“I thought you were really excited about it.”
“I was…” She shrugs again, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth and avoiding my eyes.
“Allison Humphrey.”
“Donotcall me that.”
I laugh. “Like it’s not your name.”
She rolls her eyes.
I cock my head to the side. “What’s goin’ on?”
She heaves another sigh, finally meeting my imploring gaze. “I don’t want to leave Lucky.”
“I knew it.” I smile smugly. Moving my hand from where it’s covering the page in her book, I touch her arm, squeezing it gently. “It’s only six weeks. You can FaceTime Luck every day. More than once if you want. And guess what? She’ll be here when you get back.”
Allie sighs again, looking down. “I know; it’s just?—”
“What?” I press.
“I worry about you…”
I balk. “Me?”
She nods. “Your mom is going to be in Paris. And… well—” Her shoulders fall. “Who else do you have to help?”
I’m only mildly offended because I know she isn’t trying to be mean. “Allie, do I need to remind you that I am a twenty-five-year-old grown-ass adult?”
“Often debatable...” She arches a brow.
I wave a hand. “The point is, I am an adult, and believe it or not, I can actually look after myselfandmy daughter without burning the house down…”
Allie softens. “I know. I didn’t mean anything by it. I just—” She searches my eyes, her own turning glassy. “I just love you guys. You’re like my family.”
“Aw, Allie cat, c’mere,” I chuckle, moving around the island and wrapping her in a big bear hug from behind. “We love you, too,” I whisper into her hair, hugging her for a long moment until I feel her relax. “So… you gonna apply?”
“On one condition.”
It’s her tone that causes my hackles to rise, and I release her from my hold, leaning against the counter while offering her a dubious side-eye.
“I’ll apply,” she says with a coy smirk, “if you take that girl out on a date.”
I rear back, holding my hands up in the air. “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” I shake my head confused by that random and entirely unexpected stipulation. “I’m sorry—what?”
She grins. “I saw the way she was looking at you. And it’s not lost on me that in the almost two years I’ve been here, she’s the first woman to ever step foot over that threshold, aside from your mom and me, of course.”
“It’s not like that,” I insist. “I wasn’t lying before. We really are just fucking.”
“Again, ew.” Allie grimaces. “But also, like you said, Happy, you’re a twenty-five-year-old grown-ass adult. Maybe it’s time you…retirethe playboy status and, I don’t know, actually look at settling down.”
I blink at her.Settling down. It’s like a foreign language.
“Lucky’s going to be six soon. She’s going to go to school in the fall. And she’s going to start wondering why her dad doesn’t have somebody in his life, somebody he can bring intoherlife.”
“Lucky asked about her,” I admit.
Allie’s eyes blow out. “She did?”
