Lucas stared at her as he let her pull him into the group room. It was so easy for her, wasn’t it? She trusted that he would do the right thing. That he would look out for her.
They walked through the door and twenty children glanced up.
“This is Lu,” Mel announced proudly. “He’s rich and a hockey player, and my family.”
A dark-haired boy stood up from his chair and rolled his eyes. “You’re lying! You have no family. No mother or father.”
Lucas’ throat tightened when he saw Melody’s eyes glistening. And when she turned to him and looked into his face, searching for help, he felt her gaze piercing his damned soul.
She didn’t know what she was getting herself into, but she knew what this very moment meant to her.
“Of course, she has a father,” he said softly, sinking to his knees beside her and pulling her into his arms. “That’s me.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Twenty-fifth encounter
“Have you ever been in love, Lucas?”
“Why do you ask?”
“My brother asked me today and I didn’t know. If I’ve ever been in love. I think because he's in love.”
“Ah.”
“Is it sad if the answer is no? I don’t even know if I can do that. Fall in love.”
“No.”
“No, it’s not sad? Or no, you think I’m capable of falling in love?”
He sighed heavily.
She laughed. “Is that too much conversation for you?”
“No. Mostly it’s just a waste of time.”
“Love?”
“No. Thinking about it. If it happens, it happens.”
Ice cream couldn’t solve all problems.
Anna hadn’t wanted to admit it, but when she felt not only mentally but physically awful on Monday morning, 36 hours and three cartons of ice cream later, she had to face it whether she liked it or not.
She had turned off her cell phone, rigorously ignored her brothers and friends, and shamelessly wallowed in self-pity. She didn’t want to hear from anyone that things would be okay, that he was just some guy, and she’d find someone better. Because that was bullshit!
Lucas was the calm to her storm. The light to her darkness. The spoon to her ice cream.
She had never met a person in her life with whom she felt so safe. With him, she hadn’t thought for a second that she shouldn't tell them what she thought, or that she had no right to her feelings. With him, she could be completely herself.
The problem with being an adult was that you couldn’t just stay home when you were heartbroken. The only good thing was that neither Dax nor Lucas were currently at the stadium. They were on that kindergarten PR assignment, so she wouldn’t run into either of them that morning. Unfortunately, that didn’t apply to brother number two.
“Here you are,” Jack said softly, stepping into the treatment room.
Lips pursed, she turned to him. “I wasn’t hiding!”
“No, but you were ignoring us.”
