Page 15 of Falling for Love

Fifi wasn’t buying it. She perched on one of the barstools, resting her chin in her hand.

“Come on, Liam. You’ve got that look. What happened?”

I hesitated, then sighed. “I had dinner at Evie’s tonight.”

Her eyes lit up, and she nearly dropped the iced coffee she put to her lips.

“You went to Evie’s? As in dinner with the hot single mom, you’ve been mooning over for months?”

“I don’t moon,” I said defensively.

Fifi snorted. “Right. And I’m not the queen of dramatic entrances.”

“You’re not,” I muttered, earning a glare.

“Focus, Liam,” she said, leaning forward eagerly. “Tell me everything. Was it romantic? Did you kiss? Did she wear an apron and bake cookies?”

I gave her a flat look. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Then what was it like?”

I sighed again, running a hand through my hair.

“It was… nice. We had bratwursts. Her kid insisted I come over after we ran into each other at urgent care.”

Fifi raised an eyebrow. “Urgent care?”

“I had a blender incident,” I said dryly, holding up my bandaged hand.

Fifi burst out laughing.

“Glad I can entertain you,” I muttered, though a small smile tugged at my lips. “I fully blame Vi’s recipe.”

“Okay, okay,” she said, waving her hand. “Back to Evie. Was there flirting? Did she seem into it?”

I hesitated, replaying the way she’d smiled at me, the way her eyes softened when she talked about Hayden, and the way her laughter seemed lighter than usual.

“Maybe? I don’t know. It felt… different. Like she wasn’t just being polite. But I could be reading too much into it.”

“Liam,” Fifi said, her tone exasperated. “You’re overthinking this. Evie let you into her home, fed you bratwursts, and didn’t kick you out after dessert. That’s basically a love confession in single-mom language.”

I chuckled, shaking my head. “You’re ridiculous.”

“And you’re hopeless,” she shot back, grinning. “But seriously, if you think there’s a chance she’s interested, you need to keep showing up. She’s probably just scared.”

“Scared of what?” I asked, frowning.

“Scared of letting someone in. Of risking her heart again. From what you’ve told me, Evie’s been through a lot. She won’t throw herself at you just because you have a nice smile and a way with urgent care visits.”

I gave her a look. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“I’m just saying you need to be patient. Show her you’re serious, that you won’t run at the first sign of chaos.” She paused, then added with a smirk, “Though, let’s be honest, you kind of thrive on chaos.”

“Funny,” I said, rolling my eyes. “But you’re probably right.”

“I’m definitely right,” she said, hopping off the stool. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to raid your snack stash and leave you to your brooding.”

“I’m not brooding,” I called after her.

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