“Yeah you are, you bastard of a little brother.” I laughed. “I bet that’s the number for a Chinese restaurant.”
“No, it isn’t.”
I think my heart skipped an entire tune, let alone a beat. “A pizza place then? A strip joint? The police station?”
“Nope. Nope. And nope again.”
Pause.
“So you’re not making this up?”
He sighed loudly. “Negative, Shabby. I happen to be very resourceful. A friend of a friend of a friend was at Rowley’s, too. Apparently Liam said he met a cool girl there on New Year’s Eve, then lost her number. Been looking for her since.”
“No way!”
“But, thinking about it,” he chuckled, “that can’t be you, can it? He said a cool girl.”
“Sod off!”
Tom laughed. “Apparently he’s searching the entire area. Asking everybody if they know an Abby Sanders.” He sniffed. “Well, I know an Abby Sanders.”
“Seriously?”
“Cinderella, my darling,” he said in a high-pitched voice, “you shall go to the ball.”
I wanted to stick my arms through the phone and hug him. “You’re the best, Tom.”
“Anything for you, my dearest, most favorite sister ever.”
“Hey!” I grinned. “I’m your only sister.”
“Yeah, I know. Even though I asked for a different one every Christmas.”
If we’d been in the same room I’d have punched him. Not hard, just hard enough.
“So are you going to call him?” he said.
“No!”
“Why the hell not? After all that?”
“I can’t. It’s not...it’s not...” I hesitated, before very quietly adding, “ladylike.”
Tom burst out laughing. “Oh, come on. It’s nineteen ninety-two, not the fifties. And since when are you a lady?”
“Ha, ha.”
“He wouldn’t track you down if he wasn’t interested. Trust me.” I couldn’t deny the solidity of my brother’s reasoning. The little smarty-pants. “Anyway, it’s your call. No pun intended. So...and I’m pretty sure I know the answer, but I’ll ask anyway. Are you coming over for dinner tonight?”
“Uh, I don’t think so.”
“Jeez, Abby, are you and Mum ever going to kiss and make up?”
“Negative, Tommy. Is Sophia coming?”
“Not sure.” Tom’s voice changed from happy to sad in an instant. “Haven’t spoken to her for three days.”
“Again?” She was such a bitch. He deserved better.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “Sophia’s a bitch. I deserve better.”
“No, I wasn’t,” I lied. Sometimes our connection even freaked us out. “I, uh...”
“Yeah, you were. Look, come over. Mum said she’d like to see you.”
I snorted. “No, she didn’t. Speak to you later?”
“Will do, sis. But put Liam out of his misery and call him, yeah?”
“Yeah.” I paused. “Tom?”
“Yeah?” When I didn’t reply for a few seconds he said, “Love you, too, big sis.”
As I dropped the phone to the floor and pulled the blankets over my head, I let out a scream and kicked my legs. Once partial dignity was restored I retrieved the phone, took a few deep breaths and dialed the number on the tissue. Being a lady was vastly overrated anyway.
“Hello, this is Liam.” His voice sounded as delicious as a hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day. I wanted to stay in bed, wrapped up under the blankets, and listen to him speak for hours. Then I decided I’d better say something before he rang off.
“Hi, uh, it’s Abby.”
“Abby? Not the Abby from New Year’s Eve?”
I smiled. “Well, that depends.”
“On what?”
“How many Abbys you kissed at Rowley’s.”
He laughed. “One, promise. God, I’m so glad I found you.”
“Well,” I said, trying to hide my smile, “technically, I found you.”
“I would have called days ago, but I lost your number,” Liam said quickly. “And I’ve been cursing myself ever since. I’m such an idiot. A moronic idiot.” He cleared his throat and I grinned. “Anyway. Can I see you again? Today? For lunch? I can pick you up.”
I whipped the blankets off and stood up so fast my head spun again. “Give me an hour.”
“THANKS AGAIN, NATE. Lovely to meet you, Sarah. Hope Abby’s okay. Night.” I closed the front door with a contented sigh and turned toward Liam, who stood behind me. I thought I saw a frown cross his face but as soon as my eyes met his, he smiled.
I put my arms around him and squeezed, relishing how our bodies still fit together perfectly, despite being married for so long. Liam kissed the top of my head, and I couldn’t help noticing how he didn’t really hug me back. I decided he was probably exhausted from the move, so I squeezed harder to make up for it.
“I have a feeling we’ll be very happy here,” I said.
“Still no regrets about moving, then?” he said.
“I already told you,” I said with a smile. “The most important thing is that I’m with you. Still, can you believe we’ve been here a day and we’ve already got such amazing neighbors?”
“Yeah, great,” Liam said, with less enthusiasm than I’d expected as he extricated himself from my embrace. “Although Zac didn’t seem too impressed.”
“Really? I thought he was quite taken with Sarah.”
Liam laughed softly. “No, he wasn’t. He hardly talked to her.”
“Pah. That’s his usual nonchalant way. But I know he liked her.”
“Oh, boy,” he said, heading toward the kitchen. “You’re going to tell me it was your women’s intuition again, aren’t you?”
I forced a laugh. “You know my track record. I’m never wrong.” He had no idea how desperately I wanted that to be true. I’d always been proud of my ability to pick up signals everybody else seemed oblivious to, but I was petrified I’d been wrong once, years ago. Only Liam would have been able to reassure me otherwise, and even imagining him not being able to do so made my palms clammy and my heart speed up. I pushed the thought back into a remote corner of my mind, willing it to keep quiet and hold still. “Anyway,” I said casually as I followed him down the hall, “what did you think of Abby?”
He turned away with a shrug and picked up the remaining slice of pizza nobody had had the courage or inclination to polish off. “Shall I chuck this out?”
“Here, put it in this for Zac. He’ll have it for breakfast.” I handed him a plastic container and wondered if I should let the Abby question go. Comparing myself to other women was an old habit I’d never been able to break. A bit like eating sweets, and singing