“How do you know he did something?”
“Oh, come on. He wouldn’t just leave you. He cared too much. And you obviously returned the feelings.”
Alicia frowned, looking over the tables into the other woman’s eyes for any sign of judgment. Finding none, she shrugged. “I don’t guess there’s any reason not to tell you. Everybody will know soon enough, and you and your buddies can probably help speed up the process.”
“Ouch.” Sandra pretended to double over in pain, then grinned. “Yeah, I can. Although if you ask me not to…”
“I’m not.” She took a deep breath. “Penny and Liam knew something about Ty they never saw fit to tell me.”
“Must have been life changing if you’re willing to give him up.”
“It was. Maybe not for me, though.” Alicia paused, knowing she’d overreacted about Liam, perhaps to give herself an excuse to cut off their relationship. After all, she’d already forgiven Penny… “Penny’s daughter Amy is Ty’s.”
“Pardon?” Sandra looked honestly confused.
“Ty was her father.” Alicia hesitated. “Is her father. I dunno. How do you say that? At any rate, Penny told Liam, and he kept her from telling Ty. Now Ty’s dead and Amy never got a chance to know her father.”
“Huh.” Sandra stood for a moment, staring at Alicia, then turned back to the table. “And I thought my life was complicated.”
“Yeah, thanks.” Alicia glanced over her shoulder as the bells over the door jingled.
Before she could turn away to help the other customer, Sandra grabbed her arm. “Look, I’ve obviously never really experienced it, but seems like you’re letting the real thing go if you let Liam get away. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”
Alicia hesitated, then disentangled herself gently from the other woman’s clinging hand. “I have to go.” She nodded at the table. “Enjoy the romance.”
Chapter Nineteen
Alicia went to Chapel Hill on a buying trip for the almost completed bookstore in early October. She had lunch in a small pizzeria on Franklin Street, sitting alone at a tiny table in the middle of a raucous group of students. As she studied a book catalog, a pair of blue-jeaned legs paused by her table. She looked up, eyebrows raised, at the handsome young man by her table. “Can I help you?”
He grinned, obviously certain of his physical attractiveness. “I have no doubt you could.” His eyes scanned her. “My friends and I were just debating whether or not you were a MILF.” He leaned down, lowering his voice confidentially. “Between you and me, it doesn’t matter if the first letter of the acronym applies, the last three definitely do.”
She sat back, a little stunned. “Really? You’re hitting on me? At lunchtime in a pizzeria?”
He shrugged with a blasé look. “I try to avoid falling victim to bourgeois stereotypes whenever possible.”
Alicia laughed. “Well, you’ve definitely done that.” She placed her elbows on the table and leaned close to his ear. “I don’t know anything about MILFs, honey, but there’re no cougars sitting at this table.” She jerked her head in the direction of his friends. “Now get lost.”
He staggered backward as if her words had wounded him, then winked at her. “You can’t blame a guy for trying.”
She shook her head and turned back to her catalog, hiding a little smile and not even resenting his brazenness. Considering what she had planned for later in the afternoon, the tiny boost he’d just given to her ego might come in handy.
For a long moment, she stared unseeing at the catalog, thinking that only a couple of blocks away, Liam was probably in his office. Or a classroom. Was he teaching dozing undergraduates the difference between acceleration and velocity? What would his reaction be if she walked in? She hadn’t been able to bring herself to call him, although she’d picked up the phone several times over the past month. How could she tell him over the phone that she didn’t blame him for anything that had happened, in spite of what she’d said and done? That it had all been an excuse, a cowardly way out of a situation she wasn’t sure she was ready for.
But I am ready. I’m ready for all of it. I’m ready to tell Gemma and Penny and Lulu and Lauran and Sean and Mama Joe Robinson, for God’s sake. I just want him back in my life.
With renewed resolution, Alicia put her catalog away in the same bag with her cell phone and stood. She couldn’t tell him these things on the phone. Some things were better done in person.
