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Liam didn’t have any gay guy friends, at least none he knew of, but he wasn’t opposed to making some. Hell, he barely had any guy friends at all. He’d meet up for golf and drinks with a couple of guys from the law firm maybe once or twice a summer, but his schedule didn’t really leave more time than that to work with when it came to an outside commitment of any kind. Watching them laughing and kidding, he wondered was this really the life he’d intended, or had he been dragged into a lack of true living in his life?
“Hey, guys.” Liam’s door pressed into his back as he stepped into the hallway and let it close slowly.
“Mr. Young. How’d you sleep?” Paul adjusted his glasses.
“Please call me Liam. Not bad. Got a great workout in this morning at the gym.”
Paul’s eyes widened. “You worked out on vacation?”
“Kinda a daily thing for me. Helps me to focus and burn off steam.”
Jonathan motioned his head toward the door across the hallway. “Callie’s the same way.”
Paul shook his head. “Some days she’s at the gym when I get there and she’s still there when I leave.”
“Dedication to her health is a good thing, right?” Liam appreciated the commitment.
“I suppose. But I think she sometimes uses it to avoid other things.” Jonathan elbowed Paul and he winced. “What?”
“Maybe ixnay the boss talkay with the clientay,” he mumbled through clenched teeth.
“Shit. I forgot.” Paul stepped to Liam’s side of the hallway and leaned back against it. “You seem like someone we’ve known for a while now. The whole being in a tense situation and making it through together makes me bond with people.”
Liam leaned back against the wall next to Paul. “How touch and go was it yesterday?” he asked Jonathan.
“I don’t think I want to say.” His gaze tracked down the hallway and away from the conversation.
“That bad?”
“Let’s just say that Callie Laurel has more guts, stronger nerves of steel, and better instincts than some of the Air Force pilots I flew with in Afghanistan. Majority of them would’ve flown to another airport or wouldn’t have even attempted the flight at all, seeing what might happen with the weather.”
Impressive. And a little concerning.
Her need to get them here impressed him, but he didn’t like hearing how perilous it had been. She had nothing to prove to anyone, at least not to Liam. But maybe she had something to prove to someone else.
Jonathan ran his hand through his hair. “She held it together when I thought shit might go a different way. If I had to do it again, I’d probably question the decision a little closer. But I know Callie. She’d do the same again. Anything to get you to your brother, Liam. We’re all invested in this one. We’ve all been touched by cancer in some way.”
Paul nodded while staring at the ground. He swallowed hard, and Jonathan leaned across the hall to grab his friend’s shoulder. Paul attempted the smile that comes after cancer, tight and thankful for the support, but the darkness still lingered.
“My mother passed away from breast cancer.” The sentence exited his mouth before Liam had thought otherwise.
Paul’s eyes closed. “Mine, too.”
“It always seems like it won’t happen to someone you know, but when it does, the reality hits you that others are experiencing this same thing, and that’s even harder.” Liam’s body shivered with memories pushed down to move on like his father insisted.
“I’m sorry for your loss. And really sorry about Sam. Please know, we’ll do anything we can to make the flight easier on him.”
Liam’s stomach hollowed each time they brought up Sam in relation to the lie Trent had invented. “I’m sorry for your loss, too, Paul. I … I appreciate your concern, but I promise you, Sam won’t need any special treatment.”
These people amazed him with the amount of care and personal investment. He reconsidered having lunch with them. They were too nice to deceive, but before he could say something more, the door opened across the hall. Meg filed out in a simple blue dress with flip-flops and that ridiculously oversized hat, considering she wouldn’t get to go outside anytime soon.
“Is Callie coming?” Liam asked as Meg greeted Paul and Jonathan with hugs.
“Yeah, she’ll be out in a minute. She’s pissed at me.”
“Pissed about what?” Paul asked.
“Well, first, she says that I snore.” Meg adjusted her hat. “I do not snore. But you’ll see why she’s pissed on the other thing.”
