Chapter 4
When Charlotte calls me, it’s just after nine, and I’m in the middle of chopping up potatoes for breakfast. Liliana told me once she loves breakfast potatoes, so I always try to make them at least once when she’s around—same with pancakes for Nate.
“Happy anniversary,” I say, holding the phone between my shoulder and my ear. “How’s everything going?”
“Well, fine for the most part, but we just pulled our tent out, and it has a huge hole in it! Ugh, John thinks some squirrels must’ve gotten into the garage and eaten a hole through it or something.”
“Those damn things. Do you have a backup? If not, you could swing by and grab mine. I’ve only used it a handful of times since Nate’s graduation party.”
“That’s what I was hoping. Oh, thank you so much, Marcus. I’ll come by in about an hour?”
“Sounds good. See you then.”
I dump the potatoes into my frying pan with the onions that are already sizzling. My guess is that Nate and Lily will be down in about a half hour, but if not, I have the oven preheating to a low temperature. If need be, I can stick the potatoes in there to keep them warm until they’re awake.
As the potatoes cook, I do up some dishes and hum to myself. The sun rose exactly like it did yesterday, but this morning, everything felt brighter. It’s nice not to be alone in this house. I love it here, but sometimes it feels so… empty.
“That smells amazing.”
I smile at the sound of Liliana’s sweet voice. Talk about someone who can fill up a room with her smile. “Morning, little star.”
“Morning.”
When I glance over my shoulder, she bashfully avoids my gaze. Her cheeks are tinted a light pink that matches the little crop top she’s wearing. Her hair is down today, falling past her shoulders in waves.
“Sleep all right?”
“Mmhmm,” she says as she sits on one of the stools at the island counter. “You?”
“Pretty good.”
It’s a lie. I tossed and turned all night, unable to get the feel of Liliana’s body under my palms out of my mind. Hugging my son’s girlfriend while she’s crying is one thing. But keeping my hands on her? Keeping her in my arms like that for as long as I did? I crossed a line, and though my son may deserve it, I saw that look in Liliana’s eyes. I don’t want to confuse her or make this worse for her.
Yet here I am, clutching the counter to keep myself anchored and far away from her. Whenever she’s visited, I’ve always found her attractive—her mind and her body—but it was never this hard to keep my distance.
“My friend Charlotte is going to be stopping by in about an hour to pick up a tent,” I say. My voice is tighter than I want it to be.
“Charlotte? The same Charlotte I met at your Christmas party last year?”
“Uhhh…” I go over my memories of that evening—Liliana helping me make cookies, the red dress she wore later that made my mouth water, and… yeah. Charlotte and John were there. “Yeah. You remember John, too?”
“Her husband?”
“Yep. Today is their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.” I shake my head with a lazy chuckle. “Wild how time flies, you know? It feels like just yesterday that Char’s dad was threatening to kill John.”
Liliana sputters. “What?”
“Oh, John got her pregnant before they were married. Charlotte grew up in a very traditional family. She’d been seeing John in secret, so her family didn’t even know he existed until she told them she was pregnant.”
“Secret? Why was she hiding him from them?”
“Again, very traditional family. Charlotte met John when she was only twenty-four.”
“I’m… not seeing the issue?”
“He was forty-three at the time.”
“Wow. What is that, nineteen years?”
“Just about. Charlotte’s parents were sure he was taking advantage of her, but I’ve never seen a love like theirs before. They went on to prove her entire family wrong. Had two beautiful sons, built a home full of compassion and joy, and they’re still going strong all this time later.”
“That’s amazing,” Liliana says softly. “Now that you mention it, I remember seeing them at the party together and hoping that I’d be that happy when I reached their age. They just looked so…”
“Real?”
“Yeah. Real and still so deeply in love. You could see it in their eyes, you know?”
“Yeah. They’re truly something else. I’m glad I’ve been able to see the full length of their relationship. Truly a beautiful thing.”
