Page 67 of Summoning my Grumpy Demon Boss

I sit and pull him into a hug that drags him down on top of me on the bed. “From now on. I promise. And whatever happens, we’ll get through it together, because I love you.”

He lifts up to stare down at me, and I see him swallow before he speaks. “You do?”

I nod. “I do. I know it’s soon and I don’t care. I love you. You don’t have to say it back, if you’re not ready.”

“Are you kidding me?” He drops his head for a moment to drink me in with a passionate kiss. “I love you, Mia. I know I said it before, or I tried to. That night on the beach ten years ago. You were it for me. I’ve never felt that way about another girl. And I never will.”

I hold him close, wrapping my arms and legs around him to squeeze him tight. “And you’re it for me, Lukvenar. So we’d better find a way for me to stay in Kraken Cove.”

We don’t even change the sheets. I’m not sure if Oliver is coming back to the apartment, or if he’s staying with friends or family. I don’t care. All I know is I’m so sure of what I’m doing for the first time in ages. I’m no longer second guessing my decisions.

TWENTY SEVEN

Luke

I assume Mia will want to go back to her place when we get to Kraken Cove, but she surprises me by asking if she can stay at mine. “Too many memories at my place.”

I pull her against me where I’m leaning back against my truck and kiss her slowly. “Some good ones, surely?”

She laughs against my lips and I just want to sink into more kisses, but we should get going.

“Yeah. Definitely some good ones, but at your place we can make all new memories. All good ones.”

Despite the fact we have to drive separate cars, I’m grinning when I get into the truck. I think I’ve always dreamed aboutmaking memories with Mia at the ramshackle old four-beddie I bought on a whim years ago. I’ve spent far too many hours imagining her sitting in the yard with her easel or curling up under a blanket with me in winter. Tucking our kids into bed—whoa, I probably need to slow down before I get carried away. Besides, the place needs work. I hope she doesn’t think too badly of me when she sees it. Somehow, though, I’m sure she won’t.

Mia’s plan is to go straight to the address she found in her father’s file and see if she can speak with Margaret, then head past Bambara Street to collect anything else she needs before joining me at mine.

I drive into town, heading for the Inlet Views. I’ve got some time to kill and I want to check on Mum and Dad since they’ll be back from Sydney today, too. I don’t even make it out of the car, though, before I know the news is going to be bad. When I stop the engine and fish my phone out of my pocket to text Mia and make sure she made it safe, there’s a message from Mum.

Mum: give me a call when you get this. We have the results of your dad’s test back.

A shadow passes across my vision when I read it as if I’ve sensed a shark swimming up above. If it was good news, she would have just written it in the text.

Striding from the truck, I’m through the front door and halfway down the ladder before the buzzer at reception finishes ringing.

“It’s Luke,” I call out as I sink below the surface of the water. Sound travels differently underwater, but we’re all sensitive tothe frequency of each other’s voices in this form. I know they’ll hear me.

The cave is cozy. There’s a hole in the ceiling where filtered light drifts through making the whole place feel warm in a way that’s at odds with the creeping sense of dread in my guts.

Mum is floating on the hammock Dad made for her. Dad’s bending over, tending to his plants, but he turns when I come in.

“Lukey.” Mum goes to get up, but I hurry over to give her a kiss.

“What is it? Don’t make me wait. Let’s just get it over with.”

Dad sighs and comes over to lay his hand on my shoulder. “Relax, Lukey. You want something to eat?”

I shake my head. “It’s bad isn’t it?”

Dad gathers a handful of weed and begins preparing a salad at the kitchen nook. He’s not making eye contact, so I know it’s bad.

“It’s cancer,” he says eventually.

“We don’t know that!” I glance around at Mum who has sat up in the hammock. Her face is drawn and her tentacles clutch the edges of the hammock tightly.

“Joanne, there’s no point beating around the reef.” Dad says. “The colonoscopy turned up some polyps and when they removed them for biopsy, it seems like there are malignant cells. The long and the short of it is, I have to go back to Sydney in two weeks for another procedure. This time it’ll be a surgery to remove part of my bowel and after that the doctor might want me to have chemotherapy as well.”

I suck in a breath through my teeth. This is exactly what I was dreading.

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