Chapter 31
CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE
SOPHIE
When I open my eyes I’m disoriented. It takes me a moment to realize that Liam’s holding me, tight against him, my back against his front, his strong arms wrapped around my chest.
He’s asleep, I can tell that from his steady breathing and the heaviness of his arms on me.
It’s no surprise, he probably got as little rest as I did last night.
I manage to twist in his arms so I can look at him.
Asleep he looks younger, carefree. Like the almost-man who was probably in love with Marie.
And again I feel my heart ache for him. I don’t care that he loved somebody else. I’ll be his Jenny. I’ll take him however I can get him because nothing makes sense without this man.
He came to save me. Again. And this time I want him to.
I lift my head to softly kiss Liam’s lips. They’re warm and soft. Then I kiss his jaw, his cheek, the soft skin beneath his ear where his hairline ends and his beard line hasn’t yet begun.
He sighs softly and slowly his eyes open.
“Hi,” he murmurs, his gaze wary.
I hate that he has to be guarded around me. “Hi.”
He pulls his arm from around me and cups my face. “Did you sleep?” he asks.
“A little.” I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry I left without telling you.”
“I’m sorry you had to find out about Marie in that way. Ariel’s devastated.” He looks concerned as he strokes my cheek softly.
I feel bad about Ariel, too. I’ll have to call her. But right now Liam and I need to talk.
“Tell me about Marie,” I ask him.
He takes a deep breath, his worried eyes not leaving mine. “Okay.” So he does, his hand still cupping my face, his voice soft as he tells me about his second year of college. Meeting a freshman who had moved in with a friend of a friend.
“We got along,” he tells me. “We had fun. I was a kid and I wanted that person, you know? Like in Grey’s Anatomy.”
“You wanted your Meredith.” I smile softly because I wanted that, too. The fact we’re both here means we never got what we wanted.
“And for a year it worked out pretty well.”
“And then?” This is where it’s going to turn. Where she dies and his heart is broken. Where he loses his person and is never the same.
I need to hear it but it still hurts. Because I know it hurts him.
“Then I realized I didn’t want to be with her anymore.”
My eyes widen. “What?” This is not what I was expecting. “But…”
“I was a fucking punk. I didn’t want to be the bad guy.
The one to break it off. So I hung around hoping she’d notice and be the one to end things.
But she didn’t because she couldn’t read minds.
And also because she was starting to feel sick.
Turns out she’d been feeling bad for a while but figured it was due to having too much school work.
I went with her for testing, and that’s when she found out she had colon cancer.
It was rare for somebody her age but pretty advanced. ”
My heart aches for him. “Poor Marie.”
“Yeah.” He exhales heavily. “I knew then that I couldn’t tell her I’d fallen out of love with her. So I did the opposite. I asked her to marry me. And she said yes.”
“You made her happy,” I whisper.
“I tried. I tried so fucking hard. More than I’ve tried at anything in my life.
We planned the wedding, she bought a dress.
I asked Myles to be my best man. But then she got sicker and it was obvious she couldn’t get married like that.
So we agreed that we’d postpone the wedding until she was better again. ”
“But she didn’t get better,” I whisper.
“No. She got worse. It happened mercifully quickly after that.”
“Oh Liam.” I cup his face. “You lied but you made her happy.”
“I hope so.”
Tears prick at my eyes. “I know you did.” Because I know how Liam loves. Furiously. That’s the best way to describe it. And even if he’d fallen out of love with her, he’d still have the memory of it.
He’d still care enough to do whatever he could to make things right.
“And after she died I made myself a promise to not hurt anybody else the way I could have hurt her.”
“But you didn’t hurt her.”
He blows out a mouthful of air. “At the very end she told me she knew I didn’t feel the same about her.
That she’d pretended I did because she didn’t want to be alone.
That she wanted to die feeling loved.” He pulls his gaze away from mine.
“I fucked everything up. That’s when I realized me and relationships didn’t work. ”
“But they do,” I whisper. “You’re here with me now.”
His lip curls. “Yeah, I am.” When he lifts his head up his eyes are a maelstrom of emotions. “I tried,” he tells me. “I tried so hard to not fall in love with you.”
This time my smile is stronger. “Ditto. And yet here we are.”
“Thank God,” he says, stroking my face. “Thank God you’re here.”
“Thank God for you,” I say. And that’s when I realize that nothing else matters. If I lose my job it’ll hurt but I’ll pick myself up and carry on. If I lose this apartment I’d find somewhere to live – even if it meant moving in with Dad for a while.
Everything could end and it would still be okay.
