Page 36 of Liam

“You guys know each other?” Lincoln asks, taking a fry from Liam’s tray.

“We all went to school together, dipshit,” the girl says, and it only takes a few seconds for recognition to hit. Julie Andrews and I were casual friends, as was almost everyone in a town as small as ours. “But we mainly knew each other through our brothers’ baseball, right?”

I nod, agreeing. Julie’s brother is the sole reason Roman didn’t get as many minutes as he’d like. To be fair, her brother was a hell of a lot better than mine. Hence why he’s a pro now, and Roman isn’t. “How is Jake?” I ask. “Does he like St. Louis?”

“He loves it,” she replies. “And Roman? Swear, he was half the reason I even watched Jake play.”

My brother spent most of the time on the bench. “What?”

Julie rolls her eyes. “Your brother’s hot, Addie. Like, really?—”

“I’m right here,” Lincoln chimes in, shaking his head.

Julie giggles just as Barb arrives, and while they place their orders, I peer over at Liam. He’d been playing with the fidget clicker since I gave it to him, but he isn’t now. In fact, it’s the most relaxed I’ve seen him, possibly ever. He’s still holding the toy, his grasp loose around it as he casually sits back, arm resting on the table.

I wait for Barb to leave before turning to Lincoln. “Did Liam tell you we’d be here?”

Julie answers for him “He was just driving past, then looked around like his spidey senses were kicking in, and went, ‘Liam’s at the diner!’”

“Youfelthis presence?” I ask, eyes wide.

“It’s so weird how he does it, Addie. One time?—”

“Wait,” Liam interrupts. “You were driving?”

Lincoln glances up at the ceiling as if it’s the most fascinating thing in the world.

“Whose car?”

Lincoln sighs.

“Motherfucker,” Liam murmurs, reaching into his pocket. He pulls out his wallet, checking for something, then glares up at his twin. “Give it back.”

Lincoln sighs louder, grabbing his own wallet and pulling out a license. He hands it to Liam, orbackto Liam, who slides the card where it belongs.

“I don’t know why you don’t just get your license,” Liam says.

“When I can just use yours?” Lincoln shrugs. “Pass.”

“And quit driving my truck.”

“Why?” Lincoln scoffs. “No one else does.” He pauses a beat. “Hey! Who am I?I need to buy a new truck because everyone else has a truck, but then I won’t use it because I prefer riding around in a twenty-year old pile of metal.”

Liam chuckles, crossing his arms. “I like the van. It’s nostalgic.”

“Nostalgic? How?”

“Quit deflecting.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck off.”

“Get fucked.”

“Stop stealing my license.”

For the next few minutes, the twins go back and forth about all thewhat ifsof Lincoln driving around using Liam’s ID. Somehow, this leads to a heated argument about identical twins’ DNA and Lincoln’s plans to murder someone, just to pin it on Liam. They only stop bickering when Barb returns with more food.

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