The next morning Liam dragged me to the rink at 7:30 for his practice despite my attempts to convince him that we didn't need to leave until that afternoon and not 10 when his practice ended but he insisted we leave after his practice.
"I'm so tired, why did we have to leave so early?" I groaned as we drove out of Aladine.
"Because," he replied, "There's nothing else to do anyway."
"Liam I do not want to spend a solid three days with you and my family," I groaned, "I don't want the 100 questions."
"Then take me around Waterford," he said, "Show me your favorite spots."
"I don't have any," I replied, looking out the window.
"C'mon, you're lying," he smiled.
"I'm not, we moved there at the end of June, I moved out in August," I replied, "I mean, we've spent time in Waterford but not like I grew up there."
"Then take me where you grew up," he said, pulling into a gas station parking lot, "The wheel is yours, take me wherever you want to show me."
"Liam, I don't' think-," I began to say.
"I want to know you Liv, I want to know where you spent your time as a kid, I want to know what your favorite place to be on a Saturday afternoon is, I want to know everything about you," he said, looking me straight in the eye with his piercing green eyes.
It's like he knew I couldn't say no when he looked at me like that.
"Okay," I said, a smile creeping onto my face as we switched places and I took the wheel.
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"My cousin and I used to come here with my grandma all the time," I remarked as we pulled into an old city park in the next town over from Aladine, "We lived three miles from my grandparents growing up and my aunt worked so my cousin and I were always at my grandma's."
"Where's she live now?" he asked.
"Still a block away, on the corner right before the city limits," I replied as we got out of the car and walked into the park, "That was my favorite swing, my cousin Emily and I would always swing here," I said, walking over to the rusty swing set, "When we started going to school, we'd come down here afterwards almost everyday and swing here."
"Do you still see your cousin?" he asked.
"Not really," I said quietly, "She went to college down in Ohio, we both switched schools in middle school and saw less and less of each other as the years went on."
"That sucks," he said.
"Yeah," I said quietly, taking the cold metal chain that held the swing up in my hand.
It was a familiar feeling, the chain was, I can't even begin to estimate how many hours I spent on this very swing with my tiny hands gripped on the chains. It seemed like a lifetime ago, everything that happened before we move and everything changed did.
"Want to see if they still work?" he asked with a smile.
"Yeah," I smiled as he brushed the snow off of the old worn seats that probably had an imprint of my butt on them.
We sat there for a good half an hour before the wind picked up and it began to sleet.
"Shit!" I exclaimed, dragging my feet to stop the swing.
"I think that's our cue to head to the car," he laughed as we jumped off and ran back to his car, "Damn it's freezing all of the sudden."
"Good thing I know a good place for hot chocolate," I smiled as I started the car once again.
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"This place is awesome," Liam remarked as we walked into the diner downtown that I'd grown up coming to, "I feel like I'm in a movie from the 60's."
"That's why I love it," I smiled, "The black and white tiled floors, the red booths, it's my favorite."
"So what do you recommend here?" he asked as he glanced at the menu.
"Everything's amazing," I replied, "But the chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream are the best."
"Bacon or sausage?" he asked.
"Both," I grinned, "And corned beef hash."
"Damn," he laughed, "That's a lot of food."
"Not really," I laughed.
"So what's so significant about this place?" he asked.
"This place is special," I sighed, "We'd come here after church every week when I was real little.Then we'd kind of come here less and less as time went on," I replied.
"Why?" he asked.
"Things changed," I replied, "My dad started to have to work weekends and a lot of overtime. I'd go a couple of days without seeing him in middle school when he worked midnights. He'd leave after I went to bed and come home when I was in school."
"That sucks," he said quietly, "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," I replied, "Really. He started working days again when Mom found out she was pregnant."
"So it's just you and Josie and Janie, right?" he asked.
"Yeah," I replied, "What about you?"
"Only child, but you could probably tell," he laughed almost nervously .
"Maybe," I grinned.
"So chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, sausage, and hash, right?" he asked, as if he was trying to change the subject.
"Yep," I smiled as the waitress came to take our orders.
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"We're here Mom!" I yelled as I walked in the front door that afternoon.
"Livvy!" Josie and Janie exclaimed from the other room as they burst down the hallway.
"Look who I brought!" I smiled.
"Liam!" they grinned, quickly losing interest in me.
"I'm glad you came Liam," Mom smiled as she walked in.
"Thank you for the invitation," he smiled, shaking her hand.
"Not a problem," Mom said, "It wouldn't be the first time we had an extra person here at Thanksgiving," she laughed.
Up until this season, we had been a part of a program with the Men's Varsity team where we would take in a player every year and take them out to dinner once a week and send them goodie bags on road trips and we would invite at least one over for Thanksgiving. The tradition ended this year when my mom got a new job and we moved out to Waterford this summer.
"Hey Dad!" I smiled as Dad came down the stairs.
