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Julia
My eyes fluttered open to the sun streaming into the bedroom, everything bright and vibrant. A complete one-eighty from what felt like only a second ago when I swore I just needed to rest my eyes for a minute before getting up to make sure Imogene was ready for school.
I bolted up, snatching my phone off the nightstand to see it was 7:30. If I had any hope of getting her to school on time, we needed to leave in fifteen minutes.
I glanced to the opposite side of the bed, wanting to let Lachlan know I’d be back in an hour and would take Nikko with me. But he wasn’t there. I found it odd, considering how little sleep he’d gotten the past few days. Then again, the news I shared with him last night certainly unsettled him. It unsettled me, too. But I didn’t have time to worry about it right now.
Darting out of the bedroom and down the hallway, I peeked my head into what had become Imogene’s room, blowing out a relieved breath when I saw she’d gotten up on her own, the room empty.
With quick steps, I hurried down the stairs, hoping she’d managed to at least find some cereal.
Rounding the corner, I came to an abrupt stop, seeing Lachlan and Imogene sitting at the kitchen island together, a coffee in front of him, a plate of bacon and eggs in front of her.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true.
The eggs were gone, apart from a few streaks of yoke, and she currently chewed on the last piece of bacon.
“Morning, Mama,” she said brightly, as if it were normal for her to be sitting in Lachlan’s kitchen, eating a breakfast he made for her before she left for school. While it wasn’t completely out of the ordinary, it still felt…different. Maybe because he did all of this on his own without me lifting a finger. Hell, I slept through most of it.
“You’re up,” Lachlan commented as he met my gaze from over his coffee cup.
“What’s going on?”
“Breakfast.” He stood and strode toward me. “Want me to make you something?”
“Why didn’t you wake me up? I could have fixed Imogene breakfast. She’s not your responsibility.”
He pressed a chaste kiss to my cheek. “I figured you could use some rest. And even if Imogene isn’t my responsibility, I can still help. So I got up to make her breakfast and take her to school. Give you a break for once in your life.”
“You were going to take her to school?”
“Of course.” He stepped back. “Want some eggs?”
“Maybe just coffee for now. I need to get dressed and make her lunch.”
Lachlan grabbed Imogene’s lunch bag, placing it on the island beside her. “All done. Yogurt. Granola bar. A banana. And a turkey sandwich.”
I blinked repeatedly, jaw dropping. “You… You packed her lunch, too?”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t that hard. I’ve seen you do it a bunch of times.”
“And now I get to brag to all my friends that Lachlan Hale made my lunch,” Imogene muttered around a mouthful of bacon. “Can he still drive me to school, Mama? He was going to take me in the Mustang. And I really, really want to go in the Mustang.” She practically bounced in her chair with excitement.
“I’m sure Lachlan’s tired. He pitched yesterday. Then took a red-eye to get home. He needs to rest.”
Her expression immediately fell.
“I don’t mind,” Lachlan insisted. “You can come, too, of course.”
I looked from Lachlan to Imogene, her excitement returning. I didn’t want to put the responsibility of taking care of Imogene on his shoulders simply because we were living here temporarily.
At the same time, I didn’t want to deprive Imogene of something she really wanted. She was going through enough at the moment.
And I feared it was only going to get worse before it got better.
“Are you sure?” I asked Lachlan once more. “You don’t have to if you’d rather—”
He pressed a kiss to my lips, silencing me. “I’m more than sure. Let me do this for Imogene. And you.”
