Page 26 of Hold

What the hell did that mean? The small smile that had been playing at the corners of her mouth fled. What, she wasn’t good enough for his family?

Uh, Thea. You have your own July Fourth to go to, remember? Your own family? And you and Liam are barely even friends, let alone about to spend holidays together.

She shook herself and started stirring the batter again.

“Dad, believe me. She’s too fancy for the likes of me.”

“Are you kidding me?” There was a silence in which Pat was probably looking around at the damp basement.

“She’s a Fielding. You know, the Fieldings?”

“Oh. That’s where I’ve seen that smile before. We lost that job to Duke’s. His house. Big pile out on Chestnut Hill.”

“Exactly.”

“What, so you’re not good enough for a Fielding?”

“No, Dad… it’s not that. Jeez, I’d’ve thought you’d get it, given Avery and all.”

“Oh, she’s one of those, is she?”

No, I’m not. She couldn’t move, couldn’t even shift her feet in case they heard her and realized she was there.I would never cheat on Liam. On anyone.

“Someone who looks down her nose at blue-collar guys? Yes.”

Hey!

Liam’s voice went on. “Someone who’d pretend everything was fine and then cheat on her husband? I don’t think so.”

There was a silence while Thea fumed. Then Pat said, “So my question to you is, what are you doing here? I haven’t seen any bills come in for this address, for no Fielding.”

“I’m just helping her out.”

“For free? Nothing’s free in this life, Liam.”

“Yeah, you taught me that pretty good, Dad.” She heard the clang of a tool hitting another tool. “Look, she’s a student like me, she needed a hand, I helped her. End of story.”

“Well, just see that it is. I don’t want your mother upset again.”

His mother? Liam was the one who got cheated on! Who had to quit a job he loved because of it!

Liam didn’t answer his father. Thea tiptoed over to the cupboard to get the chocolate chips and tipped them into the batter. Her arm ached from stirring in the flour, and her whole body burned from the injustice of Liam saying she looked down on blue-collar workers. Where had he gotten that idea? Hadn’t she had one in her life for fourteen years?

Okay, bad example. But Gabe’s job wasn’t his problem. It was his lack of one.

The cellar door banged down, and Thea started stabbing the chocolate chips into the batter with her wooden spoon. The men came into the kitchen, assiduously wiping their feet on the mat first.

“Can I wash my hands?” Pat asked, nodding to the bathroom door.

“Of course,” she said, hoping her voice indicated she had not a care in the world.

He left the door open as he did so, so Thea couldn’t even lay into Liam in a furious whisper, but she did glare at him hard enough that he raised an eyebrow. Then he looked down at his feet and back at her. The dawning horror on his face turned her scowl into a giggle. She could see him going back over the conversation he’d just had, and he obviously didn’t like what he recalled.

Okay, you never heard anything good about yourself when you eavesdropped, but it had almost been worth it to see that unguarded expression on his face.

“It’s not funny,” he growled, which of course made her laugh more.

“What’s not funny?” Pat asked, joining them.

---