Chapter Twenty-Nine
Vanessa
Just Like Heaven
The Cure
Snow falls from the sky the entire way to Luc and Lily’s house. The kind of slow December snowfall that turns Chicago quieter somehow, softening sharp edges beneath twinkling white Christmas lights while Hayden drives one-handed beside me out of the city.
He’s quieter than usual again today. He’s not closed off, but I can tell he’s tense, nervous.
I notice it in the little things he does.
The way his fingers flex once against the steering wheel at red lights.
How he checks twice to make sure I’m warm enough.
The way his eyes keep flicking toward me like he’s reassuring himself I’m still here.
And it occurs to me all at once that this is hard for him. Not the bringing me to brunch part, but the letting me into this part of his life. This is new for him. He’s never opened himself up to anyone else like this before.
I reach across the console and slide my hand into his. Hayden’s grip tightens without hesitation. His eyes flick toward me before softening around the edges. “Thank you.”
“For what?” I tilt my head as I stare over at him.
“For saying yes.” The honesty in it settles somewhere deep in my chest.
Luc and Lily’s house looks like something out of a Christmas movie. Warmth glows from every window, wreaths hang from every door, and bright colored holiday lights are strung across the entire roofline, sparkling as they blink.
Soft music drifts through the front door when Hayden opens it, and I barely make it two steps inside before sensation hits from every direction. I inhale and smell cinnamon, coffee and something buttery coming from what I assume is the direction of the kitchen. It smells like what a home should.
I follow Hayden into the kitchen, where standing in the middle of it all, is Lily. She’s tiny, with a heap of blonde hair piled in a messy bun on top of her head.
She’s wearing leggings and an oversized red sweater, stirring something on the stove with one hand, while holding a coffee mug in her other. My immediate thought is that she’s gorgeous.
Her face lights up with a huge smile when she sees us. “Finally,” she beams warmly. “I was starting to think Hayden made you up.”
“Lily,” Hayden mutters.
I laugh before I can help it, and just like that, some of the nervousness eases away. “I’m real,” I confirm with a soft smile.
“Well, hi. Welcome, Vanessa.” Lily motions toward Hayden. “Ignore him. He gets weird when he cares about people.”
Hayden lets out a loud huff beside me. “I’m standing right here.”
“What the hell took you so long? Forget how to drive in the snow?” Luc appears from the doorway carrying his own coffee mug, wearing black joggers and a Chicago Bears hoodie.
And wow, he’s even more gorgeous up close and personal.
His eyes captivate me in an instant and I can’t help but think that rockstar domesticity should not look this attractive on a man.
“Nice to see you,” he laughs easily before pulling Hayden into a quick one-armed hug.
Then his attention shifts toward me, his expression changing to one of welcome and warmth. “And you must be Vanessa.”
His face lights up with a huge smile. “So, you’re the one?”
“The one?” I echo back, not quite sure how to respond.
“The one to lock down this stubborn bastard.” He cocks his chin toward Hayden. “He’s got it bad for you.”
“Will you shut the hell up?” Hayden cuffs Luc on the back of the head. “You’re embarrassing me, man.”
Luc shoots a devilish smirk toward Hayden before turning his attention back to me. “Seriously, it’s really good to meet you.”
And just like that, I feel at home. Because I can tell he genuinely cares about Hayden and his happiness, and somehow that makes me instantly like him.
“You too.”
A second later, the patter of tiny feet run into the room, then freeze in place, a wide-eyed expression locking onto me as a tiny finger points directly at me.
“Mommy, it’s Ariel.”
The entire room goes quiet for half a second as every gaze in the room turns to look at me. I blink in confusion. “Excuse me?”
She continues to stares at me with absolute awe. “You have mermaid princess hair.”
A startled laugh bursts out of me in shock.
“Oh my God,” Lily mutters into her coffee. “Here we go.” She looks over at me with an apologetic shake of the head. “Larkin is in her Little Mermaid phase.” Then she turns to her daughter. “Larkin, this is Vanessa, Hayden’s friend.”
“No,” Larkin insists while still staring at me with eyes wide as saucers. “She’s Ariel.”
