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“You know she’d appreciate it,” Claire said, giving her best, innocent grin.
Finally, he closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. “Fine. Fine, let’s just get one.”
Claire clapped her hands together with excitement. “Yay!”
Liam turned around, but not before she caught the sight of a smile turning up his lips.
Together, the two of them walked to the nearest Underground station, Claire’s steps much lighter than they’d been all day. Spending a day with Liam was proving to be much happier than being forced to watch Melody and Dean kissing on a carousel.
Choosing the tree lot closest to Tasha’s house, the two of them carried on lighthearted conversations until they arrived at McBride Christmas Trees, a wooden fence around the lot with white lights looped down from post to post. A few families milled about. Workers in green sweaters and brown beanies sawed off the bottoms of the trees and wrapped them tightly in white rope.
As they made their way to the Norway spruces at the back of the lot, Claire breathed in the deep pine scent permeating the air. The last few years, she’d only managed a fake tree in the corner of her apartment. She’d nearly forgotten how much she loved the smell of a live one.
After choosing a tree already wrapped—and willing to risk any imperfections that might come along with it—the two of them purchased the pine then made their way out onto the street.
Liam heaved the tree onto his shoulder as Claire ensured others around him allowed him a wide berth.
“So how far away are we from your mom’s house?” she asked as they stepped down the street.
“Quarter of an hour,” Liam said, his eyes focused straight ahead.
“Are you going to be able to make it?” she teased, securing her scarf more tightly around her neck as the brisk wind picked up again.
“I’m going to have to, aren’t I? It’s not like you can help with those tiny arms of yours.”
Why did his taunting thrill her to her core, when before, she’d just wanted to smack him upside the head? “I’ll have you know that these tiny arms can lift more than you think. I have a lot of practice at the flower shop.”
“Are you saying this tree weighs the same as a bouquet of baby’s breath? Because my shoulder would like to tell you otherwise.”
She laughed. “No, but I do have to heave fifty-pound bags of soil and huge floral arrangements daily. So…”
“Alright. Well I’ll give you a chance to prove your strength when I need a break. I’m anxious to see in what way you’ll embarrass yourself again today.”
Claire paused. Did he mean he was anxious as in, looking forward to it, or anxious as in, stressed about what she would do?
Her heart lowered a fraction. “Well, you don’t have to worry about that. I’ve made a pact to never embarrass myself again. That way you won’t have to be embarrassed by me, either.”
Liam glanced at her sidelong, his brow twitching. “I’m not embarrassed by you.”
She scoffed. “Likely story.”
They stopped at a crosswalk, and Liam lowered the tree to the ground with a grunt. “What reason would I have to be?”
She watched him, confused by his sincerity. “Because of all the things I’ve done in front of you.”
“And why should any of that embarrass me?”
Claire didn’t know what to say. In all honesty, she didn’t know why her actions should embarrass him. And yet, when she’d made a fool of herself in front of Richard or any one of her exes, it was always about them looking away with red faces more than her. One time, Richard had even gone so far as to leave to “take a phone call” when she’d shattered a jar of pickles in the middle of a grocery store aisle after he’d tickled her sides.
And yet, as she thought of each moment she’d shared with Liam, she couldn’t remember one time where he’d left her side by choice. He’d helped her pick up the vase at Kew Gardens until she’d shouted him off, he’d turned off the phone at the abbey, he caught her on the Underground, and he even paid for her trip to the bathroom without a second’s thought.
But, why? She couldn’t make sense of it. He couldn’t be doing it all just to impress her. Was he just that innately…kind?
“Claire?”
Her name on his lips broke her from her thoughts, and she realized he’d already picked up the tree and was making his way across the street.
Swiftly, she caught up to him, and the two of them continued toward Tasha’s house.
