Shaking my head, I say, “No, no. I’m not hurt at all.” Butterflies swarm rapidly when I step inside, tossing my cardigan and purse on the side table and slipping off my shoes.
“What happened?” Derek’s face shows visible concern, making me feel a smidgen bad for what I set up.
“Oh, I guess he just didn’t want to meet up after all.”
Eyebrows nearly touching his hairline, his gaze moves over me. There’s a confused smile on his lips, and I have to bite mine to keep from bursting out everything I set up tonight. Lying to Derek is supremely hard to do.
“Someone stoodyouup?”
The emphasis on “you” makes me blush, and I shrug, stepping around him and into the kitchen. Rora hops up and rushes me. “Mommy! You just left.”
I can’t tell if she’s happy or bummed that I’m here again, but I smile and smooth back her hair. “I’m back. Now I can eat dinner with you.”
Her bottom lip pokes out, and her eyes widen. “But I want Derek to eat with me.”
I turn my head around to him and see him thinking of what to say. This was the entire point of him coming, so I turn back to her and say, “Well, there’s more than enough for three.”
I step into the kitchen, smiling at the perfectly browned garlic bread and still steaming lasagna, and sigh. “I guess it’s a good thing I made so much.”
Derek steps closer, his gaze loose and expression soft. “I don’t have to stay if you don’t want me to.”
I look at him, and for half a second, I debate using Rora again, saying how upset she would be if he left and guilting him into staying.
But I’ve already done enough to get us this far. From this point on, I would only use honesty and hope that he’s feeling the same things I was.
“I would really like it if you stayed and had dinner with us.”
There. It’s out there.
Not exactly asking him out, but something close.
Derek’s eyes smile at me—I’m not sure how he does that, but I do not want him to stop—and he nods his head. “Then let’s eat.”
Chapter Fifteen
“People show up for people they love. Sometimes they’re not ready to say that out loud, but you can tell a lot by a person’s actions.” - Nora
DEREK
The bell on the door rings, and I jerk my head up, not expecting anyone to actually use it that much. That is a sad, sad reaction.
“Hey!”
I perk up, my heart thumping loudly in my chest at the sound of her voice.
She comes around an aisle and smiles brilliantly at me. “Birdie,” I say, clearing my voice from disuse. I stand up straighter, smiling back, thinking it’s too big of a smile and dimming it down.
I berate myself internally and focus back on her.
For some reason I can’t stop myself from acting like an idiot around this woman.
“Sorry if this is bad timing,” she says, carrying several bags of things that look like she robbed a craft store. Rora pops out from behind her, carrying another bag that’s bigger than her.
“It’s never bad timing to see you two.” I almost say “my girls.” Man, I want to use the phrase so bad, and after last weekend, I want to say it even more.
We spent last Saturday eating lasagna—I had two helpings that surpassed both girls’ plates by a mile—watching a movie, and jointly putting Rora to bed at her request.
Then we went to the living room and chose another movie. I didn’t get home until after midnight, and all the while I sat on that couch beside her, with the smell of honey and peaches and whatever else she wore to make her smell so damn enticing, and applauded myself for doing nothing about it.
