Trusting Liam(67)

Kristi’s pissed-off expression disappeared when I finished, and was replaced with wide eyes that were filled with shock. But she never said anything. No one did.

“Yeah. So there’s the whole story. Have fun with that.” Without another word, I turned and walked out of my parents’ house. No one tried to stop me, not like they could have after everything that had just gone down in those few minutes. And now that I’d just told the entire story, I was right back where I’d been for the last month.

Hurting. Frustrated. And waiting. Always waiting.

November 30

Kennedy

“DID YOU NOTICE the way Kristi kept looking at you today?” Kira asked as we walked up to our condo.

“Yes! You noticed it too?”

Kira gave me a look and laughed. “Kind of hard not to. She looked like she couldn’t figure out what to say to you, so she just kept telling me everything.”

“Oh well. At least she doesn’t look like she wants to kill me anymore. I wonder what changed.” I was about to put the key in the door, but stopped and looked at Kira with wide eyes. “Do you think . . . do you think Liam is seeing someone?”

“No. No way. If he were, Kristi would be throwing it in your face after how she’s been acting the last month.” Kira didn’t look worried about the possibility that Liam had found someone, but when she saw my face, her expression softened. “Have you talked to him?”

I shrugged. “I’ve tried. Whenever I call him or text him, the first thing he asks is if I’ve decided yet. When I tell him I’m still trying to, he says, ‘I’ll be here,’ and then hangs up . . . or stops responding.”

Kira suddenly looked uncomfortable, but before I could question her expression, she asked, “And are you getting any closer to deciding?”

I thought about that for a minute, and finally said, “If I had to make a decision right now, I know who I would choose. But whenever I think about making the decision, I feel like I’m still not giving Rhys the chance he deserves—so I don’t.”

“It’s been more than a month,” she reminded me.

“I know,” I groaned. “I know it has. I really need to spend some time actually talking with Rhys . . . I’ve been ignoring him even when I’m near him.”

Kira didn’t respond; she just nodded her head as she turned to face straight ahead.

Unlocking the door, I pushed it open and followed Kira inside. A few steps in, she turned to look at me with wide eyes.

“Smells good in here,” I mumbled.

“It does,” she agreed, and turned toward the living room.

It wasn’t uncommon for the condo to smell alarmingly good. Rhys had nothing to do all day, and was still on paid leave for another month from the department to regroup from his time undercover, so we often came home to a clean house. Once he explained how he’d been living for four years, and how, now that he was away from that life, he felt like nothing was ever clean enough, I’d stopped asking him not to clean, and let him do what he wanted.

“Wow,” Kira said in amazement when she rounded the corner to look into the kitchen. “What is all this?”

“Oh, wow!” I echoed when I looked into the kitchen. There were plates and bowls filled with amazing-looking food, and Rhys was standing in front of the sink rinsing off what looked like the last of the dishes he’d been using. “Where did this come from?”

“I made it,” he answered with a nonchalant shrug. “I went to the store today and bought enough food to stock up the pantry and fridge.”

I glanced over at Kira, who was looking in the pantry, then looked back at Rhys in awe. “Really? You didn’t have to do that. It must have cost so much.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this so full,” Kira whispered from where she was now standing in front of the refrigerator.

“You didn’t let me help pay any of the bills from last month. I had to do something.”

“Because you sleep on the couch and clean all the time!”

Rhys smiled. “Kennedy, that does not come close to equaling out.”

“Wait,” I said, and held up a hand. “How did you get to the store to buy all of this?”

Kira turned to Rhys for his response, but quickly moved her eyes away and looked down at the food.

“Uh, I went and bought a truck today.”

“You bought a truck?” Kira asked, her voice and face showing her excitement.

“How?” I asked again.

Rhys’s smile turned sarcastic. “Well, I picked it out, signed the papers, and drove it back here. But if you’re asking how I could afford it, you have to remember I came back to four years of back pay with absolutely nothing that I needed to pay for except my ticket here.”