Good Neighbors (Book 1 of the Home Again Series)
Page 29
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Erica slowed and turned her car into the driveway of the house where she'd dropped off Liam on the previous afternoon. She bit her lower lip. Simply sit here in the car and honk for Liam or park and knock on the door? Would it be looked upon as rude to honk? Or overprotective to park and knock?
If she were actually a mother, she'd have had fifteen years of experience to tell her things like this. Instead, she opted to park the car and walk up the stone walkway to the front door of the ranch house. Better safe than sorry.
Those were words she should have paid attention to yesterday. Before the door, Erica grimaced and briefly closed her eyes. She wished she could delete the whole episode from history. On unconsidered impulse, she'd completely let down her guard. She'd had sex with him—with a former drunk. What an idiotic thing to do.
Letting her eyes flutter open, Erica released a resigned sigh. To be honest, the idiotic part had nothing to do with Brennan's soiled past. She'd long ago concluded he wasn't evil. In fact—this was the hardest part to admit—she'd been open to the idea of beginning a relationship with him.
Obviously, this had not been a wise thing to want. He'd thoroughly rejected her.
Pausing before she knocked on the door, Erica tried to remember how Brennan had put it. He wasn't sorry about having sex with her, but it had nevertheless been a huge mistake. Why? She hadn't had enough time to scare him by acting clingy or anything. But he'd basically panicked.
Shaking her head, Erica concluded his reasons didn't matter. Bottom line, she shouldn't have trusted that far. She should have known better. You couldn't trust anybody.
Taking a breath, Erica knocked on the door. As she heard someone approach, she quickly put on a game face. She didn't want anybody, and particularly Liam, to guess she'd had wild, unconsidered sex with her handsome next-door neighbor—and promptly been dumped.
A middle-aged woman, pleasantly plump, opened the door. She wore her hair in an old-fashioned, fifties-style bob and had an apron tied over polyester pants. Her face broke into a wide smile on seeing Erica. "Oh, are you Erica? Good morning. So nice to see you. Come on in."
Feeling somewhat a fraud—no one could be that happy to see Erica—she stepped over the threshold. The house was simply decorated but had a warm, homey atmosphere. A needlepoint image of flowers adorned the foyer wall.
"We were so pleased you let Liam stay overnight," Mrs. Jorgensen went on, leading the way to a carpeted living room, here decorated with surprisingly modern paintings. "Nelson doesn't have many— Well, it was awfully nice of you both. That's all." She beamed at Erica. Then she hurried to the base of a set of stairs that ended on the carpet. "Nelson! Liam's mother is here!"
Erica coughed. When Mrs. Jorgensen turned back to her, she explained. "Actually, I'm his sister."
Mrs. Jorgensen's face seemed to collapse. "Oh, that's right. I'm so sorry! Nelson told me about Liam's father— I guess your father, too. He told me about him passing. I'm so very sorry for your loss."
The other woman's sincere sympathy drew a now-familiar sensation of mixed grief and anger over Erica. "Thank you."
Footsteps sounded on the stairs. Liam appeared, followed by a much shorter, rounder boy. Liam had his backpack over one shoulder and a neutral expression on his face. He looked at Nelson's mother. "Thank for having me over, Mrs. Jorgensen."
"Oh, we were happy you could stay." Mrs. Jorgensen was back to beaming.
Erica noticed that Nelson wore a big smile, too. "So we'll meet up on that server at five, right?" he said, addressing Liam.
"Yeah, the players aren't quite as rude on Skywars," Liam replied. He turned to Erica, and his neutral mask softened into a brief, shy smile. "Uh, hi."
"Hey." Erica felt a little of her tension relax. He didn't appear to be angry at her any more. "You ready to go?"
"Sure."
After they walked out the door, accompanied by Mrs. Jorgensen with her big smile, Liam shot Erica another quick smile. "Thanks. I do appreciate you coming to pick me up."
Erica realized she recognized the signals Liam was sending. He was afraid she might be mad at him or didn't like him any more. Probably because of the sullen slump he'd given her on the way over here yesterday. He'd been upset she hadn't wanted to talk about Dad.
Erica threw an arm around his shoulders and gave a brief squeeze. "No problem, punk. Better than letting you drive."
"Hey, in six months..." Liam claimed as they walked to her car. "Learner's permit, baby."
Erica's mood felt much lighter than before as she climbed into the car. Maybe she'd be okay at this guardian thing, after all. "We'll see," she claimed teasingly.
Liam closed the door after himself. "What do you mean, 'we'll see'?"
Erica smiled as she put her key in the ignition. "Got to prove you're responsible and everything."
"Oh, yeah? Well, so do you." Liam was grinning, obviously intending his words as a joke. But then, while looking at her, his smile faded. "Oh, man. I'm sorry."
"What?" She struggled to maintain a smile. The truth was, his words had hit a nerve. She certainly hadn't been responsible last night.
"I shouldn't have implied you don't come up to the mark or anything." Liam sounded earnest. "I know you're working hard to get your new business going, and it's going to be awesome."
Erica could feel the color drain from her face. "Right." She still hadn't sent out those flyers. But she would. Tomorrow. She'd get over her stupid fear and insecurity. Of course someone would call her out of the two hundred flyers she planned to mail. She was good at what she did, and soon people in the area would learn about it.
As she backed the car out of the Jorgensen driveway, she shot Liam a quick look. He seemed enthusiastic about her business. Maybe he could talk her out of her fears.
With a mental head shake, Erica shifted into drive and proceeded down the road. No. Better not to confide.
It was always a mistake to trust.