Page 23 of My Favorite Mistake

“Well giving me shit ain’t gonna make my beautiful new logo, so why don’t you plop your ass down at your computer and give it a whirl?”

“Can I do it after lunch?” Frankie stood up and started meandering to her office. “For some reason those chips always make me more hungry.”

Jimmy grumbled. “It’s always food with you folks.”

Connor stood from the chair and swiped the card out of Jimmy’s hand. “I don’t like this idea. Album covers are supposed to be a work of art that represents the masterpiece on the inside. They’re supposed to be the first impression someone gets of the artist. And you’re just fine with letting that impression be something Frankie copies and pastes over and over and over again?”

“Connor,” Liza said as evenly as possible. “I don’t think you understand what I’m suggesting. The covers won’t lack—”

“Well,Idon’t thinkyouunderstand the culture of this label,” he snapped. “You’re a big corporate shill, and you don’t have any business being here in the first place.”

“Holyfuck, Sarge.” Brennan clutched his temples, and a quick, gobsmacked laugh burst out of his throat. “You can’t talk to her like that.”

“I can talk however the fuck I want if I’mright,” Connor retorted, “and I’mrightabout this.”

Brennan stood up from the couch, and the two men continued to go back and forth for a few seconds, but it all faded to a low hum in Liza’s ears.

It was the second time Connor had taken that abrasive tone with her, and the stab of pain in her chest was just as severe as it was the other night at the club. And thatwas because it was actually thethirdtime he’d ever taken that tone with her. The firsttime was during a phone call ten years ago. It had been such a shocking and stark contrast to the man she’d grown to love so deeply that she’d been stripped of her mental faculties and placed in harm’s way.

Not that he had any idea aboutthat, and not that she wouldevertell him about the harrowing, heartbreaking situation he’d thrust her into, nor the catastrophic consequences that resulted from it.

Nevertheless, that tone from those lips was directly linked to the lowest point in her life, and every part of Liza physically hurt.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she set her jaw and met his eyes with an unwavering, yet neutral gaze. “Connor,” she said, cutting off Brennan in the process. “You’re completely entitled to your opinion on this matter.” She turned to Jimmy, who was looking at Connor with an aghast, contorted expression. “Jimmy, just let me know what you want me to do. I’ll be at my desk.”

“Uhhh…no, ma’am!” Jimmy swiped the Saints cap off Connor’s head and smacked it against his chest. “You’re gonna stay right here while this petulant caveman apologizes.”

Liza dropped her gaze to the floor. “I really don’t need or want any kind of apology from him. I just want to—”

There was another smacking sound, and Connor’s feet shuffled into Liza’s line of sight.

He cleared his throat. “Liza, I didn’t mean to come off like an asshole. I’m just not sure how I feel about changing—”

“Son, what part ofapologizedoesn’t make sense to you?” Jimmy barked.

Connor cleared his throat again. “Liza, I’m really s—”

“I don’t need or want an apology from you.” She dragged her gaze up to his and hoped he could read between the lines. “Aboutanything. Ever.”

The muscle in Connor’s jaw twitched, and his exasperated expression slipped into that imperceptible emotion she’d seen in his eyes after their confrontation at the club. The one she knew was something like resentment spliced with a necessity to be polite, because hewaspolite. Part of the reason she’d naïvely fallen for him so hard was his uncommon courtesy and charming, attentive, chivalrous treatment of her. He’d always been very nicebefore. Before something had sharply shifted in him and convinced him she was his enemy.

“There you go then,” Connor said coldly before pivoting to step between Jimmy and Brennan, and then he marched out the front door.

It slammed shut, shaking every wall of the old house, and leaving Liza standing in silence with Brennan and Jimmy. Another lump had risen in her throat, and her eye rims began to sting. After several moments, Brennan cleared his throat uncomfortably just as Liza inhaled a shaky, hitched breath.

Something that felt like a magnetic pull forced her chin upward, and her bleary gaze collided with Brennan’s. That same strange pull seemed to hold their eyes in place, and she saw something there that her mind couldn’t elucidate. The look between them stretched for a span of seconds before Brennan blinked away, drawing in a deep breath and then exhaling loudly.

“I’ll handle him,” he said under his breath, turning to march out the front door.

Jimmy gave a long, exasperated sigh, slapping his hands down at his sides. “I am just so sorry about that, Liza. I have no idea what crawled up his ass recently.”

But Liza knewexactlywhat it was—the person Connor hated the most was suddenly back in his life.

The same person heusedto claim he loved more than anything. The same person he promised he’d love for the rest of his life.

“No hard feelings,” she said with a forced polite tone. “It is a big change. Maybe we just need to pause on this until we can get everybody comfortable on the same page.”

“Yeah, he just needs to cool off.Sheesh.” Jimmy waved his hands through the air as though swishing away a foul odor. “I’m gonna head to lunch.” He turned to call toward the hall that housed the spare offices. “Frankie!”

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