Lily grinned. She wouldn’t believe Eva was capable of taking care of something needy had she not seen it with her own eyes.
“It’s left up here,” Eva said, when they got to the outskirts of High Grove. “Straight across the stop sign and then the next right. It’s the last house before the bend in the road.”
Lily pulled up outside a two-story townhouse with a blue door, and Eva’s Mercedes parked in the driveway. She couldn’t hide a flutter of disappointment at reaching their destination—she’d been having fun talking the way she and Eva had used to over text.
“Thank you,” Eva said, hesitating with her fingers on the door handle. “Would you like to come in?”
“I’d like that.” Hades could wait another hour, and Lily felt like there were still so many things left unsaid.
Lily waited while Eva retrieved her suitcase from the trunk, its wheels crunching over gravel as she followed Eva to the front door. When it opened, Lily heard the sound of a TV within, and a black blur darted down the hallway to launch at Eva’s legs.
Lily frowned. “I thought you said—” She cut herself off when she heard the squeak of wheels on wooden floorboards, Eva’s mother appearing in a doorway further down the hall. Her eyes widened when she saw Lily.
“Mom, what are you doing here?”
Lily didn’t think she was imagining the faint note of panic in Eva’s voice.
“I thought I was supposed to pick you up from Angela’s later.” Eva set aside her suitcase to rub the head of the Spaniel standing on his hind legs, his front paws scrabbling for purchase on her bare legs.
“I can see that,” Eva’s mom said, her eyes still on Lily’s face. “Tom finished work early. He offered to give me a ride back to save you a trip.”
“You could’ve texted to let me know.”
“And ruin the surprise? Oh, no. Are you not going to introduce me to your friend?”
Lily watched Eva’s jaw clench. This was clearly a scenario neither of them had been prepared for when Eva had invited her inside.
“Mom, this is Lily. Lily, my mom.”
“N-nice to meet you, Ms. Thomas.” Lily couldn’t keep the tremble out of her voice. They had the same eyes, Eva and her mother, though right now, Eva’s weren’t the ones Lily found the most intimidating.
“Oh, that makes me sound old. Please, call me Eleanor.” Eleanor turned back to Eva. “Are you not going to invite her in? Don’t leave the poor woman hovering in the doorway. That’s rude.”
“Actually, I should get going,” Lily said, because she felt like she’d stumbled into a weird family dynamic. Eva and her mother were glaring at one another, having a silent conversation Lily wasn’t privy to, and things with Eva were far too delicate for her to want to risk ruining it by meeting the parents. “Leave you guys to it.”
“Don’t go on my account,” Eleanor said. “Come in. Stay for dinner. I’ve made brisket—there’ll be plenty left over.”
“I…” Lily turned to Eva, searching for some hint of what she was supposed to say. Should Lily make up some kind of emergency, insist she leave? Lily didn’t think she was as good at conveying what she meant as the two Thomases.
“You can stay,” Eva said, her voice soft. “If you want.”
And Lily wasn’t going to turn down an offer like that. Not to see Eva in her natural environment, with the woman who meant so much to her.
No way in hell.
“Okay.”
* * *
“You’ve been keeping secrets from me.”
Eva glanced toward the open kitchen door, praying Lily couldn’t overhear from where Eva had left her in the living room. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mom.”
“I never forget a face, you know. That’s the woman we saw in the grocery store months ago. The one from work.”
Eva took a deep breath. How had this situation spiraled so far out of her control? This morning she’d woken beside Lily, determined it was a mistake she needed to put behind her, and now, just a few hours later, the woman was in her home, about to have dinner with Eva and her mother.
All because Eva had asked—wanted—Lily to stay. And what better way to show Lily she was serious about this than inviting her into the lion’s den?