"Hey Liv!" he smiled, giving me a hug when he got to the entryway.
"This is Liam," I said, "Mom invited him."
"Nice to meet you Liam,"
"Can we go play hockey in the basement Momma?" Josie asked.
"Why don't we let Livvy show Liam the guest room first so they can put their things down, okay?" Mom replied.
"Let's head upstairs then," I said, grabbing my duffel bag from the floor and leading Liam upstairs.
"And one more flight," I sighed as I got to the attic staircase, "To the right's the guest room, to the left is my room," I replied.
"It's pretty empty in here," he remarked a few minutes later as I took the clothes out of my duffel bag and put them in my dresser.
"Didn't spend much time here," I replied.
"Why not?" he asked, walking in and standing next to me at the dresser.
"We lived here for a month before I moved out," I replied, "I pretty much lived out of boxes while I was here."
"That sucks," he said as I closed my dresser drawer.
"Yeah, I don't want to talk about it right now, Janie and Josie are waiting for us," I replied, "Please."
"Alright then," he sighed, "Wouldn't want to keep them waiting."
It was hard enough leaving home, especially when you're close with your family like I always had been. But it was even harder when you felt like you didn't have a home anymore.
We'd moved a month before I left for school, my parents had tried really hard to find a place and get moved in before that but it was just the way everything ended up working out. I knew they felt bad, which was why I never had the heart to tell anyone that I felt out of place with nowhere that I felt like was home.
I never went home for weekends, hockey definitely made it harder but there were still a few times I could've gone home if I wanted to. But I didn't feel like home was home. The walls of my room were a bare white, my parents had asked if I wanted it painted when we closed on the house but I had no desire to do anything that made it harder to leave my family. So I had my old bed, a dresser, and a desk in my room and that was it.
But I wasn't about to get into any of it right now, not when my family was around, not when they knew I was upstairs with a guy. I knew if I started in on my woes to Liam I'd end up a crying mess and if I started crying I knew he would sit there and hold me until I felt better and I didn't want anyone finding us up here like that. I didn't feel like explaining why my relationship had moved so quickly or why we were so comfortable with each other.
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"I'm hungry," Janie remarked as they played hockey with a foam puck in the basement a few hours later.
"Let's go get a snack then," I said, "Are you hungry Josie?"
"Yeah," Josie replied.
"Let's put the sticks away first," I said.
"Momma can we have a snack?" Janie asked as Liam and I followed Josie and Janie upstairs to the kitchen.
"Well, Dad just went to go get pizza and I don't think you want to ruin your dinner," she said, stirring the pan on the stove that had celery and butter for the stuffing simmering.
"Yay!" the girls exclaimed.
"Need any help?" I asked.
"I'm good," she said, "Dad said he just picked it up. You can grab the paper plates and napkins if you want. The Red Wings game should be on too."
"Yeah!" Janie smiled, rushing over to the living room to turn on the TV as I walked over to the cabinet to grab the paper plates.
"Where are the plates mom?" I asked, sighing when I realized I had no idea where anything was in this house.
"I'll show you," Josie said, grabbing my hand and leading me across the kitchen.
"Thanks Jos," I smiled as she pointed at the cabinet.
"Need help reaching those Liv?" Liam grinned, watching me stand on my tiptoes to reach the package of plates.
"Help would certainly be appreciated," I sighed.
"There you go," he grinned, reaching up and grabbing the plates and handing them down to me.
"Thank you," I smiled, taking the plates from him.
"We'll eat in the living room tonight, the kitchen table is full of stuff for tomorrow," Mom said.
"Yay!" Janie giggled.
"Pizza's here!" Dad called out as he walked in from the garage.
"Janie and Josie, don't forget to wash your hands!" I said as they rushed to greet Dad, only because he had dinner.
"Fine," Janie sighed as she and Josie moped to the bathroom to argue over who got to use the sink first.
"Did you wash your hands?" Liam asked with a grin.
"I did," I smirked, "Did you?"
"Not yet," he laughed.
"That's what I thought," I winked.
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Two hours later, we were all watching the end of the Red Wings game in the living room. Janie and Josie had ended up on Liam and I's laps sound asleep halfway through the first period and I was nearly there too.
"Are they all out?" Mom asked.
"I'm awake," I replied, my eyes still closed, "I'll carry Janie up."
"I can get them," Liam said, "It's not a big deal."
"I can get Janie," I replied, "Seriously, they're kind of heavy."
"I can lift more than you weigh Liv," he laughed, "I'll live."
"Whatever you say," I smirked sleepily as he stood up and carried Josie upstairs to her room.
Liam Simpson had managed to finagle his way into my heart and now he was charming the socks off of my little sisters and parents.
I had been worried before about what a relationship with him would mean, whether I was making a giant mistake trusting him and catching feelings for him. But with each passing hour, I kept falling further and further in love with Liam Simpson and there wasn't anything I could do about it.
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***