The group of guys offered them a spot at their table. One of them snatched a chair from a nearby table.
“Thanks for the offer, but I think we’re going to sit at a table of our own,” Liam said.
The guys all rooted and grunted their manly grunts in encouragement for Liam. She laughed, and rolled her eyes. “Such men.”
“Do you know what you’re having? I can get it started now if you’d like,” Wes asked, leaning on the counter. “What will you two have for drinks?”
“Why don’t you go ahead and make two of our special burgers, with a side of fries,” Liam said. “I’ll take a pop, no matter what kind.”
He asked Leah, “What do you want to drink?”
“Water’s fine,” she said.
“Okay, but out of every option available, you don’t have to settle on water.”
“Trust me, I need water,” she said.
“Okay, I’ll be right back.” Liam hurried off, returning a few minutes later with their drinks. “Our food should be done in a few minutes.”
She sipped her ice cold water, keeping her eyes on him. She wondered how she would keep this thing they had as friends only. His blue eyes shifted up, meeting hers. She instantly blushed and looked down at her straw. Pinching it between her fingers, she took a drink.
She could see the smile on his face, as he kept his eyes on her. Heat flushed her face and she quickly made it a joke. “It’s kind of hot in here, don’t you think?”
He grunted and said, “I think it feels fine in here.”
She could feel her face flush hotter. How was she to keep this as friends only, if her reaction said otherwise?
“Here you go,” Wes interrupted at the perfect time. He placed each of their plates in front of them. “Enjoy.”
Smiling, she said, “I’m sure we will. It looks delicious.”
Wes chuckled and went about his business. Liam gripped his humungous hamburger and took a huge bite. She had no idea how she would eat hers like that, so she picked up a knife and cut it in half. She had to remember to be lady-like while on a date—something she hadn’t worried about in the last five years.
“Mmm, this is the best ending to a perfect date… day,” Liam said, chewing a mouthful of food.
“It’s the best hamburger I’ve ever had.”
“It’s my grandma’s recipe,” Liam said.
“What’s in it?”
Liam shook a finger at her. “I can’t tell anyone. It’s a family secret.”
She playfully rolled her eyes and took another good sized bite of her sandwich. “Whatever you say. I’ll get it out of you eventually.”
“Gramps would be storming mad if I told you,” Liam said, chomping on a few fries.
“I highly doubt that,” she argued, dipping her fries in ketchup.
Leaning back, she patted her stomach. “I’m already full. That was really good.”
She took a few bites of her fries and left the rest on her plate. She was completely stuffed.
“How about dessert?” Wes asked, clearing the plates from their table.
Leah shook her head. “I’m too full for dessert, but thank you. How much do I owe you?”
Wes exchanged a look with Liam and Liam shook his head. “I’m covering the tab. You’re my date, or whatever, so I’ll pay.”
Nodding his head, Wes turned, and walked away with a huge smile of pride on his face.
“Thank you for today,” she said, pushing her chair back away from the table. “I had a lot of fun. And the food was delicious.”
“I’m glad you had fun,” Liam said, tossing his napkin on the table, after he’d wiped his mouth. Standing, he helped her from her chair. “I hope you come back again soon. It was nice to see you again.”
Her heart beat wildly against her chest. She was speechless. What was she supposed to say? Did she want to come back and see him? Of course she did. She’d be a liar if she said otherwise.
For reasons unknown, she sat back down in her chair. With a laugh and a confused look, Liam followed suit.
“Okay?” He said, pausing with concern on what to say or do next. “What’s wrong?”
Shaking her head, she covered her face with her hands. She felt like a fool. Of course she would. Only fools fell in love, right? “Crap!”
Liam jolted back in his seat and raised his eyebrows. “What’s going on?”
“I can’t do this,” she admitted, with a heavy sigh. “I can’t go falling in love with you when I’m so broken.”
Reaching across the table, he took both of her hands in his. “Hey, look at me.”
She looked up at him, focusing on his handsome face, with those bright blue eyes.
“I’m not rushing this,” he said, offering an understanding look. “Whatever this is, I’m not rushing it. If we’re meant to be friends, we’ll be friends. If we’re meant to be more than friends…”
She focused on his eyes, which said so much more than he was offering with words.
“It’ll be what it’ll be.” Squeezing her hands, he said, “Just promise me that I’m not competing against that idiot, Jake.”
10
“Is it even possible to fall in love with someone you barely know?”
“I’d say it is,” Rachel said. “Are you headed home now?”
“Yes,” Leah said, sitting in the driver’s seat, watching Liam walk back into the bar. “Actually, I’m still sitting in Levy’s parking lot.”
She should’ve waited to call Rachel, but with the anticipation of telling her what had happened, she’d had no choice.
“Rach, I hate to admit it, but I think there’s something definitely there.”
“Hon, I know there’s something there. That guy is all about you.”
“I’ll see you when I get home,” she said, turning the key in the ignition.
She wondered how it was possible to feel the way she felt at the moment, about a guy she barely knew. She had hung out with him for less than two days. How could she possibly feel how she was feeling?
