Page 114 of Morning Glory Girl
“Alright, two hours to your bedtime. Wanna watch a movie?” Luke asked as we walked around to the front of the house.
“Yeah.How to?—”
“Luna, I love the little dragons as much as the next guy, but can wepleasewatch something else?”
I bit my fist to keep from laughing. There was true anguish on his handsome face. Luke caught my eye over Luna’s head.How many times?I mouthed to him.
“Hundreds,” he muttered under his breath as he unlocked the front door.
“Fine,” she droned, recalcitrant. “I guess we could watch something new.”
“Thank goodness, I’ll pick it out.” Luke launched himself over the back of the couch and lunged for the remote.
“Dad!” Luna squealed, running around to the front of the couch, throwing herself across his lap, and reaching for the remote too.
“Nope, it’s my turn.” He held the little black device up over her head where she couldn’t reach. “But you have veto power, deal?”
She sighed dramatically. “Deal.”
My heart expanded in my chest just watching them.
“C’mon, Val.” Luke tapped the couch cushion on his other side.
They picked a cute Disney movie about a little Italian sea monster. The darker it got, the more I leaned into Luke, feeling starved for his touch after playing platonic friends all day. Eventually, his arm wrapped around my back and his thumb rubbed soothing circles on my shoulder.
When the movie ended, Luke turned to Luna and said, “Alright, go brush your teeth and put on PJs. I’ll be up in a few minutes.”
“Night, Luna.” I smiled at her.
“Night, Val!”
When the upstairs bathroom door closed, I turned to face Luke on the couch.
“I guess I shouldn’t stay over, since she doesn’t know yet?”
My eyes searched his for an explanation. It was dark in the room now, the only light coming from the muted credits running down the screen. The low lights flickered across his chiseled features.
“Yeah, uh.” He ran a hand down his face. “I think that’s for the best.” He leaned over to kiss my lips, soft and tender, like he was trying to reassure me.
“Okay,” I said softly. “Why—why didn’t we tell her today?” We’d agreed to tell her when she got back.
She was back.
He considered how to respond for a long moment, face unreadable. My heart thundered like a bass drum in my chest, accelerating with each second of silence. “There’s a lot going on right now. She’s going back to school in a couple of days, we need to work out a new schedule—hers, mine…yours.”
Oh, right. He had no idea what I was doing this fall because I took that stupid interview. I already had to ask Clara’s mom if the girls could have a long playdate on Tuesday so Luke wasn’t in a lurch when I left for Boston. He was probablywondering if he needed to line up more help, which he would if I took this job. What a mess.
“I’m sorry. I kinda messed up our ability to plan, huh?”
He kept his palm on one of my knees. “It’s okay. You need to do what you need to do. We’ll figure it out.” His voice lacked its usual confidence. It made me feel sick to my stomach. “But I think it might make more sense to wait to tell Luna until things are more settled. Give you the space to make up your mind.”
Make up my mind about what?Them?My mind was totally made up when it came to loving Luke and Luna and wanting to be part of their lives. Or maybe he meant make up my mind about my career?
I was about to ask what he meant when Luna’s voice floated down the stairs. “Dad, are you coming?”
“Get some rest,” Luke said to me. “You still good to take her tomorrow?”
“Yeah, we’re getting mani-pedis.”
