AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That felt…
Incredible.
She should not add that to how he’d told her he loved her because that was a lot to process in one day. But oops, there she went, throwing all of it into the same pile and then staring at it like a lovesick dope.
“You’re going to dig up dinosaurs this summer?” Leslie asked André who nodded.
“That’s so cool!” Dave said, sounding more than a little enamored. “Dinosaurs are awesome.”
André chuckled softly, and Sabine smiled at her older brother. She was very proud of him. Professor Debois…who had ghosted his fiancée. Oh, she was just going to strangle him later. When there weren’t quite so many witnesses.
“Who wants pie?” Sabine asked, shoving away from the table.
A chorus of “me” went around the table. Except Cherry who stood and pushed her chair in.
“Actually, I should be going. I have an early flight and I need my beauty sleep.”
“Wait. You’re leaving?” Dave asked.
“I’m heading to Lisbon tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Dave repeated, his face scrunched in a frown. “Didn’t Gloria get ahold of you?”
Sabine was missing something. She looked to Leslie for answers but he’d gone silent and just stared at the table with sad eyes.
“I told you, remember? I’m going to Lisbon for two weeks. I can’t stay here in the cold climate. It makes my body hurt.” She wrapped her arms around herself as if there was a draft.
Which there wasnot.Sabine had gone through the loft with an infrared gun to be sure every crack and crevasse was sealed.
“But—” Dave frowned harder. “I thought—”
“Cherry,” Max interrupted sternly. “The NMAs are at the end of the week. You were to be Dave’s date.”
To her credit, Cherry looked stunned and remorseful all at once.
“Oh, my goodness. I completely forgot. I’ll cancel.” She dug into her purse. “I’ll fix this.”
But she was still heading for the door.
“Gimme a hug, baby.” She waved Dave toward her and hugged him tight. “I’ll fix this, yeah? I need to make some calls and I’ll get ahold of you tomorrow.”
Dave hugged his mom again, and something about it made Sabine’s chest ache. Like he didn’t want to let her go.
A few minutes later, the hurricane known as Cherry, had departed.
And Dave had retreated to the sofa.
Alone.
André bumped her with an elbow. “I’ll bring you both pie.”
She smiled her thanks and joined Dave on the sofa.
“Did you get enough to eat?” she asked.
He nodded.
“So traditionally we now eat pie and watchNational Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.Are you up for that?” she asked.