With the sunset behind her, she followed the curved roads out of Cedar Valley. She smiled at the reflection in the rearview mirror. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think that she was falling hard and fast for this friend of hers.
Her phone beeped at her as she turned onto her home street. She would wait until she was parked in her driveway before she read the message. Butterflies filled her stomach once again. Too impatient to wait until she was inside, she opened the message as she pulled into her driveway, before she parked.
The butterflies quickly faded into a twisted knot when she realized who the message was from. Seeing Jake’s name in bold at the top of her screen caused her stomach to flip. She closed her phone before she could read the message. Opening the car door, she gathered her things and hurried up the stairs to the landing of the front door. She pressed the code into the keypad, and pushed the door open once it unlocked. After climbing a flight of stairs, she opened her apartment door.
She tossed everything onto the counter and slouched on the couch. Rachel walked in from the hallway and stopped, surprised to see her home so soon.
“You don’t look like the same girl I was just talking to on the phone,” she said, taking a seat in her favorite chair. She crossed her arms in front of her. “What happened?”
Leah grabbed her phone and showed Rachel his name. Rachel nodded and said, “I was wondering when that would happen.”
Leah raised an eyebrow. “You were expecting him to message me? Why?”
Sitting up, she put the phone on the coffee table. She eyed his name at the top of screen, but refused to read the message. “I would never have expected a message from him. Not in a million years.”
Rachel sat down next to her on the couch and reached for her phone. “Do you want me to read it first and see what it says? It can’t be that bad. He probably sent a simple hi or how are you.”
Leah leaned back into the couch, crossing her arms in front of her. �
��Why would he message me after five years?”
Rachel held Leah’s phone out to her and asked, “Do you want to read it or do you want me to?”
“Just delete it,” she said. “It won’t do me any good to read what he sent.”
“I’ll read it and then delete it. I’m curious to know what it says,” she said, opening the messages. “You won’t have to know what it says unless you truly want to.”
Reading the message, Rachel held a hand over her mouth.
“Now I want to read it. What’d he say?” Leah asked, leaning forward on the couch.
“It’s not horrible, but it isn’t the greatest thing right now,” Rachel said, muffling her words with her hand.
“Let me see,” Leah said, reaching for her phone and grabbing it from Rachel’s hand. She read the message once and felt her stomach drop. Her heart raced and felt like it was going to explode. She had a hard time deciphering how she felt about it. She read the message a second time, and again for the third, and fourth time.
“He can’t be serious, can he?”
Rachel sat silently next to her. Leah had no idea what to do with the message, now that she had read it. She thought about deleting it, but she wanted to keep it—for reasons unknown. She read it a fifth and sixth time.
Turning to Rachel, she asked, “Did he say anything to you at the bar?”
Rachel shook her head. “Nothing.”
Leah glared at her.
“Nothing, I swear.”
“What about Scott? Did he say anything to him?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
She read the message again.
I know you probably won’t respond to this. But I need to tell you that I miss you and I still care about you. I still love you.
Her heart sank.
“Why?” Leah pleaded. “Why’d he send this to me?”
Leah paced the floor, managing to get to the kitchen before she realized what she was doing. Opening the fridge, she pulled out a bottle of water. “Do you need anything while I’m in here?”
“No, I’m good.”
Returning to the couch, Leah sat down. “Why’d he wait for five years to tell me this?”
“I don’t know, ask him.”
Leah looked at Rachel like she had lost her mind. “No, I can’t do that. I don’t even want to respond. I don’t even know if I can,” she said, placing the phone on the end table next to her. “I don’t really care.”
Rachel reached for Leah’s phone, but Leah pulled it away. “Then delete his message and forget he sent it.”
Leah looked down at the message. “Well, I can’t do that either.”
She set the phone down and tried to ignore it—pretending the message was never sent to her until it beeped to notify her of another message.
Before reaching for it, she raised an eyebrow at Rachel. Rachel shook her head and laughed. “This is comical. Just the look on your face says it all.”
“I’m glad you find this funny,” Leah said, grabbing her phone. After taking a deep breath, she opened her messages. The message had not been from Jake, but the name at the top of the message made her feel giddy.
“I can’t,” she said, putting the phone down. Laughing, she picked it up again and read the message.
“Is it from Jake?” Rachel asked, hovering close by.
“Not this time.” She read the message and said, “It’s from Liam.”
Tossing her head back while shaking it back and forth, Rachel said, “Girl, you’re in one helluva predicament.”
“You can say that again.”
I really enjoyed the day with you. I was serious when I said I’m not rushing anything.
I know. I enjoyed the day with you, too.
After explaining the promise she had made to Liam about Jake, she asked, “What am I supposed to do? And why in the hell is this happening to me?”
Rachel laughed and said, “Now those are two very good questions, for which I have no answers.”
* * *
The fun-filled weekend ended quickly with the introduction of the dreaded Monday. The sound of her phone dinging next to her on the stand interrupted her thoughts.
Good morning, lovely. Have a good day at work
Smiling, she replied to his message. Tossing the covers off, she made her way to the bathroom.