“What’s beautiful?” Nate asks, and I turn to see him coming down the stairs.
“John and Charlotte’s relationship,” I tell him. “Their anniversary is today, so I’ll be gone later for their party. I figure it’ll give you two some time to spend together.”
“Oh, yeah, that could be nice.” He doesn’t sound nearly as enthusiastic as he should.
“Maybe we could go swimming?” Liliana asks, and the hopefulness in her voice makes my heart squeeze. “Or we could go for a walk on the beach, maybe. Or we could go to that arcade you wanted to take me to the last time we were—”
“Babe, I just woke up,” Nate groans. “Give me some time before you attack me with all your plans.”
For a few seconds, the only sound in the kitchen is the sizzling potatoes and onions. I barely here Liliana say, “Sorry,” in the smallest, quietest voice I’ve ever heard from her.
My grip on the spatula tightens until my knuckles turn white. Damn kid.
Once the food is done, I serve us all portions of potatoes, bacon, and eggs. Liliana is quieter than normal as we eat, but if Nate notices, he doesn’t show it. Instead he strikes up a conversation with me about backpacking.
“You know my days of sleeping on the ground are over,” I say with a chuckle. “But I’m glad you haven’t given it up.”
He nods in between bites. “I’ve been too busy lately, but I’m planning on getting back into it as soon as possible. Thought I might as well come back down here since this is where my love of backpacking began, you know? Got a few trips planned and everything.”
Brows furrowed, Liliana looks up. “You do?”
“Yeah.” He barely gives her more than a glance before turning back to me. “I thought maybe you could come out for a day trip or something if you don’t want to do an overnight.”
“That could be fun,” I say. “And maybe Liliana could come, too? It’d be nice to have all three of us on the trail together.”
“Well, one of us doesn’t like backpacking, so I don’t think that’d really work.”
“Hiking for an hour or two is fine,” Liliana says. “It’s not like I hate the outdoors in general. Just long stretches of it without showers and toilets. We’ve talked about this, Nate.”
“Babe, it wouldn’t work. You wouldn’t be able to keep up.”
I shrug, hoping I appear nonchalant when all I want to do is yell at my son for being such an ass. “I wouldn’t mind slowing down for an hour or two.”
“Yeah, but we’d have to backtrack to get her back to her car or wherever, and then—”
“It’s fine. I don’t have to go.” She slides off her stool and turns away. “Thanks for breakfast.”
My hands curl into fists as I watch Liliana head outside. Her shoulders are all bunched up, and now that I know everything she told me last night, her reaction feels more than warranted.
As Nate keeps talking, I bite my tongue. A lecture this early on in their trip will just piss him off. And goddammit, my son is an adult. He’s not supposed to need lectures from me anymore.
Nate and I discuss his plans for another twenty minutes before I step into the garage to get out the tent for Charlotte. Honestly, seeing how Nate is treating Liliana makes me want to skip out on hiking with him, but I keep that thought to myself. Hopefully he’ll come to his senses soon.
By the time Charlotte shows up, it’s been around forty-five minutes since Liliana went outside. I tried to find her after I got the tent, but it’s like she disappeared. My guess is she went down to the water to get some air—my backyard turns into sand at some point, giving me my own private slice of the beach.
Still, I’m worried. It’s hot as hell out today, and she didn’t bring any water with her.
“Nathan!” Charlotte exclaims as he opens the front door. “Oh, I didn’t know you were in town!”
“Last-minute trip,” he says with a charming grin before pulling her into a quick hug. “How’ve you been?”
“Oh, amazing. I’ve been busy all day getting ready for our party.”
“Oh, yeah. Congrats!” Nate gives Charlotte a more enthusiastic smile than he’s given Liliana ever since they showed up.
I grit my teeth while neither of them are looking at me. If he wanted out of his relationship, Liliana almost left. Supposedly he’s the one who convinced her to stay. So what’s his deal?
“Oh, and there’s your sweet Lily.” Charlotte looks past me and smiles. “As beautiful as ever. You look amazing, dear.”
