I nod slowly. “I did speak with him, but I decided on someone who could do a quick flip.”
“Understandable. I remember you have a son, and I can imagine with the divorce that you want to start again sooner than later. Isn’t William’s daughter also divorced recently? Hey, William—” Mr. Hill nudges a man in a dark polo shirt from another discussion circle behind him.
Internally, I have to smile to myself. William Call turns to join our group.
“Lucas! I didn’t know you were back.” He smiles as he comes to pat the back of my shoulder.
I give him a smile. “Hi, Mr. Call, it’s been a long time.”
Mr. Call laughs. “Geez, Lucas, none of that ‘mister’ stuff.”
“We were just talking about my son’s divorce,” my father points out as he pours more whiskey all around.
“Oh yeah? What a party killer,” William says.
“I was just going to mention that your daughter is divorced too and back in town. A dentist, right?” Mr. Hill mentions.
“Abby? She’s a vet, and yes, she did get divorced. Hey, you should catch up with her,” William suggests with his eyes almost giving me encouragement.
Now I just grin. “Yeah, maybe I should.”
“She’s here, actually. Your mother invited her,” my father informs me and nudges my arm to look across the room to the open kitchen where Abby is indeed talking to my mother who’s dressed like this is a fancy club and looks like she is forever forty with dark hair and perfect make-up. Abby has a smile thrown across her face, and she is in a simple blue dress, her hair down.
My eyes alternate between my father and William, giving them both a face that tells them that I am on to them.
This must be planned, because now my mother is waving me over.
“Right. Well, looks like I am being summoned.” I shake my head, sip my glass, and adjust my buttoned-down blue shirt that matches my dark jeans and shoes.
By the time that I make it to the kitchen, Abby and my mother are laughing about something. I can see that Abby is helping my mother arrange a replenished snack tray. Abby’s eyes immediately flash up to meet mine and she gives me a closed-lip smile that tells me she is on to our parents too.
“Mother.” It comes out a little stiff.
“Mon amour, I was just catching up with Abby. Such a sweetheart to help me.” My mother touches Abby’s arm as she gushes her praises.
Abby licks her lips and seems to be enjoying this situation.
“I had no idea you were going to be here,” I mention.
Abby looks at me. “Me neither. But your mother phoned me a few hours ago along with my parents and informed me I had no choice.” Abby throws on an overly done smile.
My eyes slide up and I nod once, biting my inner cheek in delight of this situation.
“Maybe, Abby, you can help Lucas? I am out of ice for the cosmopolitans. It is so much easier with a bag of ice than the ice from the fridge. I think you will need to go to the store,” my mother requests as she arranges crackers on a tray. Almost sounding convincing, but I know better.
“Uhm… sure, why not? I can help Lucas.” Abby is caught off guard about what to do, but her eyes meet mine and we exchange a flirtatious look.
“Merci. It’s just ice we need. Nate isn’t coming until later, and I don’t want to wait. Thank you both,” my mother quickly adds, before taking her tray and shimmying off to the living room where the noise is picking up.
Abby and I look at each other and admittedly it is with smoldering looks. I touch her arm briefly.
“Come on,” I tell her and motion for her to follow.
“I should grab my coat,” Abby comments.
Ignoring her, I grab her arm and guide us to the end of the downstairs hall past the laundry room and open the door to the garage. Walking into the garage, I close the door behind us then walk up to the chest freezer. Opening the door to the freezer, my hand indicates for her to look.
Abby gives me a puzzled look then looks into the freezer and starts to laugh.
“Yeah, something tells me that we don’t need to trek it to the supermarket.” My mouth slants into a lopsided grin.
“Well, there are a lot of bags of ice,” she states and shakes her head in amusement.
“My mother is always up to tricks,” I admit.
Abby puts a hand on her hip and tilts her head to the side. “What now? She’ll be upset her plan was an epic fail.”
“Come with me upstairs?”
Abby’s eyes question me. “Someone is blunt.” Her lips quirk.
I smile. “Yeah yeah yeah. No, I want to check on Theo.”
Abby’s face lightens as she nods in agreement and follows me through the house and upstairs.
Despite the noise downstairs, it’s quiet upstairs. We soften our steps as we approach Theo’s room. Gently I crack open his door and see that he is sound asleep with a dinosaur stuffed animal and small nightlight on. My parents decided to make one of the guest rooms into a Theo room. They went a little overboard.
Gently closing the door behind me, my eyes look at Abby who was watching me check on my son with a soft smile on her face.
My hand goes out indicating for her to take it, and she does. I walk us a few steps to my room then close the door behind us as I turn the light on. Abby walks into the room and flops onto the edge of the bed.
“You have Theo for the weekend?”
“Yeah, which works out great as my parents really wanted to see him.”
She smiles at me and there is a pause.
“So, this was your elaborate plan to get me into bed,” she teases as her hand glides along the white duvet.
“You mean have my mother persuade you to come here then fake a lack of ice? Oh yeah, totally my play,” I say sarcastically as I go to my speakers and find some music on my phone to put on.
Abby looks around my room. “Interesting. Was this your room growing up?” she wonders.
I come to sit next to her on the bed. “Yes. Why, a fantasy of yours?” I give her an inviting look.
“I was expecting an entire shrine of your trophies and stuff. This doesn’t seem like your room.”
Leaning back on the bed, I feel relaxed. “True. My mother re-decorated Nate’s and my old rooms. So, this is adult Lucas’s room.”
Abby comes to lying on her side. “Ah, so this is where adult Lucas sleeps.” The corners of her mouth tug.
“It is.” I let it come out simple.
“Nice music. Jimmy Eat World, right?”
“Soundtrack of my youth,” I reminisce.
Abby lets her fingers tap the duvet. “So, our parents are plotting.”
“Yeah, just ignore them. Although thoroughly hilarious. We may send one of them into a heart attack if they know I took you to dinner and I have date number two in the cards.”
There’s a brief silence as we just lie there and look at each other. Our mouths twitching as we’re both trying to avoid being the one with a bigger smile than the other. Something tells me that we’re both enjoying this moment.
“True. Date number two is in the cards,” she confirms softly.
I can’t help it. A few strands of her hair are begging me to assist. Reaching for her hair, my fingers tuck it softly behind her ear. Her skin feels hot under my touch as my thumb barely touches her cheek.