AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Uh, yeah. I was in early this morning.” His eyes briefly leave me, just long enough to clock Vinny before they boomerang straight back. “Hey,” he says with a frown.
“Hi.” I smile because why not?
And because it’s Lance.
The man I shared so much with.
His face remains passive, as if he doesn’t know what to do. He even reaches up and rubs at the back of his neck, looking at Vinny again and then at me.
“You’re dropping Ellis back to Mason?”
“Yep. Nina’s job hunting today, so….”
He nods. “Right, I knew that.”
I watch him, taking in the dark circles around his eyes, the messy wave in his hair, and the wrinkles in his suit jacket that I didn’t notice at first glance. I’ve been angry at this man for the best part of a year, thinking he’d simply grown tired of me. That he had moved on. And yet looking at him now, all I see is a broken version of the man I once knew.
“I better head out.”
I twist as he goes, my eyes following his back as his feet eat up the floor.
He’s… different. And I stand frozen in place, wondering if that’s it. If that’s all he’ll say after all this time.
After a whole year.
I blink, tears burning in the backs of my eyes.
Did it really mean nothing to him?
“Actually, Sullivan,” Vinny calls after him. I look up at Vinny, waiting, but he doesn’t speak, doesn’t even return my stare. And I know he knows I’m looking at him. “I need to get Ellis and Mason home as well as this one.” He nods down at me, and my stare widens. “I don’t suppose you can help at all?”
I swallow and look back at Lance, his jaw clenched, his face as hard as I’ve ever seen it.
“No, I can get a taxi,” I say, shaking my head vehemently. “I already said it’s not a problem, Vin.”
“I can drive you home, Scarlet.”
I close my eyes, my throat going tight. I face him, gauging his reaction. If I’m going to be stuck in the car with him for over an hour, I can’t have him looking at me as if he hates me.
“Perfect,” Vinny says. “I’ll take Ellis up from here. Unless you want to see your brother quickly?”
“I can wait,” Lance agrees.
I look between the two of them, then at Ellis.
What do I do?
He bounces in my arms, seemingly wide awake now and desperate to get to Lance.
I smile and follow his gaze, but Lance looks away from him.
He’s mad at the kid too?
“You can take him up, Vin.” I give Ellis a kiss and pass him to Vinny, smoothing out his hair and whispering, “Be good for your daddy, Ellis. I love you.”
Vinny unlocks the Audi so that I can retrieve my things, then I wave goodbye and walk to where Lance is waiting at his car.
The air seems to grow thicker the closer I get to him, my steps a little cautious. I wish I had waited and got a taxi home. It would have been a whole lot less awkward.
