Chapter 4 #3
They slowly stood, and he took her hand in his again, as if he did it every day.
“I’m going to leave the door open. Let them explore if they want,” he told her as they made their way through his bedroom.
“They might pee on your floor,” Devyn warned. She knew she should pull her hand from his, but she couldn’t bring herself to break their connection.
Lucky shrugged. “Then I’ll clean it up.”
Lord, the man was too good to be true.
“I’ll take them outside before we eat,” he told her. “I think Whiskers will be easy to potty train. She does everything Angel does. I’ll be the only guy with a cat who goes outside to use the bathroom. I might not need that litter box you bought me.”
Devyn laughed. “That would be amazing,” she told him.
“I taught one of the cats we had growing up to pee in the toilet,” he said as they headed down the stairs.
“Seriously?”
“Yup. It drove my mom crazy though because we had to leave the lids up so she could go. She would’ve preferred for the cat to use the litter box.” He squeezed her hand and pulled out a chair. “Have a seat. I’ll get us fixed up.”
“Can I do anything?” she asked.
“Nope. I’ve got this. Although…”
“Yeah?”
“Maybe you could put together the crate? And cut the tags off the toys and stuff?” Lucky asked.
Grateful to help, Devyn nodded and stood, heading for the bags they’d brought in earlier. They laughed and joked as she got to work and Lucky made them sandwiches.
Eventually, Devyn said, “Lucky?”
“Yeah?”
“I appreciate you being honest with me about talking to Grover about anything I might tell you, and about him telling you to get a pet so I’d feel obligated to come help you out.
When I was sick, a lot of people talked over me, or just outright lied to me.
They didn’t think I could handle knowing the truth about my treatments and stuff.
I think they got used to babying me, so they continued not telling me anything even after I got better. So…thank you.”
Lucky put down his spatula and came over to the table, where she’d sat after finishing the crate.
He crouched in front of her and put a hand on her knee.
“There will be things I can’t share with you.
Things about my job and what we do. But otherwise, I promise that I’ll do my best not to keep secrets from you.
“I want you to trust me, Devyn. To know that I have your back no matter what the situation. That might mean hearing some uncomfortable things from time to time—like me admitting that Grover’s idea about a pet had merit—but I’d rather be honest from the get-go than have you find out later that I’d lied to you or hidden the truth.
And besides, I know that Grover wouldn’t be able to keep his mouth shut.
Sooner or later, you’d hear about what he’d suggested.
And the last thing I wanted was for you to think I was being sneaky.
We’re adults, Dev. We need to talk about things that are bothering us, or things that might be scary. ”
Devyn’s heart was beating a million miles an hour. This was a hell of a serious conversation, and she hadn’t really meant for it to be as intense as it was. “You make it sound as if we’ll have lots of deep things to discuss in the future.”
“I hope we will,” Lucky said. “I want to get to know you better, Devyn. I want to go out with you. Date. And part of that is being honest. I’ve got flaws, more than I’m comfortable talking about right now when I’m trying to convince you to give me a shot.
” He grinned. “But you’ll learn them sooner or later.
I just want you to know that I’ll always be on your side.
If our getting to know each other turns into a relationship, you’ll come first. My relationship with your brother will change, which isn’t a bad thing.
We’ll always be like brothers, and I’ll always trust him with my life, but he won’t have the right to know every little thing the two of us talk about. ”
Devyn swallowed hard. She understood what he meant. At least she thought she did. As of now, anything she might tell him about what was going on with her and Spencer was fair game for him to pass on to Grover. But if they got serious, that would change.
She had no doubt if something really serious happened, like her cancer returned or her life was in danger, Lucky would tell Grover. But otherwise, if they were a couple, their personal lives were just that. Personal.
“I…” Devyn cleared her throat and tried again.
“I want to get to know you better too. And for the record, I don’t mind Grover knowing things about me or my life.
We’ve always been close. I just…I don’t want to be responsible for making the relationships between my siblings any harder than they already are. ”
Lucky picked up her hand and kissed the palm before squeezing her fingers. “They’re all adults. Anything that goes on between your brothers and sisters is between them. You aren’t eight years old anymore, Dev.”
“I know.”
And she did. Mostly. But she still felt an obligation to not rock the boat.
“So, you’ll go out with me?” Lucky asked with a smile.
“Yeah.”
One word. But it would change her life forever. She knew it.
For good or bad, she was going to go after what she’d wanted for months. The consequences might tear her apart emotionally, but she was so tired of doing what she thought was best for everyone else.
And the smile that crossed Lucky’s face was enough to make her push her other problems to the back of her mind.
“Good,” he said. “I’m gonna go get Angel and Whiskers and take them out. Then we can eat. Will you pour a bowl of food for each of them, and water too? I don’t know if they’ll eat, but I want to try to leave them down here while we have lunch.”
“Of course. I’ll also put the crate in the corner, where they can see us but feel safe in there at the same time.”
“Great idea. We’re a good team,” Lucky said.
He hesitated for a moment, as if he wanted to say something else, then he stood and headed for the stairs.
Devyn let out the breath she’d been holding. She wanted to confide in Lucky. Badly. But she couldn’t. Not yet.
Hopefully Spencer would get the message that she didn’t want to talk to him. That she couldn’t help him out anymore. He needed to help himself, and until he did that, he’d never get better. She just hoped he’d see that before it was too late.