Page 21 of Memories with Fire

Me: Because there was no date.

Mom: What?! Why? What happened?

It isn’t two seconds later when my phone rings. Apparently, she couldn’t wait for a reply via text. I knew I should have ignored her, but I’m a glutton for punishment when it comes to my mother.

I swipe on ‘answer’ and before I can even say a word, she’s talking.

“What happened? Please tell me he wasn’t another Netflix and chill kind of guy. Darlene promised me he wasn’t.”

That makes me smile a little. “No, mom. He wasn’t a Netflix and chill guy. There were just… circumstances that prevented the date.”

There’s a hesitation before she asks, “Circumstances?”

I sigh because she’s not going to let this go until I give her answers. “You remember Luke?”

The pause is longer this time, and when she finally answers, her voice is just above a whisper, like she’s half distracted by something else. “Of course.”

“Carter is Luke’s cousin,” I tell her, picking up my wine glass and throwing the remainder of the liquid back before continuing. Luke being back in town isn’t something I’ve shared with her, nor is it a can of worms I want to open right now. “There’s no way I was going on a date with him.”

“Hailey, if I had known,” she says, then trails off.

I’d already determined that she didn’t know. If my mom had figured it out with Darlene, she never would have suggested it. She was the one who had to pick up my broken pieces.

“It’s okay, mom. I know,” I reassure her, twirling my empty glass between my index and middle finger. “But look, we had a deal, and I’ve more than fulfilled my side of it. No more blind dates. I think tonight proves exactly why I don’t want them.”

“Hailey –” she starts, her voice taking on a whiny tone.

“No. We had a deal. Not only did I consider the date, I was going to go on it. Now we’re done. No more. If I want a date, I will find one on my own, or I will ask you to find me one. Don’t hold your breath on the latter option,” I tell her sternly, my eyes focusing on Luke on the dance floor. He has a new dance partner which makes six. “Got it?”

“Fine.” I can tell she’s not happy about this, but I don’t care.

Movement catches my eye, and I look away from Luke to see Liam headed my way with a fresh glass of wine in one hand and a beer in the other. “I gotta go, mom. Love you.”

“Love you too. Think about the dates, though. Maybe you should sign up for an online dating app –”

I hit end on the call before she finishes talking and toss my phone on the table. Liam takes a seat beside me the next second, setting the glass of wine down in front of me.

“Thank you,” I tell him, picking it up to take a large gulp from the glass as he scoots his chair in close to mine.

I glance in his direction, wondering why he’s doing that as I set my wine glass back down. When he doesn’t look at me, I follow his gaze and find it glued to Luke on the dance floor. It makes me sigh.

Liam adjusts so one arm is sitting on the table, the other finding a spot on the arm of my chair. He leans into me as we both stare, me at Luke, and Liam, I presume, at the same target. He confirms it when he finally says, “We can still hate him, you know. Just say the word and I’ll tell everyone to ice him back out. Fuck what Nate says. He’ll have no choice but to get rid of the guy.”

Leave it to Liam to have my back regardless of what anyone tells him. I love him dearly for it. While he’s asked what’s up with Luke and me, he didn’t force me to tell him anything when I made it clear I didn’t want to talk about it, and has still given me his full support. He made the decision that if I hated Luke, so did he, and I think he’s been leading the charge with everyone keeping their distance.

His shoulder is so close to me that I lay my head down on it. “No,” I tell him, reaching my hand across to squeeze his arm with appreciation. “Thank you, but no. Everyone needs to give him a chance. You included.”

He stiffens so sharply my head moves on his shoulder. “You sure? Cause I don’t mind. If that prick hurt you, I will fuck him up. You know I will.”

This makes me giggle, and I bite my lip to tamp down on it. Liam is always the first one to come to any of our defenses, wondering who the hell he can beat up, and when. The thing is, I’ve never actually seen him get into a fight before. Not to say he couldn’t hold his own in one, I’ve just never seen it. The other day in the kitchen was probably the closest I’ve seen him come.

“You know I wouldn’t approve of that. I’d hate to have to clean up any wounds on either of you after the fact,” I tell him with a grin, lifting my head to look at him. “But I appreciate it. It means a lot that you’d do that for me, and that you’ve been on my side regardless of not knowing what happened.”

He gives me a light, playful bump under the chin with a grin of his own. “You know I got you. I’ll give him a chance, but just say the word if you change your mind.”

“I will, I promise.”

Brody drops into the seat across from us, and glares at Liam. I look to Liam who has sat back in his own chair, beer casually hanging from his hand to see him smirking at Brody. Another glance in Brody’s direction and I find he’s still glaring.

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