by Piper Rayne
I swear he told me it wasn’t his idea. Hmm.
“When you went to college and he started dating Rachel, we figured it was done, but after Mom and Dad’s accident and you returned, he dumped her right away. We thought…” He looks at Denver. “They were really serious. We were shocked when he told us.” Rome shrugs. “It just always seemed like he was trying to get you to notice him, whether it was in a good light or a bad one, with you two bickering.”
“Oh, my God.” Juno covers her mouth, and Denver nods as if she’s figured it out.
Since when can she speak twin telepathy?
“What Rome’s trying to say is that he’s been trying to be an upstanding citizen of Lake Starlight, so he’d be good enough for you.” Phoenix stops scrolling on her phone and looks at me as though I’m stupid.
“But I…”
Brooklyn and Austin sigh because I’ve been the most honest with them.
I say, “I mean, yeah, the age thing scared me. Him being your best friend.” I signal to Rome and Denver. “But I never thought he wasn’t good enough for me.”
“I think you guys have to have a long heart-to-heart,” Rome says.
I bolt to my feet as fast as my dress will allow. “I need to find him. Where would he go?”
Rome looks at Denver and they both shrug.
“Lucky’s?” I say.
“Honestly, I don’t have a clue anymore. You’d probably know before us now.” Rome looks at his twin.
Denver stands. “Come on. I’ll take you to all his favs.” He shakes his head. “I can’t believe you’re in love with Liam.”
“I never said love,” I say on the way to his truck.
He opens the door for me, and I climb in. “You didn’t have to.”
Thirty-Nine
Liam
Poppy’s is the only place no one would think to find me. My phone rings with calls and texts messages, but I’m done with Savannah Bailey. She thinks I’m not worthy of her. Maybe it’s time for me to show her exactly how unworthy of her I am. She does love to be right. But that’s not my style.
All I wanted was somewhere to be able to gather my thoughts but sitting at a table in the back with a water isn’t allowing me to blend in well. The waitresses have side-glanced me, probably wondering why I’m not drinking. Why I’m in a suit.
This is the kind of place Savannah sees me at, right? Who she thinks I am? That I’m like Slim and his crew. A deviant to society. I’m exhausted and I’ve tried everything with this woman only to still get shot down.
Selling my painting because she thinks it will free me?
I hate that she thought there was ever something wrong with herself. That she needed me to make up a stupid bet and do bullshit things. I told her from the beginning that pieces of the old her were there, she just had to let them out.
I figured at the end of five weeks when she said I’d failed, I’d have to show her what was in the barn, but for five weeks, I would’ve had her attention. That was my only goal. Maybe it was selfish and bastardly. Shit, maybe I’m not good enough for her. I practically manipulated her for a month.
“Hey, stranger.” The body belonging to the voice slides into the chair next to me.
I know the voice and I down the rest of my water, crushing the bottle while I stand.
“Where are you going?” she asks.
“Leaving,” I tell Nina.
She leans back, wearing an outfit similar to what Savannah had on when we were here except Nina’s skirt is black leather instead of Catholic school girl plaid. She twirls her hair around her finger. “Going back to your sugar momma?”
“Slim okay with you talking to me?” I ignore her comment about Savannah. How she figured out who Savannah is doesn’t surprise me. Nina’s a stalker by trade. She legit gets hired to find people.
“We broke up.”
I nod. “Good luck. I gotta go.”
“Hey, Liam?” she calls after me, and I stop but don’t turn around. “You’ll never be able to keep her. Girls like that might think they want the bad boy, but that’s who they fuck, not who they marry.”
I close my eyes. Her words hit a little too close to the reason I’m at Poppy’s tonight. But knowing better than to engage with Nina, I walk out of Poppy’s and get into my car. My phone vibrates in the glove compartment, but I ignore it, starting the engine.
Driving has always cleared my head. After my parents left me to move to Florida the first chance they got after I graduated high school, I drove down to Seattle just to escape.
After the Baileys passed away, my mom wasn’t mentally stable. One day she’d be happy, then the next, she’d cry uncontrollably. She could barely stand to be around the Bailey kids, so the majority of my time was spent over at Rome and Denver’s.
So now when I feel the need to escape, I pull onto the interstate and drive. Put Savannah behind me. Though not having my passport puts me at a disadvantage.
I head to Glenwall and Sunrise Bay and drive around the towns. They’re not half as nice as Lake Starlight. Savannah’s face when she finally registered that I’d said I loved her occupies most of my thoughts. Her shock and awe. How did she not know? I’ve been wearing my heart all over my tattoo sleeves these past weeks.
The night replays in my head. I saw her when I arrived, and I purposely gave her the cold shoulder because I was hurt she didn’t want to announce we were seeing each other. Maybe I saw her as more of a prize than I’d like to think.
I shake my head. No. That wasn’t it. I just wanted everyone to know.
The devil sits on my shoulder and replays my words back differently and with a sneer. You wanted everyone to know you were good enough. That she saw value in you.
Fuck, where did that come from? I did not create this entire thing in my head. She was ashamed of me.
The angel appears again. Why would she run after you for any witnesses to see?
