Chapter 16 – Lilah
Chapter Sixteen
LILAH
“W here have you been?” Sierra says when I press the green button on the display center in the truck. “It feels like it’s been a month since I’ve spoken to you or have seen your face.”
I laugh at her dramatics. “It’s been a week, maybe even ten days at most.”
“It feels like eighty-four years,” she groans. “What’s been happening?”
I take a deep inhale. “I was dating someone,” I share, mentioning Caleb. Why? I don’t even know why. She gasps. “It’s already over.” I don’t go into detail because it’s not important. “Um, oh, and I made out with Emmett.”
“Um, excuse me?” Sierra says. “Emmett? The Emmett?” I roll my eyes. “The Emmett you’ve been in love with since, I don’t know, like your whole life.”
“It hasn’t been my whole life!” I shriek. “It’s been six years.”
“Okay, whatever. How was it? Tell me everything!”
“It was good.” I try to downplay it.
“You are a liar, liar, pants on fire.” She laughs. “It was good, my ass.”
“Okay, fine,” I admit, “it was the best kiss I’ve ever had in my whole fucking life. And now every single time I look at him, I want him to kiss me, but he’s an asshole, and he doesn’t want me like that, so I’ll just have to be happy he kissed me at least once and move on.”
“I’ve been telling you to move on for the past five years. Yet here you are.”
“I go on dates,” I defend myself. “I was dating, but?—”
“But he wasn’t Emmett,” she interrupts softly.
“But he wasn’t Emmett, and it wasn’t fair of me to string him along.” I pull up to the school, seeing the parking lot has been closed off for activities, so I end up parking almost two blocks over. I shut off the truck, putting my head back and closing my eyes. “Now I have to attend some fall barbecue thing, but tomorrow, when I wake up, I will call you. We can have a coffee date, and you can tell me all about the guy who ghosted you.”
“He didn’t ghost me,” she groans. “Maybe his cell service is bad.”
“For ten days?” It’s my turn to pick on her. “Think about another reason.”
“You too,” she snaps. “Now go and pine over your man. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“He’s not my man,” I retort, but she just hangs up on me, making me laugh.
Grabbing my purse and placing it across me, I tuck my keys in there and then my phone. The soft breeze makes the skirt I’m wearing flutter around my thighs. I look around to see if there is anyone I know as I walk down the street toward the school.
The second I step foot into the parking lot of the school, I see the first person I know. “Hey, Ms. Maddie.” I give her a hug. “How are you doing?”
“As good as ever,” she says even though she’s still recovering from the heart attack she had not too long ago.
“You look like you’re glowing.” I smile at her, and she looks over at her new husband, Oliver. “Marriage agrees with you.”
“Who knew?” She laughs as he pulls her to him and kisses her head.
“I knew,” he declares, looking down at her with the most loving smile and look I’ve ever seen. A look every single little girl secretly wishes she is going to get once she finds her prince.
“This looks like so much fun.” I look around to see tables of local crafts being sold. Off to the side, I see the food truck her daughter, Everleigh, started when the bakery burned down. “Oh, is Everleigh making her donuts?”
“Yes,” Ms. Maddie says, “but from the look of the line, she might be selling out faster than she thought.”
“Best donuts in town,” I remind her and touch her arm. “I’ll see you guys later.”
“We’ll be around with Saige. We are on babysitting duty while Everleigh tends to the truck, and Brock makes sure she’s okay.”
“Isn’t he a gentleman,” I say of Brock, who was more of a recluse than a gentleman until Everleigh returned to town, and they sparked up their romance again. Something everyone was watching but pretending they weren’t.
I zigzag through people who are gathered around the craft tables, heading to the fenced schoolyard that has kids running all around. My eyes scan all the faces to find the two I’ve secretly been looking for. A few more people stop me to say hello, a couple from the barn, and a couple I know from around town.
I make my way over to the side of the school when I feel eyes on me, and when I look over my shoulder, I see Emmett and Lucy walking toward me. Both sets of eyes are plastered on me, and the smile fills my face even before I can stop it. But as soon as they both see my smile, their own smiles fill their faces, and I would do anything to get them both to smile.
