Page 91 of The Summer I First Saw You
“At first,” Liam repeats, as if she hasn’t spoken. “What the hell does that mean? Because it had better fucking have been platonicthe whole goddamn time.”
“I tried to stay away,” I tell him. “I just couldn’t do it.”
Liam’s spine goes ramrod straight. “Youtriedto stay away? You son of a bitch.”
I brace myself as his fist flies out, landing square on my jaw.It’s been a while since I’ve been hit in the face. I’d forgotten how much it fucking hurts.
“Liam, stop!” Daisy screams, jumping in front of me while Caleb and Beck, who apparently sprinted up here, grab Liam from behind.
I rub my jaw. “It’s okay. I deserved that. But in the interest of not fucking up Caleb’s wedding any more than we already have, save the rest of the punches for later?”
Liam’s nostrils flare. “This is insane. You know that, right?” He turns to Daisy. “And you. What the hell were you thinking?”
“Bro,” says Beck, as he and Caleb slowly release him, “the fact that Daisy wants him is hardly news.”
“I’m sorry,” I say again, though it’s mostly to Bridget. “I know this is a shock, and it’s not what you’d ever want for Daisy. It’s not what I’d want for her either, but I love her, and even if she’s in DC for the next year and I’m here, that’s not going to end things the way I’m sure you’re hoping it will.”
“Okay,” says Bridget. “Everyone just needs to calm down. It’s going to be okay.”
Daisy and I exchange a look. While neither of us would have expected Bridget to be as violent as her brother, we sure weren’t expecting this level of rationality from a woman who still reminds Daisy to brush her teeth.
Liam appears just as stunned as he rounds on his sister. “It’s not going to be okay. He’selevenyears older than she is. She’s only been old enough to fucking drink for three months.”
Bridget reaches into her purse and hands Daisy a tissue with a nod toward me. Daisy presses it to the lip I didn’t even realize was bleeding.
“Daisy’s not a kid, Liam,” Bridget says with a sigh. “And yes, I’d have preferred that she date people her own age for a while, but she isn’t seventeen and pregnant. She isn’t dating a really reckless guy with a bunch of mental health issues. She chose the opposite for herself, and she’s been in love with him herentire life. Can you honestly say there’s anyone you’d rather see her with?”
I blink in surprise, quietly touched. Her vote of confidence was the last thing I’d have expected. Maybe, possibly, this won’t turn out to be the disaster I assumed it would be.
Liam’s arms fly out wildly in exasperation. “I’d rather see her with fucking anyone! I could go to the local middle school and find guys closer to her age. Fucking hell. Lucie’ssonis probably closer in age.”
Lucie’s son is seven. But when I do the math, a fourteen-year age difference doesn’t sound a lot worse than an eleven-year one.
“Do youwantto ruin Caleb and Lucie’s wedding?” Emmy demands of him. “This is not the time or the place and you need to pull it together.”
Liam scowls, but his shoulders drop as if he’s a scolded child. If the situation wasn’t so serious, I’d probably laugh at how thoroughly she’s got him under her thumb when no woman had ever controlled Liam for a moment before her.
“Come on,” she continues, tugging his arm to pull him back down the hill. “Anything you still have to say can wait until after.”
“I might forgive Daisy,” Liam says, as he shoots one more look at me, “but I’m never going to forgive you.”
We’ve been friends since the first day of kindergarten. I hate that it might have ended here, yet I still wouldn’t change what’s happened.
Bridget rolls her eyes as he walks off with Emmy, Caleb and Beck. “He’ll forgive you. But Daisy…God. You could have told me. Youshouldhave told me.”
“You’d have just tried to change my mind, Mom,” Daisy argues, “and you’d have told Liam. At some point, you need to trust that I know what makes me happy. And I promise you, it’s this.”
I wrap my arm around her and she leans against me. It feels so incredibly right that I can’t imagine how anyone could see it differently. I can’t imagine how I ever questioned it myself.
Bridget’s shoulders sag as her gaze flickers between us. “Well, we can discuss it later. But good lord. You could have picked a better way to tell us.”
She follows Liam down the hill, leaving Daisy and I alone again—or as alone as we can be with a hundred wedding guests still staring up at us as if we’re the pregame show.
She wipes at her eyes. “I’d tell you I love you too, but several people just announced it on my behalf, so it seems redundant at this point.”
I laugh as I cradle her face in my palms. “Say it anyway.”
She goes onto her toes and kisses me. “I love you,” she says. “I have always loved you, for as far back as I can remember and before then too.”
