"Being someone's first love may be great, but being their last love is beyond perfect."
~ALLESSANDRA~
After riding in the car for about half hour we pulled in front of a diner. We were in a part of the town that I clearly didn't recognize.
"Where are we?" I asked as her came around and opened my door.
"You'll see. Or better yet, remember. At least I hope so." he whispered in my ear as he placed his hand at the small of my back and led me straight to a diner ahead.
"Remember?" I asked in confusion.
"Patience, love." he said and I had no choice but to comply.
As soon as he opened the door to let me in and as soon as I took in the interior, I froze. Everything I saw rang a loud bell in my brain. It was all so familiar. The bar, the tables, chairs, even the ceiling fans and the 'Tips' jar at the counter. I released the breath I didn't know I was holding when Liam spoke up.
"I was hoping you would have this kind of reaction." he smiled at me.
Everything rushed to me as I remembered where's, what's and why's of this place.
"I used to - we used to come here as kids, right?" I whispered, not being able to generate any higher level of volume. He nodded as he came besides me and slipped his arms around my waist and mine went up to grip them.
"How did you find this place?" I shook my head in disbelief, my eyes getting watery.
"Hey, are you crying?" he asked cupping my face.
"No, no. I'm just so...overwhelmed. I mean, I couldn't remember anything about childhood when Mom told me about it, heck when you told me about it and here I am suddenly overloaded with information and memories at once." I blinked rapidly to hold back the tears.
"C'mon let's go get a booth." he pulled me towards the back.
After we found a booth, Liam and I discussed at lengths, our childhood and all the craziness or at least what I could remember. I could barely contain my excitement at all. Realizing that the person you've been sharing a house with is not a stranger after all is just great. We talked for about 5 minutes before an old lady with grey hair approached us with two menu's in hand.
"Well well, aren't you dressed for the red carpet." she smiled down at me. Her buttoned up shirt and long skirt made me say only one thing.
"Mama Delgado?" I nearly shouted recognizing her as the owner of the diner who looked like she hadn't aged a day. Same old smile, same old granny clothes and I was pretty sure she still smelled like peaches.
"Andra darling, I've been waiting for you all morning." she smiled back as I stood up to hug her. Yep, peaches.
"God! It's so good to see you." I said, still hugging her, but she pulled back and slapped my arm.
"That poor boy shifted to London, but whats your excuse for not coming here to see me in 17 years, huh missy?" she asked with a hand at the hip, looking exactly like she did all those years ago when she scolded us for breaking the cookie jar.
Not being able to come up with a decent excuse and not wanting to tell her the real reason I simply said, "I'd lost my mind." shaking my head, smiling like the little girl that I once was.
"You got that right. Now, forget about all that. Liam tells me you two got married." she asked.
"Yes." I replied, holding up my left hand as I felt Liam slipping his in my other one.
"Ah, such a pretty ring. I always knew you two would get married. Spent all day together, you two, when you were kids. Absolutely inseparable." "Now, sit down and decide what you wanna eat. I'll send someone to take your orders." she squeezed my hand one last time before going back.
"Did you come here earlier today?" I asked, sitting down opposite to Liam.
"Well, I had to explain everything to her otherwise she sit down and grill us for details at dinner which I didn't want, so..." he explained with a sheepish smile.
I smiled right back at him "I'm so glad you chose this place instead of a 5 star restaurant, this is much more personal."
He just winked and said, "Anything for you, wife."
When we finished dinner, it was late and the diner was about to close, so we went over to meet the staff. Not surprisingly, we spent another hour catching up with everyone, talking and laughing. After saying goodbyes and a promise to meet everyone at least once a week we left the diner, but instead of heading for the car, Liam took me to the nearest park.
"Why are we here?" I asked looking around for something out of the ordinary.
"No reason. It's been a long time since I've been out. I just keep rushing from the house to the office and back again. So, we're gonna spend some time here, enjoy the fresh air, try out some swings maybe." he said gesturing to a group of swings in the park.
"I get to go first, you push me." I yelled and ran for the swing like a kid.
I sat down and took hold of the ropes as Liam moves behind me and placed his hand at my waist.
"Liam." I warned.
