Page 84 of Riverside Reverie

Lux stepped out of my embrace and grabbed my hand before we walked up to the front door. She hesitated on the front porch for a moment before reaching out and ringing the doorbell.

Several seconds passed before the door opened, revealing a woman that I could only assume was Lux’s mom. She was gorgeous, and it was easy to tell where Lux got her delicate bone structure from. “You’re here!” the woman said, tugging Lux into a hug.

“Hi, Mom,” Lux said, hugging her back for a moment. She stepped back, angling her body toward me. “This is Theo. Theo, my mom.”

“Theo! It’s so nice to meet you,” Mom cooed, immediately pulling me in for a hug. “I can’t say we’ve heard much about you, since Lux has been keeping her phone calls home short and sweet, but we’re happy to have you joining us.”

She released me and stepped back, sending an impervious look to Lux, her words meant to be a dig at Lux’s distance.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Mrs. Kennish.” I said politely, biting my tongue on everything I wanted to say.

“Please, call me Diana. Mrs. Kennish makes me feel like my late mother-in-law, and I’m not nearly as stuffy as she was,” Lux’s mom—Diana, chuckled airily, standing aside to let us in.

I followed Lux inside to the grand foyer of their luxury home.

“Let’s take those coats,” she added, grabbing them off us and hanging them up in the front hall closet. “Can I get you both a drink? Theo, a whiskey?”

“Water’s good, thank you,” I replied.

“Are you sure? We have Glenfiddich 21 Year Gran Reserva, or—” Diana began.

“Water is fine, Mom,” Lux answered. “For both of us.”

“Alright, if you insist. Go on into the living room and I’ll be right there.” Diana gave us a tight smile before disappearing toward the back of the house. Lux took a deep breath.

I took the opportunity alone to tug her toward me, pressing a kiss to her forehead. She looked up at me with a thankful expression, and then led the way to the living room.

We heard their voices before we reached it, a man’s voice—Lux’s father, Mark Kennish—talking about the importance of a good, stable job. A couple sat on the couch, looking unimpressed and irritated.

“I have a job, Daddy,” she huffed, tilting her chin up.

“Social media influencing isn’t a real job, at least not when it doesn’t pay the bills and save for the future,” he said sternly, his gaze moving from her to the guy sitting beside her who looked like he’d rather be anywhere else. “And being a part-time student doesn’t pay the bills either, Scott. You guys have less than five months to figure things out. The clock is ticking.”

I knew Lux’s sister from her haughty posture, and the familial resemblance. Where Lux had red hair like her father, her sister had her mother’s fair hair and contemptuous expression. She was scowling at their father with her arms crossed, seething with anger, and didn’t realize we were in the doorway.

Awkwardly, we lingered, not wanting to interrupt their conversation. Lux’s ex/Brinley’s current boyfriend, Scott, noticed us first. He seemed to perk up when he caught sight of Lux, then deflated when he saw me beside her.

Lux’s father stopped talking when he followed Scott’s gaze and spotted us in the doorway, his expression softening when his eyes landed on his daughter.

“Lux, Theo! Glad you’re both here.” He stood up from his armchair with a grin, walking over to hug Lux.

“Hi, Dad,” Lux said, squeezing him back with more ease than she’d hugged her mother.

“How was the drive?” he asked, shaking my hand with an air of familiarity. We’d met briefly when he came out to visit Lux.

“It was good, a little bit of traffic, but the weather was okay,” I replied.

Brinley watched our exchange through narrowed, calculating eyes, her lips pursed in disdain. The jealousy rolling off her in waves was enough to floor me, although I didn’t show it. I’d been warned; I hadn’t expected it to be so obvious.

“We were sorry to miss you at Christmas, but I hear your sister was visiting from out of province?” Mark asked, sitting back down in his armchair, and picking up the tumbler of whiskey on the end table beside him.

“Yes, she was. She lives and works in Bonnyville, Alberta, and doesn’t get the chance to come home often,” I replied, sitting down beside Lux on the loveseat across from her sister and Scott.

“What does she do there?”

“She’s the manager of parks and recreation,” I answered politely. I could feel Brinley and Scott staring.

“That would be a fun line of work,” Mark said, his eyes twinkling. “And Lux tells us you’re an environmental geoscientist?”

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