15. Liam
CHAPTER 15
liam
Sawyer yells my name over the commotion of the kids playing at the craft table set up for the party inside my garage. When I turn to face him, his expression makes my heart drop into the pit of my stomach.
“What’s wrong?”
“Hannah passed out. I carried her inside, Mom’s with her.”
“Fuck.” My brother stays put to assist with watching the small group of four-year-olds as I jog across my driveway to my house, wracking my brain for the last time I saw her eat today and cursing myself for not making sure she had. Tearing through my front door, I pull open the drawer where I keep Hannah’s spare blood sugar monitor and then jog into the living room. She’s relaxed on the couch, her face pale and flushed all at the same time. I don’t see or hear anything but her as I kneel down at her side, running my hand over her forehead and cheek.
“Baby, I’m so sorry. I should have taken you out for breakfast or made sure you had a snack throughout the day. I was so focused on getting us home to get ready for the party.”
She looks at me with her eyes squinted into slits, a “you’re an idiot” look plastered to her face. But this is a fight I will gladly take on. I don’t ever want to see her hurt or feeling like shit. I unzip her pack and pull out the monitor with the other supplies, sliding a testing strip into the monitor and pressing the lancet into the device to prick her finger.
“I’m a grown-ass woman, bear, I know I need to eat and watch what I eat. It was stupid. Haven’t passed out in a bit. Grateful Sawyer was next to me, or it could have been worse. No one wants brain matter all over the place at a birthday party.”
My hand reaches out to pinch the bottom of her chin, turning her head to face me so that there is no doubt of the severity of my next words.
“Hey, that’s not funny. You have to take care of yourself, or I’ll do it for you. You want to be a big girl? Don’t want to be babied? Then don’t let this happen again. What if you were by yourself? Or alone with Charlie? Promise me, Han, promise me you’ll do better?”
She bites her bottom lip, and I use my thumb to pry it free. “Words, baby, use them. Please.”
“I promise.”
Not thinking, I lean forward and let my lips touch hers for a small kiss, just enough pressure to feel the warmth of them against me, needing to feel her breath.
“When did this happen?” my mother’s voice breaks the silence, thick with emotion and cracking on the last word. I back away slowly from Hannah to catch her eyebrows rising, her pupils blown as we both realize who’s in the room with us.
“Hey, Mom. Didn’t see you there,” I say innocently as I turn to face her where she sits in the chair across from us. How long has she been there? “You mean Hannah passing out or us being together? ”
“I’m aware she passed out, Liam, I was there. When did you two finally figure things out?”
I look back at Hannah in a groggy state, and I know she’s feeling like shit. I grab her hand to distract myself, wiping an alcohol swab over the side of her little pointer finger, before letting the lancet device disengage to prick it.
“A while ago, we’ve been keeping it low-key since people in town like to talk so much.”
“You two are actually together?” she asks, like her whole heart is on the line and she’s just as invested in this as I am.
My parents’ house was the hub for all of us kids plus our friends. More nights of the week than not, the dinner table was overflowing with kids, Hannah being one of them. We’ve always been inseparable, and while my mom and dad have never outright called me out on my feelings, they are extremely inquisitive and it’s a solid assumption that they’ve clued into how I feel about this girl. That I’m head over heels in love with her.
“We’re really together. We haven’t sat Charlie down and told her, so we’re still keeping it a bit of a secret, but it’s the real deal,” I tell my mom matter-of-factly, refusing to look at Hannah’s face and see the trepidation etched into her features. “I’m surprised you haven’t heard on your own, Ms. Nettie has been yapping about it to everyone who will listen.”
“Oh, I’ve heard the gossip mill, but I just assumed it was talk because it’s always been there following the two of you. This is really happening? Your siblings all know?”
“Everyone except the one you’ve got at your place. I’ll tell him on my own though.”
“Fair enough. I’ve been a little preoccupied, so I forgive you all for not telling me. But I’m beyond happy for you both. Hannah, my sweet girl, I have loved you since you were three, this news couldn’t make me happier. You’ve always been family, and this changes nothing.” My mom nearly squeals in joy and claps her hands together before rising and kissing Hannah on the head. It fills my heart with so much fucking love. She’s so accepted by my family, always has been, and this will only cement her place within it.
