Love Under Review

by Britney M. Mills

  As they pulled up at her house, a knot twist inside her stomach, making her wonder what she should say or do. She didn’t want to offend him by not asking him to hang out longer, but something kept holding her back.

  “Thank you so much for taking me up there. I really needed it.” She grinned.

  He mimicked the gesture. “I’m glad. I wish it hadn’t started raining.” He undid his seat belt. “Here, I’ll help you to the door.”

  Again, she caught his arm, her hand feeling the heat of his skin seeping through. “You’re good. I’ll just run in quickly. I’ll see you tomorrow, maybe?” She heard the hope in her voice, and heat ran up to her cheeks.

  “That would be fun. Thanks again for coming. I loved every minute.” Their eyes locked for several seconds, the silence palpable in the Jeep. She thought he might lean in again, and the thought made her chicken out, breaking the spell of their gaze.

  She opened the door and ran up the steps to the house, twisting the knob to the front door. After moving through and out of the rain, she poked her head back out and waved to him as he pulled out of the driveway. He smiled and nodded before his Jeep disappeared back down the road.

  Danielle moved back into the kitchen, replaying the moment in the barn of their near kiss. What was strange was how much she’d wanted it and how disappointed she was that Carter had interrupted them. Would she get another chance? Would he even want to?

  All questions she couldn’t answer right then.

  Chapter 22

  Liam walked into the house to the smell of pizza and popcorn. He heard a movie playing, probably the latest animated film that they’d watched at least ten times since Liam bought it for his niece. Peeking in, he saw Cari and Tasha sitting on the couch, both throwing kernels of popcorn in their mouths almost simultaneously.

  “I’m back,” he said, breaking their trance on the television.

  “Already?” Cari whined. “It was just getting to the good part.”

  Trying to hold back a chuckle, he said, “Tasha can come back another time. Right now we need to get you ready for bed.” He tipped his head down and looked out of the corner of his eye to say he was serious.

  Cari frowned, crossing her arms in a dramatic fashion.

  Tasha stood and said, “Thanks for playing with me, Cari. We’ll have to find a way to get your uncle out of the house again, okay?” She winked at Cari, melting the little girl’s mood away.

  Cari made an O out of her hand and put it up to her mouth, trying to make it so Liam couldn’t hear. It might have worked had she not spoken in regular volume. “That would be awesome. Sometimes he just needs to talk to other adults.” Cari used her other hand to point her thumb in Liam’s direction, and he had to step back so he wouldn’t burst out laughing.

  When Tasha came around the corner, he handed her a few bills and opened the door for her. “Thanks again, Tasha. I really appreciate it.”

  “No problem, Mr. P. Thanks again for having me. Cari is a lot of fun.” She waved and disappeared out the door.

  Walking back into the family room, Liam whispered, “Who wants some hot chocolate?”

  Cari stood, bouncing up and down with one hand waving in the air. “Me! I want some!”

  Liam waved her over. “Run up and put on your pajamas. I’m going to change my clothes, and then I’ll heat some up. We can finish watching this until bed.” He pointed to the screen of the young heroine singing a song to the scenery and shook his head.

  Cari ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs, her footsteps almost a cadence in his head.

  He filled two mugs with water and placed one in the microwave, pressing the buttons to let it warm. He replayed the moment on the mountain where Danielle’s horse almost slipped, and he shuddered, thinking of what could have happened.

  But then his thoughts shifted to how close he’d been to kissing Danielle. For as much as she said she didn’t want a relationship, he could feel the energy and could see that she wanted to kiss him too.

  As the full impact hit him, he wondered if that would be good. There were still a lot of unknowns about his sister’s case, and he wasn’t sure if Danielle would be interested in a relationship that would have distractions while he was trying to help his sister and care for his niece.

  But he’d be Cari’s guardian if anything were to happen to Kara, and he was being selfish, not wanting to pop the new dream forming in his head of Danielle in his future. Cari was adorable, but he was biased, and he’d never had the opportunity to see Danielle interact with kids. Would she even want kids?

