27
“Now, take your girl Katie over there, for example,” Liam explained to Billy Mac as he shoveled a hamburger onto the boy’s plate. They were standing on the grass outside the Teens in Action center on Tuesday evening, where Liam found himself grilling hamburgers and hot dogs. The pretty teenager named Katie was sitting at a picnic table reading a book, as usual.
“She ain’t my girl,” Billy said quickly.
“Aye, well, not yet. But see how those lads near her are yelling like banshees and swearing like sailors?” He jerked his chin toward a group of teenage boys shoving each other and posturing nearby. “Does she look impressed? No. Because they’re acting like bloody fools. If you want to get the attention of a girl like her and reel her in, you have to use your brain.” Liam turned to the next kid in the dinner line, filling his plate.
He’d only come tonight to look for Billy, because he knew the boy sometimes showed up for free food, and Liam had wanted to thank Billy for helping Cora yesterday. Now that he was free to go back to work, he’d thought to spend the evening celebrating, but somehow, he’d been roped into volunteering at the barbecue grill. He wasn’t half-bad at it, either. Who knew?
“Easy for you to say,” Billy mumbled between bites of hamburger. “What does that even mean, ‘use your brain’ to reel her in?”
“You have to figure out her interests. Find things you have in common with each other.” Liam flipped another burger on the grill. “She’s always reading, right? So, think about what you could do to put yourself in her path. Who manages the library section in the center? Maybe you could help shelve the books.”
Billy gave a long-suffering eye roll. “Books.”
“Yes, books,” Liam said with a laugh. “You’d be surprised how far you can get with the ladies when it comes to discussing books. I once knew a girl who was obsessed with seashells from the ocean. She had a great book filled with illustrations of them.”
“So, what? You just walked up to her and started talking about shells?” Billy didn’t seem very impressed.
“No, I accidentally stepped on one of her seashells and cut my foot. Then she had to bandage me up, and that’s what got us talking. Then she showed me a library full of books, and that’s how it all began.”
Billy seemed to consider it. “That’s how you got the girl?”
If only it had been that simple. “That’s how we became friends.”
Billy took one more look at Katie, then turned away. “I guess I’ll think about it.”
Liam watched him wander off to hang with some of the boys playing video games. All Billy needed was a bit more confidence, but that wasn’t something you could force. The kid was smart, resourceful and loyal as hell. If Liam had been around to watch his nephews grow up, he imagined they’d have been a lot like Billy. Maybe Liam would stick around the center more often to keep an eye on him. Maybe. If he had nothing else going on, of course.
A Mini Cooper drove into the parking lot, and Liam handed the spatula to one of the volunteers. “If you don’t mind, I need to take a quick break.” He headed toward the edge of the lot, feeling jumpy and nervous. Billy’s decision to play video games with the boys suddenly seemed like a good plan, but Liam stood his ground. He wasn’t a green schoolboy, dammit.
Cora got out of her car and began walking toward him with a tentative smile on her face. She was wearing jeans, boots and a fitted T-shirt, but the image was superimposed with the faded memory of the girl in silk dresses from a lifetime ago. She was different now, stronger and much more confident, but her spirit hadn’t changed. At her core, she would always be the sparkling, kindhearted woman who’d bandaged the foot of a thief who didn’t deserve it.
“When you texted me your location, I didn’t expect you to be here,” she said, stopping in front of him.
“Well, the pubs all kicked me out for bad behavior, so I had nothing else to do.”
“Right. And volunteering for underprivileged kids was your only other option.”
“It was either that or rob a bank, so I thought I’d try being the good guy for a change.”
The teasing glint in her eyes faded. “Liam, I know you’re not a bad person. I never thought you were an actual suspect, even if Captain Thompson might’ve been considering it.”
“I’m not a very good person, Cora,” he said as they walked across the grass to stand under a shady tree. “I lied to you, and it wasn’t right.”
“You did lie, and it hurt me.”
A pang of remorse crashed over him. “I’m sorry. For all of it, Cora. I know it’s no excuse, but I wanted so much for you to lo—to like me. It wasn’t right to keep my relationship with Margaret from you. And it was stupid of me to take credit for the things Finn did. I guess I just wanted to endear myself to you in any way I could. When your father first introduced us, I knew that I was nothing more than a stranger to you, and I hated that. I hated it because I felt like we’d known each other for so much longer. Like we were connected way before any of this. I know that has to sound crazy.” He ran his hands through his hair, tugging at the roots. Why did this have to be so goddamned hard?
“Not crazy,” she said softly. “I feel the same way, even though it makes no sense. Sometimes I have these weird dreams about us, and they’re so vivid, but when I try to focus on them, they fade away. But they’re not dreams in the normal sense. They’re more like...memories.”
Liam’s heart stumbled to a halt, then leaped into a gallop.
She stared off into the distance for a moment, then gave him an odd look. “Do you believe in past lives?”
Sweet God almighty.Adrenaline rocketed through his veins in a heady rush of pure joy. He barely restrained himself from pulling her into his arms. She was remembering! He opened his mouth to spill his heart out to her, to tell her how much he loved her and missed her. Angels and heaven and hell, be damned, because this was Cora. His Cora. The girl he loved. The girl who loved him back—
“But I know that’s so stupid,” she said with a self-conscious laugh. “I don’t believe in any of that woo-woo stuff. Maybe I just felt those things because we’ve been in such close proximity, with the working and living situation.”