Page 32 of Trusting Liam (Taking Chances 2)

“You’re twenty-two, Kennedy. You have a long time to change your mind.”

AN HOUR LATER, I was walking back into the familiar tattoo shop with a bag of food in my hand. I’d just dropped Kennedy off at her condo, and even though the rest of the night had been great, I couldn’t stop thinking about the beginning of our conversation at the ice cream shop.

“Little Chachi!” Brian called out from where he was wrapping someone’s leg. “What’d you bring me, and why are you visiting me again on a Friday night? Don’t you have better things to do than come talk at ol’ Bri on nights like tonight?”

“I just dropped Kennedy off.”

“Who?” he asked distractedly before telling the guy he’d been working on that he could pay up front and giving him a rundown of after-care instructions.

“Moon,” I said when the guy was gone and I was in Brian’s station.

“Oh, no shit! Like date night? Hell yeah! What changed since I last saw you—wait! Tell me what you brought me first.”

I tossed him the bag full of hamburgers and fries, and he groaned in appreciation.

“You just knew I was starving, didn’t you? That’s why you’re here?”

“Of course that’s not why I’m here. Kennedy doesn’t believe in love,” I said as I took a seat on his desk.

“So what?” he mumbled around a bite. “You don’t love her anyway—or do you now? I told you you would! See, LC! I know you. I know these things. I know how those faces of yours work; you were in love before you even knew it.”

“Still don’t love her, Brian.”

He kept talking as if I hadn’t spoken. “Just like with Chachi before you, I know what the fuck’s up. I should be Cupid’s sidekick or something.”

“Brian,” I barked, and kicked at his leg. “I don’t love her. But I want to know what you think about what she said about love.”

“You came to me for this, Little Chachi?” Brian made a face like he was about to cry, and wiped away an imaginary tear. “I knew it. Cupid’s sidekick. I’ve got this love shit down.”

With a weighted sigh, I decided against saying anything about the new title Brian had given himself, and told him all about my conversation with Kennedy. When I was finished, Brian sat there staring at me with a handful of fries half hanging out of his mouth.

“Again, so what? You’re still acting like you don’t love her.”

“I don’t, but I want to know what you think.”

Brian rolled his eyes, like I was asking him to stop eating again. “I think that she’s been hurt.”

“That’s obvious,” I said, cutting in. “She said she had a bad relationship.”

“Do you want me to tell you or not?”

I lifted an arm out and to the side. “Continue.”

“Anyway! I think she’s been hurt. Not just in a way people get hurt in normal everyday relationships. I think whatever happened in that relationship hurt her in a way she was never expecting to be hurt, and a way you probably can’t understand. So hurt that her only way to get past it is to make herself believe that love doesn’t exist anymore.”

I leaned forward and rested my arms on my legs. “What could’ve happened that was so bad?”

“Lot of things, LC. He could’ve hurt her physically. You just never know.”

“But she’s twenty-two, and she said this happened a long time ago. How could she have been old enough to be so in love with someone that she thought she had what her parents had? And knowing her personality, there’s no way she was ever the kind of girl to be in love with every relationship and boyfriend she had.”

“Your mom was eighteen when she fell in love and then had her entire world ripped out from under her in ways that I can’t begin to understand—and I was there with a front-row seat during it,” he said like that should’ve been explanation enough. And I guess in a way, it was. With a shrug, Brian said, “This kind of shit happens sometimes. If you ever find out, you’ll probably never be able to understand what your girl went through. But I have no doubt that it’s just going to take the right guy to make her believe in all that lovey-dovey shit again.”

“It’s not gonna be me,” I reminded him when he gave me a knowing look.

“We’ll see, LC. We’ll see.”

9

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