was always that you could recognize a Pets and More even before you saw the sign for it.
These old buildings in Eureka Springs weren’t like that. They’d each been individually owned and ran. They weren’t franchised or flagship stores for something bigger. They were a family’s life work and passion.
He hauled himself up from the hard chair, his back hurting from sitting in the same position for a few hours. This was one of those times where the decorator had chosen the outdoor patio furniture for looks and not for comfort. He made a mental note to order a comfortable chair for out here. If he was going to be having more of these nights, he wanted to do it in comfort.
Swimming laps for another hour helped loosen his back and wake his mind all the way up. He jumped into the shower and saw his screen light up as he got out. It was Xander. Want to come over for breakfast?
Sure, Liam replied.
He threw on some dark jeans—when was the last time he’d worn jeans so many days in a row?—and a light blue button-up shirt, and headed over to Xander’s house.
The dogs barked wildly at his knock, and when Callie opened the door, they both exploded out of the house to jump around him. Callie and Xander had trained them not to jump on people, but they loved running in circles around Liam, their tails wagging in sync.
“Hi, Jax. Hi, Darcy.” Liam rubbed them both around the ears and then stepped into the house beside Callie, the dogs close on his heels.
“Go on,” Callie said to them, shooing them away from him. For owning a large chain of pet stores, Liam had never owned a pet of his own. He’d always been too busy to have another being to take care of. But he’d found, in the last few weeks, that he enjoyed seeing Jax and Darcy, and had even come outside to play ball with them a few times, a satisfying activity. He understood for the first time why people liked doing this kind of thing.
“Breakfast is all ready,” Callie told him. He followed her to the breakfast nook, where a plate had already been set for him. Powdered sugar and fresh, syrupy berries topped thick slices of French toast. A couple pieces of bacon sat on the edge of his plate. A glass of orange juice and a bowl of cream sat to the upper right and left sides of his plate. His stomach grumbled in anticipation. After swimming for so long, he was really starving.
Xander was on his phone when Liam walked in, but he hurriedly shoved it into his pocket as if worried that seeing him on his phone would be triggering for Liam.
And maybe it was. Because Liam immediately itched to ask what was going on. They were in the fourth quarter, and he had no idea what their sales were looking like. He didn’t know how much longer he could stand this self-imposed exile. The whole point was that it would help him with his anxiety, but from where he sat, things seemed to be getting worse, not better, so he might as well be working.
“Is everything okay?” Liam asked. He spooned a healthy amount of sweet cream onto his French toast.
“Great. Completely under control.”
Liam narrowed his eyes. Was he detecting nervousness in his brother, or was he just reading into things because he was dying to get back to work?
“Stop,” Xander said, reading him correctly. “We’ve got this for a little longer.”
Liam responded by taking a bite of his food. He needed to hire a chef. It just seemed pointless when it was only him, but he could have them only come a few times a week, the way Xander and Callie did.
“How are you feeling?” Callie asked. She was taking him in, and he could imagine what she saw—what he’d seen that morning when he’d looked at himself in the mirror after his shower. Exhaustion leaked out of every part of him.
“Great.”
Xander and Callie exchanged a glance across the table, but he ignored them to keep eating. The bacon was perfectly peppery and crispy, just the way he liked it. Maybe their chef could come to his house on their off days.
“What are your plans today?” Xander asked.
“Absolutely nothing.” A dull headache was starting to pulse in the back of his head at the thought of a long day stretched ahead of him.
“Why don’t you come with me to my