Page 111 of Fraud
“Thanks, Liam,” I said, severing the walk down memory lane.
Kate obviously sensed the tension in my body because she didn’t press. “I don’t plan on ever letting him get away, but thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.” Turning to me, she asked, “What do you feel like eating?”
My eyes wandered up her body, making the hairs on her arms stand on end. “Pasta sounds good,” I said.
“Okay, great. I know a place downtown that will deliver, if properly persuaded. I’ll grab the menu in the kitchen and give them a call. Do you mind if I pick and choose?”
I wrapped my fingers in her soft hair and pulled her close. Kissing her forehead, I replied, “Sounds great. Thank you.”
She gave a big smile before hurrying off to the kitchen to place the order.
“You’re different with her,” Liam said as I watched her disappear. “It reminds me of Mom and Dad.”
This caught my attention.
“What does that mean?” I asked, rising to a stance.
“Nothing,” he answered. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way, Killian. I just meant, the tenderness you show her. Dad was the same way with Mom. Treated her like a queen until the very end.”
I relaxed slightly. “Yeah,” I said, releasing a breath, “he did.”
“Do you ever think he would have been happier if he’d remarried?” he asked, taking a step toward the window.
I watched as he gazed down at the street, probably observing people arriving home with bags of groceries and carloads of kids in the parking lot below.
“No,” I answered. “She was it for him.”
Liam slowly nodded in agreement.
It was the first time in years we’d talked about them, and it hadn’t ended in a heated argument. It was the first time I’d looked back at my parents’ relationship without contempt or malice and seen it for what it had been.
Devotion.
Commitment.
Love.
“I need to tell her, don’t I?” I said softly, joining him at the window.
He turned, taking a solid glance in my direction. “Yeah, brother, you do. But not tonight.”
“No,” I agreed. “Not tonight.”
Liam gave me a look as all three of us huddled around the small coffee table when there was a perfectly nice dining table just behind us in the other room. But I gave him a quick shake of my head, and he thankfully followed my lead.
No cereal-bowl stories tonight.
We’d had enough family-sharing for now.
“So, Liam, do you have any embarrassing stories about Killian to tell me?” Kate asked the moment I sank my fork into my pasta carbonara.
I gave both of them a dirty look.
It went unnoticed.
“Sure.” Liam grinned. “What do you want? The young Killian? Or something juicier, like those awkward teen years?”
“Oh, definitely awkward teen years.” She laughed.
