Page 7 of Unexpected Company
Liam slides off me and forcefully pulls the blanket down, manoeuvring my smaller frame so that we’re facing each other. He keeps one heavy arm over my ribs, the touch grounding me even though I still feel splintered.
“You smell like shit.” His eyebrows knit together in concern.
“I know.”
“It really will be okay,” he says again.
“It won’t,” I reply, my eyes tearing up once more. It’s not even the followers I lost, or the sponsors who dropped me, thanks to my little ‘oopsie’ as we’re calling it, that has me upset. It’s the vitriol I’ve received in the aftermath.
Christmas is my favourite time of the year and to hear people saying I ruined it for all those children hurts me deeply.
Liam tightens his hold.
“It really will. It just seems terrible now because it’s fresh in everyone’s mind.”
“Did you see the memes?” I ask, ignoring his reassurances that everything will be okay. “I am a fucking meme now. And not a good one either.”
Liam bumps his forehead against mine.
“I saw them,” he says, his voice lowered. “What I think you need to do, though, is stop looking. Give it a chance to run its course. You apologised and now you have to let it be.”
“I can’tnotlook. My phone doesn’t stop buzzing with notifications and it’sright thereeverytime I open any app.”
Liam rolls over and moves to stand next to the bed and I shamelessly whine at the loss of his weight. Towering over me, he levels me with the sternest expression I’ve ever seen on my bestie’s face.
“I’m going to deliver some tough love, because you’re my favourite person.”
This is the daddy bear side of Liam that I love, and I can’t help the miniscule twitch of my lips when he puts on his serious voice.
“You need to get away. Go someplace where you can’t be contacted. Where your phone doesn’t buzz and social media doesn’t exist.”
I roll onto my back, breaking eye contact with him as I push up until I’m leaning against the headrest.
“And what would I do in this mythical place?”
Liam hops onto the bed and sits opposite me, his legs crossed.
“Read. Write those songs you’re always on about. Go for walks. Maybe you’ll even meet a sexily rugged man who owns a picturesque cottage or who chops wood for a living and goes on hikes with his Old English Sheepdog.” He grabs my forearms and gives me a shake. “Remember what makes you amazing and forget about all the negativity.”
I give him a half smile. “That is awfully specific, but it does sound nice,” I say, my mind already conjuring up some tall and rugged lumberjack who could sweep me off my feet and throw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. What I wouldn’t give to have someone overpower me and…I shake my head. This is not the time to get lost in a fantasy, not while my best friend is staring at me expectantly.
Liam drops my arms and takes out his phone and a few minutes later shows me the screen. It’s a listing for a cabin up in Yorkshire.
Set deep in woodland, with a lake and a picture perfect cobbled pathway leading to the front door. It reminds me of a puzzle I once saw in the garden centre.
There’s one problem with it though.
Wrinkling my nose, I say, “There’s a lot of nature around there.”
Liam looks at me with a blank expression.
“Well, yes, it is in the woods.”
“I don’t do well with nature. Bugs and dangerous creatures. You know that.”
“Ro, you’re making excuses. There are no dangerous animals there. I don’t think.”
“You don’t think? That is not reassuring.”
