Chapter 38
LONDON
Dad joined us when we went back to the ice cream factory later that afternoon. He’d cut his golf game short to come meet Dominic and Jenny, and he rubbed his hands together as we waited in the lobby for them to arrive.
“It’s been too long since I’ve seen you two in action. I can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with. Plus, ice cream.”
“Just keep in mind that we’ve had less than twenty-four hours since we first saw this place,” I warned, confident in our presentation as something to start with, but Dad was used to seeing stuff we’d had time to finalize and polish. “This is a long way from a comprehensive pitch.”
“Hey, I’m just happy I’m going to get to see anything at all.
” Still in his chinos and a golf shirt, he’d at least left his cap in the car and had combed his graying hair with his fingers so it wouldn’t look like he’d been wearing it all morning.
His cheeks were slightly rosy from the sun though, and it made his teeth seem even whiter when he grinned. “It smells really good in here.”
Liam chuckled, and the joyful, easy sound made my stomach clench in ways it sure hadn’t been doing a month ago. Oh, brother. Next weekend can’t come soon enough.
“Wait until you get inside,” he said to Dad, nodding at the sliding doors that led into the factory. “If you think this is good, you haven’t smelled anything yet.”
Dad slid his hands into his pockets and started drifting toward the door. “I wonder if they’d let me have just a little whiff. I love ice cream. Maybe we should look into getting freezers for every branch. Wouldn’t that be lovely?”
“It would be awesome, but everything would also always be sticky,” I said.
Liam groaned. “The people who work in those branches are grownups, Walker. Not kids. It’ll be fine. Let’s look into it.”
“Stop sucking up. They might be grownups, but ice cream is ice cream and it melts. It’s a fabulous idea, but let’s look into candy stations instead.”
Dad sighed, but then the doors opened and Dominic and Jenny came out to join us. We introduced them to my dad, shaking hands and getting caught up. They led us to the office they shared. It overlooked the factory floor, with two monstrous desks and all sorts of charts and screens against the wall.
“You were right,” Dad murmured to Liam as we were getting settled at the conference table. “It does smell divine in here. How do these people get any work done? How do they not weigh three hundred pounds?”
Liam grinned. “I asked that exact same thing just yesterday.”
He raised his fist for Dad to bump, and though there had been a time when he would’ve been confused about the gesture, Liam had taught him this years ago.
Their knuckles grazed together and I sighed.
Why Liam thought that his future in Walker & Co wasn’t exactly as safe as my own, I would never understand, but I also knew that he was afraid my father’s loyalty to his dad would eventually cost him his position with us.
I seriously doubted it would ever happen.
Jenny and Dominic were ready for us to get started and I slid a thin folder across the table to each of them. “Alright, so before we begin, we want you to know that these are only our initial suggestions.”
“There’s a lot more where those came from,” Liam said, effortlessly weaving himself into the conversation and picking up where I’d left off.
“What we’ve chosen to focus on as a starting point are things that we can implement immediately.
Our social media manager is standing by at our offices in Miami, and if you give the go-ahead, she can have her first post ready within minutes. ”
Jenny blinked back her surprise. “That fast? You guys are seriously ready to start… today?”
I smiled. “Well, you did say you were eager to get the ball rolling, so as Liam said, that’s what we’ve focused on. Ways to start expanding your reach right now. Today. Once we’ve done that, we can move onto a complete rebranding.”
“So what will be happening today, then?” Dominic asked, pulling the folder closer and flicking it open.
I didn’t know what he’d been expecting to see, but it clearly wasn’t what he was looking at.
His jaw dropped, his eyelids glitching as he blinked way too many times over the next few seconds.
“You have new logo choices for us already?”
Liam nodded. “Our graphics people are good. Although they were only working off our first impressions of you and the factory, as well as your current social media profiles. If you had something else in mind—”
“No, these are amazing,” she said as she pored over the designs in her own folder. “I have no idea how you were able to get this done so fast or so beautifully, but I love the rose gold and teal. It’s almost like our colors, but so much more elegant.”
A frisson of pride raced through me. “You did say you wanted the new branding to have a little more of a luxurious feel, didn’t you? We believe this does that for you. However, our graphic designers were very clear that they could work with the current blue and pink as well.”
“No,” she said immediately. “That’s the one. I love it. What do you think, honey?”
She turned to her husband and he leaned over to inspect the option she’d chosen. “I really like it too. It’ll make our product look a lot more expensive than it is, though. Wouldn’t that put people off?”
“Not if we do our jobs properly.” Liam gave them a self-assured grin. “We believe that the marketing strategy we’ve come up with will draw in more consumers than ever. We’re targeting families, event-planning companies, venues, restaurants, and just about everyone in between.”
“Well, this I have to hear.” Dominic settled back and let us walk them through the plan we’d put together last night. To my greatest relief, the couple started looking more and more excited as the meeting went on.
By the time we were done, they were ecstatic. Jenny couldn’t stop raving as she walked us out. “I love it. Oh, I really wasn’t expecting anything nearly as good as this. Thank you. Thank you both so much. You have our full support to go ahead just as soon as your people are ready.”
Liam pulled out his phone and tapped out a quick text that consisted of only a thumbs-up emoji. Then he grinned at her. “Alright. Your first post to start teasing the reveal of the new branding will be uploaded by the time you’re back in your office.”
