Mia

I stood on the curb with my suitcase. I had nowhere to go. I couldn't get the image of Derek and that woman out of my head. I thought he had loved me.

My phone buzzed again. I gritted my teeth. I pulled it out expecting Derek's name.

It wasn't.

It was a photo notification from three hours ago. Chloe. Her and her boyfriend, Mark at some rooftop bar, his arm around her waist, both of them laughing at something. The caption read: "Date night done right."

I wanted to throw my phone into traffic. But then I remembered I had no money on me.

I didn't hate Chloe. No, she was too hard to hate. I just... Couldn't help but feel jealous. Of how easy she made it look. Of how she'd never had to fake a smile at dinner or pretend a bruise was from walking into a doorframe.

Chloe had the perfect relationship. I had three years of lies and a half-packed suitcase.

I couldn't call her. She'd ask questions. She'd want details. And then she'd look at me with those big green eyes full of pity, and I'd have to admit that I'd been faking everything since the first year with Derek.

But I had nowhere else.

My thumb hovered over her name. I pressed call before I could talk myself out of it.

She answered on the second ring. "Mia! I was just thinking about you!"

I opened my mouth. Nothing came out.

"Hello? You there?"

"Chloe." I almost broke down into tears. I pressed my free hand against my mouth. "I need you."

The silence on her end was sharp. When she spoke again, her voice lowered. "What happened? Where are you?"

"I... I don't have anywhere..." I said, trying to steady my voice. "Derek cheated on me. He..."

"Where are you?" She cut me off. "I'm coming to get you."

"Chloe, you don't have to..."

"Where. Are. You."

I told her and she said she would be here in fifteen minutes. Then she hung up before I could argue.

I sat on my suitcase and waited. The sun was already setting. I thought about calling my mother. I imagined her voice... I told you he wasn't good enough, didn't I?

A black SUV pulled up to the curb. I expected Chloe. The air caught in my lungs when my eyes caught the person in the car.

Liam Kessler.

He leaned across the passenger seat and pushed the door open from inside.

His gray blue eyes found mine through the gap. The corner of his mouth twitched.

"You gonna stand there or get in?"

I didn't move. My brain short circuited. Liam. Chloe's older brother. The boy who had teased me at every family dinner, who had called me short stuff until I was sixteen.

Worse, I'd been in love with him since I was twelve and too stupid to know better.

He must be thirty now. His jaw was sharper. His shoulders were broader and he was still the most infuriatingly beautiful person I'd ever seen.

"Chloe sent you?" I finally managed.

"She's making dinner." He said it like that explained everything. "Get in, Mia. You look like you've been crying and I'm not about to explain to my sister why I left her best friend on the street."

I dragged my suitcase to the back. He got out and opened the trunk for me. His hand brushed mine when he took the bag. I pulled away like I'd been burned.

He noticed. Of course he did.

"Relax." He shut the trunk. "I don't bite. Unless you ask nicely."

He winked at me. I gave him my middle finger. Somehow, he always brought out this side of me.

"Too soon?" He grinned. It was the same grin from high school. The one that made my stomach flip even when I hated him for it.

"I hate you," I mumbled.

He chuckled.

"That's a lie. You love me," he waved at me. "Now get in."

I got in.

The drive was fifteen minutes of him making conversation and giving me one word answers. He asked about Derek. I said he was an asshole. Liam said he had always known. He asked about my job. I said I got fired. He said Hendricks looked like a creep and he wasn't surprised.

"How do you know what my boss looks like?"

"Chloe showed me his LinkedIn. I have opinions."

I almost laughed. I swallowed it.

When we pulled into Chloe's driveway, she was already on the front porch.

I barely had the door open before she was on me... Wrapping her arms around me so tight I couldn't breathe.

"You're okay," she said into my hair. " You're okay. You're here. "

I cried into her shoulder. She let me. She didn't ask questions. She just held on.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, shaking my head. "I've been lying to you. For years. About him. About everything. I was so embarrassed and I didn't want you to think I was..."