* * *
By the time she’d finished at the rare book dealer and emerged into the late afternoon sunlight, the air had warmed to an Indian-summer heat that belied the scattered brown leaves emerging from the orange and yellow of the maples and poplars on the campus. She stood for a moment in the sunlight before pulling off her sweater, glad she’d dressed in layers. North Carolina weather truly did refuse to abide by the boundaries of the seasons.
She turned toward campus and, weaving through the students moving away from classes and on to their nightly activities, found her way to Phillips Hall. She glanced at her watch, hoping Liam was keeping regular office hours. A little spark of excitement fired up at the thought of him sitting behind his desk, and her step quickened. She didn’t hesitate until she reached the threshold of the Hall, and even then it was a momentary pause.
His door stood slightly ajar, but she could hear his voice inside. She heard another youthful male voice answer. He was with a student, then. She turned to look for a bench or chair, but stopped when her gaze fell on Amy standing in the hall, her arms full of file folders. Alicia froze. “Oh, hey.”
“Oh, hey?” Amy blinked. “Seriously?”
Alicia shrugged and crossed over to the daughter Ty had never known. “Hey, sweetie? It’s good to see you?”
Amy laughed, shifting the folders to one arm so she could hug Alicia with the other. “You too! Especially here. He’s going to be so happy!” She lowered her voice. “Have you seen him?” At Alicia’s headshake, she grabbed her hand and started to the door, pushing it open before Alicia could stop her. “Troy, you’ve had your fifteen minutes. Professor Addison has a much more important visitor.”
Bemused, Alicia wasn’t sure if she should laugh or blush when she noted Liam’s student was the young man from the pizzeria. He sat with his feet propped on Liam’s desk, looking completely at home and not at all unhappy to see her. “Hey, it’s the MILF!”
Liam had half risen at her entrance, but he gave Troy a sharp look. “You two know each other?”
“We discussed cougar-hunting over lunch.” Alicia folded her arms over her breasts in her best severe matron imitation. “I advised him against it.”
“In no uncertain terms.” Troy leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head, obviously not intending to vacate the premises voluntarily. “She’s probably right too. I understand the younger ones are sweeter.” He turned his vibrant green eyes on Amy.
Totally unimpressed, Amy pushed his booted feet off Liam’s desk. “Out. You. Are. Not. Wanted.” She swatted him with a folder at each word.
“Damn.” Troy staggered to his feet and looked at Liam. “I’m getting outta here, Prof. I’m starting to get a vibe.”
Liam spared him a quick glance before turning back to Alicia. “Later.”
Amy stood grinning between them for a beat before following Troy out the door and closing it firmly behind her. Alicia and Liam stood for several seconds afterward before he spread his hands, looking at her helplessly.
“What?” Puzzled by his reaction, she mimicked his pose, then crossed her arms again. Much as she wanted to catapult herself directly into his arms, she couldn’t figure a way to do it. It was too damn hard to just start with “I’m sorry” after all they’d been through.
“I don’t know how to react to seeing you here.” His gaze challenged her to deny his confusion.
“On the one hand, I could be thrilled to see you. I’ve missed you every second we’ve been apart. On the other, maybe you’ve come to give me hell for keeping Amy’s paternity a secret. We didn’t part on the best of terms. Forgive me for starting on the defensive. I’m just a little leery of you.”
“Suck it up.” Alicia sat in the chair Troy had vacated. She resisted the impulse to prop her feet on the desk. “I’m here on business.”
He raised his eyebrows and sat across from her. “Business? Well, I’m intrigued. How can I help you?”
She pulled a piece of paper from her briefcase and handed it to him. “I’m working on restocking the bookstore, and I want to buy most of your mother’s library. Whatever you can part with, but I’m interested in those books specifically.”
He was silent, looking over the sheet. Then he handed it back to her. “Fine.”
“Fine?” She sat up straighter. “How do you mean?”
“Fine. They’re yours. Whatever you need. I’ll give you a key to the house before you leave.” He folded his arms on his desk and looked at her. “Is there anything else?”
