‘I came to see you.’ Her voice even managed to convey a light shrug. As if the answer should be obvious. ‘I figured flying up here was the easiest option, especially since you didn’t seem to be picking up your phone.’
‘I’ve been busy.’
His tone was more defensive than he might have intended, and he cursed himself for his weakness. So much for never allowing himself to be vulnerable again. But, then, he hadn’t expected her to be standing in this office again. Her very presence was like a filter pouring colour into every inch of his drab, grey world.
Just like she always had.
It made something scrape inside him—as though this was somehow further proof of just how wrong he was for her. Surely she could see that as clearly as he could?
Yet she seemed oblivious. Instead, in typical Talia fashion, she almost seemed to shimmer across the room as she swept his notes neatly and efficiently from the only other chair and into their appropriate files in the tall cabinet, before sitting gracefully on the incommodious scratchy wool-upholstered chair.
‘I’ve heard how busy you’ve been,’ she said, almost conversationally, though he knew he wasn’t wrong in detecting a note of censure in there. And something else. Concern. ‘Taking on case after case, researching, studying; practically living here in your office or in that operating room.’
‘It’s called work.’
She shook her head.
‘It’s called avoidance, Liam. You and I both know it. Days filled with back-to-back surgeries, nights filled with working on new cases, and only the minimum amount of sleep you need to stay on top of your game. You’re throwing yourself into work to avoid thinking about what happened between us—and you’re driving yourself to exhaustion in the process.’
He hated the way she could read him so easily. He, who was meant to be inscrutable. Composed. One tug from this woman and he would unravel right there and then. Right into that deep, pitch-black abyss, on the brink of which he was teetering.
But he wouldn’t look down. He couldn’t. Because if he did, he was afraid he might topple. The chief had just imposed three days of forced holiday on him, and he had no damn idea how he was going to fill his days, just to keep his mind off the woman now standing right in front of him.
‘I don’t have time for this, Talia,’ he snarled. ‘What are you doing here?’
She looked less than impressed. She certainly didn’t look intimidated.
‘I’m here to be with you.’
Her response was so succinct, so unexpected that for a moment Liam thought his heart had actually stopped beating. For one long, long moment there was silence and then he became aware of a slow whistling sound in his head, building and building until it became a long shout.
An unending roar.
He had no idea how he managed to speak over it.
‘I don’t want you here.’
She eyed him curiously. Unblinking yet, apparently, unhurt.
Had he wanted to hurt her, then? He must have. A stab of remorse jabbed at him.
‘You shouldn’t be here, Talia. Your home is on St Victoria, and it’s evident that you love it there.’
‘My home is with you,’ she replied easily.
And it was the simplicity of her words that made his heart slam so hard against the wall of his chest. Hard enough to cause damage.
‘Walking away from you last time...’ she paused, shaking her head ‘...not trusting you with my truth was the worst decision I ever made. And, still, for three years I’ve been pretending to myself that it was the right one. I was still lying to myself when I pretended that the only reason I gave Nate your name was for that patient.’
‘Stop, Talia.’ The words might as well have been ripped from his throat. ‘This can’t help either of us.’
‘No.’ She shook her head, a tremor in her voice even as she held her hand up. ‘I flew for nine hours and on two planes just to tell you this. So hear me out, Liam. Please.’
Their gazes collided. Nothing else felt sure. Or safe. Like the rocks at the edges of that precipice had just crumbled and were slipping away beneath his feet. He had no idea how long they didn’t speak and then, at length, he nodded stiffly. A tacit assent that she accepted nonetheless.
‘I love you,’ she breathed out on a shaky breath. ‘But you already know that. I think I’ve loved you from the first moment I met you. And that long summer we had together were the most incredible months I’ve ever known. Right up until I got that call from Papa.’
‘When he told you your mama wasn’t well,’ he confirmed.