Liam jerked back, already noting the breathless, “Sorry!” being called, as he looked around for what had whacked him. He picked up the frisbee and winged it back to the little girl still chanting, “Sorry!” as she jogged over.
“No problem!”
Riley had gone very still. He followed her gaze to a young woman waving a second apology for the little girl. She stood near water’s edge, gesturing for an older boy to move out of range of the crowd. The empathy in Riley’s expression clued him in.
“That’s her, isn’t it? The girl from the market that your mom was talking about.”
Riley offered a friendly smile along with her wave. “Tara Honeycutt. She’s barely twenty and has sole custody of her two younger half siblings. Brother and sister. Austin is about ten, I think Ginny’s seven.”
“How did she end up with them?”
“Their mom dropped them off with their dad—which is Tara’s dad—and disappeared. Then Wayne got busted for burglary and sent to prison. Tara quit school and came home to take care of them rather than see them go into the foster system.”
“That’s a lot of responsibility to take on at that age.”
“She’s busting her ass, working two jobs to make sure they’ve got everything they need. So somebody like Hopper coming along and implying she’s lazy or some kind of reprobate would probably be enough to send her over the edge. I so completely understand that.”
She’d tensed up again, so he began to stroke and soothe. This was the opening he’d wanted. “It explains a lot about you.”
“Oh, you mean the fact that I’m mule stubborn?” She shot him a self-deprecating smile.
“Well there’s that—” He gave her a squeeze to take the sting out “—and how you got to be so strong. A lot of people would’ve buckled under those circumstances.”
“My mother did. And I probably would have, if not for your family.” She tipped her head to his shoulder. “Y’all were my collective rock. Always. Not everybody’s so lucky.”
“Are,” he corrected.
“Sorry?”
“We are your collective rock. What’s between you and me may have changed, but that hasn’t. I hope you know that.”
“I do. But I’m not in this for you to take care of me. I hope you know that. That’s my mother’s M.O. Not mine. I don’t expect that from a relationship.”
He could’ve been offended. He could’ve argued that the entire point of relationships was taking care of each other. His parents had been a glowing example of that. But this wasn’t about her not needing him. It was about her not being willing to need anyone. Chipping away at that wall
would take time and finesse.
Liam brushed a kiss over her brow. “You’re nothing like your mom. Doesn’t change the fact that I’m here to support you. Whether you think you need it or not.”
She relaxed into him. They lapsed into silence as the fireworks began. Throughout the show she spent more time watching Tara and her siblings than she did the festive explosives. Liam spent his time watching her. Something was percolating in that brain of hers. He waited, patiently, to see if she’d let him in on it.
When the last burst of color died away, Riley straightened. “What time is it?”
“Coming on close to ten.”
“Will you do something for me?”
“Anything.”
“Will you drive me to Lawley?”
“Sure. What for?”
“To pay it forward.”
~*~
“Stay here, while I scout the perimeter.”