Page 63 of Sugarlips
I rose fluidly from my seat, grabbing my own mediocre coffee. “If she’s asking for coffee, she must be feeling pretty good.”
With a tip of his head, he nodded. “She looks great… not even just for having just had major surgery. She’s alert and talkative. I can tell she’s in pain, but overall, she’s doing well. I need to find the doctor to check and make sure she’s actuallyalloweda cup of coffee, though.”
“Oh, I can do that for you—” He caught my elbow, stopping me just as I pivoted, turning in the opposite direction.
“Don’t you dare. She’s asking to see you. Then we’re all going to let her rest up before the going away ‘party’ tonight for Neil.” He put the word party in finger quotes. By most standards, it was going to be pretty lame—they were only allowing us thirty minutes in the common room before Linda was required to be back in bed. But a few of Neil’s friends were driving down from Maple Grove… because that’s the sort of town we were. Unfailingly loyal.
I didn’t argue with Liam and let him go in search of a doctor while I made my way back down the hall to her room, poking my head inside with a light rap of my knuckles against the doorframe.
Linda was alone in the room, which was pretty surprising considering there were four Evans kids roaming around this hospital.
She blinked her eyes slowly open and deeply inhaled, shifting in her bed. “There you are,” Linda said, smiling warmly at me.
I grinned and edged closer into the room, shutting the door behind me. “You look good,” I said honestly, noting the warm, rosy color in her cheeks. “I’m sorry if I woke you.”
She shook her head. “You didn’t wake me.”
“Where is everyone?” I slid into the seat at her bedside and tucked my purse between my feet.
“Neil had to call the new employee they’re hiring. And Addy and Finn went off to make sure we had enough food for tonight.”
“Are you sure you’re up for this party—”
She waved my concern away. “The last time my oldest son left town, he did so in the middle of the night without so much as a goodbye to his family or your sister. I’m not letting a little cancer let him slink away again.”
Elaina.I almost forgot she had given me a card to give to Linda. I tugged the sealed envelope from my purse and handed it over to Liam’s mom. “Speaking of, this is from my sister. She wanted you to know she was thinking about you today.”
Linda’s painted lips pulled into a smile and she set the card, unopened, on her bedside. “Thank you.”
With a tilt of her head, wisps from her gray-blond hair slipped from her braid and coiled around her heart-shaped face.
I put on a braver smile. If Linda can maintain her bravado throughout all this, then I had no excuse. “So… Liam said you wanted to see me?”
Her grin widened. “I just wanted to say thank you for being here today for Liam. It’s amazing how with four children, only one of them has a friend loyal enough to come down and wait with him all day.”
I searched her face, noting that she had already put lipstick on. That small fact made me smile. I never thought I had much in common with Linda Evans until this very moment. “I’m sure others wanted to be here,” I offered, not knowing at all if it was true or not. I knew nothing about Neil, Finn, or Addy’s friends.
She smiled graciously. “Probably. Butyou …you’re always there for my son. And I’m not just talking about today. He’s the happiest that I’ve ever seen him, even back when the food truck wasn’t doing well.”
I snorted, with a shake of my head. “He’s exhausted and overworked and—”
“And finally livinghisdream. Not mine. Not his brother’s.” Her expression stilled, turning serene. “So… thank you. For lighting a fire in my otherwise even-keeled son.”
There was a double-entendre to her words that I willfully chose to ignore. Warmth filled my chest, and even though we were inside a cold, clinical hospital room, a golden beam of sunlight filtered in through the window. “I like to think he’s helped me hone in on my dreams, too.” I chuckled. “Who would have thought that Liam could tame Tasmanian Chloe, right?”
She shook her head, slowly, giving me a scrutinizing gaze. “That name never suited you.”
My brows jumped at that. “No? I think most of Maple Grove would disagree with you.”
“Well then, they never really knew you, did they?” She reached out and took my hand in hers. It was warm and soft, her nails painted a soft, heather shade of lavender.
Um, even my parents called me Tasmanian Chloe—but I didn’t mention that. Instead, I laughed in an effort to lighten the mood. “If I’m not a Tasmanian devil, then what am I?”
“You’re like the ocean,” Liam’s voice from behind me startled me. He was leaning casually against the doorframe, one long, muscled leg crossed over the other.How long had he been standing there?He cut the distance between us in half with slow, purposeful strides, pausing to kiss his mom on the cheek and deposit a small cup of coffee on the table beside her. “The doctor says this is the only coffee you’re allowed for today, so savor it. Otherwise, it’s a liquid diet until tomorrow night.”
Her eyes drifted back and forth between us, shrewdly assessing before she lifted the cup to her lips and asked, “Why the ocean?” A wicked gleam shone in her bright green eyes—the similarity to her son was striking and impossible to ignore.
He gazed at me a long moment. Time suspended between us within that silence. All the reasons that I’d been telling my heart to remain closed from Liam faded, melting like a scoop of ice cream in the heat of summer. Seriously, why was I keeping him at arm’s length? Elaina had been the main reason, but evenshehad told me to go for it. What the hell was I waiting for?
