Overcome with the urge to comfort her, I leaned over and pulled Liana into a hug. “I’m sorry we didn’t take you seriously when you told us about your godfather,” I said, giving her a squeeze. “Even if we were drunk, I’m sure that didn’t help matters.”
Liana looked at me. “I’m sure the only reason I brought it up was because I was drunk,” she said. “It wasn’t something I thought about that much, and I didn’t talk about it. I do wonder what happened to him, though. If he’s still alive. How he is. My mother cut off all contact after that summer. I’m sure she blamed him for my ‘imaginary friend’ troubles.”
I took a breath, deeply relieved Liana was accepting this with far more grace than I had. “You know, I did meet a bear shifter recently,” I told her, thinking of the grizzly shifter who’d
