Chapter 16 #2
I swallow hard. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I’m also in desperate need of somebody to talk to. There’s no way I can confide in Ava about this. She’s too close to the situation and I’d hate for her to have split loyalties.
“I spent the night at Liam’s,” I say quickly.
“Oh.” Lauren’s eyes widen. “As in…” She wiggles her brows. “Spent the night?”
I take a sip of coffee to give me courage. “As in we didn’t do that, but we did some other stuff and then I slept in his bed. With him.”
“But I thought you two didn’t get along.”
“We don’t.” I frown. “Well we didn’t, but we do now I guess. He’s been really sweet to me since he won the auction.” I tell her about our messaging and watching Grey’s Anatomy together and then about last night.
And yeah, I admit that I lied to him. She’s particularly interested in all the details of that first night when nothing happened but I pretended it did.
“No way,” she hisses. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. I need details. All of them.”
“There aren’t many,” I point out. “Nothing happened, remember?”
She folds her arms across her chest. “But he slept in your bed all night. Naked.” Her eyes widen. “Is he as impressive as I think he is?”
“Yep.”
“Oh.” She sighs. “I can’t believe you lied to him. Or that he believed it. You’re such a terrible liar,” she says.
“I know.” I look down at my plate, now empty save for some donut crumbs. “But this felt different. Like, I don’t know, self-preservation I guess.”
“Why self-preservation?” she asks, sounding confused.
“I think I’ve always been attracted to him,” I admit. “But he’s the kind of guy who would break my heart, not one that would ever settle down. So it was easier to tell a lie and know he would never be interested in me than, I don’t know…”
“What makes you think he can hurt you?” she asks me. “Surely that would only happen if you let him get too close.”
“I have kind of,” I admit. “I really like spending time with him. He’s funny and he’s charming and he’s as into Grey’s Anatomy as I am.”
“So you’re friends then.” She nods, as though she understands. I’m glad somebody does.
“Well yeah.”
“With a few benefits.” She wiggles her brows.
“I guess. But he’s not the kind of guy who wants more than one night. That’s why I left so early this morning, to spare us both the embarrassment of him explaining it was all a mistake.”
“You’re still going to have to face him though,” Lauren points out. “Even if you weren’t both Charlie’s godparents there’s a small matter of his daily forecast for the next two and a half months.”
His daily forecast? My mouth falls open. I haven’t sent him one today. I did most of the work yesterday but I’d planned to take another look at the weather systems first thing this morning. I’ll have to message him and ask if it’s okay for me to send it in an hour.
When I pull my phone out of my bag the battery is completely dead.
Lauren has some charger cords behind the counter – left by customers who never returned for them – and it takes me a couple of tries to find the one I need.
She plugs it into the socket on the side of the counter and I watch as the little loading bar comes up on the screen and my phone finally comes to life.
An alert tells me I have five missed calls and two voicemails. And then some messages flash up in quick succession. All from Liam.
Is everything okay? I woke up and you were gone.
Can you just call me to let me know you’re okay, please?
I’m outside your house. Can you let me in?
Sophie, answer the door.
Okay you’re not here. WHERE ARE YOU?
This is not okay. I’m worried about you. CALL ME, WEST!
Are you pissed at me?
I’m five minutes away from going back to talk to Ava. I’m not kidding.
And I’m going to tell her EVERYTHING.
Okay not everything. But please let me know you’re okay.
“Um, those are not the messages of a man who’s not interested,” Lauren says. I almost jump when I realize she’s reading them over my shoulder.
“He’s just annoyed I left without waking him. I probably hurt his ego.”
Lauren lifts a brow. “Don’t you think you should call him and put him out of his misery?”
“Yeah, I better.” I pull his number up, guilt pulling at my stomach. I shouldn’t have left like that, the same way I shouldn’t have lied. This man just makes me panic every time.
I don’t know how to deal with it.
“Actually, don’t bother,” she says, her gaze fixed on the front of the bakery. I turn around to see him standing in the doorway, his angry gaze fixed on me. A shiver snakes down my spine because even furious, Liam Salinger is glorious.
