with tears and she tried to blink them back. In an attempt to hide her emotions from her grandma, she hung the ornament on the tree, but it only made it harder not to give in to the tears—seeing all his gifts together. Remembering the nice notes that had come with each ornament.
Missing him so much left a gaping, aching hole in her heart she could never fill.
“Come sit with me,” her grandma said gently. Viola hadn’t realized that her grandma was standing beside her until she took her by the elbow and led her to the kitchen table. There, her grandma had set out two bowls of steaming minestrone and a huge loaf of sourdough bread. “Comfort food.”
Viola took a sip of her soup but didn’t taste anything.
“What’s really going on here?” her grandma said casually, as though asking about the weather.
“With Liam?”
Grandma gave her a look that warned her not to play stupid.
Viola sat back in her chair with a sigh. “I don’t know, Grandma.”
“You like him.”
Viola nodded.
“But you’re still mad he left you in Hawaii?”
“No. Maybe.”
Grandma ripped off a chunk of bread and dipped it into her soup. “The way I see it, he left you in Hawaii, you left him in New York.” She raised an eyebrow. “Seems like you’re even.”
Anger rose up in Viola. “I left him in New York because he stood me up again! He was going to leave me, so I left first.”
“He was going to leave you. You’re so sure about that?”
“You didn’t see him, Grandma. When he’s in work mode, he can’t think of anything else.”
“And yet …” Her grandma pointed to the Christmas tree. “It seems he’s been thinking of you a lot.”
Viola stared down at her lap, unable to keep the tears from falling. Her grandma reached across the table and took her by the hand. “Honey, you focus on your dad leaving and your mom leaving, but I’m still here. I’m not going anywhere, and I never will. People leave, yes. But some people stay. And I can tell Liam is the kind of man who learns from his mistakes.”
She heard what her grandma didn’t say. Liam is the kind of man who stays.
“Thank you for staying,” Viola said, squeezing her grandma’s hand.
“Psh, like there was ever any question of that! You couldn’t get me to leave you if you tried.”
Viola smiled, grateful for her grandma’s sass to help defuse all the emotion in the air. They ate the rest of their soup, Viola’s mind whirling with what it would mean to let down her guard and allow someone into her heart for real.
Viola’s phone buzzed just as she put her bowl in the sink, and she pulled it from her pocket.
Liam. Are you free this evening?
Her heart skipped a beat and she glanced at her grandma. The fact was, Viola missed Liam. She fell for him while they were in New York.
Actually, she fell for him long before that, in Hawaii.
“He wants to see me,” she said, hearing the vulnerability in her voice.
“Take a chance, Viola,” her grandma gently urged. “Seems like you have a lot more to lose by not trying, than in giving this a chance.” Her eyes twinkled. “Besides, how else am I going to get more of that chocolate?”
Viola smiled and shook her head, but opened her screen back up, and before she could think too much about it, she typed. Okay.
Seconds later, he replied, I’ll send someone to pick you up at six.
She set down her phone, confused. He was going to send someone to get her? What was going on? She didn’t know, but she couldn’t deny she was excited to find out.
Chapter 20
Viola tugged at the sleeves of her cardigan as she got into the car Liam sent, her stomach aflutter. Liam had given her no indication of what she should wear, so she’d settled on a pair of dark skinny jeans, a white flowy blouse, and a berry red cardigan. Her hair was in loose waves over her shoulders. She’d slung her coat over her arm and nervously paced as she waited for someone to come pick her up. Was she making the right decision? Trusting him? Letting him back into her life? She clutched the note in her pocket. It was going to be a folded, wrinkled mess if she wasn’t careful.
She stared out the window at the familiar sights of her home as the driver took her toward downtown. He turned onto Main Street and when