Read Last Chance (Liar Liar #3) for Free Online Page B

stunned by the compliment. I expected the evening to be awkward, laced with the anger she’d been exhibiting since she found out the truth about my identity. But Maura seemed willing to talk and listen and consider the possibility she may have been wrong about me.
    “Thank you,” I said, touching my bottle to her glass. “You have no idea how much that means to me. All I ever wanted was to impress you, to be good enough to deserve someone like you.”
    She reached for the wine bottle to top up her glass. “Why didn’t you ever get married?”
    “I never met anyone who inspired that kind of commitment, not since you anyway.”
    Maura looked at me, her eyes soft and glistening. “Do you ever wonder what would have happened if I’d accepted your proposal that night, how different our lives would have been?”
    “All the time. But honestly, you were right to turn me down. It hurt like hell, but I think it also lit a fire in me. I had to face facts. I wasn’t good enough for you then… but I am now.”
    Her grip on the wine glass tightened. “We shouldn’t be having this conversation.”
    “Why not?” This was the conversation I’d wanted to have with her for years. I wanted to speak my truth and let her know that her love inspired me to be the man I am today.
    “It just feels… wrong.” She rubbed her temple. “I’m still so conflicted. I don’t know what to think or how to feel, and I can’t talk to anyone about it except you.”
    “The best advice I can give you is to follow your heart. You know the truth. You know whether or not you believe I’m capable of doing the things they accused me of.”
    “That’s just it,” she said, turning away from me. “My heart always told me you could never do that to me, but when I was faced with the evidence, I told myself I was a fool to believe you could be innocent.”
    “You were right to question me,” I said gently. “I would have done the same thing in your position.”
    “Really?” She turned to face me. “If our situations were reversed, would you have stood by me?”
    Air seeped through my teeth as I struggled to find the right answer. “Yes, I would have.”
    “That’s what I thought.” Her eyes drifted to the ground.
    “But that doesn’t mean I blame you for not standing by me,” I said quickly. “You had plenty of reasons to believe I was responsible for what happened to you. You were right to protect yourself.” She looked surprised by my admission, so I said, “I didn’t always feel that way. I was mad as hell for a long time.”
    “You were?”
    “Yeah. In fact, I think the anger stayed with me until you and I reconnected. That’s when I began to understand what that attack did to you, how it changed you.”
    “I can’t deny that.” She pressed her glass against her cheek. “I don’t know that I’ll ever be the same.”
    “Maybe you will, maybe you won’t.” I couldn’t pretend to know what she’d been through or how she was feeling, but I wanted to support her in any way I could. “I think everyone reacts differently in these situations.”
    “That’s what my therapist said, that everyone is different. Every survivor of a violent crime has to forge their own path and decide whether or not their attack will define them. I don’t want that night to define me.”
    Her eyes locked on mine, and I could barely breathe. I wanted to find the words to set her free, but I knew only a judge could deliver those. “I don’t think it has to. You can decide whether you want to give him that kind of power over you. You can be as free as you choose to be, once you make the commitment to uncover the truth.”
    “That’s why I’m here,” she said, squaring her shoulders. “I’m ready to get to the truth.”
     
    ***
     
    Throughout dinner, we talked about her work and mine, places we’d visited, people we’d met, our plans for the future. It felt good, like connecting with an old friend I hadn’t seen in a long time.