"Stop. " She pulled back, held my face in her hands. "We have time fkr that later. Right now you're going to eat something and sleep. Okay?"

I nodded. I didn't deserve her.

She showed me the guest room. It was small but clean, a queen bed with a white duvet, a window that faced the backyard, a vase of fake flowers on the nightstand.

She had put a glass of water there and a granola bar.

"I'll let you settle, " she said. "Liam's making pasta. Come down when you're ready."

I didn't come down.

I sat on the edge of the bed. My suitcase was still zipped. My phone buzzed again... Derek this time. It was a text: "You forgot your hair dryer. Want it back?"

I turned my phone off.

****

I woke up to hot air on my face. Someone's face was inches from mine. The room was dark and I couldn't see the person's features properly, just the outline of a jaw, the blur of an eye watching me sleep.

I screamed.

My hand shot out. I shoved hard.

The person stumbled back. Bumped into the dresser. The vase of fake flowers wobbled and fell.

"What the hell..."

I knew that voice.

Liam stood there, one hand rubbing his chest where I'd pushed him. His hair was messy. He was wearing a gray t-shirt and sweatpants. And he was looking at me like I'd just tried to kill him.

"What are you doing in my room?" I barked. My heart pounded so hard I could feel it in my teeth.

Mia

"That's creepy," I said, standing up from the bed.

Liam raised an eyebrow. "Good morning to you too."

I groaned.

"You were hovering over my face while I slept. That's not normal."

"I just want my charger, " he said, nodding toward the nightstand behind me. The black cord was still plugged into the wall. "You're lying on it, by the way. Under your pillow."

I groaned, looking back. Sure enough, a corner of the cord peeked out from beneath the pillowcase. Heat rushed to my cheeks. "You could have asked. "

I stood from the bed to open the curtains.

He shrugged.

"Where's the fun in that?" He pushed off the wall and walked toward the door. His shoulder brushed mine. Deliberately, I thought or maybe I was imagining things.

He unplugged the charger and held it up. "See? Not a burglar."

"I still think you're creepy."

His lips curved up.

"And I think you're dramatic," he pocketed the charger and turned to face me. The morning light came through the window, turning his messy blonde hair almost golden.

His eyes found mine. "You're gonna stand there glaring at me all day, or are you coming down for breakfast?"

I crossed my arms. "I'm not hungry."

"Liar. You haven't eaten since yesterday. Chloe said you skipped dinner."

I bit my lower lip.

"She cares about you," he stated. "So do I, unfortunately. Now move your feet."

I laughed for the first time in a while.

He pushed the door open and walked out. I followed him. Not because he told me to but because my stomach growled loud enough to betray me.

The kitchen smelled like bacon. I could hear Chloe humming, the clatter of plates but at the bottom of the stairs, Liam stopped, blocking my path.

"What?" I asked, my heart racing at how close we were.

He studied my face for a long moment. I hated when he did that... Looked at me like he was reading a book I hadn't agreed to lend him.

"Derek," he whispered. "He never deserved you."

The words hit softly in my chest. I didn't know what to do with them.

Compliments from Liam always felt like traps, sincere enough to hurt and vague enough to leave me guessing.

"You don't know anything about my relationship," I said and walked away from him. My shoulder hit his chest harder than necessary. He didn't move. He just laughed under his breath and the sound followed me to the kitchen.

After helping Chloe in the kitchen, I went back to my room to take a bath. I stared at myself in the mirror.

I splashed cold water on my face. Borrowed Chloe's brush from the counter. Pulled my hair into a ponytail. The woman staring back at me was still tired, still broken, but at least she looked human.

I took a breath. Then another.

You survived worse, I told myself. You survived three years of Derek. You can survive breakfast with Liam.

I opened the door and walked to the dining room.

The table was set for four.Chloe sat at the head, already piling eggs onto her plate. She smiled when she saw me. "There she is! I was about to send a search party."

