Liam
As he pulled out of the parking lot, his phone, cracked but still working, erupted with notifications. Texts from teammates, calls from Mike, no doubt furious voicemails from management. He ignored them all as he navigated through downtown traffic, his mind already racing ahead to his next move.
How would he find Sunny? What would he say when he did? After everything that had happened, would she even listen?
Morgan.
His finger hovered over the decline button.
What fresh hell was this? His sister had been Sunny’s most vocal critic from the beginning, delighting in every tabloid speculation, every managerial pressure.
The last person he needed to hear from right now was Morgan, with her smug I-told-you-so attitude.
And yet…
With a resigned sigh, Liam accepted the call, putting it on speaker. “What do you want?”
“Well, hello to you too, brother dear.” Her voice carried its usual sardonic edge, but something else lurked beneath it — uncertainty, perhaps?
“I’m not really in the mood for—”
“I saw your press conference,” she interrupted. “Or at least enough of it streaming on Twitter to get the gist.”
Liam waited for the criticism, the cutting remarks, the reminder that she’d warned him about Sunny from the start.
“It was…” Morgan hesitated, an almost unheard-of occurrence for his normally decisive sister. “It was brave.”
Liam nearly missed a red light, so shocked was he by the unexpected praise. “Who is this, and what have you done with my sister?”
A soft laugh filtered through the speaker. “Believe me, no one’s more surprised than I am.”
“I don’t understand.” Liam navigated around a delivery truck, his brow furrowed in confusion. “You’ve been against Sunny from day one. You called her a gold-digger, an interloper—”
“I know what I said.” Morgan’s voice quieted, the usual sharp edges softening. “But watching you stand up there, risking everything for her… it made me realize something.”
“What’s that?”
A long pause followed, the silence stretching between them.
“That I wouldn’t know love like that if it smacked me in the face,” she finally admitted. “And that maybe — just maybe — I’ve been judging your nanny through the lens of my own damnable failures.”
Liam pulled into a parking lot, too distracted by this unprecedented conversation to trust his driving. “Morgan, are you feeling okay? This doesn’t sound like you at all.”
A humorless laugh. “Oh, I’m fine. Just having one of those rare moments of self-awareness that my therapist charges two hundred dollars an hour to inspire.”
“You’re seeing a therapist?”
“Don’t sound so shocked,” Morgan retorted, a hint of her usual acerbity returning. “Even I can recognize when my life’s a train wreck.”
Liam leaned back in his seat, trying to process this strange new version of his sister. “So, what? You’re calling to apologize?”
“Don’t push it.” But the expected sting was missing from her voice. “I’m calling because… because I was wrong, okay? About Sunny. About you. About a lot of things, probably.”
“You’re serious.” It wasn’t a question.
“Due to my own ‘chequered’ history, I can’t see the good in any relationship,” Morgan said, the admission clearly costing her. “I was unfair to you and Sunny. And I’m… I’m sorry.”
The words hung between them, fragile and unprecedented. In thirty-three years, Liam could count on one hand the times Morgan had apologized for anything.
“Thank you,” he said finally, unsure how else to respond to this unfamiliar terrain.
Morgan cleared her throat, discomfort evident. “Anyway, I just wanted to say that. And also… us Andersons are royally screwed when it comes to relationships and closing ourselves off. Maybe it’s time at least one of us broke the pattern.”
Liam sat with that for a moment, turning the insight over in his mind. “I think you might be onto something.”
“Of course I am. I’m the smart one, remember?” The quip carried a ghost of their old banter, but without the usual underlying hostility.
“Morgan,” Liam began, still struggling to reconcile this new side of his sister, “I appreciate the call. Really.”
“Yeah, well, don’t get used to it.” But there was warmth in her voice, a genuine affection Liam hadn’t heard in years.
After they disconnected, Liam sat for several minutes in the parking lot, processing the conversation. If Morgan — stubborn, judgmental Morgan — could change her perspective so dramatically, what else was possible?
The realization clicked into place like a perfect line change: if his sister could grow, could learn, could admit her mistakes… so could he.