“Hey, you two.” I walk toward them, meeting them halfway. I try not to gawk at Emmett, who is wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt, and all I want to do is slide my hands under to feel him. The thought alone makes my stomach flutter, and other parts of me go to mush. “Are you excited?” I ask Lucy, who nods.
“We should eat,” Emmett suggests, looking down at Lucy. “You need to eat, and then we can do the activities.” He looks up at me. “Did you eat?” I shake my head, never thinking that we would be eating together. I thought I would come and hang with them for a bit but then go on my way. “So we need to eat first.”
“Okay.” Lucy nods and turns, and the three of us walk into the schoolyard and toward the smell of food.
“There is a line for the food.” I point at the line forming at the tables right in front of the two barbecues that are going with four people cooking on them.
“How about I get the food,” Emmett says, “and you two see if you can grab a spot to sit?” He looks around.
“Okay.” I hold out my hand for Lucy, and she slides hers into mine. “Let’s do this.”
We turn and look at the picnic tables, which are all taken, but then I see a basket of blankets on the side and spot a couple of families doing picnics on the grass. “How about we grab a blanket and set up our own picnic?” I ask, and she nods, walking over to the basket of blankets and grabbing one. “Now pick a spot,” I say, watching her go far right where not a lot of people are.
I reach for the blanket and open it on the grass. “Should you text your dad where we are?”
“I can go and tell him,” she answers and walks away from me.
“I’m going to watch you,” I say as my eyes never leave her back as she zigzags to him. Stopping at his side in line, she looks up at him, and then I see his eyes coming up to mine as she points at me. I lift my hand, and he nods at her. She turns and walks back toward me, his eyes never leaving her until she’s with me.
“This is so much fun,” I say, sitting on the blanket with my legs to the side. “Isn’t it fun?”
“Yeah,” she agrees, sitting down on the other side of me. “There are a lot of people.”
“Wait until the Christmas fair comes to town, and then we have the Santa Claus parade down Main Street.” I smile at her. “It’s my favorite time. What’s your favorite holiday?”
“Christmas,” she answers softly. “It was mine and my mom’s.”
I reach over and squeeze her hand in mine, and she gives me a small smile. “Okay, I got two of everything,” Emmett announces, holding two trays in his hands. “I didn’t know what you wanted.” I get on my knees to grab the tray from him, and his eyes go to me kneeling, and I can see his jaw getting tight.
“Are you okay?” I ask, taking the tray from him and slowly putting it on the middle of the blanket. I see he got two of everything: burgers, hot dogs, corn, fries, and chips. I reach up for the second tray, but he bends and places it in the middle, and I see it’s filled with water bottles and condiments. “Here are the napkins.” He pulls them out of his back pocket before sitting at the other end of the blanket. “What do you want to eat, Lucy?” he asks first, and I have to say he’s giving this his everything. He’s such a good dad even though I know he thinks he’s not doing that good of a job.
“Can I have a burger?” she asks, and he hands her a burger with a napkin.
“Do you want ketchup on it?” he asks, and she shakes her head at him. “What about you, Lilah?”
“I’ll have whatever you don’t want,” I tell him. “I’ll take the hot dog.” I pick up the hot dog and leave the burger for him.
The three of us eat together, and I do most of the talking while the father and daughter answer with one word. I get up when we are finished, and Emmett cleans up the blanket. As I’m going to fold it up, a family comes over and asks if they can have it.
We walk around the schoolyard, seeing the games being played. “Look, a dunking tank.” I point out to the side to see the older kids trying to get one of the teachers in the water. “We should get that for the barn,” I tease and look over at Emmett, “and you should sit down, and we should try to dunk you.” The idea makes Lucy laugh.
“You think you could actually knock me off?” He side-eyes me, and I shake my head.
“Nope,” I tell him, “but I have no problem with running and smacking that white bull’s-eye with my hand.” Lucy and I both laugh as he grumbles. “Are you going to show me what you’ve been working on?” I ask Lucy, who looks at me and nods. “Lead the way.” For the past week, she’s been coming into the barn after school and doing her homework beside me. I usually stay late doing my own things while she sits there. She’s starting to come out of her shell if only a bit, but it’s better than the way it started.
