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The grizzled bartender was hunched over the counter talking to a woman with teased and sprayed hair. He flicked a glance at them. “Whaddya want?”
“Two Long Island iced teas,” Liam said firmly. Cora’s friend Suzette had said those drinks knocked her flat on her ass, so Liam had high hopes for Margaret. His plan was simply to get her as drunk as possible until she passed out. It wasn’t one of his finer moments, but it was the best he could come up with on such short notice. He had to keep her out of the house and safe until morning.
Margaret began to sputter a protest over his choice of drinks just as a server came up and slapped plastic-coated menus on their table. The woman was about as old as Liam, give or take a century, with poufy gray hair and spackled-on makeup. There were deep lines around her mouth and her clothes smelled faintly of cigarettes. “Today’s specials are the Spam n’ Egg Scrambler and the Double Shag Burger Bucket.”
Margaret looked a little queasy. “Do you have anything gluten-free?”
The lady let out a squawk of laughter. “This ain’t IHOP, honey. We don’t do that hoity-toity stuff here.” She shuffled away, leaving Margaret staring forlornly at the menu.
Liam gave her an encouraging smile. “Live on the edge?”
“I don’t want to live on the edge. I like my comfortable bubble.” She pushed the menu away with a sigh just as the bartender set two tall drinks in front of them. Reaching for hers, she took a long, slow sip. Game on. “So. Tell me about this new woman you’re living with.”
Liam braced himself. “What do you want to know?”
Margaret’s outward expression was calm, but the storm brewing in her gray eyes ruined it. “For starters, how long have you been seeing her?”
“It’s not like that, I told you.” If only Margaret’s assumptions were correct. Unfortunately, she was almost two centuries off target.
“Then how exactly is it?” Margaret shot back. “What the hell am I supposed to think, here, Liam? A couple of months ago you told me you were transferring to Providence Falls, and I was thrilled because I thought it meant we’d see each other more often. Then, out of the blue, I find out you’ve moved in with another woman. Forgive me if I’ve come to the conclusion that you’re in a relationship with her, but I’ve examined the facts. I’m a botanist, remember? I like to call a spade a spade.” She fixed him with a steely glare. “Who is she?”
“Her name is Cora McCleod,” Liam said calmly. It wouldn’t do to get Margaret all riled up, so the more apathy he could feign, the better. “She works at the station, and her father is old friends with mine. That’s all. It just so happens she had a room for rent, so I moved in. Temporarily,” he emphasized, since, come what may, it was the truth. “I have no plans to stay there beyond three months.”
Margaret’s posture eased slightly. “And after that? Where are you looking to go?”
“I’m hoping to move someplace...to the north.” If he was very lucky.
Margaret shook her head and reached for her drink. “The south end of the city is a more desirable location. If you’re looking for someplace permanent, it’s definitely the hot spot. That’s where you want to end up.”
Not if he could help it. Liam scanned the menu, while Margaret asked more questions about Cora. He was very careful to provide neutral, uninterested responses, and after a few more minutes, she seemed somewhat mollified. Then she launched a new attack and began asking a slew of personal questions about Liam’s life. He braced himself and dove in.
For the next hour, he told her everything and nothing. Without revealing the truth about the angels and his reincarnated soul, he told her about growing up in Ireland, describing the landscape and the weather. He told her how Hugh was his own father’s partner on the police force, and he even told her about how he knew Boyd Thompson when he was a boy. And on it went. She asked questions, and he supplied her with more drinks and silly stories about his childhood.
“I can’t believe you got lost in the woods for three whole days,” Margaret said with a hiccup, finishing off her second Long Island iced tea. They’d settled on sharing a basket of French fries and a grilled cheese sandwich, both of which she hadn’t touched. “Weren’t the police looking for you by then?”
He wanted to laugh. The sheriff had far more important things to worry about than a poor farmer’s kid who’d gone off on a wild woodland adventure. “No one found me, but I eventually followed the river and made my way home.”
She dropped her chin in her hand. “How old were you, again?”
“Five.” Liam signaled the bartender for another drink.
“Your mom must’ve been going crazy.”
“She was out of her mind with worry. She said I was the sole reason for her gray hair because I was always running off and doing things I wasn’t supposed to. My dad was so angry.” Liam chuckled at the memory. “He gave me a thorough lashing, and believe me, I thought twice the next time I—”
“But, I thought you didn’t have a dad,” Margaret interrupted. “You said your father was here in Providence Falls while you grew up in Ireland, and he wasn’t a part of your life back then.”
Dammit.Even deep in her cups, the woman was sharp.
Margaret tilted her head in confusion. “Did you mean your stepdad?”
“Yes,” Liam lied smoothly. “My mother eventually found another man, and we called him that.”
“We? I thought you didn’t have any brothers or sisters.”
“Right.” He waited as the bartender set Margaret’s drink on the table. “I meant ‘we’ as in, my mother and me.”
Margaret narrowed her eyes, and for a moment Liam thought his ruse was up. But before she could ask him any more questions, she swept her hand out and accidentally knocked over a glass of water. “Oops.” She giggled and yanked a handful of paper napkins from the dispenser on the table.
