by B. B. Hamel
“Really now?” Alice gives me a devilish little look. “That’s very rare, you know.”
“I’m glad I have his approval,” Mia says.
“Mind watching him for a second while I get this together?” I say to Mia.
“Of course.” She gets back down with Noah and I drag Alice into the kitchen. Alice gives me a look, like she wants to scream with joy, and I have to put my hands on her shoulders and look her in the eye.
“Calm down,” I say.
“Lucas, she’s—“
“Calm down,” I say again.
She takes a breath. “Okay. You just haven’t brought a girl home in a long time.”
“Relax. Now, what were you cooking?”
She waves her hand. “Just a casserole. It’ll keep for tomorrow.”
“Good.” I smile at her. “Be on your best behavior.”
“Honey, I wouldn’t dream of embarrassing you.”
I release her shoulders and give her a look like we both know that’s not true, but she sets out at once setting the table and preparing. She takes the bag from me and starts pulling out boxes, putting stuff into dishes, basically making it all look good.
I rejoin Mia out in the living room, my heart beating fast.
I don’t know what this means or why she’s here, but I’m not complaining. She’s good with Noah, most importantly. She’s playing with him naturally, and Noah seems like he’s having a good time. I get down next to them and join in on their little game.
“You’re good at this,” I say to her.
“Am I? I don’t really have any experience with babies,” she admits.
“That’s okay. You’re a natural.”
“Dinner is served,” Alice calls from the other room.
I pick up Noah and help Mia to her feet. She smiles at me and I swear there’s a moment between us, something electric and intense. Mia’s wearing what she normally wears to work, and obviously hasn’t gone home yet.
“How’s your dad doing?” I ask her.
“He’s good. Nurse agreed to stay late, which was nice of her.”
“Thanks for coming here,” I say softly. “I’m glad you did.”
“Just returning the favor, I guess.”
I grin at her and we go out into the kitchen. Alice takes Noah and sets about getting him into his chair and feeding him his bottle. She also gives him little pieces of fruit, which of course he makes a mess of, but Mia seems to enjoy it. She laughs when he throws stuff on the ground and feeds him more when he looks at her.
“How’s Laura doing?” Alice asks Mia.
“She’s doing great,” Mia responds. “Been stressful over there, but she’s handling it.”
“Laura’s great,” Alice says. “We go way back, you know. Back to high school, actually. She was pretty intense back then and I don’t think she’s changed one bit.”
Mia laughs a little. “Intense?”
“Sure,” Alice says. “Intense, a lot like this guy here.” Alice gives me a nudge.
“Don’t start,” I say, but it’s too late.
“For example, Lucas once blew up the shed out back. Did you know that?”
Mia looks scandalized. “He didn’t?”
Alice laughs. “He did. Thought it would be fun to experiment with gasoline and matches, but didn’t realize there was a propane tank in there. Nearly killed himself.”
Mia laughs and looks at me. “You were a little pyromaniac.”
“I guess that’s why I joined the military,” I say. “Needed a place to blow shit up and not get in trouble.”
Alice grins at me. “You still need that place.”
“Guess so,” I admit. “Though I don’t play with gasoline and matches anymore. I’m a father now, after all.” I grin at Mia.
She laughs back at me and turns to Laura. “Okay, tell me more stories now. I’m endlessly fascinated.”
Alice gives me a smile. “I like this one.”
“Don’t,” I say to her. “Just, can’t we just eat in peace?”
“Nope,” Mia says. “Come on, Alice, I know you have more.”
Alice launches into a story about the time I stole chickens from our neighbor which only makes me groan. We spend the rest of the meal together, laughing and listening to stories from my childhood, most of which are totally false and overblown. I was a delightful young man, and whenever I got into trouble it was always someone else’s fault, never my own, because I was awesome.
Mia seems totally at ease, which I can’t help but smile at. She’s good with Noah, although I never thought she wouldn’t be. I can tell she’s a good person and all it takes is to be comfortable and caring. You can’t ask for much more than that, and Mia has all of that in spades.
“Okay, enough ragging on me,” I say finally as we’re winding down dinner. “I’m sure Mia doesn’t want to hear anymore stories.”
“Not true at all,” Mia says. “I’m actually loving this.”
“See, Lucas? Some people appreciate my stories.” Alice grins at me.
I sigh, shaking my head. “You two just don’t get me, you know? I was an angel when I was a kid.”
“Well, that’s just not true,” Alice says.
Mia laughs. “I’m sure you were a nice boy,” she says.
“I was awesome,” I answer.
“Let’s just hope Lucas’s, ah, adventurism is tempered in Noah.” Alice winks at me.
I groan a little bit and Mia laughs. Alice stands and carries her plate to the sink.
“Okay, you two, I’m going to steal Noah away for a bit.”
“Bye, little guy,” Mia says. Noah smiles and laughs at her.
Alice unstraps him from his chair and picks him up. She gives me a smile and mouths, “I like her,” as she carries Noah from the room.
I can’t help but smile. It means a lot that Mia came here tonight, spent time with Noah and Alice, and even has Alice’s approval. I don’t know what this mean, if she’s already turning back away from what she said on the porch yesterday, or if she just felt guilty about everything that happened.