With a toothbrush hanging from her mouth, and her hair wrapped in a towel on top of her head, Rachel moved out of the way of the door.
“What’s up?” Rachel asked. “You should be getting ready for work; you’re going to be late.”
“I’m getting ready,” Leah said, stripping her clothes off before climbing into the shower.
She couldn’t deny the fact that she loved receiving texts in the morning from Liam—something about that guy caused an unexplained boost in her mood.
“I’ll meet you downstairs. We have less than twenty minutes to get to our wonderful jobs,” Rachel said, hollering on her way out of the bathroom.
“You babysit kids. How hard can that be?” Leah said, scrubbing shampoo into her hair. “Try working with sick, grouchy people.”
“I’ll see you downstairs,” Rachel hollered, from the hallway.
Shutting the water off, she climbed out of the shower and dried off. She quickly threw her hair into a mad bun. She ignored her phone as it dinged repeatedly.
She struggled with her black pants. It didn’t help that she had put on a few extra pounds since the last time she wore them—two weeks ago. She jumped and shimmied around the bathroom, squeezing into them. Within a few wasted minutes, she was able to button them. That’s when she realized her shirt had fallen into the toilet.
“Gah!” She reached into the toilet bowl and pulled out a soaked work shirt. “You’ve got to be freaking kidding me right now!”
Wringing the shirt out, she grumbled to herself. She hung it over the shower and rushed to her room with her hair now a ratted mess as it fell out of the bun. Reaching into her closet, she grabbed another work shirt.
“Are you ready, yet?” Rachel hollered down the hallway.
“No!”
She tossed the shirt over her head and weaved her arms through the proper holes. The dark shirt was full of little, white fuzzies. Sighing, because she couldn’t ignore the issue, she grabbed the lint roller and quickly rolled it around her shirt. She hurried back to the bathroom and reached for her hair dryer. As soon as she turned it on, the smell of burned plastic filled the room as smoke blew out the end of the dryer.
She yanked the cord from the socket. “Just great.”
She tossed it in the garbage and reached for Rachel’s. Within fifteen minutes, she was ready for work.
Her sock caught on something, causing her to stumble down the hallway.
“Are you okay?” Rachel asked, standing at the bottom of the stairs outside their apartment.
Holding a thumbs up for Rachel to see, she hollered, “Just a case of the Mondays.”
Chuckling, Rachel walked out the door and lit a cigarette. “You haven’t even made it to work yet.”
Sighing, she grabbed her boots and slid her foot with the torn sock in first. She had no time to change her socks. She was already pressed for time. If she didn’t make it out of the house in the next five minutes, she’d be late for sure.
Walking to the door, she grabbed the knob and gave it a hard yank—only to have the knob fall to the floor once the door opened. “I don’t have time for this crap.”
Grumbling on the way to her car, she waved to Rachel as she slid into her driver’s seat. She turned her key in the ignition and waited for Rachel to back out of the driveway before she backed her car out.
“Today’s going to be one helluva day,” Leah confirmed.
11
The workday went steadily, with patients checking in and being seen every fifteen minutes. The day got even better when a man walked through the door carrying flowers.
Placing the vase on her desk, the delivery guy said,
“I’ve got a delivery for Leah Adams?”
Smiling, she reached for them. “That’s me.”
Handing her a card, he said, “Beautiful flowers for a beautiful girl.”
“Thank you,” she said, smelling the bright colored bouquet.
Opening the envelope that housed the card, she smelled the flowers again. Liam sure knew how to brighten her day. She pulled the card out and was surprised when money slipped out. She was more shocked by the name that was scrawled across the bottom.
Leah-
You’re quite the talk around our place. I’ve added some money you can use to spend some time with Liam. He could use a wonderful woman like you in his life.
Rosie
Smiling, she folded the note and stuffed it into the pocket of her capris. Talk around their place, huh? Interesting. She couldn’t wait to get home to show Rachel. She’d keep it a secret from Liam until their next d… whenever they hung out again.
* * *
“Isn’t she the sweetest?” Leah asked, showing Rachel her gift from Rosie. “I haven’t even met her yet!”
Leah had wanted to meet her the day Liam had shown her around Cedar Valley, but Rosie had been nowhere to be found. She imagined her to be this sweet, petite, older woman, with grandmother glasses and her hair in a bun.
“I bet she’s one of those who takes care of everyone,” Rachel said, smelling the flowers. “You know, the mother hen type, but not the bitchy type.”
“I’m sure,” Leah said, typing a message to Liam.
“What are you going to do with the money?” Rachel held the fifty dollar bill in the light—checking its authenticity.
Rolling her eyes, Leah said, “It’s real.”
Laughing, Rachel shrugged and handed the bill to Leah. “You never know.”
Dancing her fingers along the petals of each flower, she said, “I’m thinking about bringing him here.”
“Bow chicka bow wow,” Rachel said, wiggling her eyebrows. Leah slapped her arm.
“Nothing like that!”
“Then, what?” Rachel asked, leaning on the counter, shaking a cigarette from its pack.
Leah gave her a strange look and said, “I wish you’d stop smoking. They’re not good for you.”
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