Page 115 of The Broken Heart Playlist
“Uh-huh,” replies Lisset. “They bought me tons of presents.”
“You’re sparkling,” Tess adds, still eyeing me.
“This isn’t Twilight,” I mutter. “What did you have for dinner?” I ask Lisset.
She adopts a shifty expression. “Lots of food,” she says vaguely.
“Food, huh?” Her prevarication tells me she probably ate an inordinate amount of junk food and Tess has sworn her to silence. No matter. I know it’ll all come out later.
“Can I go to my room, Mom?” She’s hopping from foot to foot, desperate to play with the rest of her presents.
“Sure. Off you go.” I give her a hug and she scampers off. Then I face Tess, who’s leaning on the kitchen counter, sipping her coffee and waiting expectantly.
Oddly enough, I am dying to tell her. Just not in front of my daughter.
“Gideon helped me tidy up after the party yesterday,” I say offhandedly.
“That’s nice of him,” she responds with disinterest, “but I want to know—” Her eyes widen as she gets it. “Is he the reason for the glow?”
“Yep.”
She sucks in a sharp breath. “Did you two finally kiss?”
“We did.”
“And?”
“It was incredible.”
“The man can kiss?”
“He can totally kiss.”
Her hands fly up to her mouth.
“No squealing,” I warn her. “I don’t want Lisset to know.”
“But you’ll tell her eventually, right?”
“Maybe.”
“You look so happy.”
“I feel happy.”
Tess presses a hand to her heart. “I do believe we’ve finally uncovered The Kate Whisperer.”
Gideon and I agreed last night not to see each other today. We agreed that I would spend the time with Lisset while Gideon would... Well, I’m not sure what he had planned for today. But now, sitting alone in my kitchen after Tess has left and Lisset is upstairs playing with her new toys, I wonder whose idea it was to come up with such an asinine agreement.
Before I can think too carefully about it, I grab my phone and send him a text:Missing you.
Five minutes later, there’s still no reply and I’m angry with myself. Why did I send that text? What did I hope to accomplish? Look at me, being all weak and needy.
The doorbell rings.
Slowly, I pad down the hallway to the front door and open it. Gideon stands there. We stare at one another for two, three, maybe four heartbeats without saying anything.
Then he says, “Where’s Lisset?”
