Liam sent Jude a little finger wave.
Jude’s lips twitched as he resumed heading in Liam’s direction. “I wasn’t expecting to see you this morning.”
Liam pushed his bottom lip out. “Does that mean you didn’t miss me?”
Jude chuckled. “You’re the one that tracked me down. Shouldn’t I be asking you that question?”
“I want to be friends,” Liam blurted out.
“I would like that too,” Jude said with a smile.
“Really?” It couldn’t be this easy. The last time they’d talked, Jude had seemed like he never wanted to see or talk to Liam ever again.
Jude huffed before he dropped to sit beside Liam. “I’m very sorry for not telling you that I could hear you inside your house.”
Liam snorted. “I’m not really worried about that. It did get me cookies, after all.” The very yummy cookies. Cookies could solve most of the world’s problems, in Liam’s opinion.
“It did,” Jude agreed.
“So, we can be friends?” Liam asked. This was really a good thing. The best thing. “And you’ll still make me lemonade?” He really missed the lemonade.
“I will keep you in lemonade, sunscreen, and make sure you learn how to build a proper sandcastle,” Jude promised.
Liam grinned. He couldn’t wait to tell Nicky! Or maybe he would tease Nicky a little. His bestie was a bit of a brat. Liamcould get some revenge because he knew that Nicky had totally cheated when they played cars.
“And you get to tell me all about your books,” Jude told him.
“My books?” Liam swallowed hard. What about his books? Liam had purposely been vague.
“The gay kinky books you write.” Jude smirked.
“You know about those?” Uh-oh. Wait! This could be a good thing. Liam hated hiding anything.
Jude gently grabbed Liam’s hand. “Because of you I reached out to my oldest and dearest friend.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.” Jude squeezed his fingers. “I’ve haven’t spoken to my best friend, my old teammates, anyone who knew Sam in ten years.”
He gasped without really meaning to. “What?”
“Yeah, I was fucked-up for a long time after Sam died,” Jude admitted.
Liam clung to their joined hands with his other one. That had to be the biggest understatement ever made.
“Okay, I’m still fucked-up,” Jude confessed. “For the first time in longer than I can remember I don’t want to be this way.”
Had he done that? Liam was pretty damn proud of himself.
“I can see the cockiness,” Jude teased. “Yes, it is because of you. Law came by yesterday. We talked for hours. Caught up.”
Law. That was the name of Jude’s mysterious visitor? “Did you talk about me?” Liam was dying to know.
Jude narrowed his eyes as he pressed his lips flat.
“You did!” Liam exclaimed. Ha, that made Liam very happy.
“You might have come up,” Jude admitted.
