Liam doesn’t have to explain Pippa’s timeline either. The summer and winter recitals are the biggest events of the year for the studio. Each will have two weekends and a Wednesday night performance, which is uncommon. Pippa respects her dancers’ education just as much as their craft, so the recitals are always scheduled for the first week of the winter and summer vacations.
Pippa would want the extra time as a precaution.
“Yeah,” he mumbles. “There’s not a lot you get out of this. I’m not asking for some big show in front of the town, butmaybe you could continue to play elusive when people talk about me. At least for a few weeks.”
I give him an exasperated look. “You underestimate how much the old women of this townlovegossip and ‘young love.’” I use the term lightly since we’re both over thirty, but that’s how those old bats will describe it. “If you want to sell this long enough for Pippa to feel confident working with you, it will require a bit of a show.”
Looking defeated, he bobs his head and taps his hand on the glass. “It was really stupid.”
My stomach sinks as he pushes off the counter. I don’t want him to leave, not when I can help him.
…not when having him here feels like adorning armor I thought I lost in the divorce.
Before I can second guess myself, I step forward. “I—wait.”
When his cornflower-blue eyes land on me, all my apprehension melts away. He’s so hopeful, I almost start to believe I could be the answer to all his problems.
Liam Maddon would probably kiss the ground I walk on if I agree to hisridiculousplan.
Surprisingly, that’s not what’s most enticing.
Biting my lip, I push past my stubbornness and admit, “There is something I would get from this agreement.”
He tilts his head, curious about what he could do for me, but it doesn’t take long for it to click.
“Stefan might leave you alone if you are seeing someone else,” he says.
I pretend to be interested in my nails, avoiding his gaze. “Maybe—or he could be worse.”
Gaining the courage to look up at him, I’m surprised by his expression. He doesn’t look like he pities me or like he’s put off by the nuisance of an ex-husband. There’s a protective fire slowly burning as blue and bright as the hottest of flames.
“Do you think it’s going to get worse?” He crosses his arms, standing straighter and broader.
I open my mouth, the wordnoon the tip of my tongue, but I close it just as quickly.
The door to the kitchen swings open and I turn to see Chuck carrying a tray with an assortment of bread. He comes to a slow stop as he takes in the tattooed man standing on the other side of the counter.
To my horror, he asks, “Is this the brute?”
“Excuse me?” Liam asks with a snort.
Glancing back at him, there’s only amusement and confusion when his eyes meet mine.
Chuck sets the tray down, but turns back to me rather than setting them on the shelves. He raises his eyebrows in expectation, giving me the floor to tell Liam what that means.
“I got a voicemail this morning,” I say with as much nonchalance as I can muster. “Stefan believes what the rest of the town does, and he’shumiliatedby his harlot of an ex-wife.”
The end is an exaggeration, but he has called me a harlot once before. I laughed in his face, and it’s the only time I thought he might slap me. For all the cruel things Stefan did, he never didthat.
“So, it’s already getting worse,” Liam states matter-of-factly.
Still, I say, “No,” at the same time Chuck says, “It is.”
“And if the town continues to think we’re dating, he will start to cause problems for a lot more people—like you,” I say and point at Liam. Looking at Chuck, I add, “Maybe you and the staff as well. I know Stefan, and that’s the last thing I’ve ever wanted.”
“I’m a big boy, Calypso,” Liam says from behind me. I turn to look at him and place my hands on the counter, mimicking his earlier stance. “I can handle someone likeStefan. I’m not saying you can’t either, but why carry this burden by yourself for so long?”
Turning to look out the window, I blink quickly and swallow down old, dusty emotions I put into a box decades ago. It’s always been my responsibility to hold everyone else’s baggage, to protect those around me from the painful experiences.