I’m not going to read too much into it. Dinner went really well, and I feel really relaxed. “Finished?” I ask her, taking her plate.
“Thanks,” she says. “I can help, you know.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I rinse off the plates and stick them in the dishwasher before sitting back down at the table across from her.
She frowns at me a little bit. “You know, about yesterday—“
“Let’s forget it, okay?” I say to her.
She looks relieved. “Okay then.” She looks around the kitchen. “This is a nice house.”
I shrug. “Yeah, it’s good. I don’t love living at home, but Alice is a lot of help with Noah.”
“I totally understand.”
“Being thirty and living with your stepmom isn’t exactly ideal. But it’s tough, coming back from being overseas and trying to live a normal life again.”
She nods and smiles. “Really, Lucas. You don’t have to explain. I understand, believe me.” She pauses for a second. “You don’t talk much about your life before,” she says.
“In the military?”
She nods. “You don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want.”
“Truth is, I can’t say much. A lot of what I did over there is classified.”
She smiles a little. “That’s right. You’re a big bad Navy SEAL.”
“Damn right I am.”
“Do you ever miss it?” she asks.
“Sure,” I say. “It’s hard not to. It was my life for so long, you know? It gave me purpose. And I was damn good at it.”
“I’m sure you were.”
“And coming home after that… most people don’t understand what it was like, you know? I still have dreams. Nightmares sometimes.”
She leans toward me, eyes locked on mine. “I can’t imagine what it’s like.”
“I miss the structure, you know? I knew what I was goi
ng to do and when I was going to do it. Now, back here, it’s like… chaos. Don’t get me wrong,” I say quickly. “I love Noah and Alice.”
“I totally understand,” she says. “You have to get used to living this way again.”
“Right. I don’t know… I’ve never talked like this to anyone before,” I say.
“I’m glad you can tell me.”
“I feel oddly comfortable. With you, I mean.”
“I feel the same way.”
My heart is beating fast in my chest, but I don’t want to push this. “How’s the preserve doing?” I ask her, changing the subject to something lighter.
Her expression goes a little cloudy and she leans away from me. “Fine,” she says a little distantly.
I’m surprised by that reaction. Normally she loves talking about the preserve, at least ever since we started talking. But just mentioning it seemed to shut her down entirely, even more than my complaining about civilian life.
“Alice really seems to like Laura,” I say. “It’s a small world.”
“Yeah,” she says. She smiles at me. “Listen, I should get going.”
“Yeah, sure. Get home to your dad.”
She nods and smiles again before standing up. The spell is broken now but I don’t understand why. I walk her to the front door and she says goodbye before quickly walking away, back to her car.
Just mentioning the reserve seemed to knock her out of the moment. I know she does need to go home and see her dad, since the nurse is waiting for her. The meal went really well, and I even opened up about the war a little bit. I’ve never talked about it before to someone like that, and I can’t believe I felt comfortable enough with her.
But something’s going on with the preserve. I know I’m missing a piece of the puzzle, and clearly it has something to do with her job, but I don’t totally know. It’s all swirling around, the Carters, the preserve, but I can’t seem to put it all together, not yet at least.
But I want to get to the bottom of this. I want to understand why she’s holding back from me, why the Carters are after her, and why mentioning the preserve seemed to set her off. I want to help her most of all, though I’m not sure she wants help.
That doesn’t matter. I watch her get into her car and drive off. I give her a wave before heading back inside. I go to find Alice and Noah, though my mind is still on Mia.
I’m going to help her. I’m going to figure it out. She obviously wants me, and we clearly have a much stronger connection than either of us realized at first. I can’t back down, not when I feel like I’m this close.
I pick up my baby son, feeling a new, fresh energy and excitement coursing through my veins.
14
Mia
I don’t know what I was thinking, going over to Lucas’s place like that. It didn’t help anything. In fact, it just made me want him even more, and realize just how deeply I’m falling for him.
After I yelled at Caleb, I tried to call Jordan just to talk, but she didn’t answer. I had to see someone that gives a shit about me, and even though I should be trying to move away from Lucas, I couldn’t help myself. I got Chinese, convinced the nurse to stay later, and headed over to Lucas’s place.
I’m glad I did. It went really well, I felt incredibly comfortable, and his son is really adorable.
Maybe I don’t want to distance myself. The Carters are going to be pissed, and it’ll just make my life harder, but I don’t care anymore. I already burned that bridge with Caleb, or at least I think I did. I haven’t heard from him since that phone call, which isn’t too surprising, but I assume he still wants me. I assume the preserve is still going to be destroyed if I don’t follow through and become his girlfriend.
The day after I visited Lucas at his house, I go through my usual routine at work. Around eleven, though, I give Jordan a call, wanting to see if she can get lunch.
She answers on the second ring, which surprises me. “Hey!” I say to her.
“Oh, hey Mia,” she says, sounding a bit surprised. “What are you up to?”
“Just at work. You?”
“Got the day off,” she says.
