My toes curled in embarrassment. “Dad,” I hissed.
He reached out and ruffled my hair. I continued to die of the fatal, incurable condition of embarrassment.
“Are you sure you can’t stay for dinner?” Mom offered.
Lucian hesitated for just the barest second, and my parents were on him like pugs on peanut butter.
“Join us,” Dad insisted. “Karen makes a mean meat loaf, and I made the baked potatoes with horseradish sour cream.”
Lucian glanced at me, then at his feet before nodding. “Uh, if you’re sure you don’t mind?”
“Not at all,” Mom insisted, steering us toward the kitchen island where the plates were stacked.
Oh my God. I was going to have dinner with Lucian Rollins. Yay!
And my parents. Boo!
It definitely wasn’t a date if chaperones were present. At least not in this century.
“Come on, you two,” Mom said, leading the way. “You can set the table.”
“Your parents are nice,” Lucian said as I shut the front door behind us. The scent of cherry blossoms was light on the crisp evening air.
“And embarrassing,” I said, cringing at some of the topics of conversation. “You really don’t have to help my dad get the summer decorations down from the garage rafters this weekend.”
My ladder-fearing, five-foot-seven father was thrilled by Lucian’s height. My mother was thrilled with his apparent inability to say no.
“I don’t mind,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“Don’t let them hear you say that, or else Mom will have you moving file boxes at her office and Dad will enlist you to trim the taller branches in the backyard.”
“Your house is great,” Lucian said. It sounded almost like an accusation.
“I’d say thanks, but I didn’t really have anything to do with it.”
“Mine sucks,” he said, jerking his chin in the direction of the small, beige two-story next door. I noticed that Lucian’s father still hadn’t returned.
“Maybe you would think it was nicer if you mowed the lawn?” I suggested helpfully.
He looked down at me, amused again. “I doubt that would make things better.”
I crossed my arms over my chest to ward off the chill. “You never know. Sometimes making things nice on the outside makes them better all the way through.”
It was like when I woke up early enough to slap on some mascara and lipstick before school. A bold lip and long lashes made me feel like a prettier, more put-together version of myself.
“We’ll see,” he said. “Thanks for dinner. I’ve gotta get back and do my own homework.”
He backed away.
Desperate for just another minute with him, my mind raced for something to say. “Hey! I hate to be that girl, but you still haven’t apologized for the rock,” I pointed out.
He flashed that little half smile, one foot on the porch, one foot on the top step. “Guess I’ll have to do that next time.”
Next time.
My stomach did the nervous swoopy thing again.
“I’ll see you around,” he said.
“Yeah. See you,” I said breathlessly. I stood there like an idiot and watched him amble down the walk before cutting across the driveway to his yard.
“Next time,” I whispered.
I went to bed that night with a smile on my face, Ruark and Shanna temporarily forgotten.
The next morning when I left for school, I couldn’t help but notice that Lucian’s dad’s truck still wasn’t in the driveway. But the front lawn had been mowed.
6
Breakfast Ambush
Sloane
Thank you, Lou,” I mumbled with the hair tie in my teeth.
Lou Witt, Naomi’s dad, held the diner door for me as my hands were full trying to tame my hair into the semblance of a knot on top of my head.
“Looking a little frazzled this morning,” noted his wife, Amanda, the new part-time counselor for the school district.
I glanced down at my oversize sweatshirt with its fresh coffee stains. Stains achieved after dumping half a mug down my front when Mom had texted to remind me I was meeting her for breakfast.
My leggings had a hole in one knee, and I’d forgotten to change out of my slippers.
Crap.
“One of those days,” I said, securing my bun.
Actually, it was more like weeks.
“That’s to be expected, sweetie,” Amanda assured me with a sympathetic arm squeeze. “Don’t forget to take care of yourself.”
“I won’t,” I promised before waving the Witts off and heading inside. I spotted my mother in one of the back booths and hurried toward her. “Sorry I’m late. Naomi called. She and Eric finally found the missing garter snake from the petting zoo Wednesday night. He was in the window wrapped around a pothos plant—”
I came to a screeching halt and stared open-mouthed at the man sitting opposite her.
Mom smiled up at me as if she weren’t sharing a table with my mortal enemy. “I asked Lucian to join us since he was still in town.”
Lucian didn’t look very happy about this turn of events either, but to be fair, the man rarely looked anything other than aggressively constipated.
“Sit,” Mom said, gesturing toward Lucian’s side of the booth.
“You know what? I forgot I have an appointment with someone about something—”
“Sloane, sit your rear end down now.”
She’d deployed the mom voice. Unfortunately, being a grown adult hadn’t come with an instant immunity to that tone.
Lucian reluctantly scooted in. Great. Now I had to play along too or look like the bigger, more immature asshole. I sat gingerly with one butt cheek on the vinyl, one foot in the aisle in case I needed to make a fast escape.
Mom interlaced her fingers on the table and looked at us expectantly. She looked tired and sad, which made me feel like a petulant child. I settled more comfortably in the booth and picked up a menu.
“So what’s with the breakfast meeting?” I asked.
“I’m heading back to Washington today,” she announced. “I said my goodbyes to your sister and Chloe this morning. Now it’s your turn.”
I put down the menu and ignored the way the right side of my body seemed to be absorbing Lucian’s body heat. “Mom, there’s no rush. If you want some peace and quiet, you know you can stay with me.” She’d split her time in Knockemout between my place and my sister’s while we’d planned the services. I’d enjoyed having her as a roommate. It made the house seem less empty. Plus she bought really good snacks.
She shook her head. “I appreciate the offer, but it’s time for me to get back. Your father left me a very explicit list of things I need to take care of.”
“Let me help.” I was suddenly desperate to keep her in town. I didn’t want her dealing with everything on her own. I also didn’t want to be abandoned.
“What kinds of things need taken care of?” Lucian asked.
I spared him a glance. Not that it was any of his business, but I was interested in the answer too.
“Well, for one thing, he wanted his clothes donated to a nonprofit that gives homeless men work wardrobes to make it easier for them to interview for jobs. I’m also supposed to gather and deliver all his case files to Lee V. Coops at Ellery and Hodges for any future appeals.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Lucian offered, pulling his phone out of his pocket and opening his texts. “I’ll have one of my employees pick up the files at your place and courier them over to the new firm.”
Why the hell was Lucian “I Own Half the World” Rollins volunteering to help my mother with errands? And why was my mother acting like this wasn’t the first time he’d played helpful?
I forced a smile through clenched teeth. “I’ll look around Dad’s study at home to make sure he doesn’t have any old files stashed there.”
“Perfect. You can give whatever you find to Lucian.”
I glanced at him and found him already looking at me. Together, we turned back to my mom. “What’s going on, Karen?” he asked at the same time as I said, “What’s going on, Mom?”