With renewed determination, Liam pulled back onto the road, heading home to regroup before beginning his search for Sunny. Hope, fragile but persistent, blossomed in his chest. This wasn’t over yet. Not by a long shot.
Liam was still processing Morgan’s unexpected support when he pulled into his driveway, his mind already mapping out next steps. He needed to track Sunny down, to make his case face-to-face. No more hiding, no more fear. Just honesty and the hope that it wasn’t too late.
But as he stepped through the front door, the expression on Beth’s face stopped him cold.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, instantly alert.
Beth wrung her hands, a gesture so uncharacteristic for the normally composed housekeeper that alarm bells immediately rang in Liam’s head.
“I’ve been trying to reach Sunny,” she said. “She left behind some medications — nothing serious,” she added quickly at Liam’s look of concern, “just her allergy pills. I thought she’d want them, with spring coming.”
“And?” Liam prompted when Beth hesitated.
“Her phone goes straight to voicemail. Has been all day.” Beth’s weathered face creased with worry. “So I went by her apartment this afternoon to drop them off.”
Liam’s heart rate kicked up a notch. “Was she there?”
Beth shook her head. “No. But her neighbor was outside. Older lady with a little terrier?”
Liam nodded impatiently. He vaguely recalled Sunny mentioning a friendly neighbor who sometimes walked her dog with her.
“She said he saw her early this morning, loading up her car. Said it looked like…” Beth paused, her eyes sad. “Like she was ‘leaving town,’ were her exact words. All her suitcases, some boxes.”
The air seemed to evaporate from Liam’s lungs. “Did she say where she was going?”
“No.” Beth’s voice was apologetic. “Just that she seemed in a hurry. Left before seven.”
Liam sank onto the bench in the foyer, the morning’s confidence draining away like ice water down a drain. Had Sunny fled the city? The state? Without even leaving a forwarding address?
“I’m sure she just needs some time,” Beth offered, clearly trying to be helpful. “After everything that’s happened…”
But Liam barely heard her. His mind replayed every cruel word, every cowardly moment when he’d pushed Sunny away instead of fighting for what they had.
He’d taken too long to come to his senses.
While he’d been grandstanding at press conferences, she’d been packing her life into a car and disappearing.
“Dad?”
Liam looked up to find Maddie and Hailey on the staircase, watching him with matching expressions of concern.
“Is Sunny coming home?” Hailey asked, hope brightening her small face.
The question pierced Liam’s heart. What could he say? That Sunny had fled town, possibly because of his actions? That his revelation had come too late?
But as he looked at his daughters — Maddie’s cautious optimism, Hailey’s open trust — something crystallized within him. Sunny might have left town. But that didn’t mean she was lost forever. It just meant he had to work harder to find her, to prove that he was serious this time.
Slowly, Liam stood, squaring his shoulders as a plan began to form.
“I don’t know where Sunny is right now,” he told his daughters honestly. “But I’m going to find her.”
Maddie’s eyes narrowed skeptically. “How? Beth said her phone’s off.”
“Then I’ll have to get creative,” Liam replied, the first genuine smile in days tugging at his lips. “Fortunately, your old dad can be pretty resourceful when he needs to be.”
Hailey hopped down the remaining stairs, her earlier caution forgotten as excitement took hold. “Are we going on an adventure to find Sunny?”
Liam glanced at Beth, who gave a small nod of understanding. She would stay with the girls, however long it took.
“This is something I need to do myself, pumpkin,” he said, kneeling to Hailey’s level. “But I promise to call the moment I find her.”
“What will you say?” Maddie asked, still keeping a slight emotional distance, protecting herself from potential disappointment.
Liam considered the question seriously. “I’ll tell her I love her. That we all do. That we miss her. That I was wrong and I’m sorry and I want to spend the rest of my life making it up to her.”
“And that we want her to come home,” Hailey added firmly.
“Especially that,” Liam agreed.
As he returned to his feet, a new resolve hardened within him. It didn’t matter where Sunny had gone. It didn’t matter how long it took. He would find her. And this time, he wouldn’t let fear drive his decisions.
This time, he would fight for what mattered — with everything he had.