Page 44 of Wants and Needs
“Come on,” I tell Liam, speaking quietly too, then we walk behind Milton, but where he goes right, toward the kitchen, we go left to the living room. It has two big comfortable couches CJ bought when he spent some time here more than a year ago, and a big TV as well as a low coffee table.
I drop onto the couch on the left and let out a breath when Liam sits next to me.
“I’m not sure where we should start,” Liam murmurs.
I think about it for a minute. There are so many things I could say, problems I could bring up, but in the end, my brain decides for me.
“What about we start with Theo’s suggestion to talk to Tristan about all of this?”
If we do, then it would feel like we have an adult on our side. Not that Liam isn’t an adult, he has his shit together in a way Iprobably never will, but I think it’s safe to say we’re both out of our depth here.
“I don’t know...” Liam trails off and shakes his head. This time he adds a grimace, and I can’t help but picture my hopes of having some help go up in flames. “He’s a business associate, and I think this is too personal to share with him.”
He speaks quietly, and something tells me it wasn’t easy for him to tell me that, so I swallow down my disappointment and nod.
“That’s fine,” I assure him.
And then... I don’t know what to say for the longest time. I want to apologize for putting him in this position. I want to tell him I care about him and about why he thinks going to this ball is so important.
How can I explain that I barely understand my own actions?
I’m speaking before I can even process the answer that pops into my head.
“I was going to ask you to be my friend,” I blurt out, and Liam’s frown is one hundred percent confused this time.
“What?” he mutters, almost sounding angry, but I know him well enough to know better.
“That day when I heard your voice at the gallery.” I take a deep breath and decide on complete honesty. “You left CJ’s party kind of abruptly, and that made me feel a bit sad, if I’m honest.”
“Why?”
“Well, because we’d gotten along so nicely, and I just—” I break off to shrug. “I’d like to have a friend who’s not painfully in love,” I confess.
Liam stays quiet for a long moment, his gaze downcast, and when he finally looks up, he’s... smiling.
“I’d like to be your friend too,” he says, and it’s so silly for two grown men to be having this conversation, but I don’t even care right now.
“All right, then.” I nod once and settle back further into the couch. I bring my right knee up so I’m turned in his direction. “So I suppose the next thing I should ask is why is this ball so important to you?”
Liam does as I just did, leaning deeper into the couch and turning to look at me.
“A woman who I’m trying to convince to invest in ESoothe asked me to go and talk to her about it there.”
“I thought Tristan was handling that for you?” I say like a question.
“He is. He’s the one who approached Mrs. Blackwell, but she wants to talk to me, so...” He trails off and shrugs.
I debate whether asking questions about the Dick is a good idea, and conclude that it can wait until after we have food.
“All right, let’s get to it. First on the list.” I pull out my phone and check. “Where and how did we meet?”
“You said we’ve been dating for two years, so where were you two years ago?”
I frown at the wall while I try to remember, and when I can’t, I go to my photos on my phone and go back two years.
Before I get to July, I stumble across Mike and Theo’s wedding and a lightbulb turns on inside my head.
“Mike and Theo’s wedding was in August two years ago. Your father played for their first dance.”
