Page 53 of Can't Take My Eyes Off You

‘I was talking less Alex and more Adler.’ She walks around the counter, grabbing the tabloid from the garbage, holding it in front of her face. ‘I’d give you all my money for another chance, Berx. Call me,baby,’ she says, mimicking Will’s voice, pointing to her chest then to me.

‘You’re making mefeelthings, Liv. Please, stop. And no way. Absolutely not.’

‘Heowesyou, and you know he can’t tell you no.’

‘He doesn’t owe memoney. Just one slightly destroyed heart. Plus, ever since we met I’ve insisted he not spoil me rotten with money. I don’t know why he feels like he needs to be his own person and make his own money but asking would violate whatever bothers him about that. I can’t ask him for money. It’s too… Adler-ish. I want to do this on our own and heknowsthat. I’mnotasking him because then I would owe him.’

Olivia nods her head slowly, a frown now emerging. ‘You’re right. I’ve spent three years telling you to dump him, and now that you finally have, I suggest you call him when the store is in peril.’ She blows out a heavy breath. ‘That’s not fair. I’m sorry.’

She hugs me tightly, my arms at my side until she pretends to choke me out, then I hug her back.

‘Don’t be sorry. Either we win the bidding war, or we don’t.’

‘And we all find new jobs… Gunner’s smart, I bet he could come up with something to save us, because I can’t spend my days without you. It’d be boring as hell!’ Liv says frustratedly.

‘If it is meant to be, it will be. That’s a saying, right?’

‘Yes, it is. And I claim it now, sister: it is meant to be.’

‘Amen!’ I say with a grin – but deep in my gut is a whirling mass that feels a little thunderstorm-ish.

Honestly, I don’t know how fine I’ll be if I lose the store. Where will I work? Where would Ilive? I’ve put ten years of my life into the place.Gawd, I pretty much gave up thelove of my lifefor this store and the life we had planned here.

21

WILL

I stand on my parents’ porch, flipping through the photos that Bryce just sent me via text. I’m back in the city? How the fuck did they find that out? Vultures, these tabloid reporters. I swipe out of the article and shove my phone into my pocket.

There’s zero way the rehab center leaked this. The place isn’t one of those rehab centers looking for a dollar selling patient names and risking privacy violations. I pretty much kept to myself while I was there so I doubt any other patients would’ve talked. How did I think I could leave this city unnoticed and come back the same way? It’s like I’m wearing an ankle bracelet that reports my every move – probably right to my parents. The alarms are probably going off right this second.

I walk in the front door, wandering through my parents’ foyer and into the kitchen.

‘William!’ Sylvia says excitedly, dropping the dishtowel in her hand onto the counter and hurrying my way.

‘Hey, Sylv! Long time no see, eh?’

‘Too long, sweetheart.’ She hugs me tightly, patting my back in the way a mother should.

My mom won’t hug me, which is why Sylvia has been my mother-figure my whole life, literally since I was brought home from the hospital. This is a hug I need. I’ve been on my own for three months. Not a single call from my family. Only Sylv, Bryce and Cole have checked in on me.

‘Do you know how thankful I am for you, Sylv?’ I ask quietly, in case my mother is standing close, eavesdropping as she has in the past. Trained from a small child, I believed,Sylvia is not to be mistaken for my mother; she is my caregiver only. Yeah, those were my mother’s actual words – such a sweetheart.

‘Careful,’ Sylv says. ‘You’ll make me cry with talk like that!’ She pulls away, swatting my way playfully. ‘You ridiculously sweet boy.’ She gets serious, looking me in the eyes now. ‘How are you doing? Rehab went alright?’ She stands with her hands on my arms, looking up at me with a curious grin, eager to hear whatever I have to say.

‘I’m doing good. Rehab though,phew, yeah…’ I shake my head and think back on it. ‘That was a lot more working on myself than I expected.’ I laugh under my breath, like it was no big deal, but damn, how did I not know that getting sober wasn’t just about putting down the bottle whose spell you were under?

‘But you did it, and you’re sober?’

‘Three months,’ I say with a nod.

‘I amsoproud of you, sweetie,’ she says with a beaming smile.

‘I’m proud of myself, truthfully.’

Weird. This is the first time I’ve said that out loud and it feels good. Iamproud of myself. Getting sober is the second hardest thing I’ve ever done.

‘You’re going to be so much happier. Does Berkley know you’re back?’

---