She pulls open the brown door. Emmett holds his hand up to secure the door, so I have to walk past him. I can smell his musky cologne, and all I want to do is plaster myself to him and get the smell on me. The T-shirt he kissed me in last week has been on my chair. His smell is almost gone, but the memories still lurk in my head. Which then, most nights, leads me to touching myself with his smell all around me. I look down at my feet to make sure no one sees my face turning beet red. It doesn’t help that we walk side by side, following Lucy down the corridor past the open doors and people walking in and out of them.
I spot a couple of the classrooms with fall decorations and some early Halloween decorations inside them when we finally get to Lucy’s classroom. “Here it is,” she says, walking into the dimly lit room, her teacher smiling at her when she spots her, and her smile gets bigger when she sees Emmett.
I almost roll my eyes at her. “Hello, Lucy,” she says, tucking her hair behind one ear. “Mr.,” she says shyly, “Emmett,” she corrects herself, then she looks at me. “Hi, I’m Ms. Summer.”
“I’m Lilah.” I hold up my hand, but then look back down at Lucy. “Okay, let me guess which one is yours.” I look around the room. The desks are lined up in three rows, and each desk has a different Halloween project on it. Some of the desks have Mason jars decorated and some have flowerpots planted, but then we get to the desk with what looks like branches all glued together with a hole in the middle and a cotton ball with a plastic spider in the center. “This is it.” I look at it and then look at Lucy, whose eyes go big. “This is yours.”
“How did you know?” she asks. I feel Emmett standing at my back, the heat from his body seeping into me.
“We walked in the forest the other day, and you stopped and collected a bunch of branches,” I remind her. “Never would I think you would do this.” I point at the desk and look over my shoulder at Emmett. “Isn’t it cool?”
“It is,” he agrees with me, then leans in even closer, his mouth coming to my ear, my pulse speeding up. “What is it?” I put my hand to my mouth to stop the laugh that wants to escape, and lucky for us, one of Lucy’s classmates comes in and calls her over. She walks to her, and the two of them walk out of the classroom, leaving us alone.
I turn my head to the side and come almost nose to nose with him. “It’s a…” I feel his hand go to my hip, the words escaping my mind. Everything escapes me when I feel his touch on me. “It’s a—” I lick my lips because my mouth is suddenly dry. His eyes lust over when I lick my lips, and I wonder if he’s feeling the effect of me like I feel about him. “It’s a spiderweb wreath,” I say with my voice cracking at the end, and I have to clear my throat.
“Huh,” he grunts and then looks at the desk but doesn’t move away from me. I grab the pencil on the desk with the sheet beside it and see three other people bid on it. I put my name down and place a bid of one hundred dollars before putting the pencil down. He lets go of my hip, but only to reach for the pencil beside me. Instead of going around me, he stays at my back, reaching around me. His other hand comes up to my side, his middle fingers touching the skin that is exposed from the T-shirt riding up on that side. I close my eyes for a second to get my bearings, and when I open them, he’s writing down his name and then placing a bid for five hundred dollars.
“Emmett,” I whisper-hiss at him when he finishes and tosses down the pencil. The hand at my side drops at the same time.
“I’m not going to be outbid,” he declares. I turn to face him but stop halfway when I realize we’ll lose that connection, so I stop with my shoulder in the middle of his chest. “That’s my daughter’s art.” He looks down at me. “It’s coming home with me.”
“My, my,” Ms. Summer says, coming to us and looking down at the sheet, “that’s very generous of you.”
“It is,” I agree with her. “I’m going to look around.” I avoid looking at the two of them before walking away from him. “I’ll see if I can find Lucy.” Walking away from him, I still feel his hand on my hip. I exit the classroom and turn right toward the darkness of the hallway instead of walking toward the light, needing a minute by myself. The yellow tape tells everyone they shouldn’t come down here, but I duck under it for a second.
Turning the corner away from the noise, I lean my back against the wall and close my eyes and put my head back on the concrete wall, trying to get my breathing under control, when I hear my name. “Lilah,” he says softly, stepping into the dark corridor with me, ducking under the same yellow tape, “what are you doing?”