“But what?”
“Nothing. I just keep thinking about something Mom said. About how you put off being happy yourself so you could make sure she and I were happy.”
“That’s not true,” he said, pulling away from her and not at all liking the way her words made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
“No?” she asked, tilting her head curiously.
“No. Taking care of you and Mom makes me happy, Livi.”
“That’s not the same as finding out what makes you happy on your own.”
“I’m happy,” he insisted.
“Are you?”
“Yes!”
She grinned. “Because you’re inlooooovewith Callie?”
He scowled, but it only served to make her laugh.
“I’m glad you two are together, you know,” she continued. “I think you’re good for each other.”
He nodded, unsure how to respond. He thought they were good for each other, too, but they weren’t really together. It was all a lie, even if he had kissed her only a few hours earlier. Even if he hadn’t wanted to stop kissing her.
Liv reached for the sheet music strewn across the lid of the piano. “What are you working on?”
“I’m trying to put together a few more samples for Wolf.”
She hummed the melody as her eyes scanned the paper. “These are good,” she said. She flipped to the next page, humming again, but this time it wasn’t his piece for Wolf—it was Callie’s song. She shook her head. “That one’s pretty but not the right vibe for politics.”
“Yeah,” he said, swiping the offending piece of paper. “Probably not.”
Liv set down the stack of papers. “You really want this job, huh?”
“Of course. It’s my dream job.”
“Is it?”
“Yes. What’s with the third degree tonight?”
Liv turned around on the piano bench so her back was to the keyboard and stretched her legs out in front of her. “I don’t know. You just seem different these last few days. Good different.”
They were quiet together for a while in a way that only people who are completely comfortable with each other can be. He’d missed his little sister while she’d been off becoming a musical theater superstar.
“I feel different,” he said at last. He couldn’t quantifyhowhe was different, but he was confident that the cause was currently sleeping in his bed.
“Hey, Noah? Don’t fuck it up, okay?”
He huffed out a laugh and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ll try not to.”
Chapter 13
“I am not moving to Ohio with you.”
“You say that now,” her mother said from the other side of the breakfast table.
Callie and her mother had been the first of their party to arrive in the hotel restaurant that morning, choosing a table by the windows so they could enjoy the ocean breeze while they ate their eggs.
