Page 47 of The Reno
“How did you know I was here?” I demanded.
“Why are you so stubborn?” Liam’s voice was like thunder. Oh. He was very pissed off. “Next time, slip Ravi a tenner to keep quiet. I overheard him talking in the club about a ‘pretty but clueless’ redhead buying a load of camping equipment, and I put two and two together.”
“Ravi said that?” My mouth fell open. I’d underestimated the man. He’d seemed so lovely. Unassuming.
“Red”—Liam shook his head—“Ravi is the biggest gossip in Everly Heath. He gives Pat a run for her money. I was happy to leave you to it.”
“Then why did you come? Why not just leave me? I would have been fine.”
Anger flashed in his eyes. “Because you could have hurt yourself. I sat at home, watching the rain come down heavier andheavier, and I—” He stopped. “I didn’t fancy calling the police about a dead body when I came into work tomorrow. I was going to text Lydia or Brian but you said you didn’t want to ask them—” He petered off, running his hand through his wet hair, now jet black. The anger dissipated from his features, now replaced with tiredness. A bone-deep kind of tiredness that I was familiar with. Burnout. Liam was burnt out.
Had he even realised yet?
I reached out; I couldn’t help it. It was like our skin were magnets, and I touched his arm.
“Are you okay?” I asked as Liam’s eyes tracked my movement. His eyes came up to mine, something burning in them—something like anger or frustration.
“I’m fine,” he said through gritted teeth.
“You seem—like burnt out.”
He laughed humourlessly. “Of course you’d be the one to notice.”
“What do you mean?” I frowned, pulling my arm away.
Liam sighed. “I’m fine, Red. I’m just a bit tired.”
Guilt thrummed through me. I’d given him another burden. Another reason to be tired.
“I know I said I’d sort it”—I rubbed my face, searching for the words to explain—“but I just… I just can’t ask them. And I can’t afford an Airbnb, even with you not charging me for labour. It’s so expensive as it is. I can’t believe how naive I was about the costs.”
When Liam sent over a quote for materials for the project, I had to sit down. I hadn’t realised how the prices had increasedmassively since the pandemic, and it sent me into another spiral of self-hatred. I was so incredibly unprepared and naive about this project. Luckily, the money from my dad’s estate just about covered it, but with nothing spare left over. I was seriously betting I could make some profit on this house.
It both thrilled and scared the shit out of me.
I lowered my hands. Peeking at Liam, I prayed I saw some semblance of understanding on his face. Iliterallycouldn’t afford to scare him off.
“Okay.” Liam let out a harsh breath. “I’ve got somewhere you can stay. You can’t camp outside for weeks. We’re due rain for the rest of February. And March.”
I swear, the rain bombarding the van was a paid actor.
“You can stay at mine.” He held up a large hand. “Don’t argue with me until I’m finished. I have an annexe in my garden. I built it for my dad during the pandemic. He had a health scare, and I wanted somewhere for him to stay. But he is as stubborn as you, so he has never used it. It has a little kitchen to make food, and you can have the privacy you want.”
My mouth was hanging open unattractively. This was incredibly generous and would resolve my problem, but the thought of seeing Liam every day made me feel a bit… funny. It was like I had pins and needles running down my back. Then, there was the guilt thrumming under my ribcage. I would be a burden. I would be messy. I would probably accidentally break the shower or smash his collection of vintage Charles and Diana mugs from 1996.
“People will talk,” I said.
“Talk about what?”
“Me and you.”
Liam’s eyes were laser-focused on me. “And what would they say, Red?”
“You know—that you and I…” I gestured between us.
“That you and I what?” he asked, his brows furrowed.
“That you and I are, like, together.”
