Page 73 of To Hate Adam Connor

“He’s been asking for her ever since we landed,” Adeline added.

Of course he’d ask for Lucy. I’d want her too if I were him. Matter of fact, I wanted her too. That was another matter I hadn’t had time to handle…not that you could ever make the mistake of trying to ‘handle’ Lucy, but we needed to talk about that kiss. As much as it made me sound like a pussy, after the night before…we needed to talk, and after that, I needed to kiss her again—most likely to shut her up.

“We can call her, buddy, but I don’t know if she’s busy.”

“Can we call her now? If we call her now, we can ask her if she missed me. ’Cause if she did, she’ll come for me, I know it.”

I faced Adeline. “Can you wait while I call her?”

“Of course, Adam,” she replied with a gentle smile, touching my arm for a brief moment before heading toward the living room as I reached for my phone.

Aiden took a few small steps toward me, but he was still being distant. I hoped seeing Lucy would help. I dialed her number, and she answered on the third ring.

Her opening line was, “Are you calling to get a few pointers?”

Who knew what she was talking about. “Pointers on what?”

“Kissing, of course. I mean, you weren’t the worst, I guess, but…I don’t know, I think you could use a few pointers, and if I think that, that means you can really use a few pointers.”

Even though Adeline was sitting just a few feet away and Aiden was looking at me with hopeful eyes, my lips twitched.

“Because you’ve done such a good job of it yourself?”

There was a short moment of silence. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m just saying, I happen to think you could use a few pointers yourself. I don’t want to break your heart, but…”

When she spoke her voice was high-pitched. “But…? But what?”

“I’m afraid this is not a good time. We’ll have to discuss it some other time.”

She growled. “I’m the best kisser you could’ve ever had, you asshole.”

“If you say so, Lucy.”

“If I say so? If I say so? Who do you even think you are?”

The small twitch turned into a full smile. If she had been standing next to me, I would have loved to show her who I was, but unfortunately for us, she wasn’t. Instead, my son was pulling on my shirt, trying to get my attention.

“Can I talk to her? I think she missed me. I think I should be the one to talk to her.”

I nodded at Aiden and held up my finger.

“There is someone here who wants to talk to you, Lucy. Do you have a moment?”

“Now you ask me if I have a moment? After you ruined my afternoon? And who wants to talk? Is it Dan? I just talked to him this morning.”

She was talking to Dan? The question came to the tip of my tongue, but I held it back.

“No, not Dan,” I said curtly. Without any further explanation, I handed the phone to Aiden.

“Don’t push her, okay?” I said gently. “If she is busy, you can always see her some other time.”

“Hello? Lucy? Is it you?” He held the phone with both hands and focused his gaze on his shoes. “I’m Aiden. Do you remember me?”

I glanced at Adeline to see what she was doing and found her eyes on us. She gave a small nod and looked away. Having her in my house felt strange, like she didn’t belong in my life. So much had changed in so little time.

“Did you miss me? If you miss me you can come see me now.”

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