My mom leaves Hannah and I to ourselves, and with last night and this morning still on repeat in my mind, I just want to lay down next to her and kiss her for the rest of the night. If it’s up to me, we’ll be repeating that as soon as possible.
“What can I get you to eat besides a honey stick?”
“Bear, we’re going to hurt everyone we love when this crashes. What the hell are we thinking?”
I sigh and look away.
“Just trust me, beauty. This isn’t going to crash and burn. I won’t let it.”
After getting Hannah food, and she starts to regulate a little more, we return to the party where Charlie is happily playing games with her friends, Kinsey saving the day with her mad kindergarten teacher skills. Carter is holding my little fluff ball in his arms, and I cock my head at him. The little guy won me over and I am not about to have him stolen by my idiot brother.
“Who’s ready for cake and presents?” I yell over the little voices and laughter ringing out through the open garage. They cheer loudly, Charlie runs over to me, and I scoop her up.
“Happy birthday, munchkin!”
“It’s just my party, bear!” she squeals. “My birthday is in three days!”
“Oh, I know! I delivered you, remember?”
“You were the first one to hold me.”
“I sure was. You were slippery and covered in goo!” I tickle her and she flails around in my arms, forcing me to put her back down on her feet.
Hannah brings in Charlotte’s birthday cake, which she spent hours working on. The cake is made to look like Te Fiti from the Moana movie and is surrounded by cupcakes decorated to be the green heart of Te Fiti. She outdid herself, and the look of pure happiness and excitement on Charlie’s face is priceless.
Charlotte is surrounded at the table by her friends, my entire family minus a few, Hannah’s sisters, and all of our friends. While we all sing Happy Birthday, I slip my hand behind Hannah’s waist, giving her a gentle tug into my side, and she drops her head onto my bicep. I take a second to appreciate the moment. Hannah on my arm, Charlotte happy as can be, surrounded by my family, in a place that I love.
This. This is what life is all about.
After the party, my family stays back to help clean everything up and put my garage back together. Once everyone heads home, I walk inside to find Hannah and Charlotte lounging together on my large couch. It’s a massive L-shaped, plush sofa with huge pillows.
When I started house hunting two years ago, this house had just gone on the market, and I didn’t hesitate to put in an offer. I wanted to live on the side of town where the distillery is located, attracted by how much farther from downtown it sits, giving me ultimate privacy. The house sits on three acres, but it’s a wooded paradise for someone like me.
It’s a beautiful log cabin with tall, vaulted ceilings held up by thick, exposed beams, an open-concept living area, with floor-to-ceiling windows expanding the length of the back of the house, and an upgraded kitchen. It has three bedrooms, two on the second floor, and the large master suite on the bottom with its own master en suite. The master bathroom was nothing to write home about until I updated it. It was the first place I gutted and renovated. A part of me always hoped that one day the stars would align, and Hannah would move in here with me, help make this big house a home with me. She complains at least once a month about how much she misses taking baths since her little apartment only has a small stand-up shower. I chuckle when I remember her reaction.
Pulling up in front of my new house, Hannah jumps out to get a head start to scope out the place and the new updates I’ve made to it. She jogs up the stairs, opening the front door and stepping in with me right behind her, Charlie in my arms, watching her reaction as she takes in the new furniture, the wall I took out to make it more of an open concept, and the new paint.
“Holy shit, you ass! I’m obsessed! It looks totally different already! You’ve really put the work in. Ugh, I love it so much, I don’t want to leave,” she nearly whines. I knew she would love it, and part of me feels guilty for being able to purchase such a lavish place while she and Charlie are stuck in the small apartment above Bean Haven.
“C’mon, go check out the bathroom.”
She gives me a look that says “no, you fucking didn’t” and I just smile at her. I follow behind as she skips through the living space into the master bedroom, floating through the room until she gets to the en suite. Her chin drops, mouth falling open as she stares at the large, vintage, enameled cast-iron clawfoot tub. There’s a massive four-person shower across from it, tiled in gorgeous stone, with multiple spray heads and attachments. I even hung eucalyptus from them because I knew she would like it. On the other side of the room sits a large counter with two porcelain sinks, individual round mirrors above, and some plants that I have no fucking idea how to keep alive. Several more hang in the corner, placed strategically in front of the large window that faces my sizable, private, and wooded backyard. Which also happens to be the wall that the tub sits on.
