Morgan waved her off, rolling her eyes before dabbing at them distractedly. “It’s fine. I only mention it because if whatever is going on between you and him is real, if it makes you happy, losing him may be way worse than justtalking—figuring out your issues head on.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Sadie responded, considering Morgan with a sideways smile.
“He and I never did that—being dumb kids who grew up to be even dumber adults—and you see howthatturned out for us,” Morgan said with an exaggerated eye roll. “You guys are professionals, though—you educate children, for god’s sake. You don’t have that excuse.”
“That’s unnervingly spot-on advice,” Sadie said with a laugh.
Morgan’s mossy green eyes softened a bit before they flashed with warning. “And don’t tell Annie—or anyone—about me and Cole,” Morgan ordered. “Nobody knows about that, and he’d probably lose his fucking mind if it got out. He’s such adick.” She sneered the last bit out as an afterthought as she returned to glaring at him.
“I won’t tell anyone,” Sadie responded earnestly, coming to attention. “I promise.”
Morgan looked back over at her, her face relaxing into a comforting smile as she held up her seltzer to Sadie pointedly just as Liam apparently summoned the courage to interrupt them.
With a departing smile, Morgan rose from the couch looking Liam up and down as she sauntered toward Ian and Jake.
“Hey,” he said deeply, sitting down next to her on the couch. “How are you?”
“I’m good,” she answered politely, smiling at him reassuringly in an attempt to break up the awkwardness. “How are you?”
“I’m fine,” he answered distractedly, shifting a couple inches closer to her on the couch, his face pulled into an earnest expression. “Sadie, listen, I want to—”
Before he could finish, Ian’s voice rose over the murmur of the crowd, calling out for everyone to quiet down. “They’re coming,” he proclaimed excitedly—well, excitedly for Ian—as he turned off the lights near the front door.
“Let’s go surprise Annie,” Sadie said, looking at Liam knowingly. “We’ll talk later.”
Rising from the couch, they went to wait with the others at the large window in the front of the store. Standing in the dark next to Liam, Sadie looked over at him, covertly studying his profile.
Even in the dark, she could see William Cohen there. Sure, he was taller, broader, more confident, but he had the same easy sweetness and kindness that William had always carried.
After the last month, after being sointimatewith him, why hadn’t she ever recognized him?
Maybe she hadn’t wanted to recognize him. William Cohen was a specter from her past, a sour memory, and a reminder of her mistakes. But Liam Cohen was as real as anyone she currently knew—anyone she loved.
Inching closer to him, she reached her hand over and tangled her fingers with his. His fingers felt warm and familiar as they weaved with hers. She heard him suck in a deep breath as his hand clasped firmly around hers, still not looking over at her. She turned to look out the window and could see Annie and Lena arm-in-arm as they delicately made their way over the slippery paving stones of the Square.
Just as they finally made it to the doorway, Sadie braced herself for the collective celebratory peals of “Surprise!” that would be issued as soon as Annie stepped over the threshold.
Instead of the festive greeting, though, the group took a collective intake of breath as Lena slipped on the ice, and both she and Annie wavered and stumbled for a second before ultimately falling to the ground on top of one another in a tangle of limbs and shrieks.
Alarm rose within Sadie, and Ian and Jake immediately jumped to attention, swinging open the door while the rest of the party moved back a couple steps in the room. Sadie squeezed Liam’s hand, watching them attempt to rise from the ground, and cringed when Ian reached into the room and switched on the light. Annie looked up at the window and saw the group of them standing there, confusion marking her face before understanding dawned on her.
As far as surprise parties went, it wasn’t the smoothest beginning, but that seemed to be a pretty consistent theme lately.
As Annie and Lena made their way into the room, Sadie and Liam took a couple of wide steps back toward the edge of the room near the door. The room trembled with nervous energy as Annie and Lena were inspected for harm, each taken to a separate leather couch.
They both looked like they were fine, just recovering from having their breath knocked out of them by the force of the fall. Sadie made brief eye contact with Annie, who offered her a reassuring smile, but she thought it may be better to talk to her later once things had calmed down.
“Do you want to go outside and get some air?” she asked suddenly, looking at Liam questioningly.
“Yeah,” he responded succinctly, meeting her eyes with a conviction she wished she felt.
After they grabbed their coats from the coat rack and stepped outside into the frigid but festive atmosphere of the Square, Sadie felt her heart rate pick up, remembering what Morgan had advised her.I need to get this over with. It’s for the best that I face the music.
Although it was dark outside, there were bright lights shining out of the storefronts and twinkling lights strung around the perimeter of the open-air pedestrian area. The lights of The Golden Carafe, the local coffee shop located near Explore Lake Conrad, were especially cozy as Sadie pulled Liam into the narrow alleyway between the two buildings.
“Okay, I’m ready,” she said, bracing herself and looking at him decisively. It was freezing outside, and she could already feel the chill from the alley seeping through her clothes and shoes. “Just tell me what you want to tell me—let me have it.”
He looked at her speculatively for a couple of beats. “I thought I was getting myself ready foryouto letmehave it?”