Page 31 of Trusting Liam (Taking Chances 2)

Liam

“SO YOU DON’T date, because you don’t like the ‘title’ of dating?” I asked a little over thirty minutes later.

Kennedy nodded and took another bite of her ice cream. “Pretty much.”

I looked at her with my brow furrowed for a minute. I could understand that to an extent. I didn’t date the girls I was hooking up with, but that’s because I didn’t want relationships with them, and I knew dates would lead them to think something would happen between us. But I also knew that once I found a girl worth pursuing—like Kennedy—that would all change. “But eventually you’ll find a guy you know you want to marry and spend the rest of your life with.”

“No, no,” she said quickly. “There’s no chance of that happening.”

“No chance of what? Marrying someone, or finding someone you want to spend the rest of your life with?”

“The whole thing,” she answered, and waved her spoon in the air. “I won’t get married, and the other is just basically the same, without the husband and wife part of it.”

“I don’t understand what’s wrong with either of those things.”

Kennedy sighed, but paired with her expression, I knew it was because she was trying to figure out how to explain herself. “Both of those things are something people do because they think they’re in love with whoever they’re with. They like the idea of love and being with only one person, and that’s just not practical.”

“Being with only one person for the rest of your life isn’t practical?” I asked blandly.

“No. It’s a lie. It’s saying you want to be with someone so much that they’re the only person you will ever be with again. People only do that because that’s what they think love is—sharing your life with someone. And love doesn’t exist.”

I shook my head. No matter how much I wanted to laugh, I couldn’t figure out how to because Kennedy looked completely serious. “What about your parents? Your grandparents? Eli and Paisley? They’re all still together, aren’t they?”

“They are.”

“So you’re saying none of them are in love?”

“No, I’m not. Okay, let me rephrase. Love doesn’t exist anymore. Not in this day—not for our generation. You see how many divorces there are now? It’s just people who get tired of being with their spouse because they’re no longer in ‘love’ with them, or they ‘love’ someone else. If you actually loved them, that wouldn’t ever go away. You’d always love them. Now? All love is, is a dream. It’s something people want and pretend they find.”

I studied her for a second and asked, “How could you grow up around people like your parents and come to the conclusion you have?”

“Growing up around them is the exact reason I figured all this out. I grew up around perfect couples. All of them were happy, and I remember always wanting to have that someday.”

“And?” I prompted when she didn’t continue.

Kennedy just shrugged. “And then I found out it didn’t exist any

more.”

“Just like that? One day you just randomly decided that?”

For long moments, she just sat there watching me. After a while she finally said, “I had that. I was sure I had what they had. I was positive I was in love. And then I found out how wrong I was one day. After that, I stopped looking at the world through love-clouded glasses, and started seeing relationships for what they were. They look perfect on the outside, and inside, they’re just a disaster.”

“Is that relationship what happened to make you push me back?”

She shook her head and rolled her eyes before scooping up another bite. “It was a long time ago. I pushed you back because it wasn’t hard to see you wanted something I couldn’t give you because I don’t believe in it.”

“And yet, here you are. On a date with me, and you talked about future dates in the car.”

“Well, it’s not like you and Kira gave me a choice about tonight,” she said with a teasing tone. “But after everything I told you before tonight, I know you already know how I feel about an actual relationship. So I’m not worried about you waiting for this to turn into something it won’t.”

Looking around us, my gaze stopped on an elderly couple, and I leaned in toward Kennedy. Grabbing her hand, I nodded my head in their direction. “Look at them. The couple in the corner.”

Her eyes drifted past me, and I watched as her face softened. Turning, I looked at the pair too. Both had white hair and were permanently hunched, and the man had a cane resting against the table. There was a bowl of ice cream between them, and he took turns giving his wife a bite before taking one for himself. He was holding her hand across the table, and their fingers were curved around each other’s like they’d spent the last sixty-plus years never letting go of each other.

Looking back at the girl I was holding on to, I spoke softly. “I know I want that someday; there’s no way you can’t want it too.”

“I used to,” she admitted when her dark blue eyes met mine again. “But it just doesn’t exist for us anymore.”

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