"What? I'm not trying to tickle you. Do you want me to push you or not?" he asked in an amused voice.
"Yes please."
"Then sit tight, princess." he whispered in my ear right before he have me a push.
It really had been long since I had been on a swing because the laugh that erupted from my mouth surprised me. That feel of the wind against your face, that tingling sensation in your stomach as you go higher and higher was something I didn't realize I missed until now. After a few minutes Liam sat down on the one next to me.
"You don't want a go?" I asked.
"No. Just had food and I want it to stay in my stomach." he patted his stomach.
"God! This is fun, you know. We should do this more often." I suggested, standing up and looking around at the swings, benched and the greenery.
"We should." he came up behind me. "C'mon, let's take a walk." he said and led us to the jogging path.
We walked for a few minutes in silence before he spoke up again.
"Alice, why exactly did you say 'yes' to this marriage?" he asked casually.
I smiled, "I feared you'd ask that someday."
"Why?" he asked softly.
"Because I didn't have a cheesy, romantic answer like 'I knew we were meant to be or something.' " I admitted.
"Even if you did, I wouldn't have believed you." she grinned.
"I know. I just...I agreed because I was scared. Scared that I'd have to spend the rest of my life alone. I wasn't good at dating or with men in general. I hated the whole courtship period. Flowers, chocolates, awkward conversations. It was just too tacky. I wanted to find a guy without going through all that. So when mom told me I should consider you, I thought 'why not?' It'd be better than being forever alone. I wasn't going to find a guy without dating so...why not? You were my way out of all that. I didn't expect much from you. Just a comfortable life, that's all. But things went downhill when you turned out to be so hot and good looking and my attraction just increased day by day." I saw him brush the invisible dust off his shoulder and slapped his arm "And you know what happened after that. You were a jerk, I irritated you and somehow we ended up here." I gestured to our surroundings.
"Wow. That was definitely better than 'we were meant to be.' " he laughed.
"Your turn."
"Well, my reason is similar to yours, sort of. I mean I didn't have trouble dating or anything, I just didn't want to. half the time I did it because Xavier forced me to or because mum would've killed me if I didn't have a woman in my life." he said.
"Why" I laughed.
"You see, she and dad had this perfect, love at first sight love story that she wanted the same for me. I'm 27, she'd been after my life, or love life, since I went to college, and it was not just her. It was like she had a whole group, her friends, sisters and virtually any other person who had a daughter about my age or anyone who even knew about a girl. It was a nightmare. Back in London, every day there'd be a group of women after I came home from work and they'd ambush me with all sorts of information about all sorts of girls. It was horrible, Alice. And when I resisted, mum would cry and that is one thing I just hate so there wasn't much I could do. She wouldn't listen to me or dad. So yes, you too were my way out of that. That madness."
By the time he was finished I was laughing so hard, that my stomach hurt.
"I'm glad you find that funny." he crossed his arms.
"Oh...you poor baby." I said, biting my lip to keep myself from laughing. Any more.
"Yeah, yeah, go on laughing I'll head home." he started walking toward the entrance of the park. I ran after him and caught his hand.
"Wait, wait, wait. I'm sorry Liam. Its just that..I never imagined your situation was so bad." I smiled up at him and slipped my hands around his neck. His automatically went to my waist.
"Urgh, you have no idea. It was a bad case of the bachelor back then." he shook his head and buried it in my neck.
"But now you don't have to worry, you're a married man." I murmured, running my hands through his hair.
He raised his head and pulled me close "That I am, and I rather like my wife." he whispered. His mouth inches away from mine.
"Well of course you do, she saved you from all those women." I whispered back eyeing his mouth which was looking delicious.
"I don't think that the only reason I like her." he said, pulling me closer, crushing me to his chest.
"It isn't?" I asked tightening my hold on him.
"Unh - huh." he shook his head.
"Liam." I moaned.
"What?"
"Please, just kiss m- "
Before I even finished my sentence, he crushed his lips to mine in an earth shattering kiss that went on for hours and hours. I knew that things were gonna be okay from then on.
That's all I had in stock people...now the updates are gonna take some time...sorry but keep sending those positive reviews and I'm sure I'll be motivated enough to write and upload :D