9. Just A Name

Lilian changed her outfit for the third time and then told herself to cut it out. She only had to clean up and put everything away again and it wasn't as if she had that much to pick from.

She still had thirty minutes before Braylon would be here, so she made sure her little place was clean and then sent a text to Quinn that she might not call tonight, saying she had plans today and didn't know when she'd be home.

She shouldn't have been surprised when her phone rang a second later. Of course her sister was up. She had three kids and a husband that she probably made an awesome breakfast for.

"Good morning, Quinn," she said.

"Sounds like you are going to have fun today," Quinn said. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to see the Statue of Liberty. Maybe play tourist some more. Not sure yet."

Which wasn't a lie. She had no other plans with Braylon other than that.

"Are you doing it alone?"

"No," she said. "Just with a friend."

That wasn't a lie either. Her sister wouldn't ask her if it was a guy or girl. "I'm glad that you're getting out. Can you let me know when you're home? You know I worry and it's not like you're on any social media for me to track you."

She sighed. Lilian wasn't used to anyone watching her every move, not since she'd lived with Tess and Ronnie. She had social media accounts back then but deleted them when she moved to Lake Placid.

It's not like she had all that many friends and she only had them to fit in.

She wanted to say she wasn't used to anyone worrying about her either, but that would be a lie. Quinn had always worried about her. Always called her and sent her money and anything else she needed. She hated to take those things and when she ended up with Tess and Ronnie she didn't need much.

They'd been great and cared for her. They didn't take the money as an income but rather used it on the kids they fostered. They couldn't have children of their own and just wanted to help where they could.

It might have been the first and only time in her life she had actual rules that meant something. Not just rules that had to be followed because they were controlling and wanted their benefits check, but rules that taught her how to be responsible.

How to grow up and learn her way in life the best she could.

"You can track me by my phone," she said. "Did you forget?"

She allowed Quinn to do that. It's not like she had anything to hide.

"No," Quinn said. "We have that feature with Lara and Davy but try not to be intrusive. I mean we don't look at Davy's in college unless we are worried. Lara, well, you know her."

She laughed. Lara had always been a chatterbox, Ms. Social Butterfly and wanted to do everything and be everywhere.

"I do," she said. "I'm sorry I might miss the kids. But since I'm talking to you now, if they are around I can tell you all something."

"Carson is with Max downstairs building forts. Lara is still sleeping but Jocelyn is here watching cartoons." She heard her sister moving around. "Jocelyn, Aunt Lily is on the phone."

She held back the sigh. She shouldn't correct her sister just because she wanted to seem more mature and professional here.

"Hi, Aunt Lily," Jocelyn said.

She was on speakerphone now. "Guess what? I'm coming to visit for Thanksgiving. As long as my bed is still available."

"Yay!" Jocelyn said. She heard clapping and jumping. "I miss you."

"I miss you too, Jocelyn."

Her sister took her off of the speaker. "No reason to blow your eardrums out. She just ran down the stairs to tell Max and Carson. She'll probably go wake Lara too. She's excited. I'm glad you're coming. Are you homesick?"

"A little," she said quietly.

"You know you can come back at any point. There is no shame in deciding it's not what you want."

"I know," she said. "But I want to give it a year."

"Is your job getting any better?"

She felt her lips curl and stopped herself. "Not really. But I know I've got to work my way up. Again. At least a year and then if it's still bad, I'll try to find something else."

"Do you have everything you need? Do you need money or anything?"

"I'm fine," she said. "I really am. I can pay my rent and my bills and still put a little bit away. Plus I have money put away too. You know me, I'm not frivolous with anything."

"You're not," Quinn said.

"I got that from my older sister. I love it too."

"I love you, Lily. Lilian."

"It's fine," she said. "I love you too." She realized it was just a name. Maybe she missed being called that by family too. It seemed to her trying to be Lilian hadn't been working so well.

But she did have a date with a sexy man way out of her league today.

There was a massive part of her that wanted to share with Quinn what was going on but decided not to.

Quinn would worry about the reason that Lilian even met Braylon. For now, it was best to keep silent.

"I'll let you go. If you get home and want to call, you know we are here. Otherwise, I'll talk to you tomorrow if you're around."

"I'll try to text when I get home," she said.

She'd set an alarm on her phone when she hung up to do it by nine. She was positive she'd be home by then.

After finishing her call with Quinn, she got a text from Braylon that he was five minutes out.

She put her phone in the front pocket of her lightweight jacket along with her credit card and some cash. She'd seen that no purses were allowed on the crown of the Statue and Lilian wanted to climb all those stairs to get to the top and not worry about locking her purse up in some public locker she'd have to rent.

