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When Kandace didn’t get backto Eli or me on Monday, I was bummed, but I figured life happened.
Neither of us heard from her on Tuesday either, and that worried me. I called and went straight to voicemail, so I left a message saying we missed her, and hoped she was all right.
There was still no answer.
In between all of that, I didn’t just sit around and wait for Kandace, though I thought of her in every free minute, and during lots of the busy ones as well. When Eli was home, we had so much fun together. There was still tension, still some unfamiliarity about who we were then versus now, but the biggest obstacle between us, the resentment of the last fifteen years, was gone.
Eli was so smart. Sarcastic. Entertaining.
I loved everything about having him back in my life.
He checked with Andrew, to make sure Kandace was all right. Andrew’s response was basically that she was fine, but if she hadn’t told us herself why she wasn’t talking to us, she had a reason and he respected that.
Which I understood, but only as the logic applied to anyone who wasn’t me or Eli.
Thursday night I sent her another text. Hope to see you Friday night. If you’re busy, we’ll come down there and have dinner with you.
Friday, early afternoon, the doorbell rang.Kandacewas the first and only name that popped into my head. “Are you here to rob me or take advantage of me?” I called out playfully, as I grabbed my crutches and hobbled to the door. Lucas was on the other side. “Oh.”
“Nice to see you too. Sorry I’m not my mom.” His smile was dry. “Does asking that work for you?”
I stepped aside to let him in, and headed back to the couch. “I have yet to be robbed or taken advantage of, so I’m going to say yes.”
“Has anyone visited who you don’t know?” Lucas asked.
“The kid who delivered my lunch the other day.”
“Lyndsay’s son. He wasn’t here to do either of those things.”
True, but this was a fun conversation. “Are you certain?”
Lucas snorted. “I’ve known him since she joined the firm a few years ago. I’m pretty certain, yeah.”
“It’s always the quiet ones.” I pushed the warning tone into my voice along with a dramatic flair.
“Thank God we’re both safe.” Lucas took a seat across from me and set a book on the coffee table. “This is the restaurant supplier list Mom promised you last weekend. She said she couldn’t find a digital copy.”
Like that, the fun mood was gone. If he was bringing me the book…
“She tried to get Lyndsay to drop it off for you, but I intercepted,” Lucas said.
… It meant she was avoiding me and or Eli for some unknown reason. Not that I hadn’t already figured that out. “Why isn’t she bringing it herself?”
“She’s…” Lucas sighed and seemed to deflate in his seat. “If you like her, you have to do something.”
I needed more information first. “She’s what? Do I need to apologize? I’ll do anything.” I didn’t care if I sounded desperate—I was.
“I don’t want to tell you because I don’t want to hurt your feelings.” Lucas chewed on his bottom lip.
I didn’t even fucking care. “Tell me.”
“She’s worried that if she sees more of you and Eli, that it’ll hurt me.”
What? “She knows you love us, right?”
A brief grin flashed across Lucas’s face. “Random dudes on the street know I love you guys. But…” He grabbed the book again and dragged his thumb along the corner of the spine. “I shouldn’t tell you this, but I’m going to because I trust you. Not because you were on TV, but because I’ve never seen Mom as happy as she has been the last few weeks.”
