Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
Leo
The knock at the door has me setting the crochet needles aside, stopping the tutorial I’ve been streaming on my TV, and hurrying to the door.
I told Luna not to bother coming over.
I just wanted to make sure that Harper was good while I figured out how to make her see that I’m not going anywhere.
And all I’ve managed to come up with is that I need to give her time.
Time that I’m around.
Evidence that I’m not going to leave her.
But how long will it take for her to believe that?
“It doesn’t matter,” I mutter, shoving the doubts aside—that I can be enough for her, that I won’t turn shit toxic, that I can be better than my parents.
Because I have to be.
But can I be?
“Stop,” I hiss.
That’s the shit that got me here, the shit that’s hurt Harper at least twice.
It has to stop somewhere.
Growling, I shove a hand through my hair and wrench open the door, thinking I will not snarl at the uber pregnant lady.
Then freeze.
Because there is a pregnant lady on my porch—just not the one I expect.
“Harper?” I blurt.
Her eyes come to mine…then slide away. “Hey, I, um, sorry to come by unannounced.” Her gaze flicks behind me as though she expects someone to materialize in the hallway.
Then I realize, she probably does expect that.
Considering that not long after the last time we slept together, I’d jumped right into another woman’s arms.
“Want to come in?” I ask, stepping back.
“Oh, um. No.” She seems to shake herself. “I’m only here because you sent Luna—”
I wince. “I know that was probably overstepping, but what happened with us today, and, um, last night, was intense and I figured you needed some space from me and my assholeness.”
“Leo,” she begins.
“But I needed to make sure you were okay—”
“Leo.”
“I’m glad you’re here, though. Have you eaten? I can make you something—”
“Luna’s water broke!”
My mouth clamps together so quickly pain shoots through my jaw.
“I just didn’t know if you were waiting on her to call you or whatever, but I—” She hitches her thumb over her shoulder.
I reach behind me and grab my jacket off the hook, my keys and wallet from the table. My phone’s already in my pocket. “Let’s go.”
Her eyebrows drag together. “Wh-what?”
I nudge her back and step out onto the porch, closing the door behind me. “Time to go.”
“Go where?”
I take her hand, start guiding her to my car. “The hospital.”
“You’re coming to the hospital?”
I unlock the doors, help her into the passenger’s seat, then reach over and buckle her seatbelt. “Yeah.” I shrug. “Though I guess that depends on whether you know what hospital she’s at.”
A blink.
Another.
Then Harper names the hospital.
“Okay,” I say softly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “You eat?”
She nods. “Yeah.”
“Good.”
I want to say more, but neither of us are ready for that.
So, I just…drive us to the hospital.
“Thanks, Lainey,” I hear and sit up, shaking the sleep out of my brain and glancing at my watch.
We’ve been here a while, but that’s not a surprise.
These things take time—or at least, that’s what the books say.
Harper isn’t in the seat next to mine. She’s standing beside Faye and a woman with curly brown hair.
A little boy with identical brown curls is standing close to her, his arm wrapped around her thigh, and looking very shy.
She ruffles his hair as she continues to talk to the girls, and eventually he seems to lose interest in the conversation, slipping his arm from around her and wandering over to the table in front of me. It has a bucket of blocks and coloring books and crayons.
He pauses, glances up at me, his little eyes unsure.
“You want to play?” I ask.
A nod.
I nudge the basket toward him. “Have at it, bud.”
He nods again, starts to reach for the blocks then pauses, his eyes coming back to mine again.
My heart thumps hard against my rib cage. “Want to build together?”
He hesitates, gives a third nod, and I slide forward so I can kneel on the floor, reaching into the basket and pulling out a handful of blocks. “I’m going to build a super tall tower,” I say as I start stacking the colorful cubes.
He doesn’t move for a few moments, just watches me.
But eventually, he gets in on the fun, snagging a couple of blocks and starting to build his own tower.
“I’m Leo,” I say quietly.
“Ollie,” he says, so softly I have to strain to hear him over the din of the waiting room.
Except that Ollie sounds an awful lot like Awwie.
Which is fucking adorable.
“Nice to meet you.”
He nods a fourth time as he sets another block on top. “You too.” Which sounds like “Euw too.”
My lips twitch and I continue building, helping him when his tower gets too rickety and collapses. “It’s okay, bud. That happens.” I start snagging blocks from the floor. “And now we get to build something new.”
He’s quiet for a long moment. Then asks, “We?”
“Yeah, I think if we work together we can build something super cool.”
More quiet.
Then he silently places a block on top of mine.
I smother my smile and we keep building as I blatantly listen in to the conversation happening across the room.
“And how did you and Lainey meet?” Harper asks.
“We met online first and bonded over the books we love reading,” Faye says, smiling over at Lainey. “Then somehow we started talking to each other when we were stuck on our individual projects, and now”—her smile widens—“Lainey has decided to move here and buy my house when it’s finished.”
Lainey shakes her head but her expression is indulgent.
“I decided to move here because you’re here.
” A nudge of Faye’s shoulder. “Plus, you can’t beat the weather and…
and…” Her amusement fades and Faye reaches over, takes her hand.
“I guess Ollie and I were looking for a fresh start after…” She trails off.
“Lainey lost her husband not too long ago,” Faye says gently.
My stomach twists as I keep building the tower with the little boy beside me. Damn, but sometimes the world is really fucking unfair.
“My dad died,” Ollie whispers.
Fuck.
“I’m sorry, buddy. That must be really hard.”
A shrug. “I miss him. But Mom says he’s always with me.”
“Yeah?”
“Yup.” He carefully places another block on top of mine. “She says he’s in my smile and my eyes and my— my—” Ollie frowns. “My d-dementor.”
I try to puzzle that one out. “Your demeanor?”
He nods.
“You act like him.”
A proud incline of his head this time. “Yup.”
I smile as movement has me looking up, seeing that Lainey has come over, Faye and Harper behind her.
“That’s nice building, bub,” she says, ruffling Ollie’s curls again.
“It’s not a building. It’s a tower.” A beat. “For superheroes. Right, Leo?”
I grin. “Absolutely.”
“Well, consider me corrected.” Her eyes come to mine and she smiles. It’s beautiful—hell, she’s beautiful.
But the only woman every cell in my body is attuned to is Harper.
God, I’ve wasted a fuck-ton of time trying to fight my feelings for her.
“We need to head out, Ollie monster,” Lainey says. “It’s time for bed.”
He scowls but doesn’t otherwise voice his displeasure.
“Remember,” Faye says, “if it doesn’t work out at the apartment, you’re free to stay with Gray and me until my—your—house is done.”
“Have you forgotten that I haven’t agreed to buy your house yet?”
“You will,” Faye tells her, a hint of Luna Magic on her face.
Or maybe Luna Mischief.
“Because,” she adds, “if you do then we’ll get to be neighbors and plot all the books.”
Lainey shakes her head, but she’s laughing as she says, “This isn’t me agreeing.” A beat. “But I admit that would be a freaking blast.”
A tug at my pants has me looking down and accepting a block that Ollie solemnly passes me.
“Should I add it to the top?” I ask.
Another nod, albeit this one is determined.
Who knew I’d be able to understand a language made more of head tilts and less of words?
But I don’t focus on that or the fact that I’ve enjoyed these last few minutes with Ollie a whole freaking lot—
I place the block, hold my breath as the tower wavers, steadies…
Collapses.
“Sorry, bud. I broke it.”
He pats my arm comfortingly.
“That’s okay, Leo,” he lisps. “Now you get to build something new.”