She pulled her gaze from Mallory and directed it behind her. “Abuela? Are you okay?”
Mallory looked up at Christian who already had his eyes fixed on her, his expression unreadable. Instead of his usual clean-shaven look, he was sporting a few days’ worth of facial hair. It would have been a good look on him if he didn’t look so tired. As if on autopilot, Mallory walked over and wrapped her arms around him in a supportive hug. He held her tight and rested his chin on her head, likely watching the interaction behind her.
“I didn’t expect to see you here today,” she said before breathing him in.
After giving her a quick squeeze, he pulled back to look at her. “I didn’t expect to be here.” He quickly looked behind her before continuing. “I’ll tell you about it at some point. Thank you for being here for my mom.”
Taking the cue, she stepped out of his embrace, immediately missing the warmth of his body. His daughter was completely focused on her grandmother, which was good. As much as she wanted to meet Liliana, it wasn’t the time or the place.
“I’m going to get going so you two can spend time with your mom. When do you go back to work?” she asked as she stepped around him to the doorway.
“I did a switch just in case, so I’m off until the weekend.”
“I’d love to meet Liliana. Maybe bring her over for dinner tomorrow night? You know how I like to feed people. No pressure. Think about it and let me know.” She kissed him on the cheek and then stepped into the hallway.
“Okay. Sleep well,” he called after her.
When she stopped to turn around, she didn’t miss the gleam in his eye. He was definitely referring to the night before. Turning around before he could see her blush, she made her way to the exit and out to her car.
CHRISTIAN
He had spent the last four days with his daughter and was no closer to figuring out what was going on with her than he was before he took off to go to Florida, and he had no idea what he was going to do about returning to work. He was low on vacation days, and he’d already made a switch in order to be off until the weekend. Lily still wasn’t back to her old self, but she was in better shape than when he first saw her. He just wished she would talk to him.
“Anything fun you want to do today?” he asked as they sat at the small table eating cereal.
“No,” she said without looking up from her bowl.
“Shopping?” he suggested.
“Nah.”
He was determined to find something to help snap her out of whatever this was. He needed his little girl back. Even if she overcame whatever it was that she was going through and he never knew what it was, he could live with that.
“Mani pedis?” he tried.
This time she looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. “Seriously? No. I’m not going to the nail salon with my dad. That’s weird.”
“Well, how bout we go to lunch?”
She took another bite of food before answering. “We’re literally eating breakfast and you’re talking about lunch.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.
Chris stifled a laugh. There she was. “If you knew where I wanted to have lunch, you might not think it was strange to think about it this early.”
Finally, her ears perked up. She looked up at him and squinted her eyes, waiting for him to continue. Chris pretended like he didn’t notice and went back to his cereal, trying not to laugh as she stared at him.
“Just tell me. Where are we going?”
Chris finished his cereal and shoved the bowl away, folding his arms over his chest. “I’m in the mood to go into the city and grab a pie from Luigi’s, but if you don’t want to go …”
“Yes!” she exclaimed, with more animation than he’d seen since laying eyes on her in Florida. Maybe this was what they needed. Maybe she would finally open up to him.
It had been a long time since Chris had gone into Manhattan. He enjoyed it every now and then, but it wasn’t something he liked to do often. Lily, on the other hand, absolutely loved it. Every time he brought her into the city, her eyes lit up and a smile spread across her face. This time was no different.
The subway train jerked and swayed as they sped toward their stop. It wasn’t very crowded since they were heading in during an odd time, too late for the morning commute and too early for the lunch rush. Chris sat back and watched as Lily tried to hide her excitement, but as they announced the next stop over the speaker, her smile broke free.
“I’m not even hungry yet,” she said when she caught him looking at her.
“Good thing we aren’t going straight to Luigi’s. Thought maybe we should take a detour first.”
