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“Sure you are.” Lana Mae laughs as she drags me out the door.
A few minutes later, we’ve ordered a pizza and are sitting in the park nearby. I would never admit it to my siblings, but I’m glad to be outside today. My head feels clearer here. It’s warm enough for me to take off my jacket, roll up my sleeves.
“Look at this guy, getting all unbuttoned during the work day,” Lana Mae jokes. “Who are you and what have you done with Liam?”
“He’s in lurvvvvvvve,” Luke says giddily around a mouthful of pepperoni and cheese.
“You have tomato sauce on your shirt,” I tell him.
Luke ignores me. Turns to Lana. “So, you ready to hear about the pickle Liam’s gotten himself into?”
She rubs her hands together, all shiny and bright and eager. “Am I ever.”
I concentrate on my pizza, methodically making my way through three slices: one veggie, two barbecue chicken. Not the most nutritionally-balanced meal, but the basics are there—protein, carbs, fat, veggies.
Lana Mae listens with wide eyes as Luke gleefully recounts the less-than-professional night Annie and I spent together, the dinner at our house, the baseball…
I say nothing. I know how my siblings operate: the more I protest, the more they’re convinced I’m guilty. Or lying.
And right now, I’m both. Because I nearly kissed her the other night.
Kissed her, for goodness sake. What was I thinking, calling an employee to help with a personal situation, then offering her wine and inappropriately touching her?
Well, I’m not sure “inappropriately” is the right word.
Is touching someone’s arm inappropriate? It sure felt like it when I touched Annie’s.
Entirely inappropriate… but so right.
How can something so wrong feel so right? Did it feel right to her, too?
“Seriously, Liam.” Lana crosses her legs and dabs grease off a pizza slice. She then stares at me with that slightly manic look she gets when she’s using her annoyingly accurate motherly intuition on me. “Are you into this woman?”
“Um, I—” I falter.
“Because she’s into you.”
I can’t help myself, I’m asking the question before I can even consider the repercussions—i.e. my human vultures for siblings. “She is?”
Luke smirks. “There’s your answer, Lana. Same thing I’ve been saying about you and Carter for years.”
“Shut up, Luke.” Lana glares at him. He grins in response.
Nothing like sibling love.
“This is totally different. Carter and I are friends, that’s all, and we barely see each other with all his traveling.” She smoothes her sundress and looks at me seriously. “But Liam… I’ve been back for half an hour and I can already see that something’s different.You’redifferent.”
“How?”
Lana pokes me in the side. “You’re happy.”
“I’m always happy.” I scowl.
She rolls her eyes. “You’re in the park, eating pizza, on a work day. This is not the brother I left two weeks ago.”
“Fine.” I hold my breath for all of two seconds. Then, “I like her.”
The words are liberating on my tongue. Confessing them feels sweet. A relief.
