Page 65 of Since the Day We Wished

“Will you stay with me?” Emma’s hand reached out, grasping his.

Luke smiled, unable to resist her. “Of course. I’ll stay with you.”

Luke took off his shoes and Emma moved over in the bed to lie down next to her. She cuddled up to him as he put her arms around her, falling back asleep only moments later. Luke watched her for a long while, thinking about how lucky he was that he had met Emma. As he drifted off to sleep, he knew without a doubt that he had fallen in love with her.

The next morning, Luke woke up as sunlight filtered into the room through Emma’s curtains. He looked over and saw her sleeping peacefully. Easing himself out of bed, he grabbed his shoes and tiptoed out of the room. He’d have just enough time to get home before Jeremiah woke up, he thought. Hopefully, he wasn’t having an early day. Luke hadn’t received a text from Jeremiah, a sign that all was well, but still didn’t want to have to explain to him where he’d been all night.

Finding a pen and a pad of paper in the kitchen, he wrote a quick note to Emma telling her he had to go, and that he’d call her tonight. After making sure he wasn’t leaving anything behind, he walked out the front door and headed home.

As Luke drove back through the slumbering streets of Hadley Cove, a sense of solitude hung in the air. The only sign of life was at Phil’s Diner, where through the window he saw only one patron sitting at the counter. The man seemed to be at home in this tranquil corner of the world, as if he had found a sanctuary from the chaos of modern life. Luke hadn’t been through town this early before and its serenity felt like a rare gift, punctuated by the occasional chirping of birds and the gentle hum of the morning breeze. It was much different from life back in Chicago, which he did not miss at all. He was grateful for the small town’s charm and this unexpected moment of peace it had brought to his life.

After pulling into the driveway and gently shutting the car door, Luke snuck inside as quietly as possible and stepped inside, listening for any sound of movement throughout the house. There was nothing but silence. Exhaling a sigh of relief, he crept upstairs to his bedroom and closed the door, then walked into the bathroom and started the shower.

But as he dunked his head under the hot, streaming water, he heard a knock on his door.

“Dad! Dad, can you hear me?”

Luke hesitated before poking his head out from behind the curtain. Fearing Jeremiah may have heard him come in this morning, His mind raced to find a plausible excuse for being gone all night. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“I gotta leave for school and I need lunch money!”

“Sure, yeah. My wallet is on the bedside table. Take whatever you need from there.”

“Okay. Thanks, Dad.”

Chuckling to himself, Luke dunked his head under the steaming water again. If he had only arrived five minutes later, Jeremiah would’ve caught him. Next time he stayed at Emma’s house, he had to remember to set an alarm for much, much earlier.

After he finished showering, Luke stepped out into his room and got dressed, grabbing his phone from the bedside table. Opening it, he saw Emma had sent him a picture of the bracelet he had given her on her wrist with a smiley face emoji sent right after it. He messaged her back, telling her how good it looked on her, and put his phone back down next to his wallet. In curiosity, he flipped open the wallet and checked to see if Jeremiah had left him with any money after taking what he needed for lunch. Luke was surprised to only see five dollars missing, but he guessed that was all he needed.

Once he finished getting ready for the day, he headed downstairs and made some breakfast. He didn’t have any meetings today, so he decided he’d tackle a few projects around the house. Since they moved in, Luke had thought about repainting the dining room, but wasn’t sure which color yet. He wondered if he should ask Emma what she thinks would look good. It used to be her house, after all.

But as Luke started browsing through paint colors online, he ended up researching how to expand Emma’s business instead. Over the next few hours, he scanned through articles on small-business startups and took notes.

After putting together some ideas for Emma’s business, he took a break. Luke moved to the living room and sat down on the couch. He scrolled through his phone at the pictures of him and Emma, reminiscing about their love story. It was strange for him to think about how they’d met and how quickly he’d fallen for her. This morning he had felt like a teenager again, sneaking back into his house as if he’d been out late on a school night. While it was exhilarating, he knew he couldn’t do this forever, nor did he want to.

His thoughts drifted to how he’d break the news to Jeremiah on Sunday. Luke decided he didn’t want to leave it to chance and took some time mapping out the conversation. He’d done this many times in his career before pitching to future clients, and typically it worked out well.If you fail to plan, you plan to fail, he thought, hearing his Harvard professor’s voice echoing in his head.

Luke grabbed a pen and some paper, plotting out every possible scenario, including Jeremiah’s reactions, and how he’d respond. He rehearsed everything he’d say until it felt like second nature. Although some of the scenarios looked bleak, he felt better than he had before.

Even with all the prep he’d done, he knew the conversation wouldn’t be easy. But with all the progress he’d made with Jeremiah, a part of him thought his son would understand, if not now, then eventually.

As he shredded the paper with his notes, a weight was lifted off his shoulders, knowing from that point forward he wouldn’t have to hide his relationship with Emma anymore. He knew that no matter what happened, everything would work out in the end. And with that thought in mind, he went about his day with a renewed sense of hope and determination.

Chapter 31

Emma

“Alright guys, I’m going to hand out some practice worksheets for the chapter we went over. We’ll go over the answers once you’re finished.” Emma walked out from behind her desk and started passing out papers to the front of each row. She felt much more alert and refreshed today after getting the best sleep she’s had in months. She knew it wasn’t a good idea for Luke to stay over last night, given they still hadn’t told Jeremiah about them. But she was glad he did. Sleeping in his arms was her new favorite thing.

“Go ahead and pass them back, and you can begin now. This chapter is going to be on the test in a few weeks and it’s a tricky one, so it’s important that you all take your time on this.”

After making sure everyone had a worksheet, Emma moved back over to her desk. “Make sure you have your book open to page seventy-six so you can look back to the formulas we went over. And if you’re having any trouble, raise your hand and I’ll come over and help. Now, does anyone have questions?”

When Jeremiah’s hand shot up, she smiled and pointed to him.

“Yes, Jeremiah?”

“Well, I do have a question.” Jeremiah raised his voice. “But it’s not about the assignment. I just want to know how long you’ve been sleeping with my dad?”

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