Page 5 of Hold

Luckily, one of the two guys—David, Liam thought his name was—had come up to him after the women had left and asked him if he wanted in.

No, you don’t want in. You want to run as far and as fast from that woman as possible.

But he did want to take this class. He needed to understand it backward and forward before he started his next job. He was moving to an urban school where the ratio of non-native speakers was around forty percent. So anything that would help him with that would be good, right?

He banged his forehead against the table a couple more times.

His phone rang. His father. “Dad,” he said into the phone.

“Liam,” his father said in the same cold tone. “You’ll be at Dunning Road tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

“The guys will be there at seven.”

“So will I, Dad.” God, every conversation they’d had since he’d quit his job at the school had gone like this. Except the one after he’d left Avery, when the conversation had been Pat saying, “I told you so,” and his mother hugging him and crying. That had been fun.

“Well, I know you’re not used to the hours,” his father said.

“Dad, I spent half my weekends working for you, even before I left Central. I know what time to get to the site.”

Pat dropped the subject. Went onto another of his oldies but goldies. “Good thing you got your plumbing license, isn’t it? Glad I made you get it?”

“Uh-huh.”Yeah, Dad. I’m thrilled that I had to put what I wanted on hold for five years while you scored a point.

But Liam couldn’t deny that earning money was a hell of a lot better than not earning it, and while he’d gotten another teaching job fairly quickly, it didn’t start until the fall.

The money he earned from his dad wasn’t going to pay for his master’s, and the divorce had eaten through what he’d saved. He could just about pay for this class, the college giving him special permission to take it while he deferred the rest of his studies.

“How was class?” Pat asked after an awkward pause.

Surprising that he remembered. “Class was fine. Good.” If only it weren’t a crumb instead of the full master’s degree he’d been hoping to start.

“All right.” There was another pause. “See you tomorrow, then.”

“Yep. Bye.”

That was Dad. All heart.

Chapter 2

Thea was fluttering. That was the only word for it, and no matter how often she told herself to get over herself, that she didn’t have to prove anything to anyone, she’d still spent all the time she’d had at home cleaning, preparing for the study group. Putting on a Cary Grant movie while she cleaned had helped her relax, but she’d kept stopping to watch and so she had to rush the last half hour.

The early June day had been warm, and she’d opened all the windows to try to make the house seem bigger. Jake and Benji were fed and in their rooms—at least, she hoped Jake was; she was afraid to check—Audrey’s litter box was fresh, and the store-bought cookies were warming in the oven. Not that Thea was pretending she’d baked, although she’d shoved the box deep into the recycling bin. Of course not. She just liked warm cookies.

Chloe was first. She swept in, seeming to take up a lot of space in Thea’s small living room with her big hair and her height, and hugged Thea. “Smells amazing in here,” she said.

The twins—Seth and David, though she’d forgotten which was which—arrived next. They’d brought their own iced coffee but were happy to have a cookie with it. Zahra had already texted that she was going to be late, so they started without her.

But the doorbell rang sooner than Thea had expected. “Oh, Zahra’s husband must have gotten home early,” she said to the others and opened the door.

It was Beardy—uh, Liam.

She hadn’t thought he was coming. When the group had swapped phone numbers, he hadn’t said anything, hadn’t gotten his phone out. So she’d assumed he didn’t need a group. He was the only one who was already a teacher; he probably knew this stuff.

Also, having him sneak up on her like this, as it were, she was unprepared for his height. He was an inch or so taller than her in her bare feet, and standing in front of him, she became aware of the breadth of him.

It was probably that detail that made her want to adjust her hair, like she was messy and not put together. Not his bicep, thrown into full glory by his hand looped into his backpack strap.

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