The One For Me(42)

Silence. “Who is this?” he asks.

“My name is Katy Taylor. I…I’m Liam Erickson’s…friend. Is she there?” I ask.

“Who did you say you were friends with?” the boy asks. I hear a few people talking in the background.

“Liam Erickson,” I whisper, my voice cracks. Saying his name again makes my stomach churn. Should I go behind his back? Should I even be doing this?

“Can you hold a moment, please?”

“Sure.” I haven’t noticed but I’m pacing the room, my nail in my mouth. There are a few whispers on the other end and a ruffling sound. My heart is beating loudly. I flop on my bed and nibble on the remainder of my cookie.

“Hello,” I hear.

I toss my cookie to the side and sit up. “Hi…um…is this Mary Beth?”

“Yes, it is. You know my son? Liam,” she says. Her voice is smooth like honey. I smile into the phone. I wonder if Liam looks like her. I’ve never saw his Dad so I really wouldn’t know.

“Yes, I know him.” Very well. “Did you get the letter we sent?” I ask.

“Um, no honey I didn’t. What…where is he? Does he know you’re calling me? Is he there with you?”

“Um, no. He doesn’t exactly know I’m calling. I’m not even sure he would want me to. I just know that he found the letters. His step-mom was hiding them. We wrote you one back; he said he was going to send it. I figured it would be back to you by now.”

I hear a sob. “Is there any way you could get in touch with him for me?”

“I have his phone number; he isn’t talking to me right now. But, I’d be willing to give it to you. He wants to see you. He really does. Do you want to call him?”

She sniffles. “I think I have a better idea. Would you be willing to help me out?”

I nod then realize she can’t see me. “Of course I would,” I say. “Anything for Liam.”





Chapter Ten



My hands are shaking. I glance around the airport lounge. I don’t know who I’m looking for. Only that she is in her forties and she has a son. Liam won’t answer my phone calls or texts. I’m not sure how the hell I’m going to pull this off. Liam won’t agree to meet me anywhere. He doesn’t even answer me. So, here I am at the airport meeting his mother and younger brother. My leg is tapping nervously on the concrete floor. Their plane has landed. I jump up and stand on my tip-toes.

“Jeez, where are they?” I ask.

I step onto one the seats and look out over the crowd of people. I cup my palm over my eyebrows to block out the light. Maybe I should make a sign? No, how lame.

I sigh, bringing my hand down to check my phone. No new messages. That has been the only thing my phone can tell me for the past three weeks. It’s kind of depressing. I turn to my right and do a double take. A boy with dark black hair is looking around. I frown. Now I’m seeing Liam everywhere. His eye catches mine. They’re grey. I lift and eyebrow and he smiles.

Am I flirting with a stranger that looks like Liam…wait could that be his brother? I notice a small dark haired woman staring at me. I wave. I hope that’s them.

“Katy?” she mouths over the sea of people.

I nod. “That’s me,” I yell. I jump down off the chair and wade my way through the people. “Hi,” I say, when I get close enough they can hear me. “It’s so nice to meet you two.” I bite back a smile.

“You, too, sweetie.” His mom hugs me.

“I’m Brian,” the Liam look alike says.

“You look so much like Liam it’s scary. Except,” I look down at his nicely washed Nike shoes. “You’re much more preppy than he is.”

He waves me off and flashes a smile. “Mom made me wear this, this is so totally not what I would pick out to wear.”

I laugh.

“No, he would wear those grungy ugly boots.”

Boots. Something inside of me hurts.

“So, where is Liam?” she asks.

“Well, about that. He doesn’t know you’re here.”

“He still isn’t answering?” she asks. “What should we do then?”

I slap my sides. “Well, I know where he lives. That’s our best bet.”

His mom looks worried. “Well, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. I mean Luke…will Luke, I mean his dad be there?”

I see the worried look in her eyes. They are grey. Liam must get his looks from his Mom. “He is never there. We should go,” I say.

Brian looks down at his mom. “Yeah, Mom, we didn’t travel all this way to not see him. We should totally go.” He waits on her answer. She nods. “Lead the way.”