“She and Alex invited me,” Lou says, nodding, and I feel a spurt of annoyance, but then he adds, “but I’m not going to go. I’m not good company right now. Obviously. I’ll see them before they leave.”
Kennedy’s expression says she’s intrigued, but I couldn’t care less what secrets this guy has tucked up his sleeve. I’m thinking about Jay…about what I came here to say to him. I’m thinking about forgiveness and the promises it holds.
I take her hand and squeeze it, then nod to the temporary addition to the household. “Thanks for letting us in. Merry Christmas.”
“Is there anything merry about it?” he asks with a laugh, and it strikes me that he’s slightly drunk. At ten a.m.
He walks off, and Kennedy and I exchange a look as I close the door behind me. “Something’s going on with him,” she says. “Poor guy. We should ask Willow what she knows.”
“You’re right,” I say, leading her into the living room. Jay’s been in this place ever since he and my mom divorced. I’ve only been here a few times, but they were memorable enough. “I’vemeant to, but I’ve been otherwise engaged. He’s shady, if you ask me.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” Her gaze is shrewd. “You have a bad impression of him, but it’s not because you thought he was rude about those papers.”
“I noticed the way he was looking at Ivy,” I admit. “I could tell he liked what he saw.”
She smiles at me, her eyes as warm as lake water at the peak of summer. “You sound like Zach.”
“I’ll have you know that I offered to let Zach punch me, and he turned me down.”
Her smile widens. “Of course he did. You’d have obliterated him.”
“Nah,” I say, reaching down to scratch Jester’s head. He snorts and leans into it. I’m so damn happy that he’s alive that his snorts are music to my ears. “I would have let him get one in for free.”
“You’re such a guy,” she says, scrunching her nose. Truthfully, though, she doesn’t seem too upset by it.
“Does this mean I’m a gentleman, after all?”
“Yeah, I think maybe it does.” She takes my arm, hooking hers through it. “Now, are you ready,sir?”
I give her a look, soaking in this woman who wasn’t supposed to be mine—this woman who has changed everything for me. I was so sure that I wanted to be the last man standing, alone, while everyone else found a partner, but it turns out that was another thing I was being bull-headed about. “Yeah, I think maybe I am.”
Because, with her, I’m ready to face anything.