My throat was thick with anticipation as I watched him and he watched the river, the steep line of his nose and sharp angles of his jaw illuminated by the moon.
“That year of my life passed in the blink of an eye,” he said. “And everything was perfect.”
Liam fell silent for so long, I wondered if that was the end of the story, if that was all he was going to tell me, before he shook his head and took a long pull of wine. He stared at the bottle hanging in his hands between his knees before he glanced over at me.
“I’ve never told this to anyone,” he said softly. “No one who wasn’t a part of it, anyway. Who wasn’t there when it all happened.”
“You don’t have to tell me. If it’s too hard.”
“No,” he said quickly. “A deal is a deal. I know that was far from easy for you back there,” he added, nodding toward the city. “If you can do that, I can face my demons.”
“I just had to sit there, though. I didn’t have to speak.”
“You had to put the most vulnerable part of yourself on display,” he amended, his eyes catching mine. “Don’t diminish what a big deal that was.”
I nodded, falling quiet again as Liam cracked his neck and looked out over the river.
“My little brother, James, was my best man. He’s four years younger than me, so he wasn’t even old enough to drink at the time, but I made sure he knew he was expected to throw me an epic bachelor party. I wanted to golf all day and party all night. I wanted expensive steak, and even more expensive strippers. And even though it wasn’t his style, James came through and delivered on everything. A week before the wedding, he rented a limo for the day, and we all piled in and had the best time of our lives doing everything on my list.”
Liam swiped his hand over his face, gripping his jaw tight and shaking his head over and over. It took everything I had not to speak as the silence stretched longer and longer, but I knew just from watching him that it was difficult to speak about. So, I gave him the space to feel through it at his own pace.
“It was late when we wrapped up,” he said after a long while, his voice as unsteady as his breath. “Half of the guys were passed out in the limo, the other half were drinking and carrying on like the night had just begun. It was a great group, the bachelor party. My dad was there, and Julie’s dad, too. My brother and her brother. My three closest friends from UConn.”
He paused, rolling his lips together as his gaze fell between his knees.
“I remember looking around that limo and thinking how lucky I was. I was studying at my dream school, preparing for my dream job, days away from marrying my dream girl, and weeks away from buying my dream house. I’d made my dad proud. My little brother looked up to me. All my friends thought I had it made, and I did. I really did.”
Liam ran a hand back through his hair, blowing out a breath.
“I was sitting at the head of the limo, closest to where the driver was, just looking around at all these guys who meant so much to me. They were all there to celebrate me, to share in this huge life milestone. I’d thought about it so many times, what my bachelor party would be like, and here it was coming to a close. I was on a high. It was the best night of my life.”
He scrubbed a hand over his jaw, and in the moonlight, I saw his eyes gloss over, his next words strained with emotion.
“I was looking directly across the limo at where my little brother sat, half-asleep, with a lazy smile on his face as he tried to stay up. I remember I was about to call out something to him about not falling asleep. And I remember Dad was telling a golf story to Julie’s dad, and Julie’s brother was laughing about something with my fraternity brothers. I can see everything about that moment like it was frozen in time, like it was the longest split second of my life…” He swallowed. “And in the next instant, we were hit.”
My heart stopped in my chest, blood running cold.
“A drunk driver T-boned us,” he explained further, and every word seemed to burn him from the inside out. He spoke slower and slower, each syllable riding out on a shaky breath. “I must have closed my eyes because all I remember is being thrown around like a rag doll. It felt like hitting the biggest pothole to ever exist. I couldn’t control anything. We were all at the mercy of gravity because not a single one of us was wearing a seatbelt. Something hit my head and then… there was nothing. It was just black and silent. I thought I was dead.” He swallowed. “And when I woke up in the hospital, I wished I was dead. But the truth was much worse.” He turned, eyes meeting mine. “I was the only one who survived.”