“I thought you were taking a shower,” Bobby said, not bothering to look back at Jeff as he stomped his way to the front door.
“I was eavesdropping. Obviously. I know, you’re shocked.” Jeff pulled his phone from his back pocket, tapping and scrolling until he found what he was looking for. He turned the screen to face Liam, displaying a GPS app with a Rhode Island address and wrapped his arm around Bobby from behind as he spoke. “It’s her mother’s house.”
Liam typed the address into his own phone. “Thank you,” he said, already heading back to his car where it was parked on the street. He glanced back at the boys in the doorway, grateful to know Min had friends who cared about her so much, before he swung into the driver’s side and steered his car towards the parkway.
Chapter Thirty-nine
“Are you sure you don’t want to come to Mass with me?” Anna asked her daughter as she buttoned her wool pea coat.
Min looked up from her book of Neruda poems, keeping her legs tucked under herself where she sat on her mother’s couch. She had no intention of moving from this spot, never mind going to Mass.
“I’m sure,” she said.
Her mother cupped the side of Min’s face, smiling sadly. “It might make you feel better. To talk to God. Since you won’t talk to me,” she teased.
Min returned her mother’s smile, but her heart wasn’t in it, and she knew her mother would see through the feeble attempt to reassure her. “I’m fine, mom.”
Anna sighed, winding her scarf around her throat. “You can’t lie to your mother, Mellie Bell. A mother always knows.” With that she turned, grabbing her purse off the dining room table on her way past, and headed for the front door. “I’ll be home around one and we can grab lunch. Think about where you want to go. Tom’s in the garage if you need anything. Love you,” she called as she closed the door behind her.
Min flopped back on the couch, letting her book fall to the side, though she was careful to keep her finger between the pages to hold her place. Not that she needed to be so careful. The book practically fell open to this particular page on its own. She could recite the poem by heart at this point, having spent the last week reading and re-reading the only thing that made any sense, the only thing that made her feel close to Liam.Do not go far off, not even for a day…And yet, here she was, four hours away. She’d thought she’d feel better if the physical distance between them matched the yawning chasm in her heart with each day that passed without him. She should have known better.
She pressed her other hand to her chest, grinding the heel of her palm into the ache there in a vain attempt to ease the pain. But she knew there was only one thing that could make her feel better, and it wasn’t going to Mass, or re-reading Neruda, and it sure as hell wasn’t rubbing her chest raw.
When she’d arrived home the night before – a full week earlier than her mother had expected, with no warning – she’d thought the change of scenery would help. But it hadn’t. If anything, watching the small touches and loving smiles between her mother and Tom made her miss Liam more. What if it was really over? What if “I need time” really did mean “I’m done with you”?
She swallowed hard.Don’t go down that road,she told herself.He’ll call.She tapped her jeans pocket to confirm her phone was there, willing it to ring.He has to call.
“Mel?” her stepfather’s voice rang through the house from the front foyer before his head poked around the corner of the doorframe, his hands covered in black grease held high as if he’d just come from surgery and not from tinkering with his vintage Chevy. His brows were low over his eyes, his forehead furrowed and his mouth tight. “You have a visitor.”
Min sat up, confused. “Who is it?” she asked.
Tom glanced over his shoulder at whoever stood behind him in the shadows of the foyer before glancing back at his stepdaughter. A familiar voice called her name, wrapping her in gravel and silk. “Contessa.”
Min was on her feet and heading for the door before he’d even finished the word. Tom’s eyes went wide as he scurried out of the way to make room for her in the doorway.
And there he was. Liam Jacobs. Casually standing in the foyer of her mother’s home in his perfectly fitted jeans and a charcoal long sleeve Henley, the sleeves bunched up at his elbows and displaying his tattoo. His beard had grown in with a few days’ growth and he had dark smudges under his eyes, but those eyes still burned into her where she stood.
“Liam,” she breathed.
Liam and Min stared at each other for several long minutes. Her heart pounded, the blood roaring in her ears, and all the tears she had cried over the last week gathered in a lump at the base of her throat.He’s here,she thought.He’s really here.
Finally he took a step towards her. “Can I come in?” he asked.
“Yeah. Yes. Of course,” Min stammered as she stood back to give him room to enter.
Tom glanced skeptically between them. “I’ll just be right in the garage,” he said as he moved past Liam and towards the entrance to his makeshift workshop. “Just right here. I could come back in at any time,” he said.
Once Tom was gone, she led Liam into the living room, dazed. “Do you want something to dr–”
“I’m sorry,” he said, cutting her off. She froze, her back to him, but her breaths came so hard now she knew he’d be able to see the rise and fall of her shoulders. “Min, I’m so fucking sorry,” he said again, the edges of his voice wavering.
She closed her eyes against the tears forming, against the flicker of hope, feeling his presence behind her as he drew closer. She could feel the heat radiating off his chest, but still he didn’t touch her.Please touch me.
“I thought I needed time. I thought… It doesn’t matter because it was all wrong. Everything was so wrong without you.” She drew a shaky breath and he sighed. “Please, look at me, love.”
She turned to face him, the tears falling down her cheeks now in earnest. He wiped her tears away with his thumbs, his eyes softening as he cupped the back of her neck and guided her close to him until his forehead rested against hers.
“You gave up. Things got hard and you just left,” she said, barely able to get the words out.
