The Dating Plan(48)

She rubbed absently at her bare arms. Her sweater was still in the car and she could feel the goose bumps on her skin. “I can’t believe you’re tracking when I pee.”

“Just being observant.” He rubbed his thumb over her fingers, making it difficult to concentrate on anything but the soothing sensation that fuzzed her brain.

She stared at him, incredulous. “Of pee?”

“Of you.”

Warmth flooded her chest, disconcerting in its intensity. She looked away and saw the woman with the cat watching them. “Keep your voice down. I don’t want people to hear us talking about pee.”

“They’d hear a tinkle. That’s for sure.”

Her face flamed when the woman snickered. “Fine.” She jumped up from her seat. “I’ll go to the restroom simply so you’ll shut up about it and then you can go.”

Liam stood beside her. “Or, since you’re standing . . .” He swept her up in his arms like she weighed nothing, although she knew exactly how much she weighed. And why had she stuffed her face with jalebis and laddu at Mehar Auntie’s house earlier that afternoon at the dance rehearsal? Everyone knew that the weight from sweets you shouldn’t eat went on immediately and took at least five days to lose.

“I’ll carry you to your car and take you home.”

“Liam!” A tingling swept up the back of her neck and across her face. “Put me down.”

“I will.” He bent to pick up her purse, shifting her weight to one arm. “In your car.”

“You guys are so cute together,” the woman with the cat called out as Liam carried her through the waiting room. “He’s a real catch.”

“Did you hear that?” Liam murmured in her ear, his voice amused. “I’m a real catch. You shouldn’t let me get away.”

“I’m beginning to worry we might not both fit in my car given the size of your ego.”

“Daisy?” Still holding her tight in his arms, he pulled open the door.

“What?”

“Don’t pee on the seat.”





? 18 ?


NOSTALGIA hit Liam hard when he walked with Daisy up the sidewalk to the bright blue Victorian house that had been his second home. Everything looked the same, from the white picket fence to the tiny front garden, and the porch hidden behind a giant Maidenhair tree.

“I climbed to the top of that tree once.”

“I remember.” Daisy pulled out her keys. “You and Sanjay threw water balloons at me.”

“And then you locked us out of the house and we didn’t get our afternoon snack.”

She looked back over her shoulder. “Why do all your memories of that time have to do with food?”

“I was a teenager. Food was my life.” It had also been a way to connect with Daisy, but that she didn’t need to know.

“Do you want to come in for tea while I call an Uber to take you back to your motorcycle?” She flicked on the lights, illuminating the familiar hallway with a warm glow. “And don’t even think about calling them yourself. I’m paying and that’s all there is to it.”

“I can’t believe nothing has changed.” Liam walked into the living room from the small hallway. “Same drapes. Same couch. You even have the same pictures on the walls.” He knew this house better than his own, he realized. The Murphy living room had been a place of fights and violence instead of fun and relaxation, and he’d avoided it when he could.

“Look!” He pointed at a dent in the wall, a thrill of excitement flowing through his veins. “That’s from the time Sanjay threw a baseball at me. Your dad had just finished repainting the living room. I think that was the most annoyed I’d ever seen him.”

Daisy watched him, amused. “You have more memories of my house than I do.”

“What about the kitchen?” He took off at full stride to the small country-style kitchen with its whitewashed cupboards and fading melamine counters. “This is the same, too.” He pointed to one of the kitchen stools, the vinyl seat torn and showing its stuffing. “There’s my chair.”

“It’s Priya’s chair now. She’s my dad’s new girlfriend. He was alone for twenty years, and then one day I came home for dinner and there she was. It was awkward at first. It had just been Dad and me for the longest time. But Priya is great. I’ve never seen him so happy. And since she runs a bakery, we always have treats.”

“I’m glad for him. It must have been hard to be alone for so long.”

Daisy tilted her head to the side, her forehead wrinkling. “I never thought about my dad being lonely. He had his work, his friends, his family, and us. He never complained. It’s one of the reasons I never pursued a serious relationship. If he was content for twenty years without a partner, I could be, too. If you don’t get too close, you don’t get hurt when people leave.”

Liam sat on his old stool. “I made the same decision about relationships, but it was because my parents had such a terrible marriage. I worried that one day I’d turn out to be like my father.”

“I don’t know all the details of what happened in your house, but I know you,” she said quietly. “I can’t imagine you hurting anyone that way.”