Page 52 of Blakely and Liam

“Yeah, I did, I was out for about ten days, I think.” I drank from my beer.

“Inna she brave, Liam? I would never want tae go alone on a hike, I would totally need m’Liam there, wouldna I?”

I drained my beer and Liam instantly replaced it as if he had been watching and wanting to make things okay for me. He said, “I am nae much use on a hike: if ye saw a bear, Em, ye might hae tae throw me tae him as a distraction.”

I grinned to myself when Em asked, “Can I hae another drink, Liam?”

He ran his hands through his hair. “What kind do ye want?”

She laughed. “Anything, ye pick, ye know what I like.”

Lily said, “I’ll take a beer.”

Liam opened two more beers.

Finally, the awkwardness, the long stories, the preening power plays of Em, the social cues that I couldn’t read, and the everything that had shifted from being comfortable with each other to not understanding what the hell was going on all got to be too much, and I was reminded how very tired I was.

I stood from my stool and announced, “Well, since I finished my hike and was buying myself a celebration beer and got to meet new people from Scotland who traveled a long time to get here — wonderful surprise by the way, I’m sure Liam is so excited to see you both, I um... I have got to get to bed. I am so sleepy and so anyway, the drinks are on me.”

I shook my head when Liam protested. “No, I insist. One of the joys of finishing a long hike is to go to a bar and say, ‘drinks are on me,’ and look how I made out! Only four people! This is really really great.” I pulled my bag onto my shoulder. “So great.”

Liam jumped from his chair. “I ought tae give ye a ride back tae yer house. Hold on.” He turned to Lily and Em and explained, “She canna walk in the dark and she daena hae a car.”

Em said, “Do ye want me tae ride with ye?”

“Nae, finish yer beers, I hae tae close up when I return. Twill take five minutes.” He grabbed his keys, ran his hand through his hair, and said, “If anyone comes in we only hae beer t’night, and daena let them play the jukebox. Tell them I will be back in a moment.”

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