Page 66 of Hold

Jake seemed to be holding something back. Finally, digging the handle of his spoon into the table, he said, “What about Liam?”

The question she couldn’t answer. The name that sent a spike of dread into her stomach. His face through the screen door. The hurt. Worse, the resignation. He’d expected her to cheat on him, and to his eyes, she had.

And as she’d predicted, it was a whole lot worse because he now had a relationship with her kids, and any time he now gave them would mean he’d have to continue to talk to her. Which she could bet the last dime of her trust fund he didn’t want to do.

“What doyouwant to do about Liam?” she hedged.

“I’m not the one dating him, Mom.”

“Oh.” She suddenly found her own spoon fascinating. “You figured that out, huh?”

“It wasn’t hard.” He scowled into his mug. “So are you going to keep dating him?”

The look on his face. The ice in his eyes.She couldn’t tell Jake about that. “It’s complicated,” was all she could say.

“So youaregoing to take Dad back.” Jake shoved his mug away. “Dammit, Mom. Liam was good for you—for us. I guess now I have to stop working for him, too. Did you dump him already? Why did you—?”

“Jake!” Thea put her hand on his. “I amnottaking back your dad. Liam… Liam knows we lied to him about today and that your dad’s back. If you want to keep working for him, then maybe you should call him.”

“Is he pissed?”

“Not at you, hon.” That was as far as she could go. Even that was probably too much.

“Why don’tyoucall him? Tell him what you told me?”

“Look, Jake. I don’t want you to worry about Liam and me. I think he’ll still be happy to have you work for him”—she crossed her fingers under the table—“but this is something you have to ask him.”

Jake, like most teenagers, looked very sure that this was something he would much prefer Thea do for him, but he stood and pulled his phone out of his back pocket. Thea held her breath. Liam wouldn’t take it out on Jake, would he?

Chapter 19

Liam was sitting on his couch, watching a medieval fantasy show he’d lost the thread of years ago, his head aching without the consolation of being drunk, when his phone rang.

He almost didn’t look at it. She’d called three times already tonight. The phone was next to him on the couch, and if he hadn’t noticed out of the corner of his eye that there was something different about the screen, he would have remained determined to keep his focus on the TV. But he did look down and saw Jake’s profile picture.

Even then he let it go through another ring before he picked up. God, his head hurt. “Hello, Jake,” he said.

“Hi.” How did the kid feel about his dad being home? Had they all spent the day in family bliss, reliving the good old days, laughing at the trick they’d played on Liam? Was Jake thrilled to have his dad back and ready to drop Liam like a worthless gem in the video game they’d played?

Jake was silent for a moment. “What can I do for you?” Liam prompted. He wanted to get the call over with.

“Oh, um. I was just wondering. Do you still need me on the job?”

Liam leaned forward and scrubbed at his face. “It’s fine, Jake,” he said, his voice heavy. He was exhausted. “You don’t have to work for me anymore if you don’t want to.”

“But I do!” Jake’s voice came out with such force, it squeaked on the last word. “I really do!”

Liam felt an altogether unreasonable relief, even joy. “Okay, then. Good,” he said, not wanting to sound too enthusiastic and scare the kid off. “I’ll see you at seven o’clock tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay,” Jake said on a breath. “Hey, Liam?”

Uh-oh. “Yes?” he said warily.

“Will you talk to my mom?”

He heard a noise in the background; she was there with Jake. Maybe in the kitchen, sitting with cookies, the coffee machine on the counter ready to switch on in the morning. She always made extra for him now. The familiarity, the comfort of it made his heart thick with pain.

What was he supposed to say to Jake? “Later,” he chose. “It’s past my bedtime.” Jake began to say something, but Liam said, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jake,” and hung up.

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