She didn't have a lot in life, but what she had, she took care of.

She locked her apartment, put her key in the same zippered pocket as her phone and credit card and walked down the stairs to wait for Braylon on the stoop.

He arrived in a taxi this time. He got out and opened the door for her again.

"You've got some manners," she said. "Your mother has to be proud."

"Drilled into our heads by our father more than our mother," he said.

He hadn't said how his father died, but since he'd said it wasn't in the country she assumed it might be during some kind of war. She imagined he'd talk about it if he wanted to. If she asked too many personal questions about his life as a child, he'd do the same.

"It's a nice trait to see in a man," she said.

She wasn't sure if it was because Braylon was nine years older than her and the men she normally dated were younger or if it was the way he was raised.

Probably a combination of both.

They drove to the ferry. "I got our tickets last night. Since you're without your purse, I'm going to assume you checked out their website?"

"I did," she said. "I like to be prepared."

"Good," he said. "I thought after we were done we could get some lunch and then see what the rest of the day brought us."

"Sounds good to me," she said.

It was as busy as she expected, but she had a blast walking up the one hundred and sixty-two steps to the top. She didn't need to know the number by reading it because there was a kid in their group who counted every step he took.

"Is it horrible that at one point I wanted to shout out another number?"

Her jaw dropped over the adorable grin on his face. "Yes, it is."

"If it were one of my siblings doing that, I totally would."

"I never was close enough to my siblings to do that," she said.

"I'm sorry for that. Eight kids in a three bedroom house, we had no choice but to be close."

"Yikes," she said. "How many bathrooms?"

"One and a half," he said. "My mother has a huge house now."

"That West bought?" she asked.

"He had it built for her. There are a few wings in it so that any of the kids back then had their own space. We knew what it was like not to have it. West, Foster and I shared. My mother, Laken and Talia had a room. Then Elias, Rowan and Nelson had a room."

"That had to be tight," she said.

"You have no idea," he said, "but we got through just fine."

"Which one of your siblings would have been counting, if any?"

"Definitely Foster. He was the best of us in math. He was always lining things up just right. But it was Rowan who would knock everything out of place and shout out the number first. I normally was the one breaking up the fights."

They started to make the climb back down before the kid could count them all on his return trip.

"Being the man of the house after West was out?" she asked.

"I guess you could say that. We all had things to do."

Three hours later they'd taken the ferry back and caught a taxi. They'd walked around, toured the museum and taken some selfies of each other on their phones before leaving the island too.

He'd joked that was proof he was in her life.

She rolled her eyes and let it go.

The fact he kissed her last night when she was getting out of the taxi sealed the deal it was an honest to goodness date to her.

It wasn't like he was trying to get in her pants either. He didn't even try to put his tongue in her mouth during the kiss.

Nope...he was a gentleman once again.

"Where to?" he asked her as they settled in the taxi.

"This is silly. But would you be willing to go to Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken? My sister loved that show. She'd find it great if I said I was there and bought something."

"Sure," he said. "You heard the lady. Take us to Hoboken."

"I'm sure we can get some lunch around there. I know we'll be waiting in line for a while. I should have thought of this before and just ordered something."

"Nope," he said. "The fun part is to walk through and pick out what you want."

"Thanks," she said. "I know it's probably not how you wanted to spend your day."

"I just wanted to spend it with you," he said. Braylon looked at his watch, which told her he was getting a text.

"You can take care of anything you need to. I don't mind."

"It's fine," he said. "Nothing that can't wait. Remember I've got a lot of siblings."

"I talked to my sister this morning," she said. "I normally call her on Saturday nights but didn't know our plans. When I texted to tell her I might not call today, she called me first."

"You could have called her if we were out," he said. "Unless you don't want her to know you're engaged."

"Very cute," she said, smiling. "I didn't tell her any of that. She'd be worried. She keeps asking me if I'm okay. She told me it was okay to come home if I wanted, but I said I was fine."

"Do you want to go home?" he asked, frowning.

"No," she said. "I promised myself I'd give it a year. I'm not someone to live in an area as quiet as Lake Placid. It's nice, but I need more. I just don't know what it is I need yet."

He reached his hand over and threaded their fingers together. "Maybe I can help you find what you need."

She felt her face flush again. This time with arousal. She couldn't remember the last time she felt this so quickly with a man.

Maybe it was the kiss last night telling her that this was more than she was letting herself believe.

There was part of her that was still holding back though. What would someone like him want with someone like her? She couldn't get that question out of her head.

And until she did, she'd be keeping just enough distance.