“I don’t know. Just try to be her friend. Maybe she’ll open up to you eventually. I’m kind of lost too.” Drew scratched his chin and sighed. “It was something in Seattle; it had to be.”
“I don’t know what. She never told me.”
“Did you even keep up with her then, or were you too busy chasing nurses?”
Liam sighed. As if! “You know better than that, so stop stirring the pot. We were both worked to exhaustion as the lowest of the low interns, in case you forgot.” Those were hard days. “Too busy trying to catch a wink of sleep in between our ridiculous schedules to date anyone.”
“Do you think it had something to do with her job? A guy? Was she even dating anyone that we know of?”
Liam shook his head. “No idea, but I definitely think something happened over there.”
Drew agreed. “Why else would she come back to the island and buy a bakery of all things? She’d never shown any interest in bread or baking before. Apart from being the first to eat the crust off the loaf on weekends when Dad bought it warm for a treat.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” Liam leaned back in his chair and ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the short strands in frustration. There had to be something he could do to put a smile on her face again. “She’s not the person we used to know. Coming home and buying the business came out of the blue. It’s almost as if she’s avoiding everyone, and I don’t know why.” He shook his head. “Is there anyone else you can ask, besides April, that is?”
“Doubt it. I don’t think she keeps in contact with anyone from Seattle anymore. At least not that I know of.”
“Go and see her. Ask her outright. What’ve you got to lose?”
“Pride.”
“I doubt that. Everyone knows how you feel about her.” Drew stood. “I have to go. April has things we need to discuss, apparently.” He gave a laugh. “Thank goodness I’m only doing this once. Hey, have you spoken to Deacon about delivering the bride and bridesmaid to the church yet? Pretty sure we put that on your list of things to do. You don’t want to forget anything or you’ll have April to deal with. She scares me, how intense she is over all of this.”
“No, but I’m on it. I called yesterday and said I’d be out tonight to catch up with him. I have training at six with Ben, so I’ll pop into Deacon’s when I finish about seven. After that, I might drop in on your sister. See if I can get more than a few words out of her. Hopefully she won’t toss me out of the shop.”
Drew left and Liam changed into workout gear, collected his briefcase, and headed to the club.
When he walked in the door, Ben was busy pummeling a boxing bag while a group of youngsters were warming up for their sessions with him.
Liam walked in, dropped his bag on the floor, and stretched his arms out, flexing his hands. “Hey, Ben.”
Ben finished with a roundhouse kick before grabbing a towel from the corner to wipe the sweat from his face. Even though criminal pursuits on Hope Island generally weren’t too frequent, Ben still liked to keep fit and active. He wiped his face and slung the towel around his neck.
“Liam, I was going to call you. You know how we talked about the self-defense class for women and girls?”
Liam pulled his boxing gloves from his gym bag and pulled them on while he listened. “Yes, I do.”
“I’ve worked out a program for once-a-week sessions for eight weeks. Even done up flyers. I was hoping you could be a kind soul and deliver them around town for me. I’m on shift for the next five days straight and won’t get a chance.”
“Sure.” It’d been a good idea to put the class together, and having the support of the local people would go a long way to filling up the spots. Anything they could do to keep the island women and girls safe was a bonus for both men.
“And I wondered if you’d mind helping out with one of my training sessions? Maybe take the teenage boys’ class on a Monday so I can do the self-defense?”
“Easy. No worries. Anything to help.”
Ben flexed his arms and stretched. He was so different from the gangly teenager he’d been growing up. He was all muscle, and loved working out to stay fit. The kind of guy anyone would like to be on his side when things got rough. “Great. I really appreciate it. The women’s shelter is keen for us to get going with it so now is perfect as far as I’m concerned.”
“Make sure you put those flyers in my bag before I go and I’ll start handing them out everywhere in the morning.”
After Liam finished his workout and helped Ben with the teen class for a couple of rounds of sparring, he headed out to see Deacon Fielding. Deacon’s carriage and Clydesdales were often used for weddings on the island, and April loved the idea of arriving at the small church in the open carriage.
“Deacon, how are you?” Liam found him feeding his horses in the stable by the big log house he lived in.
Deacon put down his bucket and walked over to shake Liam’s hand. “Good, good. So, Drew finally called a date for the wedding?”
“Yep, sure did. Decided there was no point waiting since they’re all living together at the new house anyway. May as well make it official.” Liam stepped over to the big horse, leaned over the stable door and rubbed its head. He stepped back when it tried to rub against him. “Ah, you big soft
