Page 38 of Love Under Review

“Ah, Danielle. How are things? Did Holly ring you up?” she asked, carrying a tray to the booth right behind her.

“Yep.” She paused a moment before she asked, “Hey, has Liam been in here today?”

Velda set down all the plates and turned back to her. “Liam Pearson? No, I haven’t seen him the past few days, actually. Which is odd. He usually brings Cari here for a meal at least once every couple of days.”

Panic constricted her airway, and she leaned forward. He wouldn’t have just left. With the bookstore and his sister and niece, it’s not like he’d be running back to New York on a whim. Maybe Kara had a treatment he’d forgotten to mention.

She shook her head, realizing how attached she was getting to Liam. As much as it felt right, the thought scared her. What if he did decide to go back to his old life? Would he be like her father and just walk out?

Pushing those thoughts out of her mind, she tried to be rational. He’d set up a bookstore in town, and with his sister still getting treatments, he wouldn’t just up and leave. His absence had to be because of his sister.

Danielle had given Becca a hard time about being scared of people leaving her life, but most of hers had left unintentionally, when her family died in a car crash on their way to her college graduation. There was so much more fear for Danielle, as the people she’d loved had walked out of her life. The connection she’d felt over the past weeks between her and Liam was getting stronger, and she thought about their near kiss almost constantly. The girl who’d promised herself she wouldn’t get involved was falling hard and fast.

But did Liam feel the same?

Twisting her spoon in the ice cream, she took a large bite, doing her best to stop a brain freeze from forming. With the diner only sparsely populated at the moment, she pulled her phone out to scroll through posts.

Opening her email, she saw an email in her author inbox, the wordsLiam Pearsonbolded. Her heart skipped a beat, and she saw that what she’d hoped wouldn’t happen had, in fact, come to pass.

Touching the screen of her phone, she took a breath, hoping it wasn’t what she knew it would be.

Dear MK Malone,

My name is Liam Pearson, and I own a bookstore in a small town in Colorado called Sage Creek. We have several fans who love your books, and I’ve had to reorder the first book at least three times in the last month.

I know it’s a long shot, but we have authors come and speak as often as I can arrange, and if it’s possible, I’d like to negotiate for you to come speak to the people of this town. The book group is full of avid fans, and we would make it worth your while.

Please let me know if that’s possible so we can set something up. I appreciate your time and think you’ve done a great job with your characters, plot, pacing, etc.

Sincerely,

Liam Pearson

Danielle smiled at the simple and direct way he’d written the email, reminding her of the article they’d written. She’d only received a few emails from fans over the past few weeks, and they’d gone on and on about their favorite characters in the books, most of them not even mentioning the main character who solved the crimes. But not Liam. He’d requested it for the town.

She could picture him writing it, especially near the end where it seemed like he had just kept writing, unsure of how to finish the email. Had he taken several days to write it? Or was that just the quick thoughts coming out of his head?

She’d be an idiot not to give him a chance at a relationship, and yet, she wasn’t sure how he’d take the fact that she’d pretended not to know MK Malone when they’d talked about it. She just hoped he’d forgive her when he found out.

But how would he find out? Should she reply back and say she couldn’t make it? Or that she could—and have it be something like an exposé?

All the thoughts churned in her head and stomach, making her wonder if she should have eaten the ice cream at all. Why should she think he would even be interested in her for a real relationship anyway? She hadn’t exactly been friendly to him in the beginning.

Blowing out a breath, she switched over to the messaging app, trying to come up with an excuse to text him that wouldn’t be seen as clingy. They’d talked here and there since the date up the mountain, but he’d usually initiated the conversations.

Their article. Clyde had mentioned after the success of the first piece that he’d love to add their section to the paper at least once a month and, if possible, every other week.

When can you meet up to talk about the next His & Hers article? I’m at the diner right now. We could chat tonight if you’re available.

She stared at the screen until it dimmed and then turned to black, no message coming through. After paying for the milkshake, she walked out of the diner and down the road to the fountain in front of Town Hall. Taking a seat on the bench, she blew out a breath and tried to take her mind off it.

“Hey, Dani. I haven’t seen you in a while. What are you up to today?”

Looking up, Danielle saw Susie standing in front of her. “Just trying to relax a minute before I get back to work.”

With a somewhat genuine smile on her face, Susie asked, “Oh, what kind of work? I thought you weren’t a journalist anymore.”

Frowning, Danielle sat up straighter, and Susie took a seat next to her. “How do you know that?”

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