Page 24 of Impossible

Chapter Ten

Riley

I walk into Liam’s house, knocking has been eliminated as he is always in the middle of something that makes it hard for him to drop everything just to answer the door. When I enter the kitchen, I’m greeted by Liam sitting at the table drinking his coffee and eating breakfast. Something feels weird, he never has this kind of time in the morning.

“What’s going on? Since when do you have time to make yourself that kind of breakfast in the morning?” I say, looking down at his eggs, toast, and bacon with a bowl of fruit on the side.

He opens his mouth to respond when he gets interrupted. Beverly comes walking into the kitchen holding Harper. When she sees me, a smile spreads across her face.

“Riley, so nice to see you again!” she says as she continues into the kitchen.

“Hello, Beverly,” I reply as I put my bags down on the ground. “It’s nice to see you too. It’s Tuesday, right?”

Am I losing my mind? Did I show up on the wrong day? This is what happens to my brain in the summer when I don’t have a set schedule. Liam chuckles to himself before he takes a bite of his toast.

“It’s Tuesday, dear. I just spent the night to help take care of Harper while this one over here went out for drinks with his brothers.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” My hand falls over my heart. “I thought I was so off my normal schedule that I was actually mixing up the days.”

“Sounds like something you would do,” Liam says with a smirk and a mouthful of food.

“Liam! That’s not very nice of you!” Beverly says, looking horrified by her son's comment.

He shrugs before taking his last bite of his eggs, not looking sympathetic at all. Beverly on the other hand glances at me, giving me an apologetic look.

I wink at her. “At least my mommy didn’t make my breakfast for me this morning.”

A loud bellow of a laugh comes out of Beverly as she claps her hand over her mouth. “I like you!” she says as she points in my direction. “You don’t stand for his foolish sense of humor!”

Liam rolls his eyes as he takes his empty plate over to the sink. He rinses it and places it in the dishwasher. When he turns around, he crosses his arms over his chest.

“So,” he points between Beverly and myself. “You two are going to gang up on me now.”

“Only when you set yourself up for it,” I reply. I walk over to Beverly and hold my hands out for Harper. “Here, I can take her. You must be exhausted.”

Beverly hands Harper over to me and I give her round, chubby cheek a big dramatic smooch. I can see her smiling out of the corner of my eye. Beverly squeezes my arm before she walks away to pack up her things. I glance up at Liam, who is giving me a weird look. Is he going to be a big baby about being teased? If I recall correctly, he was the one who started it. I raise my eyebrows at him, questioning why he is looking at me like. He shakes his head like he is trying to shake out the thoughts going on in his head then bends over to pick up his briefcase.

My eyes betray me and focus on his ass. My brain starts to conjure up all these thoughts of what it would feel like to squeeze it. Biting my lip, I picture ripping off his towel from the other day just so I can get a good look at the rest of him. When Liam stands back up, he walks over to where Harper and I are standing by the fridge. When he leans down to give her a kiss, I get a whiff of his cologne. My eyes close on their own, while my brain loses all sensibility and I find myself leaning into his body. When I open my eyes, his face is only inches from mine and he is looking at me with such intensity. I can visibly see his breathing has picked up.

“Alright, you two,” Beverly interrupts.

Liam quickly backs away from me and Harper and turns to his mother. “Thanks for spending the night, Mom.” He walks over to her and gives her a hug.

“It was my pleasure. Now you be nice to Riley. You can’t afford to lose such a perfect caretaker for your princess.”

I smile at her compliment. It feels good to have the approval of his mother. I wondered what they thought of knowing their granddaughter was with me so often. Liam nods his head, but seems like he is avoiding looking at me right now. They both make their way to the front door and wave goodbye to us as they walk out.

“Well, that was an interesting morning now, wasn’t it?” I ask Harper.

I bring her over to the family room to put her on her tummy while I lay on my stomach with her. While we’re playing, my brain wanders off to Liam. I’m confused as to why I have this sudden attraction to him. I have known him for years. What would Becca think of it? I am in her home, taking care of her daughter, and now crushing onherman. Gosh, it sounds so horrible when I think of it like that.

I agreed to meet Shirley today at noon with Harper. Guilt is now flooding in, thinking about seeing her while I’m starting to feel these inappropriate things for Liam. What would she say? All of this must just be because I am spending so much time with him. That has to be it. This is not me. I would never do something like this, feel something like this for my best friend’s husband.

About an hour before noon, I begin to pack everything up for Harper. She is still napping right now, which I did purposely so she would be in her best mood for Shirley. I started reading my book, but when I kept picturing Liam in all of the steamy scenes, I chucked it on the couch out of frustration. I opted to watch some reruns ofNew Girlinstead.

I have Harper in the stroller when I walk up to Shirley, sitting on a park bench. She spots us and stands up quickly, her sunglasses covering her eyes. She looks a bit more worn than I remember. Giving her a hug, I notice she is thinner, more frail.

“Shirley!” I pull back and look at her. “It’s so nice to see you.”

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