She squealed and pumped his hand when he offered to shake hers. Then she pulled me into an unexpected hug before thanking my dad as well. He sat in the passenger seat of Liam’s truck as we left the factory, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
“You two never fail to impress me. I am so, so proud of the both of you.” He twisted in the seat to look at me. “You’re doing a fantastic job with this branch, honey. Mom is telling everyone who will listen how proud she is, but I think I’m even prouder.”
After saying much the same to Liam, they dropped me at the hotel to start packing my things. Liam was going to take Dad to the airport. As I was saying goodbye to him, he hugged me close, leaning against the door of the truck and keeping his voice low.
Liam had run in to grab them each a snack for the road, the smell in the ice cream factory evidently having activated the sweet tooth in both of them, but the way Dad was looking at me made me wonder if he’d sent Liam on the sweet-finding mission specifically so we’d have a minute alone.
“How have things been going with you out here, baby?” he asked, eyes intent and sincere on my own. “You seem different today. A little quieter, maybe?”
“Nah, I’m okay. We’ve just been really busy and I think my head has been all over the place.” With thoughts about your golden boy, but I’m definitely not going there.
Dad inclined his chin in understanding. “Opening a new branch, and especially one this size, is a daunting task. I really am impressed with how well you two have handled things, though. You’re already signing clients left and right, the office is fully functional, and even I’m blown away with that presentation you just did, especially knowing how little time you had to prepare everything. ”
“Thanks, Daddy.” I walked into his arms when he opened them, holding him tight and resting my ear against his chest. “I honestly think Liam and I could conquer the world if we set our minds to it.”
“I believe the same thing,” he said lightly. “That boy belongs in this family.”
He hugged me and then let go, pressing a kiss to my forehead before he climbed into the truck. Laim handed over a bag of sweets, dropping it in Dad’s lap as he hopped back in behind the wheel. When he caught my eyes, he winked and gave me a playful salute. Then Dad waved and off they went.
Meanwhile, I stood at the front door to our hotel, thinking way too hard about what my father had just said. As much as I would’ve loved to deny that it was true, I couldn’t. Liam really did belong in our family.
Everybody loved him and he had fit right in from the very first day he’d come around. All this time, I’d been looking at him and ignoring so many things, but recently, I’d started seeing them and it was making me see him differently.
It scared the crap out of me, but here was the reality, the facts I’d been in denial about for much too long. Liam was a man now, not a boy. A full-grown man and an extremely handsome one at that. He was also my confidante, my best friend, and the person who knew me like the back of his hand.
He made me laugh, cheered me up, brought me crashing back down to earth, yanked me out when I started spiraling, whatever was necessary at any given moment.
Finally realized that I was standing in the driveway like a weirdo while they were long gone, I looked up at the bright blue sky and wondered exactly when I’d gone and screwed myself over like this.
The easy answer would’ve been that I’d done it when I’d slept with him that first night, but the truth was that things had already started changing before then.
I’d known for a while now that he’d turned into a man when it felt like I hadn’t been looking, and things had just kind of snowballed from there.
Eventually spinning around and breathing a sigh of relief when I walked out of the heat and into the air-conditioned lobby, I headed to our room and started the labor-intensive process of tracking down all my things.
My things, which were all mixed up with his things. Our toothbrushes were in the same cup between our sinks, our shampoos and soaps on the same shelf in the shower. On the vanity, all of our floss and face creams stood haphazardly, and in the bedroom, my dirty clothes were in the same pile as his.
And I didn’t hate it.
Liam got back just as I was finishing up, those forest-green eyes vibrant and happy, his dark hair windswept, as if he’d driven back from the airport with his windows open. “Can I take those for you?”
He motioned at my bags and I shook my head. “I can carry my own stuff. I’m good, but thanks.”
“It’s about time.” He smiled, not good at taking anything too seriously.
I couldn’t give him crap about his comment either, since I rarely even tried to be independent when he was around. He was good with it either way, though, which was another thing that was great about him.
Liam Jones was excellent at accepting people for who they were and letting them be themselves. Other people paid mere lip service, flippantly saying things like “you do you,” but few people actually wanted others to do whatever made them happy.
Most were too opinionated for that, genuinely believing that they knew better what you should do in any particular situation.
But not Liam. He truly was incredibly happy to let people get on with life in their own ways, and he supported them even if he did probably have ideas about how you could be doing it better.
On our way back to Miami, he cranked the volume on a playlist of his choice and belted out the words to every song. I joined in every so often, but I just wasn’t feeling it as much as usual.
When we finally got back to the beach house, Lorelei and Jerry had a delicious home-cooked meal ready and the house was sparkling clean. For some reason, this brought tears to my eyes as I fell into my friend’s arms for a hug.
“Man, I’m going to miss you guys living here when your rental is ready.”
“Only a few more days,” Jerry said, shaking Liam’s hand before waving for us to follow him to the kitchen.
I stuck my lower lip out. Her arm was still around my waist as we walked after the boys. “Noooo, you can’t leave me.”
Liam pointed at the house across the street from the kitchen window. “Have you forgotten that they’re only going right there?”
“Nope.” I winked at Lori, collapsing onto a stool and eyeing the gorgeous, glossy roast chicken and the selection of vegetables in the dish around it. “It’s still too far, though. Way, way too far.”