The mouth that kissed me all over last night is pulled into a thin line as he walks toward me. He’s dressed in jeans and a gray t-shirt – pretty much the same kind of outfit most guys in the bakery are wearing – and yet he stands out so much.
Every female in the shop turns to look at him.
“Sophie,” he says as he stops dead in front of me. “Do you ever check your goddamned phone?”
“I just checked it,” I tell him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“I wasn’t worried until you didn’t pick up. And you weren’t at home. I’ve driven around half of fucking Charleston looking for you. I even went into the television station.” He shifts his feet. “Your boss is a prick, by the way.”
Lauren’s eyes switch from Liam to me and back again like she’s watching a tennis match.
“My phone died,” I admit. “I wasn’t planning on being out all night.”
He looks pointedly at Lauren, who’s listening like we’re her favorite audiobook. She smiles easily at him. “It’s okay,” she tells him. “I know everything.”
“Of course you do,” he says. “And I hope you told her it’s not nice to run out on somebody without telling them goodbye first.”
She nods. “I did. And I told her she should have sent over your weather report by now.”
I widen my eyes at her. The traitor. “Lauren…”
“Well you should have. But now Liam’s here so you can give it to him in person.”
I look up at him. His eyes are softer now. There are little gold flecks in the brown of his irises. “It’s going to be sunny today,” I say. “Some cloud coverage this afternoon but nothing that will develop into anything.”
He nods. “That’s good. We won’t get wet then.”
“We?” I frown.
“You’re going to spend the day with me.”
“Oh!” Lauren looks like she’s going to combust. “That’s so lovely.”
“I can’t,” I tell him. “I have things to do.”
“Like what?” Lauren asks. I make a note to have a good talk with her later. She’s not helping.
And she’s supposed to be my friend.
“I have to go visit my dad. And then I have to get groceries. Plus, I have a pile of laundry I didn’t get to last week.” I look up at Liam. “And don’t tell me I can leave it until another day because I have literally nothing to wear.”
“I wasn’t going to suggest that,” he says easily. “I was going to offer to help.”
I swallow a laugh. “You want to help me with my chores?”
He shrugs. “Why not?”
Um, because you’re Liam Salinger, the hugely wealthy CEO of a massively profitable company who must have people to do all those things for you?
“Maybe he wants to see your panties,” Lauren says helpfully. “As he loads them in the washer.”
I shoot her a withering look. We’re definitely having that talk later.
And then I rifle through my purse because even though she’s annoying me I don’t want to leave without paying.
I pass her a twenty and tell her to keep the change, then I walk out of the bakery, Liam following me every step of the way.
When we’re outside I let out a long breath. “You really don’t have to do this,” I tell him. “I wasn’t lying when I said I had a hundred chores to do.”
“I wasn’t lying either. I want to do them with you.” He looks around. “I assume your car isn’t here.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because you came here by taxi. I called all the companies. Gave them a description.”
I blink. “That’s a bit… stalkerish.”
“I really was worried by then. And I wasn’t lying about calling Ava either.” He shows me his phone and the last call on it.
“What did you tell her?” I widen my eyes.
“That we were supposed to meet up to discuss next week’s forecasts.” He shrugs. “You should probably call her and tell her you’re okay.”
Yeah, I should. The last thing she needs is to be worrying about me.
I shoot her a message, and reluctantly follow Liam to his car, sliding into the comfortable passenger seat. Was it really only last night when I was sitting here as he drove me back from the station?
It feels like a lifetime ago.
“So where do you want to start?” he asks.
“I need to drop by my dad’s. You can stay in the car, though.”
He starts up the engine. “That would be rude. I’ve met your dad before. I should come in and say hi.”
I turn my head to look at him. “Why would you want to do that?”
“Because I like your dad,” he says, as though it’s a stupid question.
