“You kinda were, but that’s not the point of what I’m saying anyway.” Liza spread her open palms as if presenting her point on a silver platter. “I’m saying we can have an understanding that helps us be good colleagues to each other. This is the hand we’ve been dealt, and we can make the best of it.”
Connor turned and moved next to the car door, pressing his torso against it so their faces were close. “Does that mean you’re not going to tell me what happened to you?”
Liza took a step back. “No, I’m not. And I’m not going to expect you to tell me what happened to you. I don’t think that would help either of us do what we’re ultimately here to do. The fact that we know something happened and care that something happened is plenty.”
Connor chewed the inside of his bottom lip. “So, does Riley know what happened to you?”
Liza blinked rapidly. “Why do you think I would tell him about it?”
He hitched a shoulder. “Because y’all are buds.”
She shook her head. “Yeah, but I wouldn’t tell him something like this if I hadn’t told you.”
That made it sound like whatever had happened to her had something to do with him. His stomach twisted, but he remained outwardly neutral. “Why not?”
She lifted her shoulders and let them drop. “It just wouldn’t be right, Connor.”
All of her phrasing about this mysterious occurrence from her past started to alarm him, and Brennan suddenly seemed like a really useful person to have available. Maybe Liza would tell him, and he could tell Connor.
“Yeah, but, you know, Liza…Riley’s a really solid guy. And not thatwe’retalking about the stuff we’ve been through, but he got me through all my shit way back when.” He waved his arm in the direction of Scott and Ophelia’s house. “I mean, all these people did, but it was mostly him. Back when I first met him, he kind of turned his life upside down to make sure he was around constantly in case I needed something. It’s the whole reason we’re friends at all. So if you need someone to talk to about it, he’d be a good—”
“And I’m assuming you would expect him to tell you if I told him.”
God damn it.
She was a friggin’ mind-reader.
“No,” he said defensively. “It’s not like that. Everyone around here is cool. So, you can tell him, or Ophelia, or…y’know…whoever. But you don’t have to tell anyone.”
A plastic smile briefly tugged across her face, but she was staring at her feet. “Good, because I’mnottelling anyone.Especiallynot Brennan, because I know he would tell you. And you don’t get to know things like this about me. Not anymore.”
Her tone was so sharp that it stabbed him straight through the heart, but he managed to hide any reaction. “Okay, then. Fair enough.”
They stood in silence for a moment before she quickly glanced at him, just long enough that he saw the subtle red tinging the rims of her glistening eyes.
What the hell happened to you, sweetheart?he desperately wanted to ask.
Her phrasing continued to alarm him. The way she talked about whatever had happened made it sound like it was either completely unrelated to him crushing their hopes and dreams of a life together, or a direct result of it. And both scenarios just made him feel like a piece of shit, because if it was the former, he should’ve been there to protect her from it.
What was worse, whatever happened to her had been so substantial that it had reduced the memory of their spectacularly intimate relationship to nothing more than afling. And that stung like a mother fucker.
But he deserved it.
After all, it was exactly Connor’s intention when he’d hastily come up with the lie intended to destroy their relationship as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Still leaning against the open car door, Connor draped his arms over it and picked up one of her hands, rubbing his thumb across the back of it. “I hope you know I do care, Liza.”
He was pleased to find that she rubbed her own thumb over his fingertips clasped against her palm and offered a small smile. “I’ll give you that. And I hope you know I care, too.”
“I know.”
The breeze picked up again, fluttering several wisps of her hair into her face, and that time he allowed himself to stroke them away and tuck them behind her ear. She lowered her gaze to the ground and simultaneously dropped his hand before sliding into the driver’s seat and turning on the car.
“I guess I’ll see you Monday,” she said, plugging her phone into a charger and setting it in the console.
“Now hang on.” He crossed around to the other side of the door. “What have you got going on the rest of the day? Brennan and me were gonna go over to the Old Point to watch the game. Luke’s working, and I think Scott might come, too. We could maybe get a jump start on our plans for Oscar.”
Liza pressed her lips together and shifted her gaze. “I’m actually planning to unpack. I finally got my furniture and boxes this week. My place is kind of a mess.”
