Chapter 4
SAbrINA
As soon as the wheels hit the tarmac of Chicago O’Hare, I startled awake. Once I had gathered my bearings, I pressed against the seat to push myself up as I looked around. When my gaze landed on Liam, my heart sank. I’d fallen asleep.
Liam looked amused as he sat across from me. Feeling self-conscious, I quickly wiped at my lips, hoping I hadn’t drooled or snored.
My cheeks heated with embarrassment.
Unable to bring myself to speak to Liam, I chose to remain quiet as the plane pulled into the hangar. The stewardess made quick work of the door, and soon it was open, revealing a set of stairs.
Liam took charge and was holding the handle of the car seat with an awake and smiling Samuel tucked safely inside.
I decided not to fight Liam on it. The last thing I wanted was to attempt to carry my son down the stairs, trip, and test the ability of the car seat to keep Samuel safe.
Falling up the stairs with Samuel was one thing.
Plummeting both of us to our deaths was an entirely different story.
There was a limo, complete with a driver, waiting for us when we got to the bottom of the stairs.
Liam didn’t miss a beat, heading straight to the far door.
I lingered for a moment, wondering if we were supposed to wait for our luggage.
But when it became apparent that Liam had staff to do that, I hurried over to where he’d left the limo door open for me.
The windows were tinted, causing the inside of the limo to be darker than it was outside. I shut the door and slid across the back bench seat before plopping Samuel’s diaper bag next to me.
Liam hummed as he shook Samuel’s sensory toy that was fastened to the handle of the car seat above him. I could see Samuel’s little hand waving in the air as he reached for the textured silicone toys.
“Did you have a good nap?”
I turned to see Liam watching me. My cheeks burned once again from embarrassment. I wasn’t really sure what an assistant to a rock star did, but I was pretty sure that taking a nap in the middle of the day wasn’t high on that list. I guess I was more tired than I’d realized.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
Liam frowned. “Sorry? For what?”
Samuel let out a squeal followed by some intense babbling.
My heart ached at the sound. One, because I loved my son.
And two, because it was doing strange things to my insides to watch this man, this stranger, bring so much joy to my son.
That was Trevor’s job. And yet, he couldn’t be bothered to take time out of his life to be here.
Or even reach out after his child was born.
I was spiraling, so I squared my shoulders and forced thoughts of my ex from my mind. “I shouldn’t have fallen asleep on my first day on the job.” I cleared my throat and forced a smile. One I hoped told Liam that I felt bad and also promised I would never do it again.
Liam studied me with a curious expression. I could tell that he wanted to default to his normal, flirty demeanor, but he was fighting that.
When he didn’t speak right away, frustration began to build. It frustrated me that Liam could say so much without really saying anything. In an effort to get him to speak, I narrowed my eyes as I held his gaze. I didn’t want this man judging me.
“It’s just sleep, Sabrina,” he said as he gave me a wide smile before turning his attention back to Samuel. “We all need it.” His voice rose in pitch as his gaze shifted back to my son.
I stared at him for a moment before I turned my attention out the window. Sure, Liam wanted me to relax. It was evident in the tone of his voice and in the words that he spoke. And sure, he was probably partially right. Sleeping was a human thing to do.
But I’d blown up my life to come with him. Everyone around me was expecting me to fail. If I relaxed, there was a likelihood that I’d go crawling back to Harmony—to Abigail—with my tail tucked between my legs.
I couldn’t do that. I was determined to prove everyone wrong.
I attempted my most professional sounding voice. “I guess I just want you to know that it won’t happen again.”
Liam quirked an eyebrow. “You’re never going to sleep again?” He punctuated his words with a wink.
I deadpanned. “Sleeping on the job.”
“Ah.”
“I want you know that I take this job seriously. I’m going to be the best assistant a rock star could ever ask for.”
Liam’s eyebrows went up.
I narrowed my eyes. “I mean it.”
Liam held up both hands. “I believe you.”
I wanted to reiterate it one more time so he knew that I was really, really serious, but I doubted that would convince him of anything.
Thankfully, Samuel got cranky five minutes later, giving me something to focus on.
I grabbed the diaper bag and hurried over to sit on the other side of his car seat.
I unbuckled him, and he arched his back, his little face turning bright red with frustration.
