Page 126 of Skalterra By Nightmare
“I got an in-person interview,” I corrected her. Her cheeks turned ruddy, and her eyes narrowed behind her glasses.
“What’s that mean?” she asked. “They’re going to make you do another dance for them before they accept you?”
I shrugged and looked to Liam. Unlike Gams, he beamed.
“They did that with me too, when I was trying to get off the waitlist.”
“When?” Gams spun to face him as he came out from behind the ice-cream stand to return her broom. “I don’t remember that!”
“You gave me extra time off last summer for it,” he laughed. “Riley drove me.”
Liam’s words were a little reassuring. So it wasn’t a second interview because my first one had gone so awkwardly. It was normal.
“I set it for the weekend we’re already going to be there,” I said. “It’s in the morning.”
Gams pressed her lips together and held her head high.
“Then I suppose this is good news. I’ll call Siobhan.”
She marched to her workshop door with Jonquil on her heels.
“Siobhan?” Dread gnawed at my stomach. “No, we don’t need another party.”
“Can’t hear you, dear!” Gams called as she closed her workshop door behind her. “Too busy calling my friends to brag about my granddaughter!”
I curled my fingers into fists at my sides as I stared at the workshop door.
“I really don’t want a party,” I said. Liam laughed and grabbed my wrist to pull me in. It was our first hug since the awkward one we’d shared on the paddleboard, but after carrying me upstairs so many times now, it probably felt normal to him to be so close.
I froze for a moment, and then let myself sink into his chest, but kept my arms at my side. His apron smelt like waffle cones, and I rolled my head to the side so I could hear his heartbeat through his sternum.
“We can leave after we get our burgers,” he promised. “I know a place that has pretty good ice-cream if you want to go for dessert together.”
I craned my head back to smirk at him.
“Yeah, I know the place you’re talking about. I heard the guy that scoops the ice-cream is a tool.”
“A tool?” He laughed again, and I let my head drop back against his chest. “I’m delightful.”
I heaved a sigh, breathing in the scent of fresh waffle cones and men’s deodorant.
“Was that true?” I asked. “Did your phone interview result in an in-person interview?”
“Yes, Wren.” He adjusted his arms to give me a reassuring squeeze. “You did great. I don’t remember there being a fitness test, though. What was all that slamming upstairs?”
My cheeks grew hot, and I pushed away.
“I was frazzled. It worked out.”
A customer came in through the front door, and Liam grinned at me as he retreated to the ice-cream station.
“What?” I glowered, but my annoyance was mostly fake. The way his grin widened told me he knew that.
“Nothing,” he said. “I’m just proud of you is all.”
Liam kept his promise to sneak away from Siobhan’s Tavern with me that evening. While we hadn’t let Gams in on the plan, she caught on quick and made a show of standing up and asking me to go check on Jonquil. I stooped down so she could kiss my cheek on our way out.
Liam and I finished our burgers, as well as a couple of ice-cream cones from the shop, on Gams’s sagging couch. He pet Jonquil where she curled between our laps as he told me about Von Leer, which architecture classes he’d be taking in the fall, and how he and his aunt had finally come to an agreement on what flower arrangements to order for Riley’s memorial.
