I widened my eyes and shot Lucas a couple daggers, but that just made him snicker. “You’re in a particularly jovial mood.”
“The full moon’s acomin’. Always puts me in a good mood. Plus, all the OBs are arriving tomorrow, including my baby mama.”
“Can she still run?”
“Oh, we won’t be running. We’ll be hanging out at home with Little Destroyer.”
Storm squealed as though he’d picked up that his evening was going to be just as exciting as ours.
“Hey, honey.” Mom kissed my cheek. “Dad just got started on dinner, so it’ll be another hour.”
“Perfect,” Lucas said, “I needed some help carrying Storm home.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Can’t manage a twenty-pound baby on your own?”
“The twenty-pound baby I can manage. It’s the two-hundred-pound one you’re better with.”
I thought I caught my mother smirking as she shuffled past us and into the kitchen. I prayed I was imagining her amusement and that she didn’t know, but then I thought of how Liam had gone straight to pick up Storm from my place last night, and my gut folded up nice and tight. Even if he’d showered, my mother was so familiar with my scent that she’d pick up on it.
Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.
The worst part was that she probably assumed we were dating. This was going to make for a fun conversation when it came up, because it was going to come up. I probably should have it before—
“See you later, Meg.” Lucas slung his arm around my shoulder and steered me out the door.
“Bye, honey.”
Once the door shut, he released me and patted the top of my head as though I were six. “You’re welcome.”
“For what?” I grumbled, smoothing back my hair.
“Giving you what your heart desires.”
“My heart desired dinner.”
“That was your stomach.”
I heaved out a breath. “You do realize how unsubtle that was.”
“I thought we went over this already. Subtlety isn’t my forte.”
“Let me guess . . . your forte involves being naked?”
He laughed. “Have you and Sarah been swapping sex anecdotes?”
I rolled my eyes. “I haven’t even met Sarah yet.” As we took the trail crisscrossed by footprints and paw prints, I heaved my bag that was sliding down my arm. “Are you sure Liam even wants to see me?”
“Trust me. He wants to see you.”
At Lucas’s certainty, my heart unspooled like a roll of gauze, all light and fluffy, filling my entire chest. That is, until we approached the cabin, and Liam’s car came into view. Then all of the airiness left me and my body felt weighted with rocks.
Liam was leaning over the center armrest, his face inches from a girl’s, his hands cradling her cheeks.
Lucas froze beside me.
Thud went my heart, its collapse so mighty I suspected it shook the entire valley. “I’m—I’m going to head . . . um, home.”
Lucas grabbed my arm and towed me the rest of the way.