  The microwave beeped, pulling him from those thoughts. That was way deeper than he needed to think for a first date.

  Steps thundered down the stairs above him, and soon Cari appeared, wearing her flannel strawberry pajamas that were at least one size too small, the pant legs hitting above her ankle.

  With a smirk, he said, “Those need to go into the too-small box.”

  “But we’re drinking hot chocolate, and the rain is making it cold outside. I just wanted to wear these one more time before you hide them.” Cari’s eyes turned big, channeling her inner puppy dog.

  “Fine. But I’ll have to hide the whole box this time if you’re going to keep pulling out everything you’re too big for.” He turned and emptied the packet of hot chocolate into her cup, stirring it around until everything was mixed. “Here you go, Princess Cari. Your hot chocolate, just how you like it.”

  Cari’s nose wrinkled, and she gave him a sad look. “No mini marshmallows?”

  Liam frowned. “Oh, I think we’re out. I’ll write it on the list of things to get when we go to the store. How does that sound?” He moved to the side of the fridge where he’d hung a piece of paper that already had cheese, seasoning salt, and hot sauce written on it. He tried not to laugh as he thought about how different his life had become now that he lived in Sage Creek. He was making lists and running to the grocery store. His old self never would have believed it, having lived mostly on takeout.

  “I guess I can survive. But when we get them, we have to have hot chocolate that night. Because I don’t want to wait for you to go on another date.” The serious look on her face was hard to resist.

  Liam ruffled her hair. “I think we can arrange that. You think I need another date, huh?”

  Cari beamed up at him. “That’s the only time I get to play with Tasha.”

  They settled onto the couch with a blanket and turned on the movie again. As they watched, Cari’s giggle cut through his thoughts now and again. He kept seeing Danielle, her long sandy-brown hair and her fiery personality making him grin even now.

  At one point, Cari turned and asked, “How was your date?”

  Startled, Liam looked at her, surprised she understood this much at such a young age. “It was good. It started to rain, which ended it early, but it was a lot of fun.”

  “Do you like her?”

  “Yeah, she’s really nice.”

  Cari’s face turned mischievous. “No, do you like her like her?” She wiggled her eyebrows and ducked when Liam moved to swat the top of her head.

  “Where did you learn about that?” He tried to keep from smiling, but the way she’d said it kept running through his mind. Were his feelings that obvious?

  “Sarah in my class said she like likes Stephen. So, I kind of know what it means, but kind of don’t.” She looked at him expectantly, as if hoping he would clear it up for her.

  Liam debated whether or not he should be the one to have this conversation with her and finally said, “You can like someone as a friend, or, as Sarah is saying it, she wants to be his girlfriend.”

  Cari’s eyes opened wide, and one side of her nose turned up. “She wants to kiss him and stuff? That’s gross.”

  Laughing loudly, Liam pulled her in for a hug. “Keep thinking that way, kid. Until you’re older.” He felt a poke in his side and looked down to see her finger jabbing into his rib.

  “You’re older. Does that mean Danielle is yo
ur girlfriend? And that you want to kiss her?”

  “No, no. First, I’m not that old. And second, she’s not—well, she’s not my girlfriend. Let’s just finish the show and head to bed. We’ll have to call your mom tomorrow and see how she’s doing.”

  They leaned back, and Cari snuggled up to his arm. He thought about their conversation and how Cari interpreted things with her six-year-old mind. Things were so clear-cut at that point in life. If only his own life could be that way.

  Chapter 23

  Danielle finished the first draft of book four that Friday, excited to get to the end but not excited to go through and make preliminary edits. When she’d sent Liam a text to celebrate, he’d volunteered to beta read it for her, but she wasn’t comfortable with the manuscript just yet, nor was she ready for him to know she was MK Malone.

