Page 63 of So Bad It Must Be Good

“Kayla.” He let out a breath, still looking at her in that baffled way, something like shock and reverence mixed in too. “I love you.”

Kayla was sure her heart stopped. She knew her breathing had. He’d said . . . love, and not in any flippant, teasing sort of way. No, he was grave, so grave, and looking her right in the eye. She couldn’t seem to breathe or move or respond.

Love. Love.

“What?” she breathed, stupidly.

“I know it’s a little . . . soon, and I don’t expect you to be there yet, but I’m not exactly a wishy-washy guy. I could probably talk myself out of it for a little bit longer, but what would be the point? I love you, Kayla. No one in my life has ever tried to take care of me, and even if someone’s tried, I never would have let them, but when it’s you? Hell, it’s everything I want.”

“Liam.” Her throat was all closed up and she couldn’t seem to get it to work to tell him all she was feeling.

“It’s a lot and it’s quick. Take some time—”

“I love you, too,” she interrupted, trying to blink back the tears in her eyes.

He opened his mouth and she knew, just knew, he was going to say something about letting her take time or whatever other crap excuses, so she kept talking. “Don’t you dare try to argue with me. I know what I feel, and it is love. I’ve never . . . No one has ever made me feel comfortable enough to be myself.”

“You decided to do that. That doesn’t have anything to do with me.”

“It has some to do with you. Yes, I made a decision to change, but . . . Sometimes people come into your life who help you go down that path you need to go down, or give you a little nudge when you’re learning a lesson that needs to be learned. Part of this change in my life is you, and I’m glad.”

She laid the thawing bag of carrots down, rubbing her cold, damp hand up and down his leg to warm it up before she used it to cup his face. To look into those beautiful blue eyes and brush a light kiss over his poor swollen mouth.

“I love you,” she said, with all of the courage that she’d decided to have, and all the courage Liam had given her.

He leaned forward, kissing a tear that had trailed halfway down her cheek. And then he pulled her so that she was leaning against him, curled against his shoulder, still sitting in his lap.

She wasn’t sure how long they sat like that, basking in this big, complex emotion between them, but Kayla knew it was a memory she’d always cherish.

* * *

A week passed and Liam didn’t try to go home. He saw his dad at work, and Dad didn’t mention anything about Aiden. Liam figured he was too focused on the stent surgery to worry about his sons being dipshits.

Every night, he either spent with Kayla at her place, or she was at his. She’d taken a short temp job while she waited to hear back about her job interview at the orchard, and since her hours were shorter than his, she usually made him dinner or breakfast.

She painted Dinah’s birthday present, and they went together to Dinah’s birthday dinner. Kayla came with him for the Gallagher & Ivy Farmers’ Market and charmed people into buying all manner of things.

It ate at him that he didn’t know what was going on with Mom or Aiden, but Kayla was always telling him it was for the best. If he went over and checked on them, he’d get sucked into something that wasn’t his business.

She was right. He tried to tell himself she was right. He tried to focus on being in love with someone, on that someone not just taking care of him, but clearly enjoying it. He tried to focus on building a foundation with this amazing woman who so often put him first.

It was like another world, and it was nowhere near comfortable. But for Kayla? He’d drown in discomfort.

Still, he was glad he had a little extra to work on with Patrick & Son Patch-ups, even if he hated Dad’s upcoming stent surgery being the reason. It was good to be in his own head and make sure he thought he was on the right path.

Kayla waiting for him convinced him it was every time.

Liam loaded up his truck and hated the way a day without Dad reminded him of those months after the heart attack. The fear and the nerves. The loneliness of carrying all this on his back and the pressure of making sure he did as good of a job.

And yet the thing that was different this time, aside from the pre-worry, was that he could go to Kayla’s tonight and she’d talk to him and make him feel better. She couldn’t make him forget, but she eased things a little bit, like magic.

But maybe that was just love and shit.

Buoyed by the prospect of a meal with Kayla, Liam was smiling as he started his truck. His phone chimed and he pulled it out of his pocket, glancing at the text.

Mom: Please come over.

He stared at the text for the longest time. He knew Kayla wouldn’t approve, and maybe she was right. Maybe he needed to make himself less available to his family so they understood he wasn’t the fix to everything.

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