The Dating Plan(66)
He’d spent a lot of time during the last couple of days wondering what she thought. What would she do if he texted her before their next date for no reason other than to see how she was doing? They hadn’t made a rule about texting, but they did have a rule against developing feelings. It was a stupid rule and he was stupid for agreeing to it, especially because the feelings were already there. And now that he’d slept with her, he was even more certain that the feelings he was having were going to get him into trouble, and there was nothing he could do about it.
“Go faster, Uncle Liam. I want to see the horses.”
“Sorry, bud.” He caught Jaxon’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “This is your mom’s car, and I don’t want the gravel to chip the paint. She might not let us go on any more adventures together.”
A few minutes later, he rounded the final bend of the long road and parked outside the visitor center alongside Joe’s blue pickup truck. As soon as he stepped out of the car, he could smell the grains cooking, the scent of slightly sour bread. It was a smell he associated with his grandfather, and he felt a sudden pang of sadness in his chest.
Jaxon ran across the gravel to see the horses in the neighboring field as soon as Liam helped him out of the car, stopping briefly to say hello to Joe who had come out to greet them.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you out here.” Joe wiped his hands on his coveralls before shaking Liam’s hand. At seventy-five, he was slightly stooped, his dark hair thinning and gray, but he was still strong and fit, his mind as sharp as it had ever been.
“It’s been a while and I’ve been wanting to stop by. When Lauren asked me to look after Jaxon today, I thought we’d make a day of it.”
Joe sighed. “Good idea, since it’s all coming down in a couple of weeks anyway.”
“No one is tearing it down,” Liam said firmly. “Your job is safe, Joe, and the jobs of the other employees here, too.”
Joe lifted an eyebrow. “So that girl you told us about at the will reading . . . She’s real?”
“Very real. Her name is Daisy. She’s the sister of an old friend. She knows what it’s all about and she’s okay with it because the arrangement benefits her, too.”
“I thought she hated you.” Joe leaned against the faded white picket fence that surrounded the visitor center.
“I think we may have worked that out.” He wasn’t sure how Daisy felt about him, but after the other night, he was pretty sure hate wasn’t at the top of her list.
“Well, good for you. I won’t say anything. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve known her forever.”
“I have known her forever, but we’ve gone on dates to make it seem more real.” He pulled out his phone to show Joe the pictures of him and Daisy at the clothing store, the restaurant, the hockey game, and the one he’d taken when he’d declared her the winner of their Guitar Hero marathon.
Joe gave Liam a quizzical look. “You sure it’s fake? Looks like you two are having fun.”
Liam stared at the picture they’d taken at the hockey game. She’d kissed him, not the other way around. And it hadn’t been for show. He’d seen something in her face—something soft and raw and real. And then, just when he’d thought it was all over, when his past had come back to haunt him, she’d shown him just how strong she really was, and made him want her even more.
“It’s supposed to be fake.” He frowned, disconcerted by the question. “It has to be fake. She wants it to be fake.”
“What do you want?” Joe asked.
Liam shrugged. “I don’t do relationships. As you know, I didn’t have a good role model in that department.” He waved Jaxon over, and they walked together to the visitor center.
“You’re not your old man,” Joe said. “You’re your grandfather’s boy. I saw it in you then, and I see it in you now. That core of goodness. Inner strength. Selflessness. And the sheer Irish stubbornness that meant that no matter how many times you were knocked down, you kept getting back up. Your dad saw it, and he hated you for it. He knew he would never be half the man you were at thirteen. You were everything his father had wanted him to be. Your grandfather was so damn proud of you. He kept tabs on everything you did right up until his last days.”
Emotion welled up in Liam’s throat, the pain and grief he hadn’t allowed himself to feel when his grandfather died threatening to rip a hole in his chest. He pulled out his knife and closed it in his fist. “I lost all those years with him.” His voice cracked, broke. “I couldn’t forgive him for not helping my mother. I couldn’t forgive any of them. It was only when he got sick . . . when I knew I was going to lose him . . .”
Joe clasped his shoulder. “No one knew how bad it was with your mom. She didn’t tell anyone, and you boys didn’t say anything. You kept your secrets. We only found out about the abuse after your father died and your uncle Fitz called your mom in Florida to see if she wanted to come to the funeral. That’s when she told him the truth. Fitz and the others decided not to tell your grandfather. His health was already bad and they didn’t want to cause him any stress.”
No one knew. He couldn’t even begin to process what Joe had told him. All those years of thinking his family had turned a blind eye to the abuse, when they didn’t even know. And he was partly to blame. He’d kept his mother’s secrets, just as he was keeping secrets now. Secrets destroyed relationships. He didn’t want to make the same mistake again.