  She checked the dashboard of her book sales, surprised to see the number of the other ebooks sold continuing to rise by the day. Were there really that many people in the world who wanted to download something she’d written?

  Now that she was back in Sage Creek, she thought of the world as being only as big as the few thousand people who lived in the town. But remembering California, she knew this town was just a drop in the bucket in terms of the number of people out there.

  Deciding she needed to stretch her legs, she went for a walk, her steps taking her through the upper streets of Sage Creek. It only took about fifteen minutes before she stood outside the bookstore, surprised that the lights were out so early on a Friday afternoon.

  Where would he have gone at that time of day? She needed someone to celebrate in her victory of words, and he was the most likely candidate. He seemed to get what it took to be a writer, at least a small part of it, and now that she wanted to chat, he was nowhere to be found.

  Thinking he might have gone to the diner, she walked in that direction, nodding to the occasional people sitting outside the shops. She opened the door to the diner and entered, searching the tops of the heads in the restaurant. With no luck, she walked to the counter and ordered a cherry chip milkshake, thinking she might as well celebrate on her own.

  “Hi, Velda,” she said to the owner, who was flying through the restaurant as usual.

  “Ah, Danielle. How are things? Did Holly ring you up?” she asked, carrying a tray to the booth right behind her.

  “Yep.” She paused a moment before she asked, “Hey, has Liam been in here today?”

  Velda set down all the plates and turned back to her. “Liam Pearson? No, I haven’t seen him the past few days, actually. Which is odd. He usually brings Cari here for a meal at least once every couple of days.”

  Panic constricted her airway, and she leaned forward. He wouldn’t have just left. With the bookstore and his sister and niece, it’s not like he’d be running back to New York on a whim. Maybe Kara had a treatment he’d forgotten to mention.

  She shook her head, realizing how attached she was getting to Liam. As much as it felt right, the thought scared her. What if he did decide to go back to his old life? Would he be like her father and just walk out?

  Pushing those thoughts out of her mind, she tried to be rational. He’d set up a bookstore in town, and with his sister still getting treatments, he wouldn’t just up and leave. His absence had to be because of his sister.

  Danielle had given Becca a hard time about being scared of people leaving her life, but most of hers had left unintentionally, when her family died in a car crash on their way to her college graduation. There was so much more fear for Danielle, as the people she’d loved had walked out of her life. The connection she’d felt over the past weeks between her and Liam was getting stronger, and she thought about their near kiss almost constantly. The girl who’d promised herself she wouldn’t get involved was falling hard and fast.

  But did Liam feel the same?

  Twisting her spoon in the ice cream, she took a large bite, doing her best to stop a brain freeze from forming. With the diner only sparsely populated at the moment, she pulled her phone out to scroll through posts.

  Opening her email, she saw an email in her author inbox, the words Liam Pearson bolded. Her heart skipped a beat, and she saw that what she’d hoped wouldn’t happen had, in fact, come to pass.

  Touching the screen of her phone, she took a breath, hoping it wasn’t what she knew it would be.

  Dear MK Malone,

  My name is Liam Pearson, and I own a bookstore in a small town in Colorado called Sage Creek. We have several fans who love your books, and I’ve had to reorder the first book at least three times in the last month.

  I know it’s a long shot, but we have authors come and speak as often as I can arrange, and if it’s possible, I’d like to negotiate for you to come speak to the people of this town. The book group is full of avid fans, and we would make it worth your while.

  Please let me know if that’s possible so we can set something up. I appreciate your time and think you’ve done a great job with your characters, plot, pacing, etc.

  Sincerely,

  Liam Pearson

  Danielle smiled at the simple and direct way he’d written the email, reminding her of the article they’d written. She’d only received a few emails from fans over the past few weeks, and they’d gone on and on about their favorite characters in the books, most of them not even mentioning the main character who solved the crimes. But not Liam. He’d requested it for the town.

  She could picture him writing it, especially near the end where it seemed like he had just kept writing, unsure of how to finish the email. Had he taken several days to write it? Or was that just the quick thoughts coming out of his head?