Shit. That’s a good point. But no one came. At least not that I saw. How would I have seen though when she was my sole focus by the cars?
Admit it, it’s you who thinks you’re not good enough for her.
I yank the steering wheel and do a U-turn in the middle of the interstate. The one truck on the road honks.
Speeding, I drive back into Lake Starlight, but am greeted with sirens and flashing lights.
Fuck. As I pull over, I hit the steering wheel with my fist. I wait for Sheriff Miller to walk up to my car. He knows it’s me. We’re way too familiar with one another.
“Liam Kelly!”
Oh shit. It’s not Sheriff Miller. I mean, I’m sure he’s in the car. And I think he needs a lecture when it comes to this woman.
“Dori,” I say. The lights from Sheriff Miller’s squad car shine through her thin blue hair. “Doing some meet-and-greets tonight?”
“I’m not in the mood for your jokes tonight. Unlock your doors.” She rounds the hood of my car and waves back to Sheriff Miller.
I unlock the door, and she slides into my car before putting on her seatbelt. “Am I giving you a ride home?”
“You’re giving me a ride to Savannah’s so you two can kiss and make up.”
After Sheriff Miller honks and drives past, I pull out into traffic. “I was just on my way.”
“You were?”
The surprise in her tone makes me smile. “What? Upset that you can’t talk me into it?”
I know her MO. She’s the one who talks sense into her grandchildren when they’ve made a mistake. She meddles in all their love affairs, and she seems to be on some quest to get all her grandkids married. That includes Savannah and me.
She pouts. “A little.”
“Shouldn’t you be talking to Savannah?”
“You’re my grandson too, and I think you need to hear what I’m going to say more than Savannah. I left her in capable hands though.”
Austin, I presume. “You don’t have to lecture me. I’m on my way to her. I know I misconstrued the entire thing.”
&nbs
p; “You really didn’t.”
Say what?
We get stopped at a light. Sheriff Miller turns on his lights and siren to run it. Nice.
“What?” I ask.
“I want you to know, you’re a Bailey. Maybe not by blood, but I’ve always thought of you as my grandchild. Which makes it slightly incest with you and Savannah.”
“Um. No, no it doesn’t.”
“Kind of,” she says matter-of-factly.
“No. Not at all.”
She shrugs. “You loved Tim and Beth like parents. Didn’t you?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t make Savannah my sister.”
She laughs. “I meant that you lost them too.”
I say nothing until I’m five minutes away from Savannah’s. “I can drop you off at Northern Lights.”
She shoos me with her hand. “I like to watch the making up.”
“No offense, Dori, but that sounds creepy.”
She laughs. “Not the sexy-time make up. Just when you guys finally get your heads out of your asses make up.”
“My head is out of my ass.”
“So we’re good, you’re saying? You want to hear a story about Mr. Bailey and me? I was a poor girl and Mr. Bailey’s family had a lot of money. I never would have dreamed he’d love me—”
“Yeah, thanks and all, but I’m good. You can save your wisdom for the next Bailey.”
She slouches.
In a moment of weakness, and because I owe her a lot—Savannah never would have moved in with me if not for Dori pushing her—I say, “Actually, I’d love to hear it.”
“Really?” She doesn’t wait for me to agree before she starts out about her ice skating on the pond where the elementary school is now. She goes off on a couple tangents about Mr. Bailey being a fisherman, but she felt like she wasn’t what Mr. Bailey’s parents would have hoped for because she didn’t come from much.
I get what she’s saying, but as egotistical as it sounds, I think her son and daughter-in-law would have liked me being with Savannah. It’s me who has to believe I’m good enough for her.
We arrive at Savannah’s, and it’s dark.
“No one’s home,” I say.
“She’s probably up in her room.” Dori digs through her purse and holds up a keychain with a bunch of keys. “I have a key.”
“What are all those keys for?” We climb out of my car and walk up the path to the front door.
“All the houses, but that’s a little secret between you and me.”
“As long as my key isn’t on that ring, your secret is safe.”
She mocks offense. “Sure, let’s pretend it’s not.”
For some reason, it warms my heart that she actually might, but I’ll still be changing my locks come tomorrow.
We enter the house, and it’s quiet and dark.
“They did a great job. She practically redecorated it herself,” I say as we enter.
I haven’t been here in a few weeks, but my vision is only to find her, so I walk around, looking in rooms, climbing the stairs to check bedrooms. I lose track of Dori at some point. I’m in the master bathroom when Dori’s scream rings out.
I run down the stairs, paranoid because she’s screaming, and follow the glow of a light to find her in a doorway.
“You found her?” I ask.
“No, but look.” She steps back, and I smile at the same orange, yellow, and green floral wallpaper that Austin and Holly tore out of the family house. “Why would she put that in here? It doesn’t go with her gray-and-blue pallet.”
I put my arm around Dori’s shoulders. “Because she wants to remember her childhood.”
Dori seems confused, but I’m not.
“Let me drive you back home. I’ll find her on my own,” I say.
“Thanks, Liam.”
She locks up Savannah’s house and is quiet for most of the ride to Northern Lights. “You’re a good egg.”
