Liam steps into my hospital room tentatively, holding a small bouquet of multicolored flowers. Madison shoots him a dirty look, but she steps aside to let him in. He steps towards my bed, holding out the flowers. “Hey. These are for you. The florist said it was, um, a summer assortment.”
“Thank you,” I say stiffly. “You can put them on thewindowsill.”
As he places the assortment next to all the others, I flash back to the last time I saw him. He was crouched in front of his mother’s car, his shirt caked in drying blood, and he was coaxing me out of the car to take me into the hospital. He was so gentle with me. It was exactly what I needed.
He drops his eyes. “I’m really glad you’re okay,” he says.
I study Liam’s features. I noticed five days ago that he had a black eye, and it’s mostly faded by now, but I can still see slight bruising. “What happened to your face?”
He laughs and touches his cheekbone. “That? Oh, it’s nothing.”
“So tell me.”
“Um, Tyler punched me when he thought I was the one who…”
“Oh.”
I only heard a little bit about what happened while I was missing. It sounds like the whole town believed Liam was the one who kidnapped me. The police actually arrested him and took him to jail. While I was locked up, so was he.
“How is your family doing?” I ask.
The smile disappears from Liam’s face. “Shitty. My mother cries a lot.”
“Do you miss him?”
I hold my breath, waiting for an answer. During the days Jason Cass had me trapped in that hole, I grew to despise him. But I can’t forget he’s Liam’s dad. If I found out my dad was a murderer, would I hate him? It’s hard to imagine.
“I don’t know, Olivia,” he says. “He lied to all of us. There were other women, you know. A lot of others. The police aren’t even sure how many… honestly, it makes me sick to think about it.”
I suck in a breath, realizing that if Hannah hadn’t followed her father that night, I would have joined his long list of victims. And Jason Cass probably would’ve gotten away with it. Liam may very well have taken the fall.
“I didn’t even know him,” Liam says. “How can I miss him if I didn’t know who he was? None of us knew.”
I nod. “I know what you mean.”
One corner of his lips quirk up. “Anyway, I’m sure Madison will burst in here any minute to throw me out. And I know for a fact your mom will kill me if she finds me here. So… I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. And now I better go.”
I look up at him. I keep remembering that moment when he jumped into the hole to save me. Nobody has ever done anything like that for me before. I don’t care what kind of person his father was, Liam is very different. He’s agood person. He’s a hero.
And also, that nurse was right. Heisvery cute. And I still get a little tingle in my lips, remembering how it felt when he kissed me.
“Hey,” I say.
He lifts an eyebrow at me. “Yes?”
“When I get out of here,” I say, “maybe you’ll let me take you out for vanilla milkshakes.”
His eyes widen. “Really?”
“Well,” I say, “I want to thank you for saving my life.”
A slow grin spreads across his face. “I’d be okay with that.”
I shrug, but I’m grinning too. “So it’s a date?”
“Okay.” He nods vigorously. “It’s a date.”
And we can’t stop smiling at each other.
