Page 163 of Wish You Were Mine
“Yes, please,” Theo said, his nod quick and grateful. Then, glancing at my mostly untouched plate, he added, “You can take your food in there if you’d like to finish.”
But I didn’t have an appetite anymore, so I just took Charlotte’s plate and offered her a soft smile. “Wanna build something with blocks? Or maybe watch a show?”
She blinked up at me and nodded. “Otay…”
At the doorway, I looked back.
Lucy’s eyes found mine, and I hesitated—torn between the instinct to stay and shield her, and the quiet truth that my presence might only be making things worse.
“I’ll just be in the other room, okay?” I said.
She nodded. “Okay.”
51
LUCY
“I should getCharlotte ready for bed.” Theo stood and rubbed a hand down his face, the shadows beneath his eyes deeper than usual after the difficult conversation my family and I had just waded through.
“Good idea.” I nodded, my chest tight as I took a moment to breathe after the intensity of this evening.
I’d told my family everything. Not just about Josh and the night that left me bruised and breathless, but about the months I spent convincing myself it wasn’t that bad. About the ways I shrank inside myself. How I stopped trusting my own instincts.
And to their credit, they set aside their adoration for Josh and the pedestal they’d put him on long enough to listen.
Even my dad, who had been Josh’s biggest cheerleader and longtime friends with Josh’s dad, had sat in humbled silence while I spoke, his expression slowly crumbling the deeper I went into something that looked a lot like heartbreak.
And while I knew pulling back the curtain of my past wouldn’t automatically fix the issues my dad had with me dating an older guy, it was hopefullya start.
I found Owen sitting cross-legged on the floor beside Charlotte when I walked in the living room, patiently listening to her explain the elaborate storyline behind whatever she’d built with the blocks.
He stood the moment he saw me. “How are you doing?” he asked, a look of gentle concern passing over his face.
“I’ve been better.” I gave a small, exhausted sniffle.
“I bet,” he said, opening his arms for me to come to him.
I sank into him, letting my head rest against his chest, the steady rhythm of his heart grounding me.
This.
This right here was what I needed.
Not answers. Not explanations. Just this feeling of safety. Of knowing someone was on my side.
We stood there like that for a long moment, wrapped up in quiet.
Eventually, I pulled back, just enough to look up at him. “Sorry about how that went. I really didn’t think it would be that bad.”
“It’s okay.” His lips twitched with a faint, wry smile. “Definitely not the best family dinner I’ve ever been to, but…I get it. Your dad’s just trying to protect you from the big bad wolf.”
“I know.” I sighed. “And I hope he’ll come around once he’s had more time to process, but…in hindsight, I probably should’ve talked to him one-on-one. Eased him into the idea of us more since I’m sure this felt like an ambush.”
“We did our best,” he said, pressing a gentle kiss to my forehead.
I nodded, the ache behind my eyes creeping back in. “I’m going to keep talking with them, and since I don’t know how long it’ll take, you should probably head on home.”
“You sure?”
