Page 63 of Where You Go (Whisper Lake 5)

Liv could hear a lot of commotion in the background. “Where are you?”

“I don’t know. A bar. You should know, you’re almost here.”

“Mom, I can’t come get you. You have to take an Uber.”

“You have to come get me! I don’t know how to do that on my phone! Please, Olive tree!”

Liv hated when her mother called her Olive tree. She only did it when she wanted something, which was most of the time. As much as Liv wanted to leave her mom to fend for herself, she knew she couldn’t do that. Her mom stone-cold sober had difficulties with technology. There’s no way that she could handle the app as intoxicated as she was.

“I’ll send one. Stay there.”

Liv hung up and pulled up her find a phone. She’d activated find your friend on her mom’s phone after several wild goose chases she’d been sent on when her mom hadn’t given her the correct addresses.

“What’s going on?” Grady asked as they pulled up in front of her grandad’s house.

“My mom is at a bar downtown. I’m going to send an Uber for her.”

“I can go pick her up.”

Liv looked up at him, sure she must have misheard him. “What?”

“I can go pick her up and bring her back here. She lives in the backhouse, right?”

Liv couldn’t believe he was offering to do that. “Um, she’s really drunk.”

“Ninety percent of my job is dealing with drunk people.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, thanks.” Liv sent him the address and got out of the car. She found herself smiling as she walked up the front steps. Grady could not have been any sweeter or more supportive. It was refreshing but also a little scary.

She wasn’t used to depending on people, at least not since Gran died. She was the one that people depended on, that people asked for favors, that people called when they were drunk in bars.

Before she even made it to the front door, she could hear her grandad yelling. This wasn’t how she’d imagined tonight ending. But she knew she should be grateful. Grady had shown up. He’d told her he loved her. He’d left with her and was helping her deal with her dysfunctional family. Tomorrow, she’d feel sorry for herself that their romantic night had been interrupted.

Tonight, she had to be strong. And thanks to Grady, she had a little bit more reserve to pull from.

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