Page 33 of The Girlfriend Clause
“Well, I think everyone is sometimes,” I said. If youweren’t scared of anything, you probably hadn’t been alive long enough.
“What areyouscared of?” She pushed herself away slightly so she could look at my face.
“Oh. Stuff. Not much. It doesn’t matter.” I wasn’t talking about that now. Not while I was lying here with her. “What counts is doing what you need to do anyway, even if you’re afraid. Especially if you are, actually.”
“Very staunch, Liam.”
I laughed. “That’s what they say.”
She snuggled back into me, fitting perfectly.
“So nothing worth mentioning, then, staunch guy?” She lifted her face to look at me.
“Well.” I paused, glancing off to the side. “Probably, that I might turn into my father.” There. Standard normal person response. Hopefully, we could move on now.
“Bad sweaters and embarrassing dancing?”
“Something like that.”
“Why do I get the feeling there’s more to this, Liam?” She dipped her forehead against my shoulder and kissed my arm.
“Ah, well.” I paused. “My father isn’t exactly… the warmest person.”
That’s a fuckingunderstatement.
“Oh. Sorry. That sucks.”
“Yeah. It’s okay,” I said.
It was quiet for a moment, just me stroking her hair, her breathing soft against my chest.
“I didn’t see much of him growing up,” I added. “Never see him at all now. He lives overseas.”
“That must be hard.”
“No. I’m glad I don’t. He’s never—”
She lifted her gaze to my face again.
“Well. Never mind,” I said. “What about you? What are you scared of?”
“Oh.” A small laugh, like she was embarrassed. “About a million things.”
“Yeah?” I trailed a finger down her neck and over her collarbone. “I’ve got time.”
“Where to start.” She breathed out like she’d thought about this. “Obviously, the usual sort of things. Team meetings where you have to share your ‘fun fact.’”
“Hideous.”
“Absolutely fucked.”
“What else?”
“That I’ll get hooked on lip fillers and no one will tell me I’ve gone too far.”
“Of course, yes. I worry about that too.” I squeezed my bottom lip. “You’d tell me, wouldn’t you?”
Silence.
