Page 135 of Since We're Here
Suddenly, I’m aware of someone standing next to me.
“Patrick.”
It’s fecking Liam. I have to remember not to hate him on sight the way I’ve gotten so used to for the past five years. I have to remember that Cara lied to him. That he thinks he’s been a good, protective big brother.
“Hello,” I say.
“Hello.” Liam stares at me and I fight the urge to roll my eyes or make a dismissing motion with my hand.
“I’m not actually working, but Declan or Saoirse can sort you right out.”
“Two pints for you, Pat,” my sister says, sliding the glasses to me right on cue. She glances between me and Liam with raised eyebrows.
“Thank you.” I nod to her as she heads back for the rest of the drinks.
“I’m not here to order drinks. I’m here to talk to you.” Liam swigs from his bottle of New Dingle Amber Ale, draining it.
“Oh, Christ, why?”
Liam sighs and runs his free hand through his floppy brown hair.
“I’m going to do this once, so listen up. I owe you an apology.”
I let out a surprised huff, and Liam narrows his eyes at me before breathing in deeply.
“Sorry. Go on.”
“My sister recently told me that she lied to me about how things ended between you two.”
Saoirse places two glasses of red wine next to the pints. I bet she wants to stand here and listen to our conversation, but she has two more to grab for me. I lift a pint to my lips and drinkdeeply, letting the creamy foam of Slea Head Devil’s Dark sit on my tongue before swallowing. I look away from Liam.
“I also recently found that out.”
“I thought—” He stops, and I give him a few seconds to continue, but he looks frozen, like a streaming movie stuck on the same scene.
“What did you think?” I need to hear the words from him. To know that the end of our friendship wasn’t my fault. Not only my fault, anyway.
“I need a drink for this.” Liam gestures to Declan and accepts a fresh bottle from the bartender. “She told me you cheated on her. That you’d been cheating on her the whole time you were in England, and she caught you in Dublin.”
“Which is all false.”
“Yes. I know that now.” He swallows. “It didn’t sound like you.”
We lock eyes for a few beats. I remember how close we used to be. It feels like a lifetime ago.
“You could have asked for my side of the story.”
He nods and shrugs at the same time. I have a feeling it’s too late to start over.
“I’m sorry for being such a dick to you over the past five years. I guess you didn’t completely deserve it.”
Saoirse slides the last two pints over. Time to get away from this conversation.
“Thank you, I guess. So are we going to be best friends, or something?” I’m not sure what Liam’s still standing around for.
He studies me. “Nah, I don’t think so.”
“Well. That’s a relief.”
