“He’s good with Oliver,” Lydia said to me.
I found myself nodding in agreement. The last time Luc had looked that relaxed, he had been in bed with my hands running through his hair.
“Everything alright, love?” Lydia asked, walking over to me.
“We had a fight,” I admitted, my voice small and quiet.
“I assumed as much. Neither of you seems yourself at the moment.”
“I think I need to speak to him,” I said more to myself than Lydia. Dante’s words and now the gift had sent me into a spiral. I hadn’t given Luc a fair chance in the way I had the others. Maybe we could start over.
“Go ahead, love. Oliver’s had him all day.”
Chapter Thirteen
Lucas
Ashadow fell across me, and craning my neck I saw Mia standing nearby. I sat up almost instantly and Oliver imitated me and followed my gaze. I’d spent the afternoon in the company of the bundle of trouble so that Lydia could get on with her job.
“Hello,” the little boy greeted her.
“Hi there,” Mia said, waving at him.
“Are you coming to see the dinosaur clouds too?” Oliver asked.
“Well, they are the best type of clouds,” Mia told him, matter of factly, and I almost laughed at the way she indulged him.
She sat herself down on the grass and I noted that she had the box in her hands and, for the first time in years, I felt nervous. Mia didn’t look at me, her slender fingers fiddling with the box as she spoke to Oliver about the clouds above us. It was the end of August and a beautiful day with faint wisps of white in the blue sky overhead.
Oliver’s interest in the clouds began to wane, and instead he turned his attention to me and asked, “Is this your girlfriend, Luc?”
“Mia’s a friend,” I told him as she went red. “I hope.”
She looked at me but her expression remained neutral, not willing to give me any hint as to whether she had accepted my apology.
“How about you go inside and get some ice cream?” I suggested to him. “I need to speak to Mia.”
Oliver hesitated for half a second before he got up. “Okay! Bye, Mia!”
He disappeared into the kitchen and left Mia and me sitting in uncomfortable silence.
Eventually, she broke it. “You can’t buy me, Lucas.”
I sucked in some air. Of course, Mia would be someone who would take issue with an apology gift.
“I’m not trying to buy you,” I told her. “It’s a gift.”
“It’s an expensive gift,” Mia returned.
“Oliver helped me pick it out,” I shrugged. Though she was spot on in her assumption: I hadn’t thought twice about dropping money on a gift to try and help put things right between us. I wanted Mia to know just how sorry I was. “Kiddo has expensive taste.”
“Lucas, it’s beautiful,” she admitted quietly. “But I can’t accept this. It’s too much, and when am I even going to wear it? It doesn’t exactly fit with the rest of my wardrobe.”
An image of her dressed in nothing but the choker sprung to mind, and I made a conscious effort to walk my mind out of the gutter.
Mia had to be one of the only women I knew who wasn't impressed by money. She refused to take my card when I gave it to her, and now she was ready to reject a diamond gift. Who the fuck rejected not one but a string of diamonds?
“You know in some cultures it’s considered rude not to accept a gift,” I told her. Mia wasn’t interested in receiving anything from me other than the same respect that I demanded from her. She hailed from a less glamorous life than the one I’d brought her into. “You don’t have to wear it. You can sell it once you leave here if you want. It’s yours to do with what you want. It’s my peace offering, Mia.”
