Until There Was You(76)

“How sweet,” Posey couldn’t resist saying.

He gave her a murderous look, then sighed. “By the way,” he said in a low voice, “I’d rather not have Nicole know we’re…hanging out.”

Hanging out. Horrible term, meaning absolutely nothing. “Of course not,” she said, looking away.

“So, what else happens this weekend?” Liam asked.

“There are tugboat races tomorrow,” Posey said. “Sunday.” As in Sunday. As in You free on Sunday?

“Cool.” Another few beats passed. Men. As perceptive as cement walls.

“Your mother’s definitely trying to fix me up with Greta,” he said, and Posey felt a nearly painful burst of love. He got Gretchen’s name wrong! So sweet!

“Well, Mom thinks the entire world should be married,” Posey said. Then, aware that her statement sounded leading, she added hastily, “But not everyone’s meant for…you know.”

There was another silence. “I think I’ll go wait for Nicole,” Liam said, standing. He looked down at her, almost as if seeing her for the first time today. “See you tomorrow? I could pick you up around noon.”

Posey couldn’t suppress a smile. “Sounds good.”

He leaned down, and for a second, she thought he might kiss her, right here in public, but he just stuck a few bills under a plate for the busboy. “You looked cute on the float today,” he said, and it was so unexpected that she was actually speechless. Then he smiled and left, and Posey sat there for a few long, delicious minutes, the glow in her chest nearly painful.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“HAVE FUN, SWEETHEART,” Liam said the next day, kissing Nicole’s forehead. “Thanks, Daddy!”

“Don’t go crazy with Grandma’s Amex, okay?”

“I won’t,” she said.

“This is a shopping spree, sweetheart. You can get whatever you want,” Louise said, giving Liam a cool look as she ran a hand over Nicole’s hair.

“Within reason, Nic.” He’d had to talk to her the last time there was a spree—they’d bought her a purse that cost eight hundred dollars.

“Darling, go out to the car, all right? Grandpa’s waiting. I have to ask your father something.” Nicole obeyed, regressing to age six and skipping down the hall. The elevator doors opened, and she blew him a kiss, which Liam caught. Baby Girl was happy today.

The second the elevator doors closed, Louise raised her chin, giving him the assessing, disapproving look he’d been getting since the first time he knocked on their door to take Emma to the movies. “Liam, George and I would like to talk to you about spending more time with our granddaughter.”

Liam felt a tightening in his gut. “Well, you do see her quite a bit already. Dinner once a week, Sundays, the occasional sleepover. Seems like a lot to me.”

“We’d like more. Every other weekend and at least once a week after school.”

“That’s…that’s not gonna happen, Louise. I mean, we love seeing you—” a lie “—but Nicole has a lot of school things going on. And she and I do things on the weekends, too, so we’ll just play it by ear, okay? But if something special comes up, you definitely talk to me.”

“She’s our only grandchild. Our only piece of Emma.”

It wasn’t a plea…it was an accusation, as if Liam had somehow caused Emma’s illness. And no matter how much they loved Nicole, Liam would always be the kid from the wrong side of the tracks who’d knocked up their princess. If there’d never been a Nicole—if Liam had simply been their late daughter’s husband—he doubted the Tates would have ever spoken to him again.

“I know that, Louise,” he said, as gently as he could. “And we moved back here to be closer to you.”

“We appreciate that, Liam. But we’d still like to have more time with her.”

He nodded. “Summer’s just around the corner. I’m sure Nicole would love to spend some time with you then.”

Her face tightened. “Also, we’d like to buy her a car for her birthday. A Mercedes. Excellent safety record.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Why?” she snapped. “Liam, you never let us give that child anything! We wanted to take her to London last year, and you said no to that as well.”

“You wanted to take her to London for a month. During the school year, Louise. As for the car, no. She won’t even have her license until next fall.”

“Fine. You’re the father.” She spit the word like it was a curse.

“Thank you,” he said, forcing his voice to be pleasant. “If you could have her back by eight, that’d be great. It’s a school night.” If he said eight, they might make it before ten.

“Fine,” she repeated in a tone that was anything but. Without saying goodbye, Louise turned and went down the hall.

Liam stood there, waiting till she was in the elevator, then stepped inside his apartment. Locked the door. Unlocked it. Locked it again. Then he went to the sink, slammed on the hot water and lathered up. Fifty-five seconds. It was never enough with the Tates. He’d moved across the continent and gave them pretty free access to their granddaughter, endured their crappy WASP dinners and veiled insults, but it would never be enough. And yet they were his backup plan for his child. Who wouldn’t be a child much longer.