer mind. Yes, she was attracted to Liam. Yes, she had a teeny, tiny, minuscule crush on him. But the fact that he was married to his job, and the fact that he lived in England, would make her keep him at arm’s length if it was the last thing she did.

But there was no chance she’d share all of that with Melody.

“Was Liam in a good mood?” Melody asked next, her eyes on the red, oversized ornaments hanging down from the glass roof above them.

Okay, Claire needed to play this cool. Melody could usually tell when something was wrong with Claire from a mile away. Before Claire had even broken up with Richard, Melody had guessed what was going down that same night. Luckily, for Claire’s sake, Melody was inordinately distracted today.

Raising a flippant shoulder, she replied. “Yeah, I guess so. I mean, he was pretty moody in the beginning, but he seemed to warm up after that.”

She could have said the exact same thing about herself.

“That’s good,” Melody said. She pulled out her phone, grinned, texted, then put it away again. “Yeah, I was worried that he’d be in a total mood all day. Aunt Tasha said he’s been crazy stressed lately.”

“With his job?” Claire guessed without thinking.

Dang it. She shouldn’t be revealing that she knew that much about him.

Luckily, Melody had just pulled out her phone again. “Um, yeah, I think that’s part of it. But Aunt Tasha says she thinks he’s having problems with his girlfriend again.”

The blood rushed from Claire’s head like snow falling off a roof’s peak. Those words shouldn’t have affected her at all. After all, she’d already established why Liam wasn’t good for her. But she’d asked him specifically the night before if he had a girlfriend. Had he just flat-out lied to her? Was that the real reason he’d thrown away the woman’s number?

Just as soon as the blood had fled from her face, it all came rushing back in a sea of warmth. How could she have been so naïve as to believe his reasonings? Of course a guy that attractive wouldn’t be single.

Then again, what reason did he have for lying about such a thing? He had said he didn’t have time for a relationship. Could his mom just be confused? Or was he in the relationship and didn’t want to announce it to anyone yet?