Page 87 of Good Graces

“I was?”

I shouldn’t be surprised because I feel ... good. Lighter, somehow. Which doesn’t make sense because none of this is simple.

Quinn and I are still a mess. Too much history, too many questions left hanging. We didn’t fix anything last night. Barely even got started. And still, I woke up calm. Steady in a way I haven’t felt in a long time.

But smiling to myself? That’s some far-gone shit.

“Yeah.” He sips his shake, eyeing me. “So ... you two are back together, then?”

I shake my head slowly. “We’re figuring things out.”

“But youaresleeping together?”

I choke on my cereal, coughing hard enough that Liam has to smack my back.

“Annnd,” I croak, “that’s enough of that.”

He sighs. “But we were just getting to the good part. No one ever wants to talk about the good part.”

That’s the thing about Liam. He’s always throwing out a litany of oddly specific questions, even though we both hate small talk. It’s like he gets a kick out of testing limits, seeing how far he can push before I react.

Maybe that’s why he does it. For fun. For curiosity.

The strange thing is, I don’t really mind.

Liam isn’t easy to get close to. Letting people in doesn’t come naturally to him. But when he does, he’s loyal. The kind of person who’d drive two hours to pick you up off the side of the road or sit beside you in silence for as long as it takes.

When I agreed to move in, I didn’t expect we’d get along like this. But we do. There’s no pressure. No pretending or posturing. Just Liam being exactly who he is. He’s blunt, with no filter to speak of, but there’s no guesswork, either. You always know where you stand.

I don’t think many people really get him. Except Birdie. She sees him in a way most people don’t. The sharp edges, the quiet spells, the way he sometimes says too much or not enough. She just rolls with it, like it’s second nature.

And I get why he holds on to her the way he does.

“Except for Birdie, right?”

He scoffs, like I’m a dipshit for even questioning it. “Well, that goes without saying.”

I glance back at my cereal, stirring the spoon in slow circles. I should probably tell Liam about my plans for later. Make a bit more of an effort. We’re family, even if it doesn’t always feel that way.

And since we’re living together, it makes sense to at least try.

“I was gonna watch the Bobcats game later.”

“Okay,” Liam says, cracking his knuckles like I’d just informed him of the weather. “Cool.”

I wait a beat. “Yeah,” I say slowly. “So . . . I was thinking maybe you’d wanna watch it with me.”

He frowns. “Why?”

I blink at him. “Because . . . I don’t know, man. Thought you might be interested.”

“In football? No, thanks. I’m not really a fan of sports.”

My brows shoot up. “You’re the captain of a D1 soccer team. You’ve been playing since you were two.”

“Right,” he says simply. “I like toplaysports. Particularly ones where you run fast. But I don’t like to watch them.”

I let out a breathless chuckle. “Alright. Whatever, man.”

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