And before I can understand what’s happening, Larkin marches straight toward me with the confidence of a tiny but mighty queen. Hayden watches the entire thing with visible alarm. Which honestly only makes it harder not to laugh.
“Hi,” I greet her while crouching down to her level. “I’m Vanessa.”
“No.” Larkin shakes her head with force. “Ariel.”
“Ah, okay.” I shrug, because this little girl is so cute she can call me whatever she wants. I’m already smitten. Tiny hands reach for my hair, and I glance in question at Lily.
“She’s gentle,” She assures me with a grin. “Mostly.”
Larkin gathers a section of my hair between her little fingers, her mouth forming a small O like she’s discovered actual magic. “It’s sooooo pretty.”
My heart melts inside my chest and I know I’m gone for. “Thank you.”
“Can you sing too?”
Hayden chokes on his coffee behind me. Luc looks a little too delighted at my dilemma.
“Sort of,” I admit with a shrug.
Larkin gasps again. “Like Ariel?!”
“Maybe not quite that good.” I giggle.
“That’s okay.” She pats my arm in reassurance. “You can practice.”
I laugh so hard I almost lose my balance and fall on my butt. And somewhere behind me, Hayden goes very, very quiet as he stares down at me.
An hour later, I’m sitting cross-legged on Luc and Lily’s living room floor, the Little Mermaid on the huge flat-screen television, while Larkin sings and dances to every song. She pauses every now and then to brush my hair away from my shoulders like she’s afraid it might disappear.
“Well, aren’t you popular?” Hayden jokes as he hands me a fresh mimosa. I lift my gaze to his, and for one suspended second, the expression on his face steals the air from my lungs.
He’s looking at me like I’m something fragile and miraculous all at once. Something almost unbearably emotional in the depth of it that it makes my stomach flip. “What is it?” I ask so only he can hear.
Hayden blinks once like he didn’t realize he’d been staring. “It’s nothing.”
Lie. Luc notices it too. Of course he notices. A knowing smirk touches his mouth before he disappears back into the kitchen.
“You’re missing the mean octopus lady’s song,” Larkin informs me, her little hands bunching into fists as she plants them on her hips.
“I’m listening,” I turn my attention back to her, one of her hands finding its way back to my hair again as tiny fingers stroke my locks.
Larkin sighs. “I wish I had hair like you and Ariel.”
I hear Hayden and Luc laughing from the kitchen and it fills me with something I didn’t know was missing from my soul. Lily plops down on the rug next to me, a mimosa now in hand instead of coffee, bumping her shoulder against mine. “Thanks for humoring her.”
“Are you kidding? I love having my very own fan club.” I giggle around the champagne flute as I take a sip of my drink. And something inside my chest squeezes painfully tight because this is what I wanted. This part of his life. The people, the warmth, the messy and beautiful connections.
Hayden walks in a second later and catches my eye from across the room. And this time when he smiles at me there are no walls anymore. I only have a second to absorb the realization when the front door swings open without warning.
“We come bearing expensive champagne!” Mikey’s voice crashes through the house like chaos seconds before he appears carrying two big bottles of Dom, Quinn following behind him laughing.
Hayden closes his eyes immediately and shakes his head.
“Did you know they were coming?” I ask Lily, whispering louder than I realize.
“Luc absolutely texted him.” She shakes her head with an eye roll.
“Damn right I did,” Luc calls from the kitchen.
Mikey spots me sitting on the floor beside Larkin and his grin turns almost feral. “Well, this explains a lot.”
“Mikey,” Hayden warns.
“What?” Mikey shrugs feigning innocence. “I haven’t even said anything yet.”
Quinn appears beside me a second later holding her own glass of champagne. “Hope you don’t mind us crashing the party,” she smiles down at me. “I’m Quinn.”
“Vanessa.”
“I know.” Her smile turns sly as she glances toward Hayden. “We’ve all been dying to meet you, but that one over there doesn’t like to share.”
“Quinn.” Hayden groans in embarrassment.
She ignores him completely. And as laughter fills the room around us, while snow falls softly outside, and Larkin climbs into my lap like she belongs there, I realize Hayden has given me everything I asked for and more.