Chapter 16
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
Liam
Alie sent me an address for Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar in Columbus Circle and a time to meet after I saw her downstairs near the gym. I still don’t know where I’m going, so I hired a car to take me to the restaurant.
She’s not here yet, but she made a reservation under her name, of course, and the hostess showed me to a table in a private area in the back, which makes sense, being that I’m recognizable.
Minutes go by, and I wonder if she’s gonna stand me up or if she’ll actually show up tonight. I feel like there’s something she’s not telling me, similar to the strange reactions I get from her sister, and I’m gonna get to the bottom of it tonight.
The waitress comes over and offers, “Would you like to try one of our sakes, or perhaps a cocktail?”
I lean back in my chair. “Let me hold on that until my date gets here, but can you grab me a bottle of water, please?”
“Of course, sir. Would you like sparkling or still?”
“Still is fine. Can you make sure there’s plenty of ice?”
“Yes, sir.” She walks away to get my drink.
I take my phone out of my pocket and check for the tenth time to make sure she hasn’t canceled on me, but there are no messages. I set the phone on the table in front of me just so I don’t miss a message coming through. Not that I want to jinx it, but I also don’t want to sit here alone all night.
The waitress brings the water to me, and just as she’s setting the bottle down, I hear Alie before I see her.
When I look up, I see Alie dressed casually in a short-sleeved sweater, a pair of jeans, and some heeled boots, with a small Louis Vuitton crossbody hanging across her chest. Her hair is tied back into one of those messy buns, and she’s never looked more beautiful to me.
I stand to greet her. And as she approaches, I walk around the table to take both of her hands in mine, bringing her closer to me, and kissing her on the cheek.
“Hi, Alie.”
“Hi,” she says, smiling shyly.
I don’t want her to be shy. I want her to be comfortable with me, like she was the night we met.
“Did you find this place okay?” she asks as I pull out her chair.
“Yeah. I had a driver bring me because I haven’t gotten my bearings yet. My sense of direction is a bit thrown off.”
She smiles, slowly, as she sits. “Good. I didn’t want you wandering into Jersey by accident.”
I push her chair in. “I feel judged already.”
“You should. I chose this place very strategically.” She slips her small bag onto the table and adjusts her watch. “It’s exactly halfway between our buildings.”
“You know where I live?” I say as I sit and pull in my chair.
“Yes,” she says, tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ear, then adjusting her watch two more times.
“That's not fair. I wanna know where you live.” I smirk.
“That feels like information you haven’t earned yet.”
My brows raise. “Oh, I’m earning points now?”
“You lost points,” she counters smoothly. “You’re in recovery mode.”
Lost points?
The server comes to the table. Alie orders a sparkling water— then turns back to me.
“So, Alie, did you have a nice day today?” I fold my hands in front of me on the table.
“Is that what we’re doing? We’re gonna go with small talk and niceties?” she asks.
“Well, I figured we could ease in.”
She laughs softly. “You don’t strike me as a man who eases into anything. I don’t see the point in being around the bush.” She shrugs.
“Why are you nervous?”
“I’m not nervous.”
“You just adjusted your watch three times.”
Her mouth curves. God, I missed that mouth.
“Now that we’re out of earshot of anyone who cares, can you tell me what happened that morning? I thought we’d agreed to see where it would go.”
She’s staring at me now, studying my face, as if she’s looking for a lie.
“I had a change of heart.” She bites the inside of her cheek.
“No, I don’t think you did. I think you got scared or maybe didn’t have as good of a time as I thought you did.” I pause to read her face. “And instead of talking to me about it, you bolted. I think we both know I enjoyed myself that night. That definitely wasn’t a lie for me.”
“I’m not a liar, Liam.”
“Neither am I, Alie.”
“Are you sure about that?” She brings her arms onto the table and crosses them, leaning forward.
“Yes, I’m sure about that. I don’t lie to anybody. I have no reason to.” I could be offended, but in all reality, we really don’t know each other. But I’m going to change that.
“So, when you were in the shower and your best friend, Archie, texted and asked about your hookup …”
“That night wasn’t just a hookup for me,” I interrupt. “I had no intention of hooking up with anybody that weekend. Meeting you was a coincidence, and like I said to you that night, I’d never felt an instant connection with somebody the way that I did you.”
“So, if I called Archie right now, he would tell me that same thing?”
