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"Well, a curator fro stars showcase Her paintings will be up in thefor her! Sheout"

Hayden chuckled "You have no idea what I’h over here I wish you were here to diffuse the insanity She likes you"

"Are you calling ly

"That doesn’t sound like h, drive back up to DC and savearound the apart?"

"I’ Céline Dion at the top of her lungs I think she itimately lost it this time," he said with an undertone of humor

"Sorry, no can do Sounds like you will just have to stick this one out on your own What would you do if you landed your drea room," Liz teased

"I don’t frolic," he told her

"You’re no fun"

"Oh please, I can think of much better ways to celebrate"

Liz knew she should have responded with soht away, but the way he said thather She couldn’t grasp that

He had kissed her in DC, and still she had a hard ti that he was interested in her Maybe she just didn’t want to believe it; if she did, then she would have to face too s like that…like finding other ways to celebrate Maybe she just had a dirtyhis throat "Iroom"

By the way he said that last part she was pretty sure she wasn’t the only one with herfor a way to change the subject This was dangerous territory "Um…when do you come back to Chapel Hill?"

"The Friday before school starts I have toforward to it You don’t happen to likeif you wanted to watch a bunch of runners with their shirts offheavy objects," he said sarcastically

"Well, in that case, sign me up"

"Cool I’ll send you the address"

They continued talking on through the night, until Liz felt herself falling asleep on the line She’d had a stressful day even though she was supposed to be on vacation, and it was nice to unwind Her conversation with Hayden remained taood news from Professor Mires, and he was happy for her, albeit a bit jealous of the awesome opportunity It kept her mind off of the fact that Brady still hadn’t called, and she had spent the majority of her trip to Hilton Head alone

"I think I need to get some sleep," she whispered drowsily

"Yeah I didn’t mean to keep you up so late"

"It’s okay Just tired," she h a yawn

"I’ll see you in a couple weeks Talk to you soon"

Liz got off the phone with Hayden, and she found herself falling into an easy sluer from earlier had dissipated She just wanted to sleep away the rest of the night and forget that once again she had waited up for Brady to no avail

A crash in the living rooht sluht up in bed She was still wearing a T-shirt and shorts froer to come into her bedroom

Liz hopped out of bed and scurried to the open doorway She pressed herself against the wall, let out of a low soft breath to calm herself, and then she peered around the corner

Her heart stopped when she saw Brady standing in the doorway He was in a pair of khaki shorts and an untucked button-down as he all but stu room area Was he drunk?

"Brady Maxwell," Liz said sharply, unable to believe that after everything that had happened he would show up at the hotel like this He hadn’t called or ed her all weekend, and then he had the audacity to walk in drunk in theand turned to face her silhouetted in the bedroo smile

"What the hell happened to you?" Liz de the part of the bitch, but she couldn’t pretend to be okay with this If he wanted to treat her as if she was a mistress he could toss to the side when he felt like it, then he shouldn’t have fallen in love with her

"It’s a long story," he said, collapsing onto the couch "Why don’t you come sit by me?" Brady leaned back and stretched his arms over his head He sent her the hed

"I think I’d rather hear your story first I et me the spa treatment, and then don’t even bother to coht? How hard is it to e?"

She shook her head, feeling all the pent-up anger wash over her

"Look, I get that we’re not together, because it’s iht not to roll her eyes "But if I’ to sacrifice my time to come see you, couldn’t you at least have the decency to follow through?"

"Liz, stop pacing and co the seat next to hietshe had been doing it to begin with "I hate this," she said, shaking her head "I hate that I’ me seriously Why didn’t you call, Brady?" Her voice was thick with emotion