Page 70 of Holiday Home 3

“I am,” Liam said.

“What made you decide to go there?” Evelyn asked, hiding her lips behind another sip of her vividly red drink. Her soft blue eyes peered over the rim, never losing eye contact with him.

“I wasn’t too sure about what I wanted to do yet, so I wanted to pick a good school with a lot of potential options for me to explore. Bellmore felt like the wrong place for me to go if I didn’t have a strong idea about what I wanted to do with my life.”

“So, you considered Bellmore? Did you apply and elect not to go?”

“Erm, no,” Liam admitted. “I never applied there.”

Without missing a beat, Anna’s mother asked, “Do you think you would have gotten in had you applied?”

His initial response was to shrug his shoulders and say he wasn’t sure, to downplay things like he’d been doing for most of his life. However, before he could slide back into that old, comfortable glove, he curled his hands into fists where they sat on his lap.

“I had the grades to get in,” he said confidently. “Tess, erm, Professor Williams has routinely complained about me choosing Perrymont over Bellmore. She’s even more certain than I am that I would have gotten in and done well if I’d gone there.”

Evelyn smiled. “Well, there’s nothing wrong with Perrymont; it’s still a good school. In fact, I dated someone who went there for a little over a year. So, hearing that Anna’s first real boyfriend goes there was rather amusing for me to find out.”

“You did?” Anna asked, finally adding her voice to the conversation, though it was laced with confusion. “When? I thought you and father met when you were a freshman at Bellmore.”

“And when he was a junior,” Evelyn confirmed. “That’s how it went. It’s a reversal of you two, I’m realizing now.”

“But didn’t you start dating only a few months after that?”

“Yes, and then we broke up. And then we got back together a few months after that, and then I broke up with him again.Iwas a junior the next time we dated, for the third and final time.”

Anna’s frown confidently proved that she’d been unaware of these hiccups in her parents’ love life. Evelyn smiled and patted her on her hand.

“That’s how relationships tend to go. Very rarely does a couple make it all the way to the finish line without any breaks orhurdles, especially at that age. There’s so much growth left and so many experiences still to go before you’re finished becoming the person you will be. Personally, I’m thrilled to be sitting here today, meeting a boy you’re introducing me to. It means you’re experiencing something new, and I’m happy about that.”

“Really?” Anna asked, more so shocked than suspicious.

Evelyn’s lips curled in amusement. “Did you think I wouldn’t be? Of course I want my only daughter to experience what it’s like to like someone enough to date them—and all the positivity that comes with that. Even if there end up being some negatives”—she refocused on him—“not that I would wish for that”—her attention returned to her daughter—“it will still end up being valuable to you as you grow into a person all your own.”

Anna’s flabbergasted face was nearly cute enough to plant a smile on his face, though he kept it hidden just in case she was more embarrassed than surprised. He also kept hidden the surge of relief he felt within him, though he gleefully let it rush to cool off the simmering anxiety that he’d been experiencing ever since he’d gotten into his car an hour ago. So far as he could tell, unless she was an expert liar, Eveyln meant every word she’d said.

Things seemed to have worked out. She wasn’t aligned with her husband’s viewpoint, which meant Anna could hopefully rely on her mother’s support going forward.

Tears sprang up suddenly in the corners of Anna’s eyes as that same revelation rushed through her. The tension in her shoulders vanished, and pure, unstoppable relief wetted her eyes. The relief to know that at least one of her parents supported her when she should have always had the support of them both. An end of at least this part of her uncertainty, anxiousness, and fear. She now knew she wouldn’t have to fend them both off.

Anna tried to swallow the emotion supplanting her poise but couldn’t keep it at bay.

Smiling, Evelyn proved her decency as a mother a second time. She pulled Anna into her arms, softly kissing the crown of her head. Anna sniffled and scrubbed away the tear streaks with the back of her hands, trying but failing to recompose herself. Evelyn rubbed her daughter’s back, effortlessly ignoring the stares from the other patrons in their area.

Liam made sure to do so too. This was the second time he’d seen Anna cry, and yet his response now was vastly different than the last time. He shared her relief, and he also experienced a hint of optimism. Evelyn Royce was a far cry from her husband. She was a decent person, for one thing.

In about a minute, Anna had tightened the spigot on future tears. She still fought off some sniffles as she escaped her mother’s arms and cleared her throat. Embarrassment kept her chin low, though he didn’t know if it was because of his presence, her mother’s, or even the other customers.

“Would you like to go to the restroom and clean up a little?” Evelyn wisely suggested, providing her daughter an opportunity for a little alone time to soothe herself.

“Yes,” Anna croaked, blushing deeper. As her mother left the booth so she could slide out, Anna took a long drink of her iced tea and glanced his way.

He offered her a hopeful smile, which she returned as she scooted out of the booth. Afterward, she beat a hasty path to the women’s restroom. After she disappeared from his and Evelyn’s sight, the latter returned to her seat.

“What I said was directed at you, as well,” she said, staring directly at him. “I hope you’ll take stock of my words.”

“I will,” he promised. “I care about Anna very much.”

“I believe you,” Evelyn said. “And I’m hoping you will continue to care about her even once you’re back at Perrymont and she’s here.”

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