I sighed. “Liam is… I don’t know. Liam’s fine.”
“You’re doing it again. What happened after we left Friday?”
“Oh, man. I don’t even know what happened with Deaghlan.” So much had happened. Seeing the girl at The Bean Counter and the mall.
“Is that normal? I got the impression you talk to Liam a lot.”
“No, you’re right. I talk to him all the time. It’s just…something else happened.” It was so strange talking to Ethan about this. I was finding it hard to put everything into words. But at the same time it felt sort of amazing to have someone I could talk to about it.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, yeah.” I licked my lips, trying to think of how to say it. “When Nic and I went out for lunch yesterday, there was this girl there. She looked so much like Aoife that I thought for a second I was done for. I mean, she could have just…I don’t know, killed me or compelled me or something.”
“Did she do anything to you?”
“What? No. I snapped out of it and realized it wasn’t Aoife. But I know she has a daughter and this was her. She was following me.” I had to take a deep breath. My heart was racing just remembering.
“Aoife is the one who put the curse on your…on Liam?”
“Yeah. I guess she had a baby, Liam’s baby, and never even told him. I don’t really understand how it all worked out. But she’s here in Stoneville for some reason. And we had to tell Liam today. I think he’s still in shock. Well he was when I left his house earlier.”
“Listen, is it okay if I come over?”
“Yeah. I mean, of course.”
“Okay, give me ten minutes and I’ll be there.”
He hung up and I just stared at the phone, dumbstruck. Ethan was being my friend. He wanted me to trust him. Just last week he’d been giving me the cold shoulder and this was… My shoulders slumped. Who was I kidding? This was exactly what I needed.
I put my enormous statistics textbook and binder into my backpack. I was grateful I had this weekend off, or I’d never have been able to keep up with my homework. Maybe Gram was right, maybe I did need to consider taking some time off from work.
I went downstairs, walked into the living room and froze. Liam was sitting on the couch in between my mother and Gram.
Pop was in his recliner laughing at something Liam was telling Gram. My mother was staring at his hands as he gestured while he spoke. She looked completely at ease.
“Hey Liam,” I said, glancing between him and my grandmother.
“Oh, hello Allison. I was just telling your grandmother about the squirrel at my bird feeder. The little rascal isn’t leaving any seed for the birds.”
My brows rose. “Really? Poor birds.” I shook my head. He sure knew how to charm my grandparents. They could go on for hours about birds and what happened at the feeders.
“I’m just going for a walk, get some fresh air. I have my phone if you need me,” I said, smiling.
“I’d love a walk. Mind if I join you?” Liam stood, his hand lifting to pat my mother’s knee. Because of the geis Aoife placed on him, he wasn’t able to touch her. It was as if his hand hit an invisible force field and he dropped it before backing away.
“Lovely to see you Mrs. O’Malley, Mr. O’Malley. Elizabeth.” He nodded and spun on his heel before following me to the door.
Once the door had shut behind us, I laughed and sat down on the porch steps “They’ll try to adopt you if you talk bird watching with them.”
“Oh, that? Well, I’m glad they like me.” Liam walked down the steps and turned back to face me. “It’s…wonderful just to be near your mother.”
A feeling of calm spread over me and I felt myself smiling.
“Ethan’s on his way over. I haven’t really talked to him since Friday.”
Liam ran a hand over his hair and blew out a sigh. “Do you think he’s okay with things?”
“Define ‘okay.’ I mean, he seems to be fine. He doesn’t think I’m crazy at least.”
“That’s good. I’m sorry about my behavior earlier,” he said, sinking down next to me. As you might imagine it came as quite a shock.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it did. I just wish we knew what Samantha wants. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
“I would imagine she wants what anyone would want. To know why her father was never around.” He covered his face with his hands and shook his head.
“Hey, I came around didn’t I?” I said, nudging his shoulder. “We’ll make sure she understands.”