  She’d be an idiot not to give him a chance at a relationship, and yet, she wasn’t sure how he’d take the fact that she’d pretended not to know MK Malone when they’d talked about it. She just hoped he’d forgive her when he found out.

  But how would he find out? Should she reply back and say she couldn’t make it? Or that she could—and have it be something like an exposé?

  All the thoughts churned in her head and stomach, making her wonder if she should have eaten the ice cream at all. Why should she think he would even be interested in her for a real relationship anyway? She hadn’t exactly been friendly to him in the beginning.

  Blowing out a breath, she switched over to the messaging app, trying to come up with an excuse to text him that wouldn’t be seen as clingy. They’d talked here and there since the date up the mountain, but he’d usually initiated the conversations.

  Their article. Clyde had mentioned after the success of the first piece that he’d love to add their section to the paper at least once a month and, if possible, every other week.

  When can you meet up to talk about the next His & Hers article? I’m at the diner right now. We could chat tonight if you’re available.

  She stared at the screen until it dimmed and then turned to black, no message coming through. After paying for the milkshake, she walked out of the diner and down the road to the fountain in front of Town Hall. Taking a seat on the bench, she blew out a breath and tried to take her mind off it.

  “Hey, Dani. I haven’t seen you in a while. What are you up to today?”

  Looking up, Danielle saw Susie standing in front of her. “Just trying to relax a minute before I get back to work.”

  With a somewhat genuine smile on her face, Susie asked, “Oh, what kind of work? I thought you weren’t a journalist anymore.”

  Frowning, Danielle sat up straighter, and Susie took a seat next to her. “How do you know that?”

  “I was in LA right before Becca’s wedding and saw a few papers.”

  Danielle blinked several times, not sure what to say. “Did you tell everyone?”

  The girl shook her head firmly, and Danielle sighed inwardly. “No, I wouldn’t do that. I know how much your job meant to you, and if you were protesting against the city, you probably had a good reason for it.”

  Danielle searched Susie’s
face, surprised to see her smile genuine. Danielle had sent the evidence to the competing paper after getting fired but hadn’t been checking the news enough lately to know what had come of it.

  Reaching over, she patted Susie’s hand. “Please don’t say anything. I’ve only told my mom, Liam, and Becca, and that was tough as it was. It’s just hard being seen as someone who had big dreams and then having those dreams crumble.”

  Susie pouted. “I get it. Don’t worry. Mum’s the word.” She acted as though she were zipping her lips, even though a half-second later she was speaking again. “So, what were you working on?”

  Danielle looked at her, trying to decide whether or not to tell her the full story. She hadn’t even told Liam yet, and for some reason, she wanted to tell him before anyone else.

  “I’m trying my hand at writing a fiction novel.” She made her lips go wide with pretend shock.

  Susie laughed. “I think you’d be great at it! I remember reading your stuff when you worked on the paper here and loving your wit and humor. I always wished I could be like that.”

  “But look at all the talents you have that I would be awful at. Figuring out how to decorate for bridezilla? Not my forte.” Danielle had never had a heart-to-heart with this girl a few years her junior. She and Becca had always thought Susie a bit dim, but it seemed like she had a lot more depth to her than they originally thought.

  Susie chuckled. “Honestly, I feel the same way sometimes. If I ever get married, I hope I have someone like you around to keep me grounded.”

  Danielle gave her a disbelieving look, her eyebrows cinched together. “Me? If anything, I caused more trouble for Becca’s wedding.”

  “Yeah, but you were there. You helped get Becca’s wishes to come through. I can only hope to have someone like that supporting me.”

  Danielle could see the panic in her eyes and scooted closer, pulling the taller girl next to her small frame in a side-hug. It was awkward, but Susie seemed grateful. From the little Danielle knew about her current situation, Susie’s parents had moved to a bigger city long ago and rarely contacted or visited Susie in Sage Creek.