Even when you knew that moment couldn’t last.
Liv leaned back and gazed out the window. The familiar view registered for the first time. She’d been so wrapped up in her conversation with Finn that she hadn’t even noticed they’d taken the Long Acre exit. “What are we doing here? I thought your parents moved.”
“No.” Finn turned into the only swanky neighborhood in Long Acre, Briar Bend. “They rented a place in San Antonio until the media circus died down, but they came back home a few years later. They never sold the house.”
Liv’s stomach flipped over, her contentment from a moment earlier threatening to disintegrate. “Oh, I didn’t realize.”
He glanced over at her, worry marring his brow. “Is that a problem?”
She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “No, I just…I have memories there. Anything tied to that time in my life freaks me out a little. I never know what will trigger a panic attack.”
“Damn, I’m sorry,” he said, regret in his voice. “I didn’t even think. If you don’t want to—”
She lifted a hand. “No, don’t even say it. This is new Liv. Brave Liv. The woman who just walked out of her job mic-drop style. I can handle it. If I feel any anxiety coming on, I’ll find a quiet spot and get it together. I won’t cause a scene.”
“You can cause whatever you need to, but if you feel any signs, come get me,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to do that. I can help talk you down. I’ve been there.”
She nodded and rubbed her palms on her legs. “It’ll be fine.”
She said the words, hoping they’d be true.
* * *
Finn took a bracing breath when he and Liv strode up to the door of the house he’d grown up in. Not much looked like it had changed since the last time he’d visited. There were some new flowers in the front garden and a different welcome mat, but otherwise, it was the house he remembered—a sprawling three-story Texas-style home with stone, dark wood accents, and a wide porch across the front. Down the length of the porch, three rocking chairs that he’d never seen his parents use tilted back and forth in the breeze, creaking their greeting.
“That’s creepy,” Liv said under her breath when she followed his gaze. “I feel like we’re being watched.”
“The ghosts of the Dorsey family’s past,” he said in his best scary voice. “Do not enter if you want to live.”
Liv punched him in the arm. “Shut up. You’re making me want to do the sign of the cross or something.”
He grinned. “You can take the girl out of the church but not the Catholic out of the girl.”
Liv stuck her tongue out at him but then quickly did the sign of the cross, touching her forehead, sternum, and each shoulder. When he raised his eyebrows, she shrugged. “Going to visit your family. I’ll take all the protection I could get.”
He chuckled. “Hopefully it won’t require divine intervention.”
But when he turned to knock on the door, the spot between his shoulders tensed up like he was gearing up for a fight already. He sighed and tried to shake off the feeling. This was going to be fine. It was just a family visit. He gripped the neck of the bottle he had in his right hand and knocked.
There was noise on the other side, and he could hear shoes clicking against hardwood floors. He forced a pleasant look onto his face and snuck a peek at Liv, who looked like she was about to bolt.
The door swung open, and the woman on the other side let out a shriek. His younger sister, Jill, broke into a wide smile and then launched herself at him, a
cloud of auburn hair and girlie perfume. “Finn!”
Finn nearly dropped the bottle as she wrapped him in a fierce bear hug. “Jills.”
The tension he’d been feeling eased a bit at her enthusiasm. He’d had plenty of family drama in his life, but Jill had never been a part of it. Ten years younger than he was, she’d been the surprise baby and the one they’d all shielded. Even his father had doted on her instead of laying down the standard Dorsey family pressure to perform that Finn and his older sister, Katherine, had been subjected to.
Finn leaned back and smiled down at Jill. “I didn’t think you were going to be here. Last I heard, you were studying abroad.”
“I’m home for the summer.” She gave him another quick hug, and then her attention snagged on Liv. “Oh, oops, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you brought someone. Here I am, being all kinds of rude.”
Liv waved her off. “You’re not. I know it’s been forever since you’ve seen Finn. Don’t mind me.”
Jill disentangled herself from Finn and put out her hand to Liv. “I’m Jill, Finn’s sister.”
Liv clasped his sister’s hand, genuine warmth on her face. “Liv Arias, Finn’s…date.”