Chapter 32
32
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T ime is a funny thing. It moves quickly when you desperately want it to slow down, and it plods along when you desperately want to put distance between you and a certain moment.
For me, that certain moment was the night of his charity event.
A night of drunken messiness, as I called it the morning after.
It hurt to look at the flowers Leo had gotten me, and I hid in my room for most of the day before he came to find me. The troubled look on his face was one I couldn’t quite emotionally deal with, and it showed.
I wanted to ask him about therapy. And why he chose me, really. The real, honest reason. But those were all things I don’t think I was really ready to hear about, right? Things that I really couldn’t focus on.
I want to say I handled the situation with grace, but I didn’t.
For a week after, Leo would mope around the apartment, keeping to himself other than making breakfast in the morning when Elara was up early. The two of them carried on as if there was no tension at all.
But I couldn’t.
I know Leo. I know men. As much as I would be fine eventually, the feelings I’m starting to have for him scare me.
Four weeks go by slowly as the evenings grow darker and darker. I continue to answer Leo’s emails, cook his dinner before he’s home, and run errands for him. We’ve had minimal contact, and even though I’ve gone to a game since that night, I didn’t go down to the field with Isla.
Thankfully, the kiss made its way around socials as I knew it would, and in his publicist's words, we were set for at least a month. According to all the news outlets, we were very much in love and on our way to getting married and having babies of our own, not that they would ever really know.
“Mom, what are we doing for Halloween?” Elara asks, plopping down beside me on my bed.
“I’m not sure Bub, what do you want to do?”
“Well, Junie was saying that she and Mr. Gardner go trick-or-treating in their neighborhood, and she invited me to come along.”
I give her a sidelong look. “Does Mr. Gardner know this?”
She nods eagerly, and I remind myself to shoot Emmett a text to make sure she’s telling the truth.
“Then we can go, as long as it’s okay with him. What do you want to be?”
A week later, Elara and I are pulling up to Emmett’s large house in his fancy gated neighborhood. I help Elara climb out, ensuring her costume doesn’t get too wrinkled.
And she screams .
“Elara, someone’s going to think something is actually wrong.”
“Mom,” she takes off the hat covering her whole head. “That’s what he sounds like. I need to play the part.”
I sigh loudly, biting my lip as I gather her Halloween basket. Juniper is pushing open the door, a large smile on her face. She’s wearing a gold suit, her face painted gold.
Great. Because we need the two sassiest characters in Star Wars.
I’m halfway up the driveway when another car pulls up next to the Grand Wagoneer. A much louder, much fancier one. I turn to watch Leo stumble out the door, his large green ears making it difficult for him.
“What are you doing here?” I ask him, my eyes wide.
He looks down at himself, pulling a lightsaber—a very real looking lightsaber, like one he got custom made—from his brown robe. His entire face is painted green.
“Leo!” Elara calls from the door before shrieking. “I thought I told you to be Luke!”
He rolls his eyes. “Luke is too mainstream.”
“Did you plan this with my daughter?” I ask him, my jaw on the ground.
If there was one thing I was expecting the least, it’s this.
“Why are you dressed as an elf?”
He looks at me, shock plastered on his green face. “An elf? Please. That was last year. More respect, Yoda demands.”
I watch as he walks past me, and it takes me a second to pick my jaw back up.
“What are you supposed to be, anyways?”
I look down at my black outfit.
“Darth Vader?” I’m not sure why I say it like it’s a question, but I’m also not sure what’s going on here at all.
When I finally get inside, I’m greeted by Emmett’s large frame stuffed in a Wookie onesie, and I’m almost instantly overwhelmed by all the sounds happening at once. Between Elara’s screeching, Emmett’s Wookie sounds as he hugs Leo, and Leo speaking like Yoda, I feel like my head is about to explode.
“Okay! You guys ready to head out?” I ask, hopeful they’ll listen and go with the flow.
Thankfully, they do.
Heading out into the neighborhood, I stay with Leo and Emmett as the girls run up to different doors asking for candy, giggling and screeching as they run off.
It’s adorable, and I’m just really happy that Elara is making friends.
“Where is Elara going to school?” Emmett asks me suddenly. “Junie says she hasn’t seen her at hers.”
I wince. “She’s still going to school about thirty minutes away. Technically our address is still there. I didn’t want to have to move her so soon.”
“Well if you ever need an in for a great school, Junie has begged me to somehow get Elara in. I’m not sure how I control that, but it’s asked nearly nightly.”
His words warm my heart, and I spend a good ten minutes watching the girls with new eyes.
I can’t take this away from her.
Which is why things with Leo need to stay professional.
Professional, you hear me?
At the end of the night, one of Emmett’s neighbors comes out and asks if we all planned our outfits together. We did, apparently, but I was excluded from the chat. Apparently Elara had asked Leo the next morning after confirming plans with me, and told him he needed to choose between certain characters.
Then, Leo had talked to Emmett about what he was being.
Meanwhile, I was told what to dress as with no real say in the matter.
“You guys want a picture together?” the woman says, reaching for Leo’s phone. He hands it over, and we all stand next to each other, the girls in front of us. Elara puts her hat on to complete her look.
Later, when we’re all home, washed up, and in a candy coma, I scroll through my social media to find Leo had posted.
He had posted the photo of all of us, a small emoji over Juniper’s face. There was no need for one over Elara’s since you couldn’t see it.
My chest hurts as my heart pangs.
We almost look like a family.