Page 159 of The Girlfriend Clause
“Fuck, Andrea. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I don’t mind talking about it.” I felt a slight lump in my throat, but I swallowed it.
He didn’t say anything, just squeezed my hand again. It was funny, but telling Liam about it—the worst thing that had ever happened to us—didn’t feel awkward like it had when I’d told boyfriends before. I felt like Liam would just… handle it.
We kept walking, the light through the trees making us squint.
“Anyway. It hit my mum pretty hard. She was so depressed she couldn’t really get out of bed for a few years, so I kind of took care of everything myself.”
“At fifteen?”
“Well, I had a couple of uncles. They helped a bit.”
The admission felt scratchy and painful in my chest. I looked over at him to check his reaction, but he didn’t seem shocked and uncomfortable like some people did.
“She’s better now,” I said. “Not exactly responsible, but at least—well. She’s not depressed anymore. She even has a boyfriend.” I laughed a little. “She’s doing okay.”
We passed under a row of beech trees, their leaves filtering the light to a soft green haze. The only sound was our feet crunching on the pathway and the low hum of crickets.
“So Bonnie’sneverbeen your girlfriend, then?” I asked, keen to change the subject. An image of her draped over Liam like one of those women in the photos we’d found online popped into my mind. Had they slept together, maybe just once?
“Oh, no, definitely not.” Liam laughed, like the idea was mildly horrifying. “She’s kind of theanti-girlfriend, more like a big sister. Anything more would just be… God, no.”
“Oh, okay.”
We walked out from under the canopy of leaves. In ten minutes, we’d be back at the car.
“And what about you?” he asked. “You said you’d just broken up with that guy before we met. Randy, was it?”
I sniggered. “Rudy.”
“Right. That must have been upsetting.”
“Not really. I mean, at first, yes, but… he was kind of unreliable.” How had it taken me so long to see that Rudy was basically a loser? Having someone next to me like Liam—a man who checked to see if I was okay, noticed when I was upset, protected me—made it all seem so obvious.
“And then he cheated on me with a waitress,” I added.
“He cheated onyou?Jesus, what a moron…”
“Yeah …”
“Unless—”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“WHAT?”
“Just wondering if he found out about your habit of jumping on men you barely know. I mean, that could really mess with a guy’s head.”
“Liam!”
He snorted.
“It isnota habit.”
“Oh, just me then?”
