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Luke, true to form, lifts her into his arms and hugs her. “It’s okay, kiddo. You didn’t ruin my evening at all. I’m sorry your mom yelled at you like that. I’d never.”
My mouth falls at his words, and I watch as they both look at me like I’m the big bad wolf. My hands fly to my hips again, and I give them a mean mom stare.
“You’re scary when you go all hard mom on her.” He smiles at me. He puts Ainsley on the floor and then pats her toward the bathroom. “Get ready for bed. I’ll tuck you into bed in a few.”
Ainsley looks up at him with a grin, clearly no longer upset about the game. “Can you read me myMolly, by Gollybook? I want to hear about the first female fire girl.”
He laughs and kisses her head. “Absolutely. Go wash up, and I’ll be right there.”
She scurries down the hall, and I watch as Luke cleans up the board game by himself.
He grins. “Let me guess. You make her clean up her games after playing.”
“Especially after having a fit the way she did, yes.”
He leaves the pieces scattered on the table, takes me by the waist, and kisses me deeply. His mouth has me melting into his tongue, lips, reveling in his hands, and forgetting where I am.
“Man, you’re hot when you’re mean.”
Snapping out of my little haze, I reprimand him, “I’m not mean. I’m a mom. And what about not doing anything with Ainsley around?”
He groans. “This is gonna be difficult.” He places the board game pieces in the box. “I set the two of you up in my bedroom. I’ll sleep on the couch. You’re welcome to visit me in the middle of the night.”
He winks, and I walk to my overnight bag by the door.
He’s still talking as I bring my bag into the dining room. “I have to find a place to put my treadmill if I’m gonna make the guest room a proper room for her.”
I unzip my bag and unfold the dry-cleaning bag with a garment inside that I gently laid on top of my things.
“Are you getting dressed up tonight? I wasn’t planning on going out.”
“This is Stella’s dress I borrowed months ago. I think it’s time I return it.” I take a gift bag I brought in with me and hold it up.
“Do you have to? I love that dress on you.”
I smile. “I can’t very well keep something that belongs to another woman. I’ll be right back.”
Leaving Luke to finish cleaning up, I head across the street to knock on Stella’s door. I can hear the ruckus of her children inside and her asking them to stop wrestling. She opens the door, and her expression shows she’s quite surprised to see me.
“I came to return these.” I hand her a bag with the shoes and the hanger with the plastic still on it and her freshly laundered dress inside.
“Jillian, it’s wonderful to see you. Would you like to come inside?” She thumbs toward the inside of her house.
I can hear her sons laughing as they topple to the ground.
“Just dropping by to say thank you for helping me when I was in distress.”
She lifts the shoe bag, clearly feeling the weight of it is far heavier than a pair of size-nine shoes.
“There’s a bottle of wine and a box of Amy Morgana Chocolatier truffles inside,” I explain.
“That’s too much for a used dress.”
“Don’t forget about the trip to the drugstore. The makeup and underwear—”
“That wasn’t me. Luke went to the store. He told me to say that was all from me. Thought you might find it odd. I know I did. Not because he was a man who was running to a store at six o’clock in the morning to get you mascara. You see, I’ve lived on this block for four years. Not once in that time has he brought a woman home, spoken about one even. Suddenly, you show up, and he’s had a smile on his face for months now. Luke always smiled, but these smiles are different. Most smiles we give are to make other people feel at ease. These smiles were his. Genuine grins of a man who was happy to be alive. It’s been nice to see.”
“I’m glad you’ve seen a change in him.” I smash my lips and take a step back.
