Page 67 of Second Chance for the Single Mom

“Read it to me!” Bran demanded from his bedroom. His voice was amplified and distorted through his cheap plastic toy.

“Only if you put your speaker away,” Lucas calmly told him.

“Okay.”

I followed the voices to Bran’s room, pausing outside the half-closed door to listen.

“There was a blue race car named Dash,” Lucas was reading. “Dash wasn’t the fastest car in the garage, but he had the biggest heart. Every year, the town held a Grand Prix. All the big, powerful cars lined up, their engines roaring like thunder.” He paused to makevroom vroomnoises. “Dash wanted to race more than anything, but the other cars laughed and said he was too small!”

“Oh no!” Bran said. He sounded sleepy.

“But Dash had a secret,” Lucas continued in a hushed voice. “He knew every twist and turn of the track better than anyone. When the race began, the big cars zoomed ahead, but they didn’t see the sharp curve! Dash was ready for it, and he hugged the turn perfectly, weaving past them one by one. With a final burst of speed, he crossed the finish line infirst place!”I heard paper rustle as a page was flipped. “The crowd cheered, and Dash was given the big trophy.” Another page turn. “And from that day on, everyone knew: being fast was good, but beingsmartwas how you won the race.”

I cocked my head, waiting for Bran’s reaction, but it never came. Confused, I leaned my head around the doorway. Bran was laying in bed, fast asleep. Lucas gently pulled the bedsheet over the boy, patted him on the chest, and whispered, “Sleep tight.”

Seeing Lucas taking care of my son—hisson—made my heart sing.

He stared down at Bran a few seconds longer, then turned to the door. He flinched when he saw me, then smiled. “I didn’t hear you come in,” he whispered while closing the bedroom door behind him.

“I just got home. What story were you reading him? I thought I had all his books memorized.”

“I wanted to get him a book about cars, so I stopped by the store on the way over yesterday. On his dresser is another story about a dump truck who gets a flat tire. How’s your sister?”

“Annoyed that they’re keeping her another night, but everything is fine. Lucas, I can’t thank you enough for helping while I was gone.”

“Glad I could help.”

We hugged, and then he was moving past me toward the door. I felt a tug of emotion—I didn’t want him to leave. Not without…

“Get dinner with me next week,” I blurted out.

He stopped with his hand on the doorknob. “Dinner?”

“As a thank-you for helping while I was out of town,” I explained. “My treat.”

Lucas smiled in the warmest, most genuine way. “I’d love that. It’s a date.”

34

Haley

It’s a date.

Lucas’s parting comment stayed with me all night, and then through the weekend. Sara came home from the hospital. Harper and I divided up the house chores so she could take it easy, per the doctor’s orders. We got groceries and meal-prepped enough food to last us two weeks, and then I took Bran to the zoo.

But despite all those distractions, I couldn’t stop thinking about what Lucas had said.

He wanted it to be a date. I wanted it to be a date, too. We were on the same page.

But it felt like a massive step forward.

Did that mean he wanted to have a relationship with me? Because that also meant being a father figure to Bran. I’m sure he’d considered that, but I knew I wouldn’t be comfortable with moving forward until I heard him say out loud that he understood.

There was also the bigger issue: the fact that I needed to tell him the truth. That was