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At first, I thought he might refuse, but then he gave an almost imperceptible nod. “Yeah, that’d be nice. Ham and cheese?”
“Done.”
He vanished back into the other room, and I went to the kitchen and made a sandwich for him and a few crackers with avocado and tomato for myself. I was curious about what exactly he was doing but didn’t want to check because I didn’t want to risk being alone with him in my bedroom. That would bring back too many memories. And ideas.
I’d finished eating my crackers by the time he returned. He removed the tool belt and placed it by a stack of empty cardboard boxes, which I assumed had held whatever equipment he’d set up around the cottage.
“Thanks,” he said, claiming the sandwich. “I’ll show you where everything is after this, and we can set up the secure server you can use to access the camera footage. You’ll be able to send a link to that security company you mentioned as well.”
“That would be great, thanks.”
The sandwich disappeared in a few large bites, and Liam rubbed his flat stomach. “I needed that.”
“Big day?”
“Not bad, but I ate breakfast early.”
“Ah, right.”
Now that I had him in my temporary home, I so desperately wanted to spill everything to him. The truth about the accident and all that had followed. But I also didn’t want to break our truce. Waiting a little longer for the chance to explain wouldn’t be difficult in the grand scheme of things. I’d waited eleven years, after all.
“Come on.” He stood up and wiped his palms on his jeans. “I’ll show you.”
He gave me a tour of the equipment he’d installed, then waited while I booted up my laptop and showed me how to access the feed. I had to admit, having the additional security measures did make me feel safer.
“Thank you,” I said as I walked him to the door. It was just as well my arms were full of boxes needing to be stashed in the recycling bin or I was afraid I’d hug him. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
He smiled tightly. There was a hint of genuine emotion in his eyes, but he tamped it down. “No problem. Like I said, we’ve been talking about doing it for a while anyway.”
Bullshit.
But I didn’t call him on it. If he wanted to continue the pretense, that was fine by me. One day soon, we’d talk, but it wouldn’t be today.
“Thank you for moving up the timeline, then.”
“You’re okay here?”
What would he do if I said no? I was tempted to find out, but we’d pushed our tentative truce enough for one day.
“Yeah.”
“Good.” He cleared his throat. “Look, if anything happens to scare you, call me.” He raised his eyes, gifting me with another flash of that emotion. “Everyone deserves to be safe in their home. You call, I’ll come.”
My heart gave a pathetic squeeze. I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I just nodded.
Then he was gone.
ChapterTwenty-One
LIAM
We lostsomeone at an accident scene today. He was just a kid. I promised him everything would be all right, then had to watch as the light faded from his eyes. Sometimes life is just really fucking unfair. I wish I could talk to you about it. - Unsent text message from Liam to Kennedy
On my firstshift after Christmas weekend, I arrived at work to find Asher already in the staff room and a holiday-themed romantic comedy starring Kennedy on the television.
“What’s this?” I asked, pouring myself a mug of poorly made instant coffee and pulling a face as I sipped.
Asher slung an arm along the back of the sofa. “I heard Kennedy ran into trouble over the weekend, and you raced in to save her like a white knight.”
