Page 155 of He Loves Me Knot

“Good. Because I’ve been watching you the last week and you know what I think is troubling you the most?”

Liddy tried not to roll her eyes. “What’s that?”

“I think you spent a long time seeing yourself one way. And while you had that brace on your back, everyone else could see it. So you tried hard to prove them all wrong. But now, that brace is gone. No one can see a damn thing different about you. And you’re still stuck trying to prove to them—and yourself—that you’re good enough.”

Her words were like a gut punch.

“Make no mistake. You’re good enough. But believing it starts with you.”

Liddy swallowed hard, her eyes misting with tears.

Oh my God. She’s right.

For her whole life, Liddy had been fighting against a disability that had suddenly become invisible to everyone but herself. And she was still the kid in the back brace, trying to prove she coulddoandbemore, while never fully accepting it herself. While forgetting herself in the process.

Granny reached over and tugged the flower from Liddy’s hand. “If a man’s playing games, and ifyouhave to pluck that flower to decide whether or not he cares . . . And don’t tell me that’s not what you were doing—I’m hard of hearing and live in a senior community, so I know how to read lips.” Granny winked. “But if he ever makes you doubt he cares about you, he’s not worth it. Because you’re a damn amazing woman, Lydia. Don’t let anyone treat you less than one.”

She cradled Liddy’s cheek with a soft caress, then started flapping her arms as she walked back onto the dance floor.

Liddy almost laughed, shaking her head as Granny found Leo and started dancing.

What on earth did she even mean?

The flower in her hands was sweetly scented, and she glided the soft petals along her lips. The petals she’d plucked and left on the floor haunted her.

He loves me.

He loves me not.

She lowered the flower, her heart getting tighter.

He wants me.

He wants me not.

Sleep with me today.

Forget me tomorrow.

Those were the rules, though, weren’t they?

Callum had been clear. This wasn’t going anywhere.

Tears stung her eyes.

Because I’ve done exactly what he hadn’t wanted—I’ve fallen for him.

She didn’t know if it was possible to fall in love with someone after a week, but she knew she’d never felt this way about anyone before.

But she’d known Callum for two years now, not just one week. Maybe not the way she knew him now. She’d spent a long time allowing her prejudice to cloud her perceptions about him. Looking back, she could admire the boss he’d been. That he’d always pushed her into jobs that challenged her.

She smiled to herself, remembering the first time they’d met. Every time she’d seen that guidebook in her apartment, she’d wondered what life in London would have been like ifthatversion of him had continued in her life.

Now she knew better—he hadn’t been ready for a relationship or to trust again. Definitely not then, and not now, either.

He might never be.

A set of firm hands encircled her waist just then, tugging her back. She knew the scent of Callum before she saw him, the familiar feel of his body against hers. She closed her eyes, leaning her head back against his chest as his lips brushed the sensitive spot at her jawline, right below her earlobe.

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