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“No,” I finally answer. “He doesn’t.”
The words are true—Lucas stopped visiting me a few weeks ago—but so is the disappointment I keep from my voice.
Jeremy’s shoulders relax and he grabs my hand, squeezing it tightly. “Okay.” He throws me a wide smile that, as always, brings an answering smile to my lips and wipes away my melancholy.
While the dynamic of our trio is irreversibly changed with Jeremy and I getting together, I can’t bring myself to regret it. I even think I’m starting to fall in love. Or maybe I’ve always been a little in love with him. He’s the best, kindest person I’ve ever known, and he makes me happy.
Kissing him is pretty great, too.
“Mom?”
Damien’s voice startles me and I slam my head on the underside of the kitchen table. “Ow! Dammit!”
He drops his keys on the entryway table and bends down, blinking big brown eyes just like his dad’s. I stay on all fours, rubbing the sore spot on the back of my head.
“What are you doing?”
“Just cleaning.” I grab my soiled, wet rag, carefully back out past the chairs, and stand. Tilting my chin, I smile and reach up to ruffle his hair. “When did you get so huge?”
Lucas’s face flashes in my mind, but I ignore it.
Damien grins, batting my hand away. “Around the same time you shrank.”
I laugh even as a spike of pain lances through my heart. Old pain with a new edge. The old—Jeremy isn’t here to see his son becoming a man. And the new—my friendship with Lucas is still a part of me, and therefore, whether I like it or not, he’ll always be a part of his godson’s life.
5
“Earth to Lucas…”
I snap out of a thought I’d rather not admit, even to myself—involving long legs and Converse-encased feet—and focus on the road and the conversation happening via Bluetooth.
“I’m here.”
My partner, Jasper, is silent for a moment. “How’s your mom?”
I roll my eyes, knowing that he doesn’t actually care. I’m pretty sure Jasper’s a sociopath and only mimics normal human conversations. Still, he’s trying.
“She’s fine, thanks for asking.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to?—”
“I can handle it,” I snap, then add quickly, “What were you asking me?”
His tone shifts to professional. “I asked how the meeting with the mayor and town planning committee went.”
I reflect on my conversation this morning. “The start was rough, but I showed them the projections and can say they’re now cautiously optimistic.”
He chuckles. “Hard to say no to a prospective boost to local economy.”
But will there be one?
I don’t ask the question that’s been worming its way through my head the last few days, even prior to Celeste’s aggravating comment yesterday about the resort’s exclusivity. It bothers me. And making money has never bothered me before.
“I’m pulling up to the site now,” I tell Jasper. “Tell me you’ve got the team finalizing designs for approval.”
“They’re on it. Should be in your email by the end of the week.”
“And the research on contractors in the area? I want the best of the best.”