Well okay then. If he wants to see him, then let him. No skin off my nose. Maybe a day with me doing chores is what he needs to see I’m not that exciting. I give him my dad’s address, the briefest of directions, and within five minutes we’re pulling up outside his house.
The curtains are still closed. It’s weird because Dad’s always an early riser. He loves sitting with a coffee in the early morning sunshine.
And he’d never let his curtains stay closed. He’d worry too much about the neighbors’ opinions for that.
“Are you okay?” Liam asks.
I shake my head. “I think there’s something wrong.” Pulling at the handle, I climb out of the car. Liam walks beside me up the steps, and then I knock on the door.
No answer.
“Oh shit.”
“What’s wrong?” Liam asks.
“He’s always up at this time.” My hands shake as I find his spare key in my bag. “He has a heart problem.” My fingers are trembling as I try but fail to slide it into the lock. Liam gently takes the key from me and opens the door easily.
“There’s probably a simple explanation,” he says as we walk inside. “Mr. West?” he calls out. He’s holding my hand. I don’t know when he grabbed it, but it feels nice.
“Dad?” I shout, rushing down the hallway, Liam still holding onto me. “Are you okay?” I wrench open his bedroom door, my stomach twisted as I steel myself for the worst.
“Sophie?” Dad sits up. His chest is bare and from the fact his pajama pants are strewn across the floor I can only assume his bottom half is, too.
And so is the woman next to him.
“Dad?” I blink. “I… ah…”
Liam tugs my hand. “Sophie wanted to make sure you were okay. And it looks like you are.”
I’m frozen to the spot, staring at my dad, who stares, horrified, back.
The woman next to him smiles at me. “Are you Frank’s girl?” She has a strong Charleston accent. She also has pink hair, which I’m kind of jealous of.
“Um yeah,” I say, my face flaming. “Sophie.”
“It’s lovely to meet you.” She doesn’t look at all embarrassed, unlike Dad and me. “I’m Jenny. From the market. I run the crystal stall a few down from your dad.”
“Crystals. Right.” I nod. Dad hates anything new age. Then there’s silence again and it takes Liam’s mouth against my ear for me to actually start to think clearly.
“We should go now,” he whispers. “Call your dad later, okay?”
I nod but don’t move.
“Mr. West, I’m glad you’re okay. It was a pleasure to see you again,” Liam says. “Jenny, it was nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” she says, beaming.
“Um yeah. Dad, I’ll call you later.”
He nods, looking distinctly gray. Liam tugs at my hand, but I don’t move.
“Step backward,” he urges, whispering in my ear. “Come on, you can do this.”
I let him pull me this time. When we get into the hallway he closes my dad’s bedroom door then puts his arm around my shoulders, steering me to the front door.
“You’re doing great,” he murmurs. “One foot in front of the other.”
It’s only when we get outside, walking back down my dad’s path, that the mortification hits me. “Oh God,” I say, pulling my hand from his so I can cover my face with my palms. “Tell me that didn’t happen.”
“What didn’t happen?” he says, a huge grin on his lips.
I cover my face with my hands and let out a groan.
“Come on,” he says. “Let’s get back in the car.” He opens the door and lets me climb in, then walks around to the driver’s side. When he slides into his seat he turns to look at me.
“I’m absolutely mortified you saw that,” I tell him. Hell, I’m mortified that I saw that.
“I’ve seen so much worse,” he tells me. “My dad has had a lot of girlfriends. And I have five brothers. You really don’t want to know what I’ve walked in on.”
I will myself to look at him. There’s so much sweetness in his expression that it makes my chest feel weird. “My dad hasn’t had a girlfriend since my mom died,” I tell him.
“Well he has one now. How do you feel about that?” He turns on the engine.
“I don’t know.” I frown. “She seems nice, doesn’t she?”
He laughs. “She can hold a conversation in an embarrassing moment, which is more than you and your dad can do.” He pulls away from my dad’s house. “It’ll be okay,” he tells me. “You’ll laugh about this one day.”
“Promise?”
His smile turns soft. “Yes. Now let’s get back to your place. We have a date with the laundry basket.”