“You’ll have to help her see that then. I honestly think it’s a time and caring thing, Liam. I suspect PTSD, and you, of all people, should know how that works.”
“I do, and I understand her feeling vulnerable and waiting to be judged. It’s how to convince her that I don’t blame her that’s the hard part.”
“She’s held it all back for two years and what happened is not going to fix itself overnight. You need to be prepared to be patient with her. At least she told you. I never saw that coming.”
Bradley wasn’t the only one. Liam couldn’t imagine how hard it had been for her over the last two years, keeping that kind of pain inside. “I’ve loved Aggie since we were kids. But I’m not sure I can sit here and watch her treat herself the way she does. It kills me. I hate seeing that.”
Bradley glanced at him.
“I get it, it’s up to me to show her it doesn’t change anything between us.”
Chapter 17
Liam hung up the phone and sat back in his chair. When his receptionist had announced the coroner on the phone for him, his heart had started racing and his breathing became labored. He’d taken the call with every possibility that his career would be over at the end of it. It had been a brain aneurysm; it wasn’t his fault. He sighed, letting go all of the tension that had sat on his shoulders since the day Mr. Drummond had died.
His hands shook, more with relief than anything. All day he’d been waiting for the call that would decide his fate. Ben had phoned earlier that morning to say the report was being prepared and asked if he needed anything, like someone to wait with him or have a consoling drink after work if that was the case.
Liam had declined, preferring to work and keep his mind off of it. That hadn’t happened. Finally the call had come through and he was off the hook. It didn’t feel that much like relief to him because his patient was still dead. But at least it wasn’t on him. He couldn’t have changed a thing. Life was brutal sometimes.
Now he walked up the stairs to the Hope family home, his heart pounding once again. One cloud had lifted but one remained. Today was one of Aggie’s nights off and he wanted to spend time with her.
He was just about to knock on the door when Atticus looked up from his recliner and saw him.
“Liam, come in.”
“Thanks. Don’t want to keep you from anything.” He felt like a teenager asking for a date under the scrutiny of an overbearing father.
“No, you’re fine. I was going to go out and grab a paper once the news finishes, but it can wait. Did you want to talk to me?”
“Ah, no. I was hoping to catch up with Aggie, actually. She is home, isn’t she?”
Atticus smoothed down his moustache and smiled. “As a matter of fact, she is. Let me go and get her for you.” He turned away and walked down the hallway, peeking at Liam over his shoulder before he tapped on a bedroom door. “Aggie, you have a visitor.”
“Who?” She brushed past her father and came into the living room, pulling up short when she saw him, pleasure then confusion on her face. “Liam? What’re you doing here?”
All the reasons why he shouldn’t be doing this raced through his mind. It felt sick to celebrate the death of a man from natural causes. But he needed to talk to someone and she was the obvious choice. “I got the report today. The coroner called me directly.”
Her eyes widened and she reached out a hand to touch his arm. “And?”
“Brain aneurysm. There wasn’t anything I could’ve done.”
She breathed out a heavy sigh. “That’s gotta be tough. I mean, you didn’t want to be at fault, but at the end of the day, the poor guy is still dead.”
She understood. Liam loved her even more. “Yeah. You see my predicament.” He rubbed his hands together and winced at what he was about to say. “So as much as I want to celebrate the fact that I wasn’t to blame, I don’t want to come across as callous, but I don’t want to be alone with this either.”
“Can you celebrate the fact that he didn’t suffer? He didn’t, did he?” Her eyes clouded over with worry.
“No. It would’ve been instant.”
“Nothing wrong with being relieved, Liam. Pretty sure the family will also feel a certain sense of ease to know you did everything you could.” Atticus came back into the living room and perched on the arm of the couch. “I would’ve been terrified waiting for that news.”
Aggie gave him a soft smile. “He was, Dad. Became my assistant baker just to give himself something to do to keep his mind off things.”
Atticus nodded in Liam’s direction. “Is that so? Well, I’ll leave you two young ones to chat. I’m going for a walk down to the shop for a newspaper. Catch you around sometime, Liam. Aggie, if you’re staying out late, you know where the key is. See you tomorrow.” He walked out before either of them could say a word.
* * *
“That wasn’t awkward.” Aggie saw the twitching of Liam’s lips and chose to ignore it.
“Would you like to come and celebrate with me, Aggie? I need to share time with someone who understands.”
She stared at him, trying to find a way to say no, but something in his eyes pulled at her. As if