“I haven’t made an offer. You can’t just say fine.” She frowned, a little angry that he wasn’t obeying the rules of bargaining.
“Make an offer.” He spread his hands. “It doesn’t matter, when I’d give them to you if you’d take them. I’ve got more books at my condo here. Would you like to go see if there are any you’d like?”
She stared at him, then realized her jaw was hanging open and shut it sharply. “I…damn it, you don’t make this easy, do you?”
“I can’t think how I could make it any easier.” He sat back in his chair, his expression completely serious. “If I could, I would.”
She remembered sitting in his lap kissing him in that very chair. She imagined doing it again and wondered if he knew what she was thinking. Her body tingled at the memory of his touch, and she shook her head to clear it. “Just stop.”
“Stop what?”
Refocusing on the man in the chair, she sighed, opened her purse and scribbled a check. “Here. That’s what I can afford. If it works for you, I’ll pick up the books myself.”
He studied the check on the desk in front of him, then he pushed it back at her, shaking his head. “It’s not enough.”
“Not enough?” She blinked, startled. “What do you mean?”
“You want to make a deal.” He stood and walked around the desk. “Fine. When you walked in here, I would have given anything I own, I was so happy to see you. Now, I’m not willing to trade so easily. Not without getting what I want out of the bargain.”
“What do you want?” She kept her seat as he stopped beside her chair, tilting her head back to look him in the eye. Her breath quickened in response to his proximity, and the kernel of hope she’d allowed to bring her there trembled, hanging in the balance as she waited for his reply.
For answer, he bent, placing a hand on either arm of her chair, capturing her lips with his and temporarily stopping her heart from beating. He drew back, his mouth curving. “You.”
She found it hard to look at him and dropped her gaze. “The kids really miss you.”
He sounded amused. “I’ve really missed them too.” He squatted in front of her, recapturing her gaze as he moved his hands to her knees. “Not just them, either.”
Her breath caught in her throat as he slid his hands up her thighs to her hips. “Wait.” The word came out in a gasp. “We can’t just jump right back into the relationship where we left off, Liam. I want to see you, see if anything develops, but I want to take it slow.”
“Slow?” He nodded. “I can do slow. Let me show you.” He stood, pulling her with him. With a hand at her neck, he tipped her chin up with his thumb, lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her, his lips barely touching hers for several excruciating seconds. Bit by bit, he let the kiss grow deeper, his hands moving to mold her body against his at a leisurely pace, as if they had all the time in the world…
By the time he’d released her, her heart was beating crazily and any rebuke she might have made caught in her throat. His smile had a wicked edge. “Slow enough?”
“You totally suck.” She struggled to catch her breath.
“I don’t know about that.” He put a hand on the small of her back and pulled her against him, bending his head to kiss her neck. “Though I certainly could.”
She laughed, putting her arms around his neck, forgetting all her well-made resolutions in a rush of desire. She reveled in the feel of his hands on her body, his lips on her neck and trailing down to the swell of her breasts. Her belly twisted with excitement and a marvelous sensation of simultaneous weight and buoyancy.
He moved his mouth to her ear, nibbling lightly. “Let’s get out of here.” The invitation escaped him as if on a breath, and when she drew back to look up at him, he looked a little surprised, as if he hadn’t really expected it to be so easy to utter.
She nodded, stepping back, hands trembling as she reached for her bag. “Where will we go?”
He paused for a moment at the door of the office, but as he opened it, he said only one word. “Home.”
* * * * *
About the Author
Michelle Garren Flye is the author of Secrets of the Lotus, Winter Solstice, Weeds and Flowers and the award-winning short story “Life After.” She wrote her first fairy tale at the age of seven. A former journalist and librarian, Ms. Flye’s short stories have appeared in many online and print publications. Ms. Flye lives near the enchanted shores of North Carolina with her family, who, though not royal, are certainly very nice. For more information, visit michellegflye.com.
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ISBN: 978-14268-9407-7
Copyright © 2012 by Michelle Garren Flye
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Where the Heart Lies Page 28
