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“Let me take your coat,” he offers as he releases me.
“Oh, thank you.” I shrug out of it, but as he drapes it over his arm, the etiquette seems all backward.
“Wait, I’m supposed to be the one hosting. Not you,” I tease, taking the jacket from him.
“Not your father?” Luke’s dark eyebrows, the last remaining hint of his once-black hair, quirk into a playfully questioning look.
“Apparently, he’s grounded in New York until the storm passes, so you’re stuck with me.”
“An unexpected holiday treat. I must be on Santa’s nice list this year.”
Heat radiates from my cheeks at the unexpected compliment, and I suddenly find it challenging to meet his eye. Whatever I had anticipated as my first conversation with Luke, this was not it.
“Join me while I hang it in the coat closet?” I suggest, lifting my jacket.
“Of course.” Luke gestures for me to lead the way, and when his hand finds the small of my back, butterflies erupt in my belly. “How have you been?” he asks, his Southern drawl low and smooth.
Anxiety quivers in my gut, and though this could be the perfect opportunity to broach the topic of my… condition, I find it nearly impossible to get the information past my lips.
“Good, good. Fine. You?” I say instead, my voice unusually high.
“Fine. Though Halloween has been weighing on my mind. I—”
The door swings open, letting in a burst of arctic air as two bundled-up guests stride in on a breeze.
“Bill, Sarah. Welcome!” I say, stuffing my jacket into the coat closet on its hastily found hanger.
I send a quick apologetic glance Luke’s way to let him know I’m not avoiding the conversation, and he flashes me a knowing look. Then he joins me in greeting the Colorado natives who made the drive in from Denver.
The influx of arrivals within the next ten minutes wipes away any chance for Luke to address whatever he wanted to say, though he murmurs a quick, “I’ll find you later,” before he leaves me to my role as hostess while he mingles with the other guests.
“Mia!” Zach says as I greet him and the beautiful young tween who steps into the entryway with him. “You remember my daughter, Lindsey, right? Lindsey, this is Mr. Florence’s daughter, Mia.”
“I know, Dad.” The girl rolls her eyes, reminding Mia of her own rebellious years of pointed disinterest in whatever her father had to say.
“You’ve grown so tall,” I observe, noting that she’s nearly the same height as I am now. Her dark waves and onyx eyes are strikingly similar to her father’s, and at the back of my mind, I wonder if my baby won’t have those same traits.
Or maybe they’ll be blond, like Cilian and me. Or what if my baby has Luke’s remarkable sapphire eyes, just a few shades darker than my own? I can only wonder. But the one thing I can guarantee is that my baby will be beautiful.
“I’m taller than nearly half the boys at my school now,” Lindsey says, the glint in her eyes conspiratorial.
I laugh. “Enjoy it while you can,” I joke. “They won’t stay short forever.”
Then I shift my attention to Zach. His eyes are already on me, studying me with silent speculation that makes me feel like he can pluck my secret right from my mind.
“I think Daddy put you two in the purple suite,” I say to distract myself from the tremble in my stomach. “Do you need me to show you the way?”
“Oh, no. I think we’re good. We’ve stayed in that room before. Right, kiddo?”
Lindsey gives a one-shoulder shrug and pulls out her phone.
“I’m just glad he was able to adjust our accommodations at the last minute,” Zach says, his shoulders relaxing slightly.
“He did?”
“Yeah, Mom decided two days ago that she would rather spend Christmas in Paris with her new boyfriend, so no Hawaii for me this year,” Lindsey says drily, her eyes fixed on her device, the hurt well-hidden beneath a layer of teenage snark.
My heart aches for her, as I know that same pain of an absent parent and the sense of abandonment that comes with it—no matter how present the other parent might be. Slinging an arm around her shoulders, I give her a quick squeeze. “Well, you’ll have way more fun here, anyway,” I assure her. “Because Aspen has one thing that Hawaii never will.”
