Page 34 of Love Under Review

When she didn’t finish, he prompted, “Your father? Where is he?” From the pink tinging his cheeks, he looked like he regretted saying anything.

She smiled, hoping to help him feel at ease with the topic. While she’d held back a lot when it came to love, her mother had never outright bashed her father for the choice he made so long ago. That was probably why she didn’t feel like she should hold a grudge.

“Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t even have memories of him because he left when I was young. It’s just been me and my mom ever since. There are things I do and wonder if it’s just to prove something to my father. It’s irrational, I know, since I don’t know where he is.”

“Do you wish you knew your father?” Liam asked, popping a chip into his mouth.

She paused. “I don’t really know. I have days where I think of looking him up, and then others where I think he missed out.”

Liam’s eyebrows cinched together, and he reached forward, covering her hand with his. A warmth filled her, and she could only stare at their hands joined together.

“I just hope that when a situation arises, I’ll choose differently than he did.”

“You mean leaving?”

Danielle nodded, taking a swig of her fruit drink. “I understand feeling antsy about wanting to go somewhere, but if you have a family, that’s the commitment you made. Work together to make plans to go places. Don’t just take off and leave the rest of the ones you love just because you need to spread your wings.”

“Is that you talking from an experience other than your dad? An ex-boyfriend who wronged you?”

Danielle’s laugh was more exaggerated than usual. “No boyfriends, just a lot of one-time dates. And my job allows me an interesting perspective on people.”

“Is that why you don’t want to call this a date?” Liam asked, the corners of his mouth turning up.

“Maybe. Sometimes it just takes the pressure off if you don’t refer to things as a date. Any ex-girlfriends in your closet?” She took the last bite of her sandwich and crumpled up the paper, throwing it softly at Liam. He picked it up and threw it back at her, causing her to giggle.

Liam laughed and then coughed, pounding on his chest. He took a drink of his sports drink and said, “I’ve dated.”

She hesitated a moment, thinking he was going to continue. When he didn’t, she said, “But that doesn’t tell me anything. Was there someone special in New York?” She looked at him with her head tipped down, causing a smile to form.

“I dated a woman named Tawnee for about two years.”

Danielle opened her bag of chips and popped one into her mouth. When she saw he wasn’t going to continue, she said, “And?”

Liam laughed, tearing a few blades of grass and throwing them at her. “And she lied.” His mouth closed, and she thought she was going to have to annoy him into telling, when he spoke again.

“I realize now how incompatible we were, but it took a lot to wake me up. I’d lost my parents and then Kara’s husband, Cory. For a while, I just dated girls, making sure there were no real expectations. But then I was ready to settle down. Tawnee and I started dating, and things were great for a while, until she forged my signature for us to appear on a reality show.”

Danielle paused with a chip almost to her lips. “Did they start filming?”

Liam nodded. “One of the producers came and said I’d forgotten to sign one of the release forms, and the story began to unravel. That was about eight months before I decided to move here.”

Danielle had heard a lot of things, but going behind a boyfriend’s back to sign papers for a reality show was a new one. Changing the subject, she said, “Favorite memory.”

“I used to love when we’d go to a Colorado Rockies game as a family. We’d drive over once a year and buy peanuts and popcorn and hot dogs, usually sitting out in the outfield. I always brought my glove, and one time I actually caught a guy’s homerun. I thought that was the greatest thing to ever happen.”

“And what about now? Do you still have the ball?”

He nodded, his smile faltering a bit. “Yeah, I think it’s in storage. I’ll have to find a spot for it one day.” He looked down, and something about his demeanor told her the subject was over for now. After several seconds, he looked up. “What about you? What’s your favorite memory?”

Danielle scanned the trees surrounding them. She thought of the people in the town, of all the ones who’d helped her learn and grow through the years. But most of all, she thought of her mother.

“I don’t really have one memory but a whole mashup of them. My mother is pretty much the most amazing person I’ve ever known. She’s so selfless, and as I think about all the things she’s ever done for me, I realize how much she’s sacrificed, how much she wanted me to have a better life than she had.”

“She’s amazing, for sure. She’s always asking how I’m doing.”

Danielle took a sip of her drink. “I just wish I could do something to make her life easier. She won’t let me pay her mortgage while I’m here, and I haven’t had to do laundry yet when it’s magically folded on my bed. She’s a saint, and I feel so bad that I haven’t always acknowledged that in her.”

“Sacrifices are part of the territory when it comes to the people we love. Has she ever dated anyone since your father left?” Liam’s eyes locked onto hers, and Danielle felt the same feeling she had when an airplane took off—that whoosh of something in her stomach.

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