The Dating Plan(79)

“Mr. Patel . . .” Emotion rose in his throat, choking his words.

“And now you show up and want to be part of my family again?” He was trembling, his lined face twisted in a scowl. “I thought I knew who you were when you came every day to my house. Even that night of the prom, I thought your reason for what you did would be a good one. You would explain and we would make things right. But you didn’t come. For ten years you didn’t come. No e-mail or letter. Now, I don’t even know who you are.”

Liam’s face heated and he willed the ground to swallow him up. Her father did know who he was. He’d been unworthy then and he was unworthy now. A delinquent in all but name. Even if he accepted the partnership at Evolution, he would never be good enough for Daisy. She was surrounded by a warm, loving family. They wanted her to be happy, to have a family of her own with a good man who would love and care for her. How could he take that away from her? How could he continue to deceive her family into believing she’d found a partner who truly loved her? How could he betray Mr. Patel yet again?

He wanted to be worthy. He wanted to walk into the room and hold his head high. The Evolution partnership was a step in that direction. And so was releasing Daisy from the bargain he never should have made.



* * *



? ? ?

    DAISY had been awake for exactly twelve hours, twenty-eight minutes, and forty-three seconds when Liam walked into her room. She’d seen twenty-six relatives, including her dad and Priya, two nurses, one police officer, two reporters, two doctors, and one excited Max hidden in a tote bag. She’d had two naps, swallowed four pills, drank six glasses of water, traded three terrible hospital meals for plates of food snuck into her room in oversize handbags by aunties who were worried she’d lose weight, and she’d been cleared to leave in the morning.

Salena Auntie, on her way out with Priya and her father, had told her that Liam had been sitting outside her room for three days. She’d also heard about the altercation with her father and had received an earful for not telling Salena Auntie who Liam was. She didn’t know what she’d expected when she finally saw him, but it wasn’t a man who looked so utterly destroyed.

“Daisy . . .” His voice cracked, broke, and in that moment she knew with gut-wrenching certainty exactly what was going to happen, play by play, as if it were a movie she’d seen before.





Act I: Liam Blames Himself


“Liam, don’t you dare.” She folded her arms across her chest and mentally willed him not to say what he was about to say.

Misunderstanding, he stopped five feet away, a frown creasing his brow. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. Just took a while to wake up. Probably because I wasn’t getting enough sleep . . .” Her joke fell flat. He didn’t even smile. “Are you okay? Layla said you had a minor concussion. Why didn’t you go home?”

“You were here.” He moved to the foot of her bed, a pained expression on his face. “I couldn’t leave.”

“Well, you can go home now,” she said gently. “As you can see, the body armor did its job. I didn’t wind up as one of Hamish’s gory stories.”

He drew in his lips, and she felt a prickle on the back of her neck. “I’m sorry. If I hadn’t taken you out . . .”

Daisy held up her hand. “Don’t even start. This wasn’t your fault. The police officer told me what happened. Layla told me what happened. All my aunties and uncles told me what happened. You saved me, Liam. You were a hero. Most people wouldn’t have thought to pull us off the bike, or to roll so you cushioned my body. You saved me. The end.”

Still no smile. Instead, he shook his head. “Most people wouldn’t have thought to put you on the bike in the first place.” She could feel his tension rising, see his anxiety ripple under his skin.

“It was my choice, and except for the fact that your pillion seat is the most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever sat on in my life, and that’s even with all my extra padding, I loved being out there with you. It was fun and exciting and it took my breath away. I’m not saying I’ll be jumping on your motorcycle the minute I get out of here, but—”

“The bike was totaled in the crash, and I’m not sure if I’ll buy another one.” He hesitated, and the part of her mind that had detached from her emotions sat back and called the next scene of this train wreck of a breakup as her pulse pounded in her ears.





Act II: Liam Justifies His Self-Delusion


“I can’t do this.” His voice was a hoarse whisper, the creak of a door in a silent room. “I can’t pretend anymore.”

Daisy frowned. “What do you mean, you ‘can’t do this’? I haven’t told anyone that we’re not really engaged. The dating plan isn’t done. We still have to meet my family for the big interrogation, and then the marriage at city hall . . .”

“I should never have asked you to get involved,” he continued. “I was so focused on my family and saving the distillery, I never really thought about how we would be misleading your family, too. And now that I’ve met them, and seen your dad again, I just can’t—” His voice caught, broke. “He was like a father to me. And your aunties . . . I can see that they could be . . . difficult to handle, but they love you. They just want to find someone who will make you happy, someone worthy of you. And it’s clear, that’s not me.”