“Hey, want to get some lunch up here?” We do that a lot when she doesn’t have to work. It’s pretty nice actually, we have a little picnic out in the sun, chat and eat whatever we have, though we haven’t done that in like a couple weeks.
“Uh, I don’t know,” she says, a little vaguely. “I’m a little busy.”
“Oh, cool. What are you up to?”
“You know, just some stuff.”
There’s an awkward pause and I have no clue why. “Oh cool,” I say finally. “Well, let me know if you want to do something later or whatever.”
“Yeah, sure. See you.”
She hangs up before I can say anything.
I stare at my phone, at a total loss. She seemed distant, almost hostile in a weird way. She’s never like that. Jordan is actually a really bubbly person, really outgoing and happy, and that’s part of what I like about her. But lately, it feels like she’s pulling back from me.
Maybe I’m just imagining it. I’m under a lot of stress right now, so it’s totally possible that I’m just reading way too much into this. Still, I can’t help but think that the Carters have gotten to her somehow. I know she’s closer with Dylan than I am, and part of me thinks she’s angling to get into their family. Maybe that’s a little unfair, but she has made some comments in the past about trying to marry a rich guy, and she is totally into both Caleb and Dylan at least to some extent.
I hate that I’m in a position where I think my closest friend might be turning against me because of some rich assholes, but here I am. I never expected to be in a position like this. I can’t really deny the reality of my situation, though, considering I’m being blackmailed by Caleb and apparently his father is totally into it.
I nearly jump when my phone starts ringing right in my hand. I have to take a deep breath. For a second I think that it’s Caleb calling me, ready to threaten me again, almost as if he can read my mind. But that’s totally nuts. I need to get myself together and quick.
I check out the screen and release my breath. “Hey,” I say, answering.
“Nice day out today,” Lucas says without greeting.
I smile to myself. “It’s not bad.”
“I want to see you.”
“Do you?” I feel a little flutter in my stomach.
“Right now. Are you hungry?”
“Maybe,” I say, biting my lip. I’m not sure that this is a good idea, but then again, I did just go to his house unannounced. I know I’m sending him mixed signals, and it’s really not fair of me. I do want him more than I can really understand, but there’s just so much stacked against us right now that it feels impossible.
Still, I feel like shit, and my friend might be ditching me, and I’m sick of being afraid of the Carters. I’m sick of all this drama. I just want something simple, and when I’m with Lucas, it’s simple.
“Okay,” I say finally. “Meet me at the office. When can you get here?”
“I’ll leave now. See you soon.” He hangs up and I feel my stomach doing flips with excitement.
I hurry back to the office and head right into the bathroom. I make myself as presentable as I possibly can before heading back out front to wait for him. I don’t have to stand there long before his truck comes trundling down the gravel road. He parks and climbs out, a picnic basket in his hand.
I smile and wave him over. He grins back and holds up the basket. “I come bearing gifts,” he says.
“Oh yeah?”
He nods, opening the top. “Sandwiches, drinks, cheese, the usual stuff.”
“You’re a true winner, you know that?”
“Of course I know it.” That grin again, and it just drives me totally insane. “Come on, where are we going this time?”
“I know a good spot. Can you keep up?”
He laughs a little. “Please.”
We head out, chatting lightly about the day. It’s beautiful outside, and I have to admit that it feels really good to be around Lucas. He’s so easy to talk to. He’s funny, handsome, charming, basically everything that the Carter brothers aren’t.
He tells me a little about the flower shop, about the weddings they have coming up, and about the business in general.
“I want to open my own shop,” he says.
“Really?” I ask. “You don’t strike me as a flower guy.”
“I’m not,” he admits. “But Alice’s store is doing surprisingly well. Weddings are seriously a good business. I think we could expand with a little work.”
“What does she think about that?”
He shrugs a little. “I haven’t mentioned it to her yet.”
“I think it’s a great idea, honestly.”
“Yeah?” He laughs. “I never pictured myself running a flower shop. From the Syrian Desert to a tiny little florist. I don’t know how that happens.”
“Life is weird that way.”
He gives me a strange look. “You’re right. Full of surprises.”
For a second, I think he’s going to say something else, but we come around a bend in the path and ahead is the spot I was looking for.
It’s a small clearing with bushes and such all around it. The grass is relatively fresh and green, and it’s not muddy at all, which is perfect. It’s right at the bank of the stream which runs through the preserve, so the sound of running water colors our conversation as Lucas spreads out the blanket and sets up our meal.
We sit down, the sun shining, and start to eat. I tell him more about working at the preserve and he asks questions, genuinely interested. I can’t help but think about how Caleb never really seemed to give a shit about my job at all, and barely even mentioned it except to blackmail me. As soon as I think about the blackmail, though, I suddenly turn away from Lucas.
“What are we doing here?” I ask him suddenly, not thinking.
He pauses. “Well, I thought we were having a decent lunch.”
“We are. I mean, I like being around you.”
“I know.” That cocky little smile again.
“But you’re so much older than I am. And you have a son. And my dad is getting worse every week.” I look down at the grass, feeling ashamed and stupid and weak, but not sure why I’m pouring this out on him all of a sudden.