I'm Not Charlotte Lucas(48)

“Maybe not if I was actually using the degree.”

“Ah, there’s the real trouble. Why are you not using it?”

I stood up, moving to the DVD player in a flurry and focusing my attention on switching out the finished disc for the next. “If Spike gets into USC will you move down there to be closer to him?”

He hesitated before answering me. “I don’t know. I’m not going to worry about that until I have to.”

“But he’s your only real family, right?”

“Yeah, but he’s not my entire life. Vera is here, and so is my new office.”

He had me there. I guess most people didn’t follow their teenage brothers around, moving to remain close to them. But most people didn’t have the responsibility of a high school senior either.

“Let’s play a game,” Liam said.

I sat back on my heels, sliding the DVD case onto my TV stand and looking at him over my shoulder. “What kind of game?”

“Come back over here, and I’ll tell you.”

Music floated from the speakers, the familiar comfort food for my soul, and I acquiesced. Nestling into my seat on the edge of the couch, I tried to sit as far from Liam as possible. Beth would be raising her hands as high as her eyebrows and shouting at me to put on the moves, but I wasn’t like that. I couldn’t sit closer to him, lean toward him, bat my eyelashes up at him. Remaining a proper distance away was my go-to. My heart had just gone on a carriage ride through the rocky, unbeaten paths of the rugged countryside, and it needed smooth travels for a minute.

Jumping from Andy’s deceiving arms straight into Liam’s was not a wise move. I wasn’t a desperate maiden willing to accept the first Mr. Collins who glanced my way, and my refusal to let Andy in earlier tonight proved that. Now I just needed to hold strong in the face of Liam’s kind eyes and open smile—however much of a Mr. Darcy he might seem.

“Let’s play a questions game. You can ask me any question. I’ll answer honestly, and then I can ask you one.”

“I’m not sure that seems like a good idea.”

“It could be fun,” he said, his voice low.

Reaching for the remote, I clicked the start button and leaned back, laying my head on the back of the sofa. “Fine. Let’s play.”

“You first.”

“Why did you move to Bellmead?”

“To be closer to Vera. My mom cares more about seeing her friends and her vacation house in the Bahamas than spending time with me or Spike, and our grandparents on her side died a long time ago. I don’t have any other family, really, and I wanted to give Spike something normal.”

“Vera’s normal?”

That stretched a smile over Liam’s lips. “Well, being around a grandma should be normal. That was the idea, at least.” He clapped his hands together. “My turn.”

“Keep in mind that I kept my question relatively noninvasive.”

“Noted.” He scanned my face. “Why are you living in your parents’ attic?”

“Because my roommate moved back to San Francisco and our lease was up. I couldn’t find a roommate for the life of me. My parents had just finished remodeling this unit, and the timing seemed good, so I just moved here.”

“Ah, I see,” Liam nodded sagely.

“My turn.” I leaned forward, resting my elbow on the back of the couch. “Why Teaching United?”

Liam’s voice grew softer, gravelly, as though the conversation had grown intimate when it hadn’t. I was just asking about his job. “Why Teaching United? That isn’t even a fully formed question.”

“Fine. Why did you choose to promote that charity?”

“I don’t just promote it. I run it.”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Why that one? You played football in college, right? You aren’t a teacher by trade.”

“Nope. I got my MBA. But I don’t have to be a teacher to believe that children all over the world deserve a shot at success, and the first step to getting there is to educate them.”

“But why?”

“Why not?” he countered, shrugging. “I don’t have a sob story from my childhood where my best friend was adopted from Malaysia and showed me the importance of education, or my dad was a teacher or something meaningful. I was blessed with a substantial inheritance, and I wanted to do something worthwhile with it. I believe in educating people, and I believe in helping those who need it.”

“But why all these other countries? Why not kids in America?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “How do you know we don’t help kids in America?”

He was right. I didn’t know. “I guess I just assumed.”

“We utilize images of third-world countries in promotions because it’s proven to help us get bigger donations in the past, but our programs are implemented in Title One schools and bigger cities with higher rates of illiteracy in America too. The programs here are more focused on teaching English to bilingual children and helping struggling kids learn to read. It’s kind of a sister program that my director, Ruby, runs.”

That was impressive. I hadn’t really expected such a thorough answer, but the man clearly knew his stuff.

“Why do you look so surprised?” he asked.