“Of course I’d have realized it much sooner, but I’m really flawed. Chock full of them really. I’m stubborn and can apparently be quite self-centered. I’m going to work on that.”
The tip of his mouth turns up. It’s hardly a smile at all, but then he shakes his head and reaches out for me. He closes the gap between us and tucks me under his arm so we can walk in tandem to his truck.
He’s still so quiet. I really need him to speak.
Namely I want to hear those three little sissy words from Lucas.
Three words that have never felt so important.
“You know, you can say it. I’m kind of waiting for you to say it.”
“What?”
He opens the passenger side door so I can hop in, but I don’t.
“The declaration thing, about your feelings…”
“Oh? You think I still love you?”
My heart sinks.
“Lucas! I just got myself arrested at a middle school! The least you can do is say it.”
He smirks and moves closer, pinning me up against the side of the truck. “This was all part of my plan, Daisy. Remember?”
He takes another step toward me and I hold my breath as his hips brush against mine. He bends low, caging me in with one hand over my head and the other on my neck, brushing aside a few strands of hair. His warm breath hits my exposed skin and a shiver runs down my spine. I tilt my head, giving him consent, but he lingers. Teasing me. I wrap my hand around his bicep, contemplating taking matters into my own hands just before he presses a kiss to my neck, just below my ear. “I came back to Hamilton to woo you, make you fall in love…”
I squeeze my eyes closed and think of Lauryn Hill because he’s killing me. Softly. With his words.
“I can’t believe you fell for it.”
I squeeze his biceps. It’s a warning.
He laughs under his breath and pulls away. “Of course I love you, Daisy.” He tugs his hand through his hair, looks away, then back. “I mean, come on, I’ve loved you since I knew what love meant.”
“So what about all those times you tormented me?”
He wipes away his smile. “Most of the time people get to leave their hometown and reinvent themselves during college, but you know everything about me, the good, the bag, and the ugly. So yeah, at times, I didn’t really know how to show it, but rest assured, it’s always been you.”
I think an entire hoard of butterflies has been set loose in my stomach.
The car ride to my mom’s house is a wild one. I’m rattling off event after event from our childhood, trying to see it through his eyes.
“How about during swim practice?! When I heard you tell Greg Oliver I smelled like a goat?”
He shrugs. “He liked you and I didn’t want him to. I was seven.”
“Debate practice when you refused to be on my team?”
“You wouldn’t have been on mine. We both know it wasn’t fun unless we were competing against each other.”
Much of our lives follow this pattern, and I’m not surprised to find that he too thought college and medical school would heal him. All those years ago, I assumed moving away would allow me to escape him, and he’d assumed the same. Fortunately, we were both wrong.
“What do you need at your mom’s house?” he asks as we pull onto our street.
“The rest of my stuff. They finished fumigating yesterday.”
He nods, understanding. “Going to move into my guest bedroom permanently?”
I smirk. “I thought I’d try out your bed for a change.”
I don’t have to look to know he’s grinning as he pulls up in front of my childhood home. There are two cars parked in my mom’s driveway: her small sedan and an old black suburban.
We both recognize it right away.
“Is that Dr. McCormick’s car?”
I shake my head as I hop out. “It can’t be.”
I walk up the path and see the TV on through the living room window. I have a house key, but I left it back at Lucas’ apartment. I’m about to knock or ring the doorbell when I see Dr. McCormick walk out of the kitchen with two glasses of wine in hand. He heads right over to my couch and plops down beside my mom. She takes the wine and kisses him as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.
What. The. Hell.
“What are you doing?” Lucas asks behind me. “Just knock.”
But then they’re kissing more and—
“Oh my god.” I jump and spin around, fleeing back down the path. “RUN. RUN!”
“What’s wrong! What’s going on?”
“Dr. McCormick is in there! Kissing my mom!”
“No shit? Wow, you were committed to taking over the practice. I didn’t even think of getting my mom to seduce Dr. McCormick.”
“I didn’t either! Oh my god. I need to get that image out of my head.”
I leap back into his truck and slam the door closed behind me. I can’t look back for fear that they’ve caught us snooping.
Lucas is laughing in the driver’s seat. “You know it’s totally normal, right? Your mom has been single forever, and Dr. McCormick is a good guy.”