Samuel was a happy baby as long as he was fed. But when he was hungry, nothing would calm him. I wrapped my left arm around his chest and bounced him on my knee while I used my right hand to dig around in the diaper bag for a bottle and formula.
No amount of movement would appease Samuel. His little face scrunched up with frustration as I shakily dumped the powder into the bottle. In that moment I realized I didn’t have any water for him.
Normally, I made his bottles up at home. This whole touring with an infant thing was new to me. I glanced around.
Liam must have seen the panic on my face. He knit his eyebrows together. “Everything okay?”
I shook my head. “I don’t have any…” I glanced around again. I didn’t know what I thought I was going to find. This was a limo. They didn’t come with sinks. “I need water,” I finally admitted amongst Samuel’s wails.
Liam nodded and scooted forward on his seat. He reached over and pulled open a small door that was covered in the same leather as the seats. Inside were bottles of water.
“They’re cold,” Liam said as he pulled one out and held it up.
Samuel preferred warm, but with how loud he was screaming, I doubted he was going to care.
“It should work,” I said. Sweat pricked my skin from anxiety.
Thoughts of failure once again began to rise up inside of me.
I was only a few hours into this assistant thing, and I’d not only fallen asleep on the job, but I was also failing as a mother.
My confidence in being a successful businesswoman and a mom was faltering.
Abigail’s voice started repeating, I told you so, in my mind. Tears brimmed my eyes, and it required everything in me to keep them at bay as I took the water bottle from Liam.
He didn’t linger. As soon as I had the water bottle firmly in my grasp, he moved to sit across from me and then slid to the divider between us and the driver before he began talking to him in a hushed tone. Samuel’s wail drowned out their conversation.
I was in the middle of pouring water into Samuel’s bottle when the limo took a hard right and suddenly stopped. Liam didn’t speak as he slid across the seat and exited onto the sidewalk. He was gone with a slam of the door.
I sat in silence, startled by his sudden disappearance. Tears once again burned my eyes as I returned my attention to Samuel. He was crying harder now, his little voice growing raspy from the strain.
With Liam gone, I was no longer worried about trying to calm Samuel.
If anything, holding him while trying to make a bottle was just slowing me down.
I lifted him up and set him into his car seat and then turned my attention to the bottle.
I finished filling it up with water to the designated amount and then tightened the top down before sticking my finger over the opening of the nipple.
I gave the bottle a few good shakes. Just as I started to pull Samuel out of his car seat, the door opened and Liam appeared.
Confused, I watched as he climbed into the limo and pulled the door shut behind him. He sat down on the bench and held up a drink carrier full of insulated coffee cups. He had a goofy grin on his face.
I blinked as I tried to process what was going on. He’d stopped to get…coffee?
And then I felt stupid. Of course, he’d stopped to get coffee.
With the way Samuel was stressing me out, I would have done the same.
Liam wasn’t Samuel’s caretaker. I was. Liam was free to leave the limo to get coffee, while I had to stay.
I had responsibilities. Responsibilities that Liam wouldn’t understand.
I returned my focus to Samuel and proceeded to feed the bottle nipple into his mouth. He took a few sucks before his little face scrunched up and his wail continued. I shushed him while bouncing him up and down a few times. I moved the nipple around in his mouth, hoping he’d give up and eat.
That just made Samuel more mad.
“Can I?”
I glanced up to see Liam had leaned in. I wanted to snap back at him. I wanted to do this on my own. I wanted to prove to myself that this was a problem I could fix. But Samuel was clearly rejecting this ice-cold bottle, and I was out of options. Dejected, I handed the bottle over to him.
“Sure,” I said.
Liam took the bottle and unscrewed the top before he opened the limo door.
It was in this moment that I realized we were still parked outside of the coffee shop.
I watched in dismay as Liam tossed the formula onto the ground before he shut the door.
Then he grabbed one of the white cups from the drink carrier and popped off the top.
He stuck his finger in the liquid before removing it and shaking it off.
I watched in horror as he poured what I thought was going to be coffee into Samuel’s bottle.
But as clear liquid flowed from the cup, my body began to relax.
Then he glanced over and gave me a sheepish smile.
“I asked them to get me some warm water,” he said.
Then he nodded toward the diaper bag. “Formula?”