Page 59 of Lovewell Lane

“Oh, you don’t have to—” I started. But Derek had already disappeared into the kitchen.

Tessa gestured for me to sit on their couch. “I’m going to get my hair stuff. You stay here.”

I sat stiffly on the Weston’s very comfortable sofa. This was the last thing I expected to happen tonight. It had been months since I’d stepped into this house, and the atmosphere was a lot different when I wasn’t pulling Derek down onto the couch to cuddle with me after making out with him.

“Here,” he said, pushing a plate into my hands. “It’s chicken and rice.”

“Thank you.”

He nodded and stood awkwardly. “Is it okay if I eat on your sofa?” I asked.

“Yeah, we do it all the time.”

“Okay,” I said, still watching him standing and staring at me. “Do you want to sit?”

He nodded and rigidly sat down on the furthest possible end from me. “How’s the diner?”

“It’s fine.” I busied myself by eating as fast as humanly possible. Tessa returned and saved me from the torture of having Derek’s unreadable eyes on me.

“Okay, Margo, you tell Daddy how to do it while you eat,” she said.

I nodded, still chewing. She sat on the floor in front of Derek and waited patiently. “Okay, so you want to brush all of her hair back so there isn’t a part. And then you start it like a normal braid, grab three sections but leave some hair out of it.”

Derek’s hands weren’t made for this work, but he managed to do exactly as I instructed. “Then for a Dutch braid, you want to add in hair as you go. So each time you cross over a section, grab a little bit of the hair that’s left out.”

He nodded and continued. “A little tighter. Otherwise, it will fall out at the end.”

I coached him through the entire braid until he was done and tied it off with a hair tie. Meanwhile I was shoving food into my mouth through every break in talking. I did not want to have to endure any more one on one time with Derek, so I’d finish this meal as fast as I needed to. Whether I choked or not.

If you couldn’t tell, awkward social situations were not my specialty. Which was why I made sure to never put myself in them.

Tessa went to check herself out in the bathroom mirror to see if she deemed the braid acceptable or not. I immediately stood to go put my plate in the sink, even though my mouth was still filled with food.

“Thank you for doing this,” Derek said from the living room.

“Of course,” I called after gulping down the rest of the water he’d left me. I rinsed off the plate and glass and put them both in the dishwasher. Leave no trace.

Tessa walked back out with her newly done hair. “It looks great! You did good, Daddy.”

He gave her a smile that made my heart palpitate. I really needed to leave. Tessa ran over to me and gave me a hug. “Do you want to stay for bedtime? We’re reading Harry Potter together.”

“Oh, I can’t interrupt that,” I said. “I’m glad I could help with your hair, but I should probably get back to mine now. I have to wake up early to open the diner.

Tessa pouted a little. “Okay, well goodnight.”

I leaned down to give her another hug. “Goodnight, Tessa. Sweet dreams.”

“Sweet dreams,” she said back with a big smile. “Daddy says that too.”

“Ah,” I muttered.

Derek walked over to us and rested a hand on Tessa’s head. “Goodnight, Margo.”

I nodded at him. “Goodnight.”

Tessa stood between us, a hand on both of our legs. “Aren’t you guys going to hug goodnight?”

Derek laughed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Those lines that I loved next to his eyes were back, and I wanted to kiss them so badly. I took a step forward and gave him a quick hug. His body stiffened against mine, so I took that as a cue to keep it quick.

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