Page 40 of The Has-Been

“Oh!” she clasps her chest. “Oh, thank goodness, because I know love when I see it!”

“Whoa—” I blabber, shifting in my seat.

Okay, so I understand what Liam meant about his mom. She’s super friendly—just a little…overbearing?

“I mean, I care for your son a lot. He’s amazing,” my words bring a flush to my face. What I’m saying is true. No denying that. I’ve never met a man who’s anything like Liam Anderson.

He’s kind. Funny. Loyal.

But love? I don’t know about all that.

“Oh, honey—” she tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. The gesture makes me realize just how much more than green eyes her son has inherited from her. “You aren’t a very good liar, are you?”

From that moment on, Karen Anderson became my second-favorite person on this earth.

I smile as the memory fades, just in time for Karen’s words to pull me back to the present.

“Well, I won’t keep you long. I was just talking to Liam, and he mentioned that you two ran into one another.”

I spit out my drink, my eyes watering as it spews from my nose.

He told his mom?

He barely talked to her when we were together. I had to beg him to find the time for her. I know he thinks she’s too much sometimes, but he doesn’t understand that he’s all she has left to love.

“So, how’d it go? How did he look? Has he been eating? Last time he video called me, he looked so skinny.” She asks worriedly, each sentence bleeding into the next.

“He’s good,” I confirm, thinking back to last weekend. He looked more than good. He looked like his old self. That damned lopsided grin, his boyish green eyes that still heat me to my core.

I clear my throat. Probably shouldn’t mention that her son can still get me wet with just a simple thought, but I also know she deserves more than just good.

“He, uh,” I hesitate, and I hear her suck in a breath. “He looks perfect. Like the day I met him.” I smile, swallowing the lump in my throat as I add, “He’s still working out. I can tell. Not too thin.”

“Oh!” she exclaims, and I can practically see her clasping her chest in relief. “Oh, thank the heavens!”

I giggle. Karen really is a sweetheart. Liam reminds me of her, though he’d kill me for saying that. But they would both give you the shirt off their backs without a second thought.

We talk for a while longer. Apparently, Liam left out the part where he picked me up on the side of the road, as his mom just believes we ran into one another at Lover’s.

Definitely for the best. I think the only person who might take the news of me dating again harder than Liam, is Karen. She’d be heartbroken.

And the thought of her finding out breaks something in me, too.

I start cooking breakfast and head down the hall to see if Reese wants anything. Rory and June are over at friends’. And while I believe Rory is truly with her best friend, Elsie, June is with Brennan. She’s just continuing to lie to me about it.

But that’s really the least of my worries right now.

Karen and I are still on the phone when I head down the hall to Reese’s room. She’s filling me in on her latest crochet project. And though I would pretend to care regardless, I genuinely enjoy hearing from her. I know how lonely she is.

“I would love it if you sent me another scarf,” I tell Karen. “Rory always steals the one you made me.” Karen laughs, saying that must mean she needs to make several more, one for each of us.

I knock on Reese’s door again as I tell Karen each of our favorite colors. But when her door finally cracks open, it’s not my blonde-haired cousin that answers.

My mouth drops open at the towering male standing in the doorway. One I know all too well. He grins, those stupid fucking dimples pressed into his cheeks.

Does he think this is some joke? Because I’m certainly not laughing—in fact, he’d better start running because I’m going to fucking kill him.

“Karen,” I declare, interrupting her, “I’m gonna have to call you back.”