Chapter 37 Whip It Out
whip it out
Liam
We have coffee and jump in the Tahoe. I drop her off at the airport sliding doors before eight with a bag that’s packed with actual clothes. She has two matching shoes, and she’s not wearing my tee.
That last part is good and it’s bad. And that’s because I like her in my tee and I can’t afford to.
Before she leaves the car, I extend a hand and look down at her left hand. She does the same before sliding the ring off without a word and placing it in my palm.
It bothers me. I’ve seen the way people look at her.
How oblivious she was to the waiter last night who didn’t care that she had three carats of diamonds adorning her hand and still tried.
Everywhere we go, people look. And now she’s in the airport, flying to another state for a long weekend, with no protection at all against the men I’d be forced to kill if they touched her.
I slide it as far as it can go on my pinky and head back the way I came. I stop at my brother’s place instead of going home, not bothering to call.
Eleanor wiggles her greeting at the door next to Sariah who has Wills on her chest.
“Good morning,” Sariah steps back as I pull open the door.
“Morning. Do you have coffee?” I lean down to give Ellie a good rub, and she wags and wiggles her hello in return.
“Is our last name Murphy?” my sister-in-law asks.
I smile and look at my nephew in question.
She hands him over and pours me a cup, setting it on the counter. “Ci’s in the shower. I’ll tell him you’re here.”
“Morning, Wills. Is your mama keeping you in milk and clean diapers?” I look down at my namesake, his unmarred skin, against my painted arm. “You’ll let me take you for your first tattoo when you’re ready, right? Your sister’s going to try to be the one, but I’m your guy.”
Walking to the huge windows at the back of Cian’s house, I stare into the bright Colorado morning, wondering how this gets to be my life.
Luck of the draw, I guess. Shit father, but gorgeous scenery.
“You got a good dad and a beautiful home. And a mama who would grind the world to a halt to protect you.”
His eyes are open when I go on. “And me.”
“And you what?” Cian asks, slapping me on the shoulder as he heads to the kitchen.
“A-B conversation, brother.” I take a sip of my coffee and return to my nephew. “Ain’t that right?”
“Get your own baby,” he tosses over his shoulder.
“I think I’ll keep this one.”
“You’re forgetting who his mom is.”
“She’s scrappy,” I say of his wife. “But I think I could take her.”
“If I remember correctly, I got you in the marbles the last time you tried,” Sariah says, coming down the hall, her supersonic hearing on display.
“Don’t remind me. No good deed goes unpunished.”
“In my defense—”
“There’s no defense.” My words are plain, but I smile at my sister-in-law. “I’m glad you and Cian found your way back to each other. But it would’ve been easier if we’d skipped all the drama.”
“Now where’s the fun in that?” Sariah puts in, but that’s a lie. Or a defense mechanism. Last summer was absolute shit and given the opportunity to repeat it in any fashion, we’d all abstain.
“Woman,” Cian growls.
And I see what I’ve seen so many times with them. The ease, the joy, the fun, the longing. The choice to show up for each other over and over, not out of obligation but out of desire that the other has what they need.
Fuck my life.
Could it be?
The clicking of metal on ceramic draws everyone’s attention. I didn’t know I was doing it.
“Holy diamond ring, Batman. Is that Lorien’s?”
“Damn, brother. Are you compensating for something?”
Sariah chokes on her coffee and spits it into her hand, dribbling it down her shirt. “Don’t, you two. Do not start this early. Damn, I need to go change.”
When she’s down the hall, I turn to my brother. “Not gonna whip it out or measure, but I can only assume, genetically, we’re”—I cough into my nearly empty mug— “comparable.”
“Whip out what?” a new voice asks, and I damn near pull a Sariah and choke on my coffee.
“The plans on the new house and this one,” my brother replies smoothly. “Renée, you’re up early.”
My niece is padding toward the kitchen, face glued to her phone. “I need to go to Sephora.”
What’s Sephora?
“Can we make it Ulta?” her mom asks from the hall. “I have points and it’s closer.”
“It’s only available at Sephora. Or you could drop me at the mall…”
“Nice try, Née, but no to that. Can you be ready to leave in thirty minutes?”
She grabs a can of something from the fridge and turns away again. “Yeah.” With that, my niece is gone.
“I didn’t understand anything about that conversation,” I put in, extending my coffee mug for my brother to give me a warm up.
“Be glad. You have no idea how much money I spend at stores that don’t sell camping gear.” My brother takes a huge drag of his coffee as his wife crowds me.
“Can I see?”
I extend my pinky and with a little grunt, she extricates the platinum from my finger. “Liam, this is… stunning. You don’t know how to do anything small, do you?”
“Go big or go home.”
“This is the price of a home, at least a down payment.”
I shrug, wondering if your arms ever get used to holding a baby like this. It’s not the weight. It’s the constant position for long periods of time.
“It’s an unusual setting, but striking,” she continues.
“Fitting for the woman herself, no?”
Sariah looks to her husband, communicating something I don’t bother to decipher, and I extend my pinky for her to slide it back in place.
“And why isn’t it on her finger?”
I lower into a chair in the living room, one near the wall of windows, and tell them the basics of Peoria, the Anderson family, and her brother’s birthday.
Sariah looks heartbroken. Cian looks worried.
“Ready.” Renée offers, closing her door behind her.
“That’s my cue,” Sariah says and walks past me, grazing a hand over my shoulder before plucking Wills from my arms. “We’ll be back.”
The door snicks closed as they leave.
“He’s on a schedule,” Cian says, looking to where his family just exited. “Which means we’re on a schedule.”
“Sounds like—” I stop and shake my head trying to clear the thought. I almost said sounds like Lorien.
“What are you not saying?” Cian asks.
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit.” He takes the seat near me. “You’re rarely affected.
You’re focused. You’re direct. You’re cunning.
But you’re never taken aback, never on the back foot.
And you, Liam, are….” He doesn’t finish the thought but continues with a new train.
One I do not want to entertain. “You weren’t this wrapped up when Ayla fell. ”
I growl and hold his gaze. “She didn’t fall and we both know it.” We just haven’t discussed it because I’ve been wrapped up in… my wife.
Lorien
“Oh my gosh, you look amazing. You’re glowing. That mountain air must really agree with you.” My mom holds me at arm’s length, studying me.
“That’s the humidity,” I say back.
“Oh, pish posh. Come on, Dad’s waiting.”
She met me at the terminal because she just couldn’t wait a moment longer and hugged me on repeat until someone nearly knocked us over trying to get to the exit.
“It’s so nice to have you home. We keep saying we’re going to come your way and see your new place.
I can’t believe you’ve been in it two months already, and all we’ve seen are pictures and video call backgrounds.
The summer seems to have flown by. Fall will be here before you know it.
Oh, and don’t say I told you, but your sister brought someone home.
He’s… peculiar. This weekend of all weekends.
That’s so Sam. Always making it about… Oh, there’s Dad. ”
I don’t get a word in edgewise, but that’s okay.
I feel relieved that Liam didn’t come with me.
Thankful that Sam took the heat off. But guilty.
Guilty that the man, who would buy a ticket just because he needed to apologize, was left on the Front Range because I didn’t want complicated, when he folded me into his family so easily.
Well, except for his mom, and Ayla’s husband. I wonder what his deal is.
“Oh, Lo, my love.” My dad pops out of the car and rounds the truck to give me a quick, tight hug. “Now, Diane, you know better.” He swats her hands away as he lifts my carry-on into the trunk. “Climb in, the both of you.”
“You take the front.” Mom grabs the back door handle. “But speak up, I want to hear everything.”