And every Tuesday, he and Anna pretended there wasn’t a barrier ten times higher than the counter between them.
“I see Jerry, too!” Chloe shouted.
“Let’s see if we can get them to put on a little show for us.” Liam whistled a trio of notes, trying to mimic the greeting Aiden had started using to get the otters’ attention when they were newborn pups.
On cue, Ben began to perform barrel rolls in the shallow water, but Jerry, the more courageous of the two, dived underwater and then popped up right between the two canoes, sunlight sparkling on the droplets of water clinging to his whiskers.
The girls squealed in delight as the otter rolled over and exposed his snow-white belly to the sun like a tourist working on his tan.
“Can we take some pictures of Ben and Jerry for my journal, Mom?” Cassie begged. “We’ll earn our Celebrate Creation pins, for sure. Josie Wyman got a picture of a hummingbird, and this would be even better!”
“Celebrate Creation pins?” Liam automatically looked to Anna for a translation.
When the girls had first arrived, they’d said something about Sunflowers and pins and journals, but Liam had had a hard time converting eight-year-old-girl into a language a twenty-eight-year-old guy could understand.
“For the Sunflowers kids’ club at church,” Anna explained. “The girls earn pins when they memorize Bible verses or complete a special assignment this summer. Except—” She paused to give Cassie a meaningful look. A look Liam recognized because he’d seen the same one on Sunni’s face over the years when she was taking advantage of a “teachable” moment. “Except that Ms. Shapiro didn’t intend for it to become a competition with Josie Wyman, did she?”
“Nope.” Cassie swung her head from side to side, the very picture of innocence. “But I still think it would be sweet to get a picture of the otters for my journal...and a pin.”
“Mom made them,” Chloe added proudly. “She stays up and makes jewelry after we go to bed at night.”
Anna’s cheeks flushed a deeper shade of pink, but all Liam felt was a stab of guilt. The previous autumn, Lily had rallied the family and a group of volunteers to renovate the second floor of Anna’s building into a combination studio and jewelry store. Liam was the only one who hadn’t helped with the project.
Given their history, Liam had told himself he was saving Anna from a potentially awkward situation. Now he wondered if keeping his distance had had more to do with self-preservation.
Because every time Liam looked at Anna, he remembered the line he’d crossed on prom night. He should have backed off when Anna had gotten defensive, but all he could see was his dad using his fists to get his way.
You need to break up with Ross, Anna. He’s dangerous.
Dangerous.
Said the guy everyone assumed had had multiple run-ins with the police before he’d moved to Castle Falls.
You don’t know anything, Anna had retorted.
The implication behind the words had struck deep.
Liam didn’t know anything because he was an outsider. In Anna’s mind, he would always be an outsider. And the knowledge that Liam could have ruined her future happiness if she’d taken his advice was always there, simmering in the air between them.
Which was why it would be better if his relationship with Anna—or lack thereof—stayed the same.
Polite and professional, Liam reminded himself.
“The camera is packed away, sweetheart,” Anna said. “I’m not sure we should take the time.”
Right. Based on Anna’s comment, the four-hour countdown was obviously still on her mind. Proof that she wanted to spend as little time in his company as possible.
Cassie spun toward him, their official river guide and therefore the only person who outranked her mother when it came to making decisions. “Do we have time, Mr. Kane?”
“It’s Liam...and you make time for what’s important,” he told her.
Chloe and Cassie exchanged a disappointed look, so Liam decided he’d better clarify the statement.
“Which means an otter photo shoot just became one of the stops.”
“Yay!”
Chloe and Cassie leaned toward each other and slapped their hands together in a high five that set both canoes rocking.
Before Anna could warn them to sit back down, Liam beat her to it. And he didn’t respond with a scold or a scowl, either.
“Rule four,” was all he said.
For a bachelor who’d grown up with brothers, the man’s patience and easygoing humor with two little girls who chattered more than they paddled was something Anna hadn’t expected.
But then again, Liam wasn’t quite what she’d expected.
Even apart from all the rumors swirling around the three brothers, Anna had always found Liam a little unsettling. There’d been times, during study hall or in the school cafeteria, she’d caught Liam looking at her. No, not just at her. Through her. Like he knew what she thinking. Or feeling.
That’s what had unsettled her.
But he’d never gone out of his way to talk to her—until the senior prom.
Memories came rushing back. Anna’s astonishment when Liam had led her into the center of the gymnasium and then guided her out to the courtyard. Her defensive reaction when Anna discovered the real reason he’d asked her to dance.
I saw what Ross did in the parking lot, Anna. My dad...he wasn’t a very nice guy. He would bully my mom like that, too.
Ross wasn’t bullying me.
He grabbed your arm.
Anna had denied it even though her arm had still burned where Ross’s fingers had bitten through the lacy sleeve of her dress.
Look...just be careful, okay? Liam had persisted. You don’t have to let him treat you like that.
She’d made excuses for Ross. Told Liam in no uncertain terms to mind his own business.
But she hadn’t believed him.
Anna rubbed her arm. The bruises had faded years ago but the wound Ross had inflicted on her heart still hurt.
The theme, A Night to Remember, had fit as perfectly as the tiara placed on Anna’s head when she was crowned queen. But, like so many other moments in her past, that night had become one more thing she wanted to forget.
At least in high school, her wishes and dreams had centered around the plans she and Ross had made for Friday night or on the dress she’d picked out for an upcoming dance. Anna had poured out her heart in a journal similar to the ones Rene Shapiro had handed out to the Sunflowers. Protected her secrets with the turn of a key that fit into a tiny gold lock.
She wasn’t willing to take the chance that Liam—or anyone else for that matter—would see the one she kept locked inside her heart.
“Oh, look at that bird over there! Isn’t it cute?”
The bottom of Anna’s canoe scraped against a rock, warning her that the canoe had drifted into the shallow water. Fortunately, no one seemed to notice she’d broken rule number six—Pay Attention to Your Surroundings—because their attention was focused on the shoreline.