“Thanks.” Liliana brushes past me, and Charlotte scoops her into a hug. “So do you.”
Relief floods me. She looks all right. Maybe she snuck inside while I was in the garage or something, because she doesn’t look all hot and sweaty.
“You should both come to our party tonight,” Charlotte says with delight. “John would love to see you both. Oh, and Nate, the boys will be there, too.”
At that, he perks up. “Levi and Matthias?”
“Who else? They’d love to see you.”
“I didn’t know they were in town. Yeah, that’d be great. When’s it start?”
“Anytime after six. Your father has all the details.” Charlotte pulls me into a hug and plants a kiss on my cheek. “But right now, I’ve gotta get back home to help with setup. The tent?”
“I’ll load it up for you.”
It only takes a minute for me to grab the tent and stick it in the back of Charlotte’s SUV. I wave her off before heading back inside. The air conditioning feels amazing on my skin even though I was only outside for sixty seconds max.
Nate and Liliana are waiting for me in the kitchen. She has her arms wrapped around her waist, and she’s chewing on her bottom lip. Nate, on the other hand, is enthusiastically typing away on his phone. Probably messaging Levi and Matthias. They’ve been friends since high school.
“What kind of party is it?” Liliana asks me.
“Nothing horribly fancy, but it’s not as laid back as a barbecue or something like that. I believe the instructions Char gave me were to aim somewhere between smart casual and cocktail attire.”
“Ugh, whatever that means,” Nate mutters, not even looking up from his phone.
“Oh,” Liliana says. “I, um… I didn’t pack anything to wear to something like that. I mostly just brought shorts and T-shirts and tank tops.”
Nate rolls his eyes. “You’ll be fine. The attention won’t be on you, anyway.”
“Nate! That’s so disrespectful. They’ve been married for a quarter of a century. I’m not showing up to their celebration under-dressed.”
“Fine.” Nate waves a dismissive hand at her. “Take the Jeep and go shopping. You’ve got plenty of time to find something.”
She glances at the oven clock. “I’ll have to grab you something, too, won’t I?”
“Sure, I guess. I really don’t think they’ll care, though.”
“They wouldn’t, especially since you both came from out of town and this is on such short notice,” I chime in. “But there’s nothing wrong with wanting to put in the extra effort. And, I mean, come on. Fashion is Liliana’s job. Of course she’s going to want to look nice. And it wouldn’t hurt for you to put in an effort, too, bud.”
“Jesus, I get it. You don’t need to gang up on me. I already said you could take the Jeep, Lily.”
She twists her fingers together. “Could you… come with me? And drive?”
That earns her an annoyed look. “Seriously?”
“I’m still not that familiar with the area down here, and I did so much of the driving yesterday, and you know I don’t like navigating roads I don’t—”
“Babe. Love you, but I’m not spending hours dress shopping with you. You can handle it.”
Her eyes turn pleading. “I can be quick. I can—”
“No! I’m not driving you. You’ll be fine.”
“I’ll take you,” I say quickly, flashing them both a bright smile. If my idiot son can’t find it within himself to prioritize his girlfriend on their trip to reconnect, then I will. And dammit, I’ll do it ten times better than he ever could.
“What?” Liliana sputters. “No, you don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine. Like Nate said, I—I can drive. I’m probably making it out to be worse in my head.”
“Mmm, I don’t know about that. A summer weekend in one of the most popular vacation towns on the East Coast? Traffic is likely to be a mess.”
Liliana pales.
“I don’t mind,” I tell her. “Really.”
She pauses for a few seconds, and just as I’m formulating a new argument in my head, she nods. “Okay. Thank you.”
I’m relieved that she doesn’t try to fight me more. After what she’s been through—is currently going through—she doesn’t need more stress. In fact, she deserves a nice afternoon in which she’s treated like goddamn royalty. And since my son won’t do it, he leaves me no choice.
Iwill.