"Sorry. I needed a minute."

"Sit, sit." She waved at the chair next to her. I moved toward it. My heart seized when I saw the fourth person.

She was beautiful.

Tall. Long legs in white jeans. Hair like black silk pulled over one shoulder. She held a coffee mug with both hands and smiled at me like she already knew who I was.

"Hey," she said. Her voice was warm. "You must be Mia. I've heard so much about you."

I looked at Chloe. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've..."

"That's Vanessa," Liam said. He was already seated across from me, buttering a piece of toast like this was nothing. "She's staying for breakfast."

Vanessa. The name shoved the air out of my lungs. Liam's girlfriend.

Chloe had mentioned her. Once. Maybe twice. I'd not taken her seriously because there was no way Liam could get a girlfriend. But here she was.

"It's so nice to finally meet you," Vanessa mumbled, flashing her white teeth at me. "Chloe talks about you all the time. I feel like I already know you."

My chest tightened.

"Thanks." My voice came out strange. I cleared my throat and sat down. "You too. I mean... Chloe's mentioned you. A few times."

Liam didn't look up from his toast. Chloe, oblivious as always, launched into a story about a delivery driver who'd left a package in the bushes. I laughed when everyone else laughed. I nodded when everyone else nodded. But my eyes kept drifting to Vanessa's hand on the table. Her long fingers wrapped around the mug. No ring. Not that that meant anything.

"So, Mia," Vanessa said, turning to me with those warm brown eyes. "Chloe tells me you just got out of a relationship. I'm sorry. That's awful."

I felt Liam's gaze lift. His eyes met mine across the table. I looked away first.

"It's fine," I said. "It was a long time coming."

"Still. Breakups are brutal." Vanessa reached over and squeezed my wrist. Her touch was friendly. It made my skin crawl.

"Derek was a jerk anyway," Chloe added, waving her fork. "You're better off."

"Agreed," Liam said, biting into his toast. It was the first thing he had said since Vanessa started the discussion.

Then the conversation shifted, which I appreciated. Chloe asked Vanessa about her work. She talked about a pitch she'd won. Chloe laughed at something she had said but I wasn't listening. The only thing I could focus on was how Liam watched her with a look that pierced needles in my heart.

I pushed eggs around my plate. My appetite had vanished.

"This is fun," Chloe said, leaning back in her chair. "We should do this more often. All four of us."

Hell no.

I forced a smile on my face.

"Mia's welcome anytime," Vanessa added. "You're practically family."

Mia

Dear Mia Chen,

Thank you for your application but it didn't pass the review. We wish you the best in your search.

I groaned and closed the laptop in anger. Five emails in three weeks. Each one started and ended the same way. My thumb hovered over the delete button.

"Another rejection?" Chloe asked. I didn't respond but she understood anyway.

"It doesn't mean anything," Chloe said from across the couch. She was painting her toenails, one foot tucked under her thigh. "You're gonna find something."

"I've applied to six places." My voice came out flat. "Five rejections. That's not a good average."

"So the sixth one says yes. You don't know yet."

I locked my phone and dropped it on the cushion beside me. The guest room was starting to feel less like a temporary stop and more like a cave I was hiding in. I'd been here for weeks.

Three weeks of waking up in Liam's bed...no, the guest bed... eating Chloe's groceries and using their Wi-Fi and feeling like a barnacle that had attached itself to someone else's life.

"It's not just the money," I said.

Chloe looked up. "Then what is it?"

I opened my mouth. Closed it. The real reason sat heavily in my throat.

I need to stop thinking about Liam. I couldn't say that. Of course.

So I said something else. "I hate feeling useless. I hate sitting here while you go to work and Liam does whatever he does and I just… exist. Taking up space."

"You're not taking up space." She set down the nail polish and scooted closer. Her arms wrapped around me. She smelled like coconut and something floral. "Mia. Look at me."

I looked.

