My One And Only (Very Irresistible Bachelors 5)

Liam

“Gran, we always do the same thing on Thanksgiving. Of course I’m on board.”

We had a traditional dinner, and Gran always cooked a small turkey for the two of us. On rare occasions, my parents were in New York for the holiday too, but so far they hadn’t indicated they’d be in town.

I glanced at the clock on my laptop. The meeting with the lawyer was starting in ten minutes.

“Well, I thought since you’ve got that lovely lady in your life now that you’re going to have other plans on Thanksgiving.”

I tapped my pen against the table, realizing it had completely slipped my mind until now. I also realized I did want to see Tess on Thanksgiving. The question was did she want the same? We were spending a lot of time together, but we never planned more than when we’d see each other next. Was this too soon?

“I’d love to have her over for dinner,” Gran continued.

“I’m 100 percent certain that she’s having dinner with her family.”

I didn’t like that, actually. It felt like we were leading separate lives.

“Well, let me know.”

“Are Mom and Dad coming?”

“I don’t know.”

“Okay. We’ll see. I’ll get back to you on this.”

“Fine! But don’t think I’ll give up, young man. I want grandkids someday.”

I laughed, disconnecting the call. Then I actually did something I rarely did and called my Mom. We kept in touch mostly via email because they were always traveling, and sometimes we weren’t in the same time zone.

“Liam, hi!”

“Hi, Mom!”

“Is anything wrong?”

“No, just wanted to check on you and Dad and ask if you’re coming to New York on Thanksgiving.”

“Oh, we won’t make it to the city at all this year. Not even on Christmas. We’ve got these cheap flights to New Zealand and want to take advantage of it.”

“I think Gran would be happy if you two came. For at least one of the two occasions.”

“Oh...well, she has you, right? And she’s told us you’re seeing someone. I’m sure she’ll have her hands full. We really don’t want to miss this opportunity.”

I drummed my fingers on the table, deciding not to press the matter further. Mom took after my grandfather too, always a bit distant, and I accepted that. It usually didn’t bother me, so why did it now? It was their way, and that wasn’t going to change.

Then I realized I was the one who’d changed, and it was all because of Tess.

A knock at the door interrupted me. Becca poked her head in.

“Barney’s here,” she whispered.

“Mom, I’ll talk to you another time. I have to go.”

“Sure.”

I hung up and headed straight to David’s office. I was expecting good news.

That turned out to be nothing more than wishful thinking. For the next hour, our lawyer went from unpleasant scenario to unpleasant scenario, and my mind felt about ready to explode.