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“I canceled last minute,” she answers as I park near her building.
“Don't feel bad, Lucy.” I reach over to squeeze her knee, earning myself a smile.
“Thanks. I'll catch you later, I guess.”
I wait until she disappears into the building before I leave for the library. I'm still not so sure about asking Lucy out myself, and I would like to relax for a bit after this weekend. After finding my favorite, secluded table, I take a seat and pull out my latest read. Not even an hour passes with me hunched over the table, reading, before I start hearing that subtle clicking noise.
Lucy.
That sneaky girl. A smile quirks up the corners of my mouth, and I try not to let her know that I've noticed she's here, but it's followed by a sigh to my left.
“You heard me.” She sounds so upset that I chuckle.
I turn to find her exactly where I saw her the last time. “Did I ruin it?”
“Yeah, sort of,” she says as she walks over to the table. “You ruined the shot I wanted, but you still gave me a good one.”
She only has her camera with her, so I ask, “Do you ever come here to study? Or just to find people to photograph secretly?”
“Do you ever come here to study?” she fires back, pulling my book from my hands to read the back.
“Sometimes, just not today.” I take my book back.
“Well, I'll let you go back to reading and I'll go back to secretly photographing people. Later, Grant.”
I laugh as she stands and walks away. Forget Maddie. Lucy's something else, that's for sure.
“WHAT ARE YOU doing for Thanksgiving this year, boys?” Mrs. Lanier asks as we wrap up another Sunday dinner.
“Please come eat with us, Neil. Please, please, please,” Alice begs. “Bo can come too, right, Mom?”
Mrs. Lanier laughs. “Of course.”
“I'm going to see my parents, actually. Thanks for the invite, though,” Bo tells Alice.
“Neil? Please,” Alice tries one more time. “You could invite Audra! When is the baby coming anyway? When can I meet her and the baby? Have you picked a name yet?”
“Calm down,” I laugh. “One question at a time. The baby will be here in February and we don't have a name yet. I don't know about Thanksgiving, Alice.”
She frowns. “You'll be here for my birthday, won't you?”
“Of course! I wouldn't miss it for the world,” I tell her.
She smiles, hugs me, and then looks to her mom. “Can I go play now?”
“Sure, sweetie.”
Once she's out of the room, Mr. Lanier asks if I've told my parents yet. I sigh. “Yeah, I told them this weekend. I don't think they are exactly thrilled, and they want a paternity test. She said she would understand if I wanted one, but...” I trail off, not finishing my sentence. I'm a bit nervous about bringing it up to Audra, despite what she said.
“I'm sure it'll be fine,” Mrs. Lanier reassures me.
I repeat her words in my head as I play with Alice as promised, as I take Bo back to the house, and as I drive to Audra's. Those words become my mantra until I knock twice on her door.
“Come in,” I hear Audra yell from the other side of the door. When I walk inside, her mother is in the kitchen cooking, and she's laying on the couch with her feet propped up.
“Feet bothering you?” I question, lifting them so I can sit down, placing them in my lap.
“Yeah. Ma decided to fix dinner for me. How'd your weekend go? You know, when you weren't calling me?”