He cups my face with his hands, tipping my head until our mouths are a breath away from each other. There’s such warmth in his eyes. Such need. It makes everything inside me tingle.
“I love you,” I tell him.
“Don’t run away from me again. Don’t ever do that,” he tells me.
“I won’t.” It’s the truth. A promise I can keep. I’ve learned a lot about myself these past twenty-four hours.
That I can survive no matter what. That I can love so deeply it hurts my soul when I think the other person is hurt.
That I don’t want to be without this, strong yet vulnerable man beside me.
“Good,” he whispers. “Because I love you, too. Now please let me call your boss and tell him to give you your job back.”
I laugh and it feels good. Genuine. “No. Don’t do that.”
“It’d only take one phone call.”
“I know. But I need to hold my head high.”
“You’ll do that no matter what. You deserve that job.”
“You’re the sweetest,” I tell him. “I love how frustrated you look right now.”
“I just want to make you happy.” He brushes the tip of my nose with his lips. “It annoys me that I could do that if you’d let me.”
“You do make me happy. And I’ll keep on letting you,” I promise. “But you calling my boss’ boss’ boss would make me feel uncomfortable.”
He lifts a brow. “You’re going to have to get used to me taking care of you.”
I smile at him. “And you’re going to have to used to me wanting to be independent.”
“We’re going to need to find a middle ground,” he murmurs. His lips catch mine, leaving me breathless. “I think it’s probably right about here.” His mouth parts and his tongue flickers against mine and suddenly I’m soft in his arms. If taking care of me means kissing me like this I’m all for it.
His throat rumbles as he rolls me onto my back, still kissing me as he cages me with his arms. He holds his body over mine, keeping some of his weight off me, but I can still feel parts of his chest and stomach as they press against my curves.
And then my phone rings.
He groans and rolls off. My heart starts to hammer against my chest because this could be it. The truth of my future.
Donald Regan may have decided my fate.
But it’s Lauren’s name that fills my screen, requesting a video call. “You may want to roll over,” I tell Liam. “You’re about to be on camera.”
He doesn’t move an inch. Okay then.
“Hey,” I say when the screen flickers to life.
“What happened to my phone call?” she asks. “You were supposed to update us.”
Oh I was. Damn.
Then she laughs at my expression. “It’s okay, Liam called me.”
I glance over at him. He shrugs.
“He did?” I ask her.
“Yeah. But that’s not what I want to talk about. Are you watching your television right now?”
“No.”
“Turn it on.”
“What channel?” I ask her.
“WVFY, of course.”
Grabbing my remote, I press the on button and my television slowly warms up.
“Are you watching?” Lauren asks.
“No. It’s an old set. It’s slow.”
She lets out a sigh and tells me to watch the phone. She’d switched the camera view because her television set fills the screen.
And in front of it is an image of our television studios.
There are a group of people outside, and even though the screen is small and the image is a little blurred, I recognize them all anyway.
“Well, it’s not often we get to give you a story about our own television station,” the reporter, Joanna, says, smiling into the camera.
She’s standing outside with the crowd. “But today our news and sports team walked out in support of a member of staff who they feel has been treated badly. Dan Keyes is here to tell us more.”
The camera cuts to Dan. He’s in jeans and a college football sweatshirt – far from his usual business attire. It’s like he’s dropped over on his way to a game.
“Good afternoon, Joanna. And I’d like to say I’m reporting on behalf of my friend, Sophie West, and not on behalf of WVFY.
I’m not being paid for this report.” He has this way of capturing you on camera.
“Many of you know Sophie West. She’s one half of our superb weather team, and an excellent meteorologist. WVFY is extremely lucky to have her.
But today she was accused of something she didn’t do, and we’re all out here to support her.
And I have to tell you that this will be the last time you’ll see me on camera until Sophie is reinstated. ”
“Oh my God.”
“They’re all there for you,” Lauren says, swapping the camera so I can see her face. “Did you see them all?”
My throat is tight. “I did.” There are at least thirty people standing on the sidewalk. Most of them don’t even work on the weekends. They haven’t just walked out of the station, they’ve driven there to protest.
“I need to get over there,” I say.
“Aren’t you a little underdressed for that?” Lauren asks, looking amused. I glance down and realize I’m still wearing the towel I wrapped around myself after my shower hours ago.
“I’ll make sure she looks decent first,” Liam says.
“Good plan.” She ends the call and I almost jump out of bed.
I can’t believe they’re doing this for me. My heart feels so full right now.
“Can we take a raincheck on that kiss?” I ask Liam.
“Yep.” He nods, his gaze soft. “Now let’s go.”