Always Then and Now

Chapter 31

HANNAH

Liam had cut the night short after opening that envelope the night before. I wasn't sure why he was so angry that his father was getting remarried; one would think he'd be happy for the man. That definitely was not the case here, but I didn't know why. He'd refused to talk about it, clamping down tighter than a vice, and believe me, I'd tried. I'd pushed a few times to try to get him to open up, but when he'd started getting snippy with me, I'd backed off. I was sad that he felt he couldn't share this with me, since we'd gotten so close over the past little while, and he knew a lot of my unfortunate past, but I couldn't force him to tell me anything. So, I'd just let him know that I'd be there if he changed his mind. It was all I could do.

I'd tried to watch something funny after he'd stalked off in the direction of his office, but all the jokes fell flat, so I'd turned off the tv mid-scene and headed upstairs to bed.

He was already gone the next morning when Emily and I got up, but at least he'd left us a note:

"Good morning, Sunshine. I had to go to work early, but I promise I'll be home for dinner. I'm sorry I snapped at you last night. I was angry, but you didn't deserve that. I promise to make it up to you somehow. Give Emily lots of kisses for me. Liam."

I smiled faintly as I read it. Well, at least he'd acknowledged what had happened last night, though I didn't think he needed to do anything to make up for it. We'd talk about it tonight, I was sure.

Emily and I spent most of our day outside since it was so nice out. After spending the morning on the blanket in the shade of our umbrella, playing little letter and number games to help her learn them, we'd gone inside for lunch and then came back out for a swim. Little by little I'd gotten her used to being in the pool, and now she was practically a fish, she loved the water so much. I slathered the sunscreen on both of us and changed us both into our bathing suits, and then I walked with her outside to the pool. She ran directly to the little pool house to grab her water wings, her giggle ringing out excitedly. I loved that sound. 

We'd been in the pool for about a half hour or so, and I had her on a flutter board, pulling her around in the shallow end and walking backwards as I sang a little chant I'd learned as a kid in the pool.

"Motorboat, motorboat, go so slow." I pulled her slowly. "Motorboat, motorboat, go so fast!" I pulled her a little more quickly. "Motorboat, motorboat, step on the gas!" Holding tightly onto the flutter board, my forearms caging her in on it, I swished Emily back and forth through the water as I moved backwards, making her scream with laughter. I laughed too, loving that I could make that sound come out of her mouth. Over the past few months, I'd come to love this little girl more than just about anything.

"Again! Again!" she called out as we made it to the far end of the shallow end, away from the steps.

"You wanna do it again?" I asked with a big smile, and she nodded emphatically. "Okay! Let's do it again!" I started the chant over again as I turned us around and moved backwards towards the steps, slowly at first and then speeding up as we continued through the rhyme. "Motorboat, motorboat, step on the gas!" I finished, swishing her back and forth again, making her cry out with laughter once more.

I took another step back—and let out a little shriek, startled, when I collided with something solid behind me. Instinctively, I picked Emily up and sat her on my hip, the flutter board floating away as I whipped around to find myself staring at a hard, bare chest. My mouth went dry as I raised my eyes to find the smiling face of Liam. I swallowed hard and forced myself to take a step backward.

"Liam! You're home early," I said, unable to fight the smile spreading across my face at the sight of him. After how we'd left things last night, I'd been a little afraid that it'd be awkward today, or that he'd still be angry with me for pushing, even after leaving that note for me this morning.