“Nope, I’d know it.” This woman can’t really pretend to know about the personal relationships of bar regulars, can she?
“Okay, well his co-worker/girlfriend was outside his house this morning, screaming at him for wasting the last two years of her life, and for,” I whisper this next part, not sure her offense level, “fucking her.” I return to normal volume, “and dumping her like garbage. Maybe he doesn’t have a girlfriend now, but it sounds like he did last night.”
“You talking about Tori? He was supposed to fire her yesterday. Sounds like he probably did. When the man upstairs was assembling thatone, he left some screws a bit loose, if you catch my drift.”
“How do you-” I start to ask, when she cuts me off.
“William’s my baby,baby,” and she winks at me.Ahhh.
“You’re Liam’s mom.”
“And proud of it.”
“Got it. Well then, I’m really glad I didn’t put your son on blast right now. When you asked about Liam, my initial thought was he’s a liar and a prick and a bastard for kissing me last night, and then breaking up with his girlfriend this morning.” I laugh and she laughs, too, thank god.
“He kissed you?” Such an innocent question, but now that I know that’s her son and that I might really like him, I turn bashful.Andbright red.I hate being pale.
“He did,” and it was the fucking kiss of the century. I smile at the memory. “That was your third question, Sandy.” I say in mock warning.
“Oh shoot, you're a sharp one. Can I see pictures of your girls?”
“Oh my god, yes. Of course.”
“Great, and then my last question is, will you come back and see me again? I promise I won’t make you spill any details about anything, if you don’t want to. But I like you. You’re good people, baby.” My heart melts, it’s like being with a mother again, like being with Georgia, well, what I always wished Georgia was like. My eyes are filling with tears, and she’s probably thinking I’m a total sap right now, but she just wraps me in a warm hug. She smells like fresh baked bread and lilacs.
“Yes, I will, and thank you, Sandy.” She releases me from the embrace. “I forget what it’s like to have someone be, I don’t know,” I pause, “maternal towards me. I’d forgotten, so thank you.” I notice her eyes are brimmed with tears now, too.
“Anytime, sugar. Now pull out that phone so I can see some pictures.”
ELEVEN
Liam
“You just missed your girl.” I barely make it through the front door before being bombarded.
“Hi mom, nice to see you, too.” I laugh, because of course she’ll care more about Britain than anything else in the world right now.
“Just so you know, I got the full rundown of her life story and saved your ass in the process.” She points an accusatory finger at me, “So you’re welcome, bubba.” She crosses over from behind the counter and gives me a kiss on the cheek.
“How’d you save my ass?” I’m so confused.
“She heard miss Tori hollering at you this morning about how you ‘fucked her and dumped her.’” She uses air quotes for emphasis. “And I had to convince her you’re not a prick, and a bastard, and a liar, like she thought you were.”
I blanche,shit. That’s what the fuck Tori was about this morning. How’d she know? “She said all that about me?”
“Yup, try not to fuck it up with that one, I like her.”
“Sounds like I already did?” I say, dropping my head.
“Nope, she likes you. You should’ve seen her blush when I asked if you kissed her.”
“Fuck, mom. You can’t ask people stuff like that.”
“Technically she brought it up first, I just confirmed it.” Sandy looks at me with complete nonchalance, like that’s run of the mill, morning coffee conversation, but I can’t help how my heart jumps at the thought of Britain talking about me like that.
“She did?”
“Oh, bubba. You like her?”Yeah, I fucking like her. Like I like air and breathing. It’s innate.