I chuckle. “Thanks?”
“Like when you crack one open and you get double yolk. That kind of an egg.”
I nod a few times. “Thanks, Dori.”
She pats my cheek. “Now go get my granddaughter.”
“That’s the plan.”
She gets out of the car, and I watch her go through the front door, the night person approaching her. They’ll make sure she gets home.
After pulling my phone from my glove compartment, I run through my texts, ignoring all the ones from anyone but Savannah. She’s messaged me a million times but never said where she is. I’m fairly sure I know where she is though.
Ten minutes later—thankful that the Northern Lights residents are fast asleep and I wasn’t stuck behind any slow drivers—I pull down my driveway and am slightly disappointed when I don’t see her SUV. Climbing out of my car, I decide to go in, grab a water, and change my clothes, then I’ll go to every Bailey house to find her.
I put the key in my lock and open the door, finding a shadow in the dark.
“Are you here to murder me?” I ask.
The light flicks on. “That depends. Are you going to hear me out this time?”
Forty
Savannah
“I’m here to listen. Denver home?”
Liam looks horrible. His jacket’s long gone, his tie in his hand.
“No. We looked everywhere for you, and I decided to wait here. You’re lucky you’re alone.” I can’t lie and say I wasn’t worried he’d be drunk with some girl in his arms when he stumbled in. Maybe I’ve watched way too many movies.
“I almost wasn’t.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Nice.”
“No.” He throws his keys on his table. “Dori. She was riding with the sheriff when they pulled me over. We were at your house looking for you. Nice wallpaper by the way.”
I smile. He might be the only person who appreciates that wallpaper, and it took me way too long to realize it’s because he misses my parents too. He’s more to my family than just my brothers’ best friend. “I have an extra roll if you want it.”
“That depends.” He sits on the far side of the couch from me. I wish he’d sat beside me.
“On what?”
“Whose house are we moving into?”
I laugh. I wish it was as easy as brushing our spat under the rug, but I need him to be certain of my feelings. “Maybe we can talk first?”
He releases a breath, but his eyes stay steady with mine. “I’m sorry. I overreacted.”
I climb over to him on my knees. “No, you didn’t. I shouldn’t have done what I did, and you wouldn’t have drawn the conclusion that I was doing it to try and make you something you aren’t if I hadn’t kept insisting our relationship be kept a secret. It was all so stupid to keep waiting. In my head, I just thought…” I stop because I was trying to make everyone happy rather than making the most important person in my life happy. How shitty is that?
“First of all, get up.” He pats his lap, which I’m really hoping means this isn’t a break-up conversation but a make-up conversation. I want it to be, but I’d never seen him so mad.
I climb into his lap and wrap my arms around his neck.
“I’ve been a selfish prick. I have to admit something before we even get into all that ‘I’m not good enough’ stuff. I tricked you into thinking I could pull out an old version of yourself just so I could spend five weeks with you.”
I smile. “It helped. I’m cured.”
“I think you just allowed yourself to come out.”
I straddle his legs because I need to look into his eyes so he believes me. “I had a lot of time to think in the dark because you must have been driving around all of Alaska before returning home. But I think the only reason I was happier was because you gave me a safe place to be myself. Sure, the bet was like permission to show sides of myself I had kept hidden for way too long. When we were within these walls, I felt safe and secure that I wouldn’t be judged. That’s because of you.” I point at his chest. “I think when you wanted
to come out, I was scared. Scared that I’d disappoint you because when I walk around Lake Starlight, sometimes I feel like there’s this huge microscope above me and everyone’s examining everything I do.”
His face softens. “You can’t live like that.”
“I know. I know that now. When you drove off and I thought I’d lost you, I didn’t think of anything but how to get you back. It’s then that I realized the entire world wouldn’t fall apart if I started living for myself rather than everyone else.”
He smiles and leans forward, but I put my finger to his lips, and he shoots me a look to say touché. How many times has he done that exact move to me?
“I have more fear I want to put out there so you can refute it,” I say.
“Yeah?”
“I was scared you’d hurt me, but I know now you won’t. Someone who does what you did—take time to meditate and research ways to help someone find themselves again—isn’t going to disappoint me. You’re in this for the long haul, and I’m sorry for doubting you.”
He grips the sides of my head. “I feel the same. I’m sorry for doubting you. I should never have thought you were embarrassed of me. I guess I have to work on myself a little bit too.”
“I think it’ll help if we show one another how much the other means to us.”
“Can I show you right now?” He leans forward, but I put my finger to his lips again.
“Hold on one second.”
I grab my cell phone from the table. Terra and Mare isn’t open, but I have to do this before I let him carry me upstairs and make us both forget this fight.
“Sav?” Rome answers groggily.
“I need a reservation tomorrow, by the window, for two.”
“Go to hell. You just woke Dion.” Crying rings out through the receiver as Harley groans.
“Thank you. See you tomorrow at six-thirty.”
“Dumbass, we’re closed on Sunday nights.” Click. The line dies.
Liam laughs and pulls me into him. “It’s the effort that counts. A Sunday hand-in-hand stroll down Main Street is enough for me.”