I pressed my lips together. The last thing I wanted was for him to beat himself up. That wouldn’t solve anything. Especially not when I couldn’t know how I’d have reacted if he did turn up on my doorstep in Bel Air.

“Do you think we could start fresh?” I asked, feeling the full force of more than a decade of longing build within me.

He met my eyes. Confusion roiled in the depths of his dark irises, but a lot of his bitterness seemed to have dissipated. “I’d like that.” He took a breath and turned to face me completely. “Will you get coffee with me before my shift tomorrow? It can be our official new beginning.”

My lips curled into a faint smile, and I let myself feel a little hopeful. “It’s a date.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

LIAM

I was wrong about so many things, and now I’m not sure where to go from here. - unsent text message from Liam to Kennedy

I wasn’t sure of the proper etiquette for getting coffee with an ex who I’d spent years hating in a way that was apparently unfounded, and whom I maybe wanted to date again. Maybe. I wasn’t committing to that. With how mixed my feelings were, I wasn’t even sure I should have suggested coffee, but if I’d allowed a few more days to pass, we’d have been caught up in the New Year’s Eve rush, and I wouldn’t have had a free second. So while this wasn’t ideal, it was the best of the options available.

I pulled up outside Taste of Destiny, glancing around to see if Kennedy’s Outback was already parked nearby. When I didn’t see anything, I locked my Ute and headed in. This early in the day, the morning rush hadn’t yet begun, so I spotted Kennedy in the corner as soon as I entered. She was sitting on her own, reading the newspaper with a coffee at her elbow. I greeted Eden with a nod and made my way over to join Kennedy.

She looked up, and her features creased into a smile that looked as uncertain and hesitant as mine. “Hi.”

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. I grimaced at the realization this felt like a first date.

“Hello.” I sank into the chair opposite her and waited while she closed the newspaper and set it aside. I scanned her face for evidence she’d spent more time crying and was pleased to see she looked back to normal. “How are you today?”

“I’m good. And you?”

“Good too.” I interlaced my fingers to stop myself from fidgeting. Damn, this was awkward. I searched around for something to talk about. “So, how long has Blair been in town?”

She gave me a look. “He just arrived yesterday.”