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I couldn't get out of my heels quickly enough and padded across the cool floor to the kitchen. I pulled a glass from the cupboard and surveyed my choices in the refrigerator after putting the meat away. Mango juice seemed like the right thing for this evening.
I downed half the glass before going to change.
After donning a Red Sox T-shirt and a pair of jeans, I headed for the couch.
The blinking red light of the answering machine caught my eye on the way.
It showed one message. I hit play, getting ready to hit delete on what I expected to be another marketing call. There ought to be a law against those guys bothering everybody. Of course, therewasa law already, but nobody paid attention to it.
But the voice that emanated from the speaker wasn't a marketing call. “Liam, this is your uncle, Garth. I could not reach you on your cell phone today, so I am leaving this message on your machine. I know how much you have wanted to be admitted to medical school, and I have finally had some success on that front. I received a call today from the Dean of Admissions at Johns Hopkins. He has opened up a place for you in their school this fall. They promised to send a package of material, which should arrive today. I am sorry that it took me so long to be of help to you in this matter. I am confident you will make an excellent doctor. Please call me when you receive this message.”
My legs went weak, and I braced myself against the table. I hit the play button again to make sure I hadn’t misheard the message. When it finished, my stomach was sour.
Liam was going to Baltimore. He'd been working on this the whole time and hadn't told me.
I couldn't do a long-distance relationship. Not ever again.
I thought back to our conversation at that first dinner. He’d mentioned his goal was to be a doctor, but he’d laughed it off as impossible——or at least improbable given his test scores.
Now here it was a certainty. Yet again, his world and mine were so different. He was rich, with a powerful family behind him. They could make calls, cash in favors, and make doorways appear that were never open to the rest of us. His uncle makes a few calls, and abracadabra, he goes from rejected to accepted at medical school.
Matt had chosen his schooling over me, and the result had been a disintegrated marriage. Liam would make the same choice; he had to. He’d promised Roberta. I looked down at my ring.
It was clear where this would lead. Medical school beckoned, and his promise to his dead wife would be fulfilled. And I'd be left here in Boston.
Of course I couldn’t pick up and leave, follow him. He and I had talked about it when we’d discussed my situation with Matt. He knew I wouldn't leave. I'd put so much time and effort into Tiffany's, and I owed Samantha and the rest of the team so much. I couldn't abandon them.
I went into Liam’s office and located a piece of paper. I wrote a note, trying to hold back my tears. I couldn’t do this any longer. I couldn't stay. I wouldn’t continue down the path to another failed relationship where the more I invested, the more I lost.
Reluctantly, I went to the bedroom, took off the ring, and placed it with the note on top of the nightstand on Liam’s side of the bed. Although the bed and both nightstands were his, I had come to think of the bed as ours, and the nightstand on the right as mine. How silly——there was no us. There couldn’t be, not with him leaving. I couldn’t, I wouldn’t, make him choose between me and his promise to Roberta. Whichever way that went would rip him apart.
I gathered my purse, put on my Nikes, and made for the elevator. This was a chickenshit way to leave, but facing Liam would take more strength than I could muster right now. Maybe we could talk in a month or so.
My legs shook as I pushed the down button. The door opened, but I didn’t enter. I went back to the penthouse and unlocked the door.
I took the key off my key ring and placed it next to the ring on my goodbye note. I couldn't have it. I couldn’t be tempted to come back. This had to be a clean and complete break. Only by being strong could I protect my heart. I could send Vivienne back to get my things, right now I had to leave.
I closed the door one last time, and when the elevator doors opened again, I passed into the car and pressed the button to the lobby for the final time.
The shiny stainless doors closed, and the cold of the tiny cab enveloped me. It was only twenty-six floors down, but I knew I was descending from life in the clouds to the real world at street level, where people like me dwelled.
Chapter 31
Liam
My phone showedmissed calls from Nick and Uncle Garth.
After parking back home, I returned Nick’s call.
“It's about time, douchebag,” he said, answering in his normal friendly manner. “What do you have to say for yourself today?”
“I'm a piece of shit.” I hoped we would be ending this ritual soon.
“That's for sure,” he said.
“I'm returning your call, Nick.”
“As much as I hate to do it, I have some good news to give you,” he announced.
