Wyatt looks at me and giggles. I can’t help but giggle, too. I smother my face into the side of Lucca, drowning in his cologne. Gosh, it’s a good way to go.
We’ve only been settled for five minutes when a voice outside our happy little hammock says, “Well, isn’t this adorable?”
Lindy.
I feel so caught. So guilty. “Wyatt’s idea,” I bark from my very snuggled place beside Lucca.
“It was a good one.” Lindy pulls her phone from her back pocket and points it at us.
“Are you taking a photo?Belinda!” I wiggle, but Lucca’s arm is tight around me, keeping me in place. “Do not take?—”
“You can smile, or you can look like you need an enema. It’s up to you.” Lindy holds up the phone.
Her words still me. I stop the struggle and peer at Wyatt until I can see her phone disappear in my peripheral.
“Come on, Wy,” she says. “We’re taking Isaac to the park.”
“But I’m already having a playdate. With Lucca.” Wyatt doesn’t budge. I don’t blame him. We’re quite comfortable. “And I haven’t even found out when I get to visit Nanners next. She can’t come here because of Grandpa.”
“Wyatt.” Lindy’s tone is almost lecturing.
Wyatt sighs. “It’s Lucca.”
“I’ll talk to Maggie,” Lucca tells him. “We’ll set something up.”
“Isaac’s depending on you,” Lindy says.
Wyatt groans as if playdates are a bothersome task on his daily agenda. “Will you still be here when I get back?” he asks Lucca.
“I don’t know,” Lucca says. “Possibly.”
“You could spend the night.”
“Wyatt,” I hiss.
He sighs. “You could promise to stay. Just until I get back.”
I reach out for his shoulder and give him a pat. “Don’t ask Lucca to make a promise he might not be able to keep. You don’t know his schedule.”
Wyatt huffs. “But I want to say goodbye. When he’s leaving, not whenI’m leaving.”
“I’ll try very hard to be here,” Lucca tells him.
“That’s very nice,” Lindy says. “Now come on, Wy. I have to pick Isaac up, and I’ve never been to his house before.”
I bite my inner cheek, so tempted to tell Lindy to cancel, to remind her that Isaac likes to throw the park’s woodchips, to explain that their house number isn’t the easiest to see. But something stops me. I’m not sure what. Maybe it’s Lucca lying here next to me. I don’t want to ever diminish Lindy’s role as Wyatt’s mom. Or maybe I know I need to give her the chance to figure it out.
Wyatt exhales before rolling away from me and Lucca. Lucca snatches him by the T-shirt, making sure he doesn’t smack to the ground. He turns around to face us, another heave in his chest.
I give him a sad grin. “Have fun. We’ll miss you, bud.”
“Okay. Don’t do anything too fun without me.”
“Promise,” Lucca says. “We will lie here, doing nothing.”
Wyatt’s nose wrinkles with a pout. “Promise?”
“I promise. I’m going to make your aunt just lie here next to me. I won’t allow her to move. At all.”