“Holy. Fucking. Shit.”
“You like it? It really needed a fuckin’ upgrade. Whatever old bitty decided to put carpet in a bathroom is hopefully long gone. There are some things you just can’t come back from.”
“Bear, this is literally what dreams are made of! You outdid yourself.”
She continues to stand in the entryway of the bathroom, just looking at it, and after a moment I start to laugh at her.
“You ready to go?”
“What? NO! Do you have Charlie for a bit?”
My eyebrows rise as I look at her in confusion.
“Yeah . . . but ? —”
“Good, bye! Get out! Get out!”
“What? Why?” I yell at her as she shoves me to push me out of the bathroom.
“Momma needs a bath. Desperately. So, bye!”
“You don’t have clean clothes, nutjob! What are you doing?” I start to really laugh now, not expecting her to want to take a soak in the tub this very moment, even if I did secretly buy the damn thing with her in mind.
“I’ll wear yours! I don’t care, this tub is screaming at me to christen it! Please, Liam.”
She crosses her arms and lifts her shirt up and over her head, leaving her standing in front of me in just her denim jeans and bra, the thin material leaving nothing to the imagination, including the barbells pierced through each of her nipples, which I didn’t know she had. Fuck, that’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.
“Mother above, bear, if you don’t leave now, I swear I will strip down right in front of you. Are you going to leave, you perv?”
“Wouldn’t you like that, beauty? Nah, Charlie and I will go hang and we’ll order some pizzas. You relax. Towels are in the closet right there,” I say as I point to the area behind the bathroom door. “We’ll be hanging in the living room. Clean clothes are in my drawers in the walk-in closet.” As much as I want to watch you slowly strip naked in front of me.
She squeals loudly, screaming a thank you as I turn on my heels to go do exactly what I said I would to keep myself distracted from thinking about Hannah naked in my tub and the things I want to do to her in it.
The memory stirs an idea as I plop down between the two of them on the big couch, making Charlotte squeal and bounce slightly, the pup barking, ready to play. We just need to get Charlotte settled and to sleep before I can execute it.
“Either of you hungry? Or still stuffed from all the pizza and cake?” I ask my girls.
“I couldn’t eat anything else today if I wanted to,” Hannah replies, looking over at Charlie to see how she’s feeling.
“I’m soooo full. Are we staying here with you and Garbage?”
My eyes meet Hannah in question but she’s already nodding her head yes before answering out loud.
“Yes, baby girl, it’s getting late. You want to stay in the cool kids’ room tonight?”
“Can Garbage sleep in there with me?”
This time it’s me who answers, “Yes, but he needs lots of cuddles or he cries. He’ll sleep right at the end of the bed at your feet. I hope they aren’t too stinky!”
Charlotte giggles as she stands up on the couch, bracing her hands on the back of it and sticking up one of her feet and pressing it into my face. I fall into Hannah in a dramatic display and feign passing out.
“They don’t stink! They smell like roses, bear! Momma, tell him they smell like roses!”
“Jeez, bear! Don’t you know girls’ feet only smell like flowers? Get with the program!”
“Roses, huh?” I laugh as I sit back up and lightly toss Charlie onto her back, tickling her until her laughs leave her gasping for air. The three of us settle in together on the couch until Charlotte starts to doze off, the long, exciting day finally catching up with her. I nudge Hannah as I sit up and scoop Charlie into my arms, carrying her into the bedroom that I keep made up just for her and Hannah when they crash at my house.
Hannah pulls down the blankets as I set Charlotte into the center of the queen-sized bed, my little dog jumping up and settling at her feet under a throw blanket that lays at the end. Hannah and I take turns kissing her head and saying good night as she falls asleep right in front of our eyes. We close the door behind us, and excitement fills me at what comes next.
Time to get my girl nice and relaxed.