While she had been to his place, he had never been to hers. It felt as if she was guarding her home, afraid to let him in.
He wanted to take care of her. To be there for her.
“Emmy, can I please come over?” he asked.
She hesitated. Then, as if refusing to overthink, she quickly said, “Yes. I’ll text the address.”
Before he could respond, she hung up. A second later, the address came through. He pulled out his whistle to call Sharptooth, then flew over.
She lived in a little cottage up in the hills. It wasn’t too far away from where he remembered her parents’ estate was, and the memory of that night made him apprehensive. The last time he had gone to her place, she had broken his heart.
But things were different now. They were both different.
He knocked on the door, and a few moments later she opened. She was covered in—what was that? A smoothie? It was some thick liquid. He thought he saw chunks of banana in her hair.
“Hey,” he said. “Nice look.”
She didn’t respond, and instead turned to walk into the house, muttering to herself. He closed the door behind him, following her to the kitchen, which was an absolute mess. He spotted a blender, which seemed to be the source: there was no lid on it, and all the liquid inside had splattered around like a smoothie had exploded. The cabinets under the sink were open, revealing cleaning supplies.
Motu sat guiltily on the side, half-hiding behind his wings. He was covered in the same thick liquid as Emmeline.
“I had a long day at work with the dragons,” she explained, sitting on the floor, where it looked as if she had begun cleaning up the tiles. “And then Saphira said she wasn’t feeling well, so I made and dropped off soup for her, and I didn’t have time to eat lunch at work, so I was going to make a smoothie and Motu knocked into the blender—”
She broke off, releasing a long breath. “I’m just so tired.”
It felt as if she was admitting that for the first time, andeven that cost her. His heart squeezed painfully. He hated to see her in distress.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said, going to her side. “You’re allowed to be tired.”
“And now I have to clean all of this up,” she said, aggressively scrubbing the floor. “And Motu, too.” She looked up at Luke with wide eyes. “I’m sorry. I know we were supposed to go to the cafe—once I get this all cleaned up, we can still go!” She tried to give him a smile, but he could see it was brittle.
He frowned at her. “Don’t be sorry,” he said, reaching for her hand. “Why don’t you clean up Motu, and I’ll clean up in here?”
She stopped scrubbing and blinked at him, confused. “What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said,” he replied, pulling her up to her feet. “Go clean Motu up. I’ll handle the kitchen.” He took off his coat, then his blazer, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. She watched, stupefied.
“But...” she started.
“Motu,” he called, and the baby dragon flew over to them. Emmeline scooped him up into her arms, and he nodded at her. She made for the exit, then hesitated by the doorway.
“Go,” he said. “I’ll clean up.”
She nibbled on her lower lip, and he walked over, putting his hands on her shoulders, steering her out “Go.”
“Okay, but make sure you don’t miss anything, or it’ll smell because of the milk,” she said. “And make sure there aren’t any streaks and—”
“Emmy, I know,” he said, laughing a little. “Now go.”
She went, and he watched as she made her way to thestairs. He watched her go until she disappeared from sight. A few moments later, he heard the shower running.
Luke went back to the kitchen, cleaning up. The mess wasn’t too horrible, but he was extra thorough just in case. After he’d finished cleaning everything up, he made Emmeline a fresh smoothie, since she said she hadn’t eaten.
He was just pouring the smoothie into a glass when Emmeline came back down. Motu flew in behind her, squeaky clean, while she hadn’t changed herself.
“For you,” he said, handing her the glass. She looked dumbfounded as she looked around.
“It’s so... clean,” she said, impressed.