“If you called Archie now, he’d tell you how absolutely nuts I was about you. How I kept trying to find you after that weekend.”
“Really?” she asks, head tilting to the side.
“Yes, really. I thought about you for months. I tried to call and text Aaron to get your number … ”
“Yes, I know you spoke to Aaron. I heard all about that.”
“You heard about it?” I shake my head, confused. “That’s what I’m saying. I called Aaron to get your number, and he ignored me. And then …”
The air changes. Not dramatic. Not explosive. Just … tight. Her eyebrows lift, like she’s rerunning a play in her head and the outcome to the game doesn’t match.
“Wait,” she asks, baffled. “He didn’t give you my number?”
“No, that’s what I was going to say. By the time he did talk to me, he wouldn’t give me your number.”
I can see the fight happening inside her. The urge to unleash whatever version of me she's been living with.
Is that what this is about? Did Aaron say something about me?
My dedication to my career has made me push every woman away. Every woman besides Alie. If she had given me the time, I think I would have changed my plans for her. But she never even gave me a chance.
Now, she’s here, and she’s looking at me with her eyes narrowed, studying me, as if sorting through a narrative about me she’s at war with.
I can’t imagine the conclusions she must have drawn about me. I want to press her about them. Demand from her what she has believed all these years. Instead, I wait.
She crosses her arms and shakes her head. The war against me is winning.
“So then, Aaron’s a liar?” She mumbles. “I don’t know what to believe. What about Sabine?” She uncrosses her arms and leans back when the server brings her a glass of water.
“Would you like to order an appetizer or a drink from the bar?”
“You can bring us a bowl of edamame and a spicy tuna roll, and I’ll take a nice Pinot Noir,” Alie says.
“Very good. And you, sir?”
“I’ll have the same.” I honestly don’t care what it is. I just want to keep talking to Alie.
“I’ll be right back with those drinks and put your order in.”
I nod and thank her.
“Okay, so now what about Sabine? How do you know who she is?” I shake my head in confusion.
“Well, she texted you, and it sounded like you had some unfinished business to take care of.” She takes a drink of water.
“Sabine … I inhale and shake my head. “She was just trying to get a paycheck.”
“So, every girl who gets pregnant just wants a paycheck?”
“She was never pregnant. It was a hoax. She wanted to be with me for appearances and my money. I broke up with her weeks before I even came to New York, but she wouldn’t let it go.
Then, when I got home from New York that weekend, she was waiting for me in my building.
Long story short, it got out of control, and I had to file for a restraining order against her.
I even had to change my phone number because she was harassing me. ”
“Oh God. Really?”
“Yes, really. It fucking sucked, to be honest.”
“So, you didn’t have the same phone number that you had when you were in New York?”
“No, I had to change it within a week of being home. And I had just finished my first season with the Saints, and I didn’t want the situation to go public, so I took care of it. But why are you asking about my number?” I tap my finger on top of my phone that’s still sitting on the table.
“It doesn’t matter.” She shakes her head.
“Oh, yeah, it does. It does matter if you’re asking.
So, I’ll tell you again—Aaron blew me off.
And, fuck, I didn’t know your last name.
I looked all over social media for you, and I couldn’t find you.
No Alie, Allison, Allesandra—nothing matched you.
” I lift my hands. “Honestly, Alie, I feel like you had an unfair advantage, knowing who I was.”
“I did know who you were that night. You’re right.” She nods, watching me.
“That night with you was unlike anything I’d ever experienced.
My buddies have talked to me about what it was like, getting with their wives, and it had never happened for me before, so it almost seemed like a myth.
” I laugh lightly. “But when I met you, I felt something that I’d never felt before.
And I think you felt the same. At least, I thought you did.
I hoped you did. So, do you have any other questions for me about that night? ”
My question is met with silence. She doesn’t smile. She just watches me.
The server wordlessly sets our drinks on the table and walks away.
Her fingers tighten around the stem of her glass. Her posture shifts, spine straightening, shoulders pulling back like she’s fortifying something invisible.
Her eyes move over my face slowly. Assessing. Not soft. Not warm. Calculating.
Like she’s comparing what I just said to something else she’d already decided about me.
I hold her gaze, waiting for her to call me out. To laugh. To accuse me of dramatics. She does neither. Instead, a small crease forms between her brows in confusion or maybe suspicion. For a second, I get the strange feeling I’m being measured against a version of myself I’ve never met.