Maevyn walks over to me, extending her hand to take her bag, but I just lift an eyebrow at her. She smiles knowingly and shoves her hand in her pocket. With her arm slung over Aurora’s shoulder, they walk over to their place, and I follow behind.
I drop her bag inside the front door, then hover in the threshold until Aurora is out of earshot, disappearing around the corner into the kitchen.
“Thanks for coming with me this weekend,” I murmur.
“Thanks for making me come.” She smirks. “To the wedding, that is.”
I want to kiss her so badly, but I’m not sure if that’s where we’re at. It’s something we definitely need to talk about, though. I want more of what we had this weekend. Not just the way she let me touch her, but I want to keep opening up to her, have her open up to me. I want to get to know her more. I want her company. I really like spending time with her daughter as well, and I don’t want to lose that now that the need to fake it is over.
“Meet you on the balcony later?”
She nods. “I should be able to do that. Message me?”
“I will.” I start to lean in.
“Can I have a snack, Mum?” We jump apart like two kids caught in the middle of doing something we shouldn’t when Aurora pops her head around the corner.
“Sure, babe.”
“Do you want to watch a movie while you unpack?”
Maevyn smiles. “Sounds good to me.”
Aurora gives me a wave, then disappears again. Dammit, now I want to stay. I want to spend an afternoon watching movies with them, chilling out, and making food together. It’s a lot harder than I expected to step away right now.
“Guess I’ll see you later.”
Maevyn nods, and I try to lean in again, but Aurora calls out once more. “Shall I make us a bowl of popcorn?”
Maevyn bites her lip to rein in her laughter, while I drop my head with a shake. “Good idea,” Maevyn shouts back.
“Okay, I’m just gonna take my cue to leave.”
“Hey! I forgot to mention, Aurora said you got a photo of me from the wedding?”
I did. She looked absolutely breathtaking, a look of pure joy on her face as she danced under the glow of the lights. I’ve already made it her contact photo on my phone.
“Yeah.”
“You won’t post it anywhere… right?” I’m not really one to document my life on social media, but I don’t necessarily avoid it either. Those photos were just for me, though.
“No.” I shake my head. “They were for my personal collection. Do you want me to send the ones I took?”
She looks shy as she gives me a small nod, and I can’t help it. I quickly rush in, dropping a kiss to her cheek, before I walk back to my truck with a content smile. When I reverse up the drive, Maevyn’s still leaning in the doorway, watching me. And now I’m counting down the minutes until I come back home.
29
“Fake dating.” Claire slowly wipes a finger through the cream filling in the corner of her mouth left from her cannoli as she stares at me. “Is that like a friends-with-benefits thing?”
Westley never made it to the balcony last night. He got held up helping his parents, and I fell asleep on the couch, waking just after two a.m. with a crick in my neck.
“He needed help giving his ex a clue to move on, and I needed help fending off the school mums.”
“What do you mean fending off?”
“Just facing the usual judgement of being a mum who’s single… young… awesome? Take your pick.” I shrug as I double-check all my brushes are clean and ready for our first clients. “I guess I’m not the ‘picture-perfect with a career-driven husband and white picket fence’ kinda mum that they’re used to at that fancy school.”
Claire says nothing, just slowly pulls a pad of paper in front of her, and picks up a hot pink pen, striking it aggressively against the counter before raising her eyebrows at me, pen poised over the paper.
