“Heads up!” Liam called as he tossed me a beer, sprawled out on one of the chairs, and propped his feet up on the fire pit. “I heard her drive off. How did it go?” He cracked open his beer and took a long sip. Rocky jumped off the swing and sat next to his feet.

“It went fine. I mainly talked to Dylan. He’s funny and curious, and so smart, Liam, probably smarter than me,” I said with a laugh.

“And Lily?” he prodded.

“We didn’t talk. She said she was glad I was back, we exchanged numbers, and that’s about it. Dylan and I did all the talking. I doubt she would have even spoken to me at all if he wasn’t here.” Disappointment filled my heart. I had a lot of hope built up and not being able to talk to her at all shook me.

“Sorry, man. She’ll come around,” he said.

I popped open my beer and sipped it. “Dylan forgave me. But I didn’t hurt him like I hurt her. I wasn’t there for him, but he didn’t know the difference because he had Will. I could see the hurt in her eyes. She gets this look, like she wants to run away. Then she kind of did run away. After Dylan said he forgave me, she couldn’t get away from me fast enough.”

“It might not be just you she’s running away from. She’s had a lot to deal with and coming back here has got to be dredging up just as many memories for her as it does for you. Bottom line, you’re sorry you screwed up. Make her believe it,” he advised.

“I didn’t know you were such an expert on relationships, Liam,” I said, making him laugh.

“I’m not. But if you act all wishy-washy about it, she’ll think you don’t mean it. This is important to you. This is your woman, your family. You have to be all in. Let her know you are all about them. It’s the only way you’ll get anywhere with her.”

“She’s not my woman anymore,” I argued.

He sat up in his chair and pointed at me. “Bullshit. I’ve never met her, never even seen a picture of her. But you’ve talked about her so much I knew who she was the moment I saw her. And she was nervous, real jumpy. If she didn’t care, she wouldn’t have been acting so skittish.”

“She’s worried about Dylan,” I said.

“And seeing you again,” Liam insisted.

“I doubt that.” Rocky always sensed when I was feeling down. He came to me and put his head on my leg. I scratched behind his ears, then he jumped on my lap and licked my cheek.