Page 46 of The Coffee Bar on Camellia Court

Then she snatched the ladybug out of Lena's arms so she could look her daughter in the face. "You want to live with him? Fine. Go live with him. See how you like living on pizza and beer."

"My ladybug!" Lena wailed, her arms reaching out for it.

Melissa poked him in the chest. "You got your wish; she's all yours. I'm going to bed." Then she shoved the ladybug into him, too, and stormed out of the room, listing slightly so that she had to run a hand along the wall to keep her balance. "Get out of my house," she called over her shoulder. "Both of you." Then she disappeared inside her room and pulled the door closed with a resounding crash.

For a moment, the air seemed to echo with Melissa's terrible words.

But then those words stopped sounding quite so terrible, at least to Alex's ears. Did he need her to put it in writing that she was letting him take Lena with him? Was he about to do something stupid by taking his daughter home with him tonight?

Alex looked down at Lena, whose expression wavered between hope and uncertainty. He wouldn't let this moment slip away. He handed her the ladybug and she squeezed it tightly, never taking her eyes off his face.

"Let's get your things, Lena-Bug," he said softly. "Whatever you need for the week."

Lena didn't hesitate. She scampered down the hall ahead of him and started pulling things from her closet. "My suitcase is under the bed," she told him. By the time he pulled it out and opened it on her bed, Lena was efficiently folding her clothes and placing them in piles like she'd done this a hundred times before.

When he realized she didn't exactly need his help, he took her hand to stop her. "I need to let your mother know that we are leaving. Are you okay to keep working in here without me?"

"I'm fine. I pack my own suitcase all the time." She nodded, her messy curls bobbing wildly.

Alex left her room, pulling the door closed behind him. He had no idea if Melissa would even talk to him, but in case she came out of her room swinging, he wanted to keep Lena out of it as much as possible.

He knocked lightly on Melissa's door. "Melissa?"

"Go away."

Alex held his breath. Was it just slurred speech? Or was Melissa crying? "Melissa, can I talk to you a minute? Lena is packing."

"No," came her response.

Feeling slightly creepy, Alex pressed his ear to her door. Sure, enough, Melissa sniffled, then breathed in shakily. She was, indeed, crying.

What should he do? It was too risky to go in her room to offer her comfort, especially since the last time he'd been in there had been for nefarious reasons. He didn't want to give her the wrong impression in any way. But he couldn't just take Lena and leave Melissa alone in there crying, could he?

He squared his shoulders and knocked again. "Can I come in?"

When she didn't answer, he tried the door and found it wasn't locked. He pushed it open a couple of feet, but didn't enter. Melissa sat on the edge of her bed, a wad of tissues in her hand, looking a little more the worse for wear with her smudged makeup and drooping shoulders.

"I told you to go away," she said, but there was very little fight left in her voice. She only glanced briefly at him, then looked down at her hands.

Alex considered his words carefully. "I'm going to go ahead and take Lena home with me tonight so you can get some sleep. I'll have my phone on me and I'll watch for your call if you want to talk in the morning." He paused, partly because he wanted to make sure she was listening to him, but also because he knew she might balk at what he had to say next.

Melissa nodded, but said nothing.

"I'm going to take her to my folks' house for lunch so they can meet their granddaughter. If—" Was he really going to ask? "If you'd like to join us, I know they'd want to meet you, too."

Melissa brought both hands up to cover her face and her shoulders shook as she sobbed quietly into her tissues.

Alex wanted to offer her some comfort, but he wasn't the right person to be her shoulder to cry on, not with her in such a vulnerable state. "You don't have to decide tonight. You don't even have to tell me at all. You can just show up if you decide at the last minute to join us. Mom always serves Sunday lunch at one o'clock sharp." He pulled out his phone and pulled up Melissa's number. "I'm sending you their address now."

Melissa's phone vibrated on the nightstand beside her. She finally lowered her hands, but she didn't look at him.

"Do you want to say goodnight to Lena before we leave?"

She shook her head. "Tell her goodnight for me, okay?"

"I will."

"And that I love her."

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