“Doc wants to be sure someone at home can monitor me for at least another twenty-four hours, then kind of watch over me for the next two weeks. Will you be able to do that? Or should I stay with my parents instead?”
She padded over, resting her hand on my chest, leaning in as her soft lips brushed against my forehead. “Of course, I’ll be able to.”
Sauntering her way out, Macy left me staring at her ass, panting like a ravenous wolf.
“No strenuous exercisemeans no sex or anything else that will increase your heart rate, understood?” Doctor Mead’s stern expression made me nervous. “I mean it, Lucas. Even if you feel fine, don’t push it. We’ll evaluate you again after one week.”
Waiting to be discharged, I sat on the hospital bed’s edge, staring down at my sneakers, hating the asshole defensive end who slammed into me. “Okay, I get it. Nothing but rest, rest, and more rest.”
“It’s only temporary, Son.” Dad squeezed my shoulder. “Next thing you know, everything will be back to normal.”
“He’s right,” Mom chimed in. “And if you’d rather come back home for recovery, I’ll take time off work and—”
“Mom, it’s fine,” I stopped her mid-sentence. “You don’t need to take time off, and Dad doesn’t need to cancel his trip to Vegas. Macy will be with me, and since she’s got online studies, I don’t expect she’ll even need to leave the house.”
“And Macy is…” Doctor Mead wrinkled his nose.
“My best friend.”Who I happen to be crazy about.
“Is she the blonde who was in here with you earlier? Because the nurses all joked about how your heart rate sped up the whole time she was in here, then settled back down a few minutes after she left.” He chuckled, noting something on my chart. “Just be sure to keep thingsfriendlybetween the two of you while you recover.”
“Not even one kiss?” I asked on behalf of my impatient lips, curious to know how Macy tasted.
“If all best friends looked like her, one kiss wouldn’t be enough.”
16
“You didn’t tell him about the job offer?” Sage’s wide eyes zapped me with unapproving judgment during our three-way FaceTime chat.
“Why would I? Seeing how Yours Truly packed up and left, that offer no longer exists.” I peeled an onion and set it onto the kitchen counter beside the rest of the ingredients: garlic, carrots, and celery I’d set out to dice. Lucas loved my chicken noodle soup, and I figured it would be a nice, comforting meal to surprise him with once he got home.
“It’s Sunday afternoon,” Chloe said. “You can still fly back to New York and make it in time for tomorrow’s presentation.”
She wasn’t wrong.
It would have been easy for me to hop on a plane and make that interview, especially since the group I was with finished our presentation preparations Saturday. However, I couldn’t leave Lucas, not when he needed me. Sure, the opportunity Kat Aggasi offered was my wish come true. Even so, Lucas was mydreamcome true and according to Walt Disney, a dream is a wish your heart makes.
I ran the knife through the onion, chopping like a Martha Stewart pro. “Can’t fly back to New York, considering I promised Lucas I’d monitor him for the next twenty-four hours and be here for him throughout the rest of his recovery.”
“Um…helloooo?” Sage brought her index finger to the screen, tapping it three times. “Anyone home? Can’t Harper do that? She’s his effing fiancée.”
“Lucas broke up with her the day my stupid diary got smeared everywhere.”
I set the knife down to capture a screenshot of Sage and Chloe’s jaw-dropped expressions.
“Well, fuck me to the moon.” Chloe sighed, eyes gleaming.
“Yeah…what she said,” Sage babbled, hand over heart. “Then, you’re right. You need to stay. I’m sure another magazine opportunity will come around soon.”
The prospect curved my lips upward, hopeful what she said held a grain of truth.
After ending our call, I continued my meal prep, dicing, and mincing veggies to use for the soup. Lucas wasn’t expected home for another few hours, which allowed plenty of time for me to cook then shower. I’d been too tired to shower when I got home hours earlier, opting to catch up on sleep lost during the flight.
Before I knew it, Lucas and his parents—Todd and Staci—sat around the oak kitchen table with me, all four of us feasting on chicken noodle soup. I’d invited his mom and dad to stay for dinner, considering it was close to 8 p.m. when they brought him home from the hospital. Besides that, my nerves had me on edge. The realization of beingalonewith Lucas—the newly single Lucas, thank you very much—had my mind whirling, unanswered questions about our future at the forefront.
Fact is, I’d read shit tons of friends-to-lovers romance novels, each time imagining Lucas was the hot hero and I the sassy heroine, my heart swooning over a real-life possibility. Yet, everyone knows romance reads are fluffy ever-after tales with guaranteed happy endings that don’t happen in true life.
Hope slid to the bottom of my gut, reality making me question whether or not Lucas and I could become something more without jeopardizing the bulletproof relationship we’d constructed over the years. If we dove in, trusting our desires alone, would things be different or could we manage to keep our relationship the same, adding a splash of romance as a benefit? Or, when we finally kissed—and, let’s face it, that moment seemed inevitable—what if the chemistry I dreamed about wasn’t there?
