Everything was falling into sync for this picture perfect life. I could see it so clearly, but I wasn’t perfect. I still had secrets and I wasn’t sure how he was going to react if he ever found out.
There were people here who knew about me though, and they had accepted me. Maybe, just maybe he could too.
I wasn’t sure I could risk my heart to find out though.
*****
At three o’clock I went to pick up Vada when Micah called.
“Missed me already? I’ve been gone all of five minutes. I’m not even to the school yet.”
He chuckled. I loved that sound. It filled me with warmth.
“My last appointment just called and cancelled. I’m going to close up an hour early, so if you want, you and Vada can head on home. I’ll bring pizza home for dinner so you don’t need to worry about it.”
“What? You’re not sick of me yet?”
“That’s never going to happen, Luce. But, you forgot, didn’t you?”
“Forgot what?”
“Susan’s picking you up at seven. You have ladies’ night tonight and Vada and I have a date with pizza and a movie.”
I pouted. Pizza and a movie sounded perfect.
As I pulled up to the school, I told him, “I’ll just call her and cancel.”
I didn’t want to spend my Friday night with a bunch of women I didn’t know.
“That is not happening. Besides, I was looking forward to having Vada all to myself.”
How the hell was I supposed to say no to that?
*****
Ladies’ night was unlike anything I could have imagined. There were more than a dozen women scattered around Kelsey’s kitchen and living room. I did know several of the ladies there. Most, maybe even all of the Force mates were there, and I knew Kelsey, so that helped a little. I was quickly introduced to each one of them, though I could only remember the names of about half of them.
Around the room were probably eight or nine different conversations yet everyone seemed to be keeping up with all of them at once. My neck felt like I was witnessing a ping pong tournament as I looked back and forth just trying to keep up and they were all drinking wine and talking louder by the second.
“So Lucy, I hear you and Micah are mating?” Kelsey’s sister, Elise, asked.
The entire room went instantly quiet, and all eyes were on me.
“You’re Kelsey’s sister, right?” I asked redirecting the question.
She shrugged. “Kyle’s my brother, but close enough. I’ll claim her as a sister any day. So are you?”
“Am I what?”
She glared at me. “Deflecting, I see. Are you mating Micah?”
“Uh, yeah, I guess.”
“You guess?” Shelby asked. “You either are or you’re not.”
“They are,” Susan confirmed. “Micah made thatveryclear at D&D this week.”
The girl who worked on the Westin Force team, Taylor, laughed. “Tarron finally got you to go?”