Page 69 of For the Love of Lily

“I don’t envy you,” she tucked my hair behind my ears. “Well, your ovaries maybe, not this.”

“Once I’m settled with one of them… we’ll look into it, Cassie,” I said as I hugged her tight. I hated her hurt, but I still wasn’t sure this would be a solution.

As Cassie scooped the girls up for their afternoon naps, I parcelled some remaining brownies up in beeswax wraps and took them with me to the granny flat.

I needed to speak to Luke, give him the same time I’d given Zack the previous night. My nerves were frayed as I waited for him to answer, all faith in my own thought process gone by this point.

“Lily? Is everything OK?” Luke sounded out of breath, and I instantly wondered what he was doing.

“Hi, I’m fine, I wanted to talk. Don’t worry if you’re busy.”

“No, I’m just out running. The bloody phone wouldn’t pick up, and I didn’t want to miss you,” he puffed. “Let me get my breath back.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry. Run here if you like? I wondered if you wanted to come over?”

“I definitely do. I need a shower though. Give me forty minutes?”

“No problem. Love you.”

“I love you too.”

I lay on the bed until I heard soft knocks at the door, and as I inched it open, I held a piece of brownie to my lips.

“Remember these?” I grinned as I nibbled at the crunchy edges.

“Well, that’s going to cancel out the run.” His laugh lit up his face. “You make these today?”

“Certainly did. Saved them just for you.”

“I would’ve run straight here if I’d known.” He pulled me into a delicious kiss. “Wasn’t expecting you to call, everything OK? This feels like we’re breaking the rules.”

“I think that you and I burned the rulebook a little while ago,” I said, as his face lit up with a sweet smile. “Being alone here is good in some ways, and I’m getting lots of thinking done. I remembered the night we burned them at your place, I love all our memories.”

“Come here.” Luke pulled me down onto the couch so that I was cuddled on his lap. I took a bite of a brownie, giggling as the crumbs fell down my top, and Luke scooped them up with his lips. Was it me or did these kisses get better and better? We were like hormonal teenagers, all over each other on the couch at a party.

I closed my eyes and leaned against Luke with a smug grin, so happy. “What did you want to talk about then?” he asked.

“Us really, past, present, future. What you feel, what you want.” I shrugged.

“Oh right, nothing major then?” he laughed “All I want is for you to be happy. If that makes me happy too, then I’ll be shouting from the rooftops with glee. But as long as you’re happy and safe… that’s the best I can hope for, I think.”

His eyes were heavy. I reached out and stroked his face. “You should put yourself first, you never do. I worry about you.”

“I’m never going to put pressure on you. The house hasn’t felt right without you, though. You say that I don’t put myself first, but I’m thinking purely selfish thoughts. Can’t help but wish you and Zack were not speaking. Then maybe you’d just stay with me forever.”

“Can you do something for me?”

“Anything,” Luke replied with confidence.

“If all the problems were gone, and you knew it was me and you, Luke and Lily forever, what would you see in our future?” I asked him.

He blew out a long breath. “I may have thought about this in miniscule detail, and I don’t want you to laugh at me.” God, he was adorable when he was nervous.

“I’d never, I promise. I’m just trying to get my head around two potential futures and which is right,” I replied.

“I think you’d move in with me straight away because we wouldn’t want to waste any more time being apart,” his eyes sparkled. “I don’t think you’d come back to work at the office, you’d take the opportunity to try something new. Something flexible, so you could come with me to travel. We could go around Europe together and visit all the romantic hotspots but go off the beaten track and live like locals as well.”

He placed a kiss on my lips before he continued. “I think we’d be in a rustic, remote village, with stalls selling handmade jewellery. I’d send you off to find coffee; I know you’d be grouchy without it. Then while you were gone, I’d buy a ring.” I bit my lip and hugged him.

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