Page 61 of Restored Dreams

I’m just a cupcake looking for a stud muffin. It’s cheesy, no further food puns intended, but I need to reach Lily on some level.

That was really bad. 😊 Yet I picture her laughing, and it brings a smile to my face. I sit back in my desk chair and try another one.

What did the frosting say to the cupcake?

Three dots again, and I envision the curl of her mouth as she thinks about it.

LOL. IDK.

I’m not good at text acronyms, so I shout out to Midge in the outer office. “What’s IDK mean?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is Chopper out there, ask him?”

“No.” Midge laughs. “It means I don’t know.”

Oh. I laugh at myself and text the answer. I’d look good on you.

This one’s a bit risky because—I won’t lie—I’m trying to flirt with her.

Brut! ROTFL.

Jesus, Lily might be over forty, but she’s texting like a twenty-year-old, and I don’t know what she’s saying.

“Midge, help. What’s ROTFL?”

“Rolling on the floor laughing.”

I nod as I stare at my phone, relieved but slightly disappointed. I miss her sounds, and her laughter is at the top of my list. My smile grows, though, and my cheeks heat with pleasure.

“What are you doing?” Midge says, her voice close, softening as she speaks to me. It’s her day to come in and check my books, and she stands at the entrance to my office. I toss the phone on the desktop and sit upright, turn for my computer and place my fingers on the keyboard, but my eyes wander back to the phone. Waiting.

“Nothing,” I snap a little harsher than necessary.

“Mmmhmm…Tell Lily I said hi.”

My eyes jump up to my sister-in-law who perches herself against the doorframe. She has the slightest baby bulge with her arms crossed over her breasts, and it makes me curious once again what Lily would look like pregnant.

“How did you know I was talking to Lily?”

“Is there someone else who would make you smile like that?”

I lower my head, slowly shaking it back and forth and chuckling. I’ve been caught.

“What’s going on with you two, anyway?” Her voice draws near as she’s closed the distance from the doorway to the edge of my desk.

“Nothing at the moment, but I’m working on it.”

Midge twists her lips and tweaks up an eyebrow. “Sounds promising.”

“I hope so,” I say. “Promises are all I can give her.”

Midge’s face falls a little, and she bites the corner of her lip. “You know, I’m not good at dispensing love advice.” Now my brow tweaks as my brother and his sneaky wife, the woman before me, played matchmaker and rekindled the flame for Lily and me with their stunt. “But I think Lily needs more than promises this time around, Brut. I understand what happened between you two, and it’s a hard story to swallow. Lily needs time, but then again, I think she’s had enough time to reflect and forgive.”

I keep my eyes focused on Midge. Has Lily really forgiven me? She says she has. She acted as if she did, but with Lauren’s death, I feel something between us as if Lauren’s been placed there again.

“She’s forgiven you, Brut, or she wouldn’t let you touch her.” My face heats. Hank must have told Midge about my week with Lily. I admitted too much to him one night after he coerced me with beer. For a man who no longer drinks, he sure knows how to add peer pressure and get information out of me.