Katie leaned in. “Liam hates coffee,” she whispered.
Now I was confused. “He does? You do?” I asked turning to face him.
“He doesn’t drink the stuff. He always gets hot chocolate with whipped cream and mini marshmallows.” Katie made a face. “I have no idea how he drinks it. It’s so sweet. But that’s his order.” She blinked a few times. “I thought you were his assistant. Aren’t you supposed to know these things?”
Liam’s apologetic expression confirmed what Katie was saying. In that moment, all I wanted was for a hole to open up and swallow me. How had that article gotten things so wrong? Why hadn’t he corrected me? Why did he drink the coffee if he hated it?
My lips were parted to ask him all of these questions, but no words came out of my mouth.
“I did enjoy what you brought me,” Liam said, his gaze desperate as his smile emerged.
I wanted to believe his words, but I was so embarrassed. I was supposed to be his assistant. It was my job to know what he liked. And he lied to me? He let me believe that I’d gotten it right?
I knew logically that he was trying to be nice. After all, we’d just met. I doubted he’d wanted to correct me after I’d gone out of my way to get him some breakfast. But that didn’t matter. Not when I was trying to be the best assistant that I could. I needed the truth, not for him to make me feel better.
“Is a sausage, egg, and cheese croissant your favorite breakfast?”
“Croissant sandwich?” Katie laughed. “Liam hates those.” She turned and smiled at him. “His favorite breakfast food is French toast slathered in maple syrup.” She glanced over at me. “The breakfast of champions.”
I didn’t even get that right. Yet another thing he hadn’t corrected me on. My cheeks were on fire now. I knew I had to look like a mess. I pushed my chair out and began to unbuckle Samuel. I needed a moment to compose myself, and then I’d come back to the table.
I needed a moment to shove my heart into a lockbox and throw away the key. I’d stupidly allowed myself to fall for my boss, and I’d made a huge mistake. I was the idiot in this situation, and I would own that. I just needed a minute to mask my broken heart, and then I would come back to the table as the best assistant I could be.
“Excuse me,” I murmured as I wrapped my arms around Samuel and hurried away from the table. I didn’t know where the bathroom was, and I didn’t care. I just needed some distance from Liam and Katie to compose myself.
“Did I say something wrong?” Katie’s voice faded the further I got from the table.
Thankfully, a kind waitress guessed what I was looking for and pointed toward the far left of the restaurant, where the sign for the restroom hung. I gave her a quick nod as a thank you and hurried over.
I spent five minutes locked in a stall. I allowed my tears to flow for only a moment before I forced myself to get it together. This was not the end of the world. Liam and I weren’t even anything to cry over. I’d made up our relationship in my mind, and now I was being smacked with the cold, hard truth. The only person I had to blame was myself.
Thankfully, Samuel was content hanging out in the stall with me. I held onto him, hugging and kissing him to help relieve my stress. Once again, the world felt like it was falling down around me, and he was here to pick me up. I’d made a promise to him that I was going to get my life together so we could finally be a little family. But I continued to mess everything up.
I needed to get my crap together and be stronger.
After fixing my makeup in the mirror and washing my hands, I pulled open the bathroom door and froze. Liam was leaning against the wall across from the bathroom with his legs extended out in front of him and his arms folded across his chest. As soon as his gaze met mine, I could feel my tears start to form again.
Get it together, Sabrina, I commanded myself.
“Sorry, had to pee,” I blurted out and then stopped myself. That was probably inappropriate to tell my boss.
Liam straightened, which brought him closer to me. “I’m so sorry I didn’t say anything to you sooner.”
I feigned confusion as I stared at him. After a few seconds, I scoffed and shook my head. “About the breakfast foods you like? Pssh.” I shook my head and waved my hand like I was trying to dispel his worry. “Don’t even think about it. The article I read got it wrong, that’s all.”
Deep down, I hoped that he was buying this lie. The words felt foreign on my tongue, but I had to keep going. We were never, ever going to be together. I needed this schoolgirl crush to stop, or I wasn’t going to survive working for him.
“Sometimes, Bonnie takes care of these interviews for me. She probably just told them what she’d had for breakfast that day.” He pressed his hand to his chest. “I wanted to tell you, but you seemed so happy with what you’d got me.” He paused. “I had no intention of hurting you.” His gaze was earnest as he studied me. “You have to believe me.”
My heart broke inside of my chest as my emotions lodged themselves in my throat. I knew that Liam was speaking the truth. I knew he would never intentionally hurt me. It was my pride that had gotten wounded. I wanted to be the person who knew everything about Liam, but with Katie here, I was startled to realize that I would never know more than her.
I wanted to do a good job for Liam, but I couldn’t do that when he wasn’t honest with me.
“Just don’t ever do that again,” I whispered, tears brimming my eyelids once more. “Tell me the truth.” I paused. “I can handle it.”
Liam was studying me now. His gaze was searching for an answer to a question he hadn’t asked. I didn’t know what he was trying to do, but when he took a step forward, fear began to cloud my mind.
“Tell you the truth?” he asked, his voice turning husky as his gaze slipped down to my lips.
