Mia sipped her coffee and flinched. ‘Wow! I forget how strong you like it!’ She put her cup down and rocked back in her chair. ‘I will tell you, Luc, I promise; there’s just a lot to unpack, and I need to get my own head around it first. That’s why I thought it might be fun to do something nice together …’
‘Yeah, I guess we could—’
Lucas was interrupted by a knock on the door downstairs. It wasn’t insistent like Mia’s last night – it was far more polite – but he was still irritated.
‘People should know by now that the place is shut on a Sunday. I need one day off!’
Mia shrugged; she was busy demolishing her pancakes now. ‘Maybe you should check it out though? It might be important.’
He trudged downstairs reluctantly. In truth, he had had another bad night’s sleep.
Not only was he worried about finances, but now he was also convinced his baby sister was hiding something from him.
There was another knock as Lucas approached the door.
‘Alright!’ he shouted. ‘That better not be you, Eric! I’m not serving your hangover today.’
He pulled open the door.
It wasn’t Eric. It was Willow.
‘Hi,’ she said almost shyly. ‘I hope I didn’t disturb you or anything, but I was hoping to catch Mia. Is she here?’
Lucas’s eyes grazed her body; he couldn’t help it. She was wearing jeans and a tight sweater that seemed to skim over her curves. Her hair was loose and falling in soft waves to her shoulders. In this bright morning light, she looked more beautiful than ever.
‘Mia’s eating breakfast,’ he said finally, perhaps a bit too bluntly, but he felt caught off guard. ‘Should I pass on a message?’
‘I’d like to see her if it’s possible?’ Her tone was light, sweet, but her amber eyes drilled into his. ‘I feel like I wasn’t myself with her last night and I wouldn’t want us to get off on the wrong foot.’
Lucas nodded. There wasn’t really anything else he could do, although he was reluctant to invite Willow into his space, especially now that Mia was there messing it up. Willow followed him upstairs, talking politely about the rainstorm last night.
‘I forgot how much more rain we get by the mountains. It feels different though, doesn’t it? Am I crazy to think that? Fresher? I hated the rain in Seattle. It was nonstop …’
Lucas struggled to reply, even though part of him wanted to grab her and say, ‘Yes, I totally get that! The rain was different in New York too. It’s better here. It feels like home …’
He held back though, not sure why. He hadn’t openedup to Willow for a very long time and the last time he had tried, it had all gone wrong. He decided that it’s often easier to keep his thoughts to himself.
Willow rushed to Mia once she saw her. She had a flurry of apologies that were so quickly given, they made Mia burst out laughing.
‘Hey!’ she said, pushing her now-empty plate aside. ‘You have nothing to apologize for. You weren’t expecting me, and I was pretty rude to you too! Demanding to know where Jenn was and not even asking who you were!’
‘It was a surprise,’ Willow admitted. ‘But I recognized you straight away. I just didn’t understand why you were there!’
‘Don’t tell me! You thought Lucas had sent me.’ Mia laughed. ‘Don’t worry. I don’t do his dirty work for him. I was there purely for Jenn. We were good friends before I left.’
‘And you didn’t remember me?’ Willow asked, her eyebrows slightly raised.
‘Well, I do now! You were my brother’s first love! He was always talking about you! Pull up a seat, Willow. We have lots to catch up on.’
Lucas stood back in shock as the two women settled down together. ‘Don’t mind me, I’ll make some coffee,’ he muttered before slinking out to the kitchen.
He had to leave the room before he snapped at his sister. Why did she have to say that about Willow being his first love?
And why did the truth hurt so badly, especially when it was something that could never be real?
When Lucas re-entered the small living space, the two women were locked in conversation. Mia was laughing,her dark hair dancing around her face. She had always reminded him of a pixie, quite small and fragile – but now with her much shorter hair and more refined features, she looked more elfin like. It took his breath away for a second how much she was the spitting image of their mother.
Mia caught his gaze and beckoned him over. ‘We were just talking about the town and how some things have changed and others have stayed very much the same.’
