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“No. She got worse. It happened mercifully quickly after that.”
“Oh Liam.” I cup his face. “You lied but you made her happy.”
“I hope so.”
Tears prick at my eyes. “I know you did.” Because I know how Liam loves. Furiously. That’s the best way to describe it. And even if he’d fallen out of love with her, he’d still have the memory of it.
He’d still care enough to do whatever he could to make things right.
“And after she died I made myself a promise to not hurt anybody else the way I could have hurt her.”
“But you didn’t hurt her.”
He blows out a mouthful of air. “At the very end she told me she knew I didn’t feel the same about her. That she’d pretended I did because she didn’t want to be alone. That she wanted to die feeling loved.” He pulls his gaze away from mine. “I fucked everything up. That’s when I realized me and relationships didn’t work.”
“But they do,” I whisper. “You’re here with me now.”
His lip curls. “Yeah, I am.” When he lifts his head up his eyes are a maelstrom of emotions. “I tried,” he tells me. “I tried so hard to not fall in love with you.”
This time my smile is stronger. “Ditto. And yet here we are.”
“Thank God,” he says, stroking my face. “Thank God you’re here.”
“Thank God for you,” I say. And that’s when I realize that nothing else matters. If I lose my job it’ll hurt but I’ll pick myself up and carry on. If I lose this apartment I’d find somewhere to live – even if it meant moving in with Dad for a while.
Everything could end and it would still be okay.
He cups my face with his hands, tipping my head until our mouths are a breath away from each other. There’s such warmth in his eyes. Such need. It makes everything inside me tingle.
“I love you,” I tell him.
“Don’t run away from me again. Don’t ever do that,” he tells me.
“I won’t.” It’s the truth. A promise I can keep. I’ve learned a lot about myself these past twenty-four hours.
That I can survive no matter what. That I can love so deeply it hurts my soul when I think the other person is hurt.
That I don’t want to be without this, strong yet vulnerable man beside me.
“Good,” he whispers. “Because I love you, too. Now please let me call your boss and tell him to give you your job back.”
I laugh and it feels good. Genuine. “No. Don’t do that.”
“It’d only take one phone call.”
“I know. But I need to hold my head high.”
“You’ll do that no matter what. You deserve that job.”
“You’re the sweetest,” I tell him. “I love how frustrated you look right now.”
“I just want to make you happy.” He brushes the tip of my nose with his lips. “It annoys me that I could do that if you’d let me.”
“You do make me happy. And I’ll keep on letting you,” I promise. “But you calling my boss’ boss’ boss would make me feel uncomfortable.”
He lifts a brow. “You’re going to have to get used to me taking care of you.”
I smile at him. “And you’re going to have to use to me wanting to be independent.”
