Page 63 of False Confidence

“A couple of hours? Christ. That’s still way more information than I need about your sex life.”

Maggie shrugged. “I’m sleeping with your dad. You’re sleeping with my best friend. It is what it is. Do you want tea, even though it’s like three billion degrees out?”

“I’m good. But you know hot drinks actually cool you down in hot weather.”

She gave him a skeptical look. “So you say every summer, but I’m going to stick to iced coffee and water, thanks.”

“You need to re-wash your straw, by the way. Peach jumped up on the counter and licked it,” Liam told her, and Maggie turned to glare at Peach.

“Peach Penelope Michaelson, you know you’re not allowed to lick straws.” She slumped into a chair, fanning herself, and turned her attention back to Liam. “This is a reoccurring problem. I don’t even want to know how many times she hasn’t been caught. Anyway, what’s up?”

“Is my dad coming down soon?”

“I doubt it. He was running a bath—that we were supposed to take together, thank you very much—and I told him not to let it go to waste.”

“Perfect,” he said, ignoring the bath part. “I wanted to talk to you about Jazz.”

Maggie clapped her hand to her chest. “You’re kidding. I would never have guessed, considering you’ve spoken about literally nothing but Jazz for the past month.”

“It’s not my fault she’s so…” Liam trailed off, gesturing in the air as if a single word to sum up how incredible Jasmine was might magically come to him.

“Eloquent,” Maggie replied with a laugh, but she gave him a warm smile. “But seriously, nothing makes me happier than someone finally seeing her for how amazing she is. It’s about time.”

Liam knew he and Jasmine didn’t technically need Maggie’s approval to do whatever it was they were doing. Checking in with her had been the right thing to do initially, but they were all adults. Still, he couldn’t deny it felt good, knowing that the most important person in the world to Jasmine was on board with them.

“She is amazing,” Liam agreed. “That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about. She came by the office yesterday and was acting super insecure about my parents. She’s convinced they’re going to be upset if they find out we’re together, like she’s not good enough for me or something, and I have no idea how to convince her otherwise.”

Maggie's face pinched with concern. “I wish I could say I was surprised, but I’m really not. Jazz does a great job of acting like she’s super confident, but it’s not real, and she shuts down whenever I try to talk to her about it.”

So Jasmine’s false confidence hadn’t gone entirely unnoticed. But Liam couldn’t blame Maggie for not getting through to her; Maggie had been dealing with enough before she started working on herself.

“I’ve managed to get her to open up a little,” he admitted, and Maggie raised her brows, looking impressed. “We still have a lot to work through, but I think it’s getting easier for her.” Orgasms were a wonderful incentive. “But yesterday I dropped by the office to see if she wanted to grab lunch, and she freaked out a little.”

“About grabbing lunch?”

“About my dad potentially finding out we’re together. She seems to think my parents wouldn’t approve of her being with me, and maybe I’m not objective enough considering I’ve only ever had amazing parents, but you know them: they’d be fine with it, right?”

“Of course. Cal loves Jazz and so do your moms. Do you have any idea how many times your dad has mentioned that he thinks you’d be a good couple? I had to stop him from matchmaking last Christmas.”

Liam blinked in surprise. “Seriously?” Maggie nodded with the fond smile he had learned was reserved for thoughts of his dad. “Shit. I’m guessing you’ve never mentioned that to Jazz? Because that’d probably solve a lot of her anxiety.”

“I didn’t want to meddle. Jazz can be… flighty. She’s never been in a serious relationship, and it’s not for lack of trying from her past partners. I’ve seen people tripping over themselves trying to show her how much they cared, and I genuinely don’t think she noticed a single one of them.” That was the opposite of what Jasmine had said, but Liam didn’t find it hard to believe that she truly thought no one had wanted her wholly.

“I think it would help if you talked to her about this. We’re working through things, and it’s going well, but I think she’s going to need more than me telling her shit to believe it. And you’re her person.”

“I’ll talk to her,” Maggie promised. “Speaking of talking, is there any chance you can convince her to get a new OBGYN for a second opinion?”

“About her periods? Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. She shouldn’t be in that much pain.”

“Right? That and the orgasm thing. A decade of trying with no results can’t be good, especially now that she’s told you and you’re actively working on it.”

Liam tilted his head, confused. “She didn’t tell you? We figured that out.”

Maggie’s jaw dropped. “Seriously? That’s amazing. When did that happen? She didn’t mention anything.”

“Last Saturday, once she was feeling better,” Liam explained, and Maggie’s brows knit together. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just… I spoke to her on Sunday morning, after she’d been to yoga. I actually asked her if you were any closer and she said no. Why would she lie about that?”

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