Page 17 of Beneath Pearly Irish Skies
She thought of how it felt to have his arms around her. As comforting as a warm fire and yet as exhilarating as riding a horse through a golden Irish field. “A part of me does want that, but Tyson hasn’t even been gone a year. Aren’t there rules about that? Wouldn’t that make me a bad person?”
Liam set his mug aside. “Following your heart is never a bad thing—quite the contrary. I hesitate to ask this, but maybe you just think on what I’m about to say.”
Her stomach tensed. “Okay…”
“You’ve told me your marriage was far from perfect, and neither of you had been happy for a long time. Do you think Tyson would have waited a year if you were the one who’d passed?”
A bubble burst in her belly, something hot and painful. “Wait? No, he wouldn’t have waited.” Her anger was back, and it was starting to pulse under her right rib. “Liam, I don’t know this for sure—”
He met her gaze unflinchingly. “You think he cheated on you.”
She gripped her knees when the table no longer felt like enough to anchor her down. “He was gone so much, and it wasn’t always fighting. There were lots of weeks of what they call R&R. In Dubai. In Cyprus. In Mykonos. He told me soldiers need downtime from fighting—which I understood. He also said the government wouldn’t pay to send him home the whole way. Even if that was true, he was never upset about it. I thought he should be upset that he couldn’t come home to me and Ollie. Especially when it was Ollie’s birthday or mine. Or the holidays. But I don’t think he wanted to come home. He looked happy in the pictures he sent or when we talked on FaceTime. So, no, he wouldn’t wait.”
She stood, needing to move suddenly.
“Maybe it’s not fair to talk about Tyson like this.”
“That’s your choice,” he said quietly.
“I feel so conflicted.”
“Is that how you feel with Kade?” Liam asked, resting his arms on the table.
She shook her head. “No. I always feel happy around him. And calm and appreciated. Other than you, he’s the best man I know.”
His mouth tipped to the right. “Thank you. Well, I believe you have your answer.”
Her hand pressed to her chest. No, her heart. It was glowing. “Yes, I believe I do.”
“Here’s the thing about the past, Megan. You can try and put the pieces together like it’s a giant jigsaw puzzle, but you’ll only waste months and drive yourself mad. I say burn the fucking pieces and be happy.” He rose and kissed her cheek. “I have a feeling it will look good on you.”
She gave in to the urge to hug him. “Thank you, Liam. You can’t know how glad I am that we’re friends. Not just cousins.”
“I feel the same. Now go and open your gift. I thought you might like it. See you, cuz.”
She went into the kitchen after the front door closed quietly. The roar of the motorcycle sounded outside as she peered into the bag. A bright patch of soft yellow fabric greeted her, and she pulled out a cotton T-shirt. Holding it up, she laughed.Visualize Sunshine.
Only in Ireland… Now that was something Keegan O’Malley should spray paint onto his cows. She detoured into her bedroom and closed the curtains—you never knew who might pop by—and pulled off her sweater. Before changing into the T-shirt, she surveyed herself in the small wall mirror. She’d lost weight after Tyson had died, too steeped in depression to have much of an inclination to eat. She was rail thin. Would Kade find her attractive?
He did, she remembered, as she pulled the shirt over her head. His brown eyes had been filled with it. She was the one who needed to see that in herself.
A T-shirt had never been her style, but when she looked at herself wearing it, a ribbon of shock twined through her. She looked…pretty.
Pretty. Girl. Smile.
She did smile, and her face seemed more radiant in the gloamy light of her bedroom. Apparently those words had been a message she needed to heed.
Now it was time to find Kade.
