The drive back from the restaurant carried the particular quiet that only came after a genuinely good night.
They had talked for three straight hours, worked through every easy topic and a few harder ones, and now sat in a silence that didn't need filling.
Kelly had her clutch resting in her lap, her head tilted slightly against the headrest, watching the city slide by through the window, streetlights sweeping gold across her face at intervals.
The restaurant had been exactly what it was supposed to be. Good food. Unhurried service.
The kind of place that let an evening move at its own pace instead of pushing you toward the door the second the check came.
She had laughed twice in a way that wasn't performed, the kind that arrived before she decided to let it, and both times Liam had caught himself watching her instead of whatever he'd been about to say.