"You can stay as long as you want. Forever, if that's what you need. I'm not keeping score."

My eyes burned. "You should be."

"Why? That's not how friendship works." She squeezed tighter. "You stayed with Derek for three years even though he was garbage. You think I'm gonna kick you out after three weeks? Please."

I laughed.

"Besides," she added, pulling back, "you're helping. You cleaned the whole kitchen yesterday. Liam said it hasn't looked that good since Mom lived here."

The mention of Liam made me feel something in my chest that I didn't want to feel.

Because thinking about Liam was dangerous. It led to other thoughts. The kind I'd been trying to drown in job applications.

Like last Tuesday.

I'd come home early from dropping off resumes. The house was quiet. I assumed everyone was out. I needed a shower. The water pressure in the guest bathroom was weak, so I'd used the main bathroom down the hall.

I didn't knock. Why would I?

The door was cracked open. The light was on. Liam stepped out of the shower. A towel hung low on his hips. Water dripped down his chest...his very bare, very defined chest. His arms. His shoulders.

He looked up. Our eyes met.

I screamed and ran to my room.

I hadn't looked him in the eye for two days after that. And I still couldn't get the image away from my brain. It was there when I closed my eyes. It was there when I woke up.

That was why I needed a job. Not just for money. For distraction. For anything that wasn't him.

I picked up my phone. One new email. My heart dropped. "Oh God."

"What?"

"It's from the bar. The Copper Lantern." I stared at the subject line. Application Status. "I don't want to open it."

"Why not?"

"Because if it's another no, I'm going to cry."

Chloe snatched the phone from my hand. "Coward."

"Hey..."

She tapped the screen. Her face went still. Then her mouth fell open. Then she screamed.

"YOU GOT IT!"

"What?"

"YOU GOT THE JOB, MIA!"

*****

My first week at The Copper Lantern nearly killed me. My back ached. A man named Gary called me sweetheart and pinched my hip. Elena, a redhead with tattooed stars on her collarbones, showed me how to balance four plates on one arm. Rosa, the owner, barked orders and never smiled.

But I was good at it. I learned the menu in three days. By day five, I didn't drop a single glass.

I was wiping down the bar on a Thursday afternoon when the door opened.

My chest tightened as Vanessa walked in. Her black hair was pulled into a sleek ponytail. She scanned the room and then she saw me.

"Oh my God, Mia." She drawled. "I didn't know you worked here."

I shrugged.

"Just started." I set down my rag. "Can I get you something?"

"Just water." She slid onto a stool. "So. How are you settling in? Living with Chloe and Liam must be… cozy."

Something about the way she said cozy made my skin prickle.

"It's fine," I said. "They've been great."

"I'm sure." She accepted the water I poured and drank. "Liam's taking me to this incredible party this weekend. Marcus is hosting. You probably don't know him...he's in a different tax bracket. Invite only."

I kept my face neutral. I had no idea why she was telling me, probably to rub it in my face. But now that she mentioned it to me, I suddenly had the urge to go.

"Sounds fun," I said.

She kept on talking for a while and she left after she finished her water.

That night, I found Liam in the living room. He was watching something on TV, feet up on the coffee table.

"Your girlfriend came to see me today," I said, sitting beside him.

He muted the TV. "Vanessa? Why?"

"To show off, I think." I sat on the arm of the couch. "She mentioned a party. Marcus's party."

He shook his head. "I know where this is going. So, no...not happening."

"Liam..."

"It's not your scene. There are drugs. Fights. Marcus is an asshole who hits on anything."

"I'm a big girl." My voice came out sharper than I intended. "I can't go to the party without you. I wasn't invited and Chloe would also be going with Mark and after Derek..."

His jaw tightened. A smile turned up my face when the guilt tripping worked.

"Come on now, You really want to go?"

I nodded.

He sighed, rubbing his face with both hands.

"Fine," he said. "But you stay with Chloe the whole night and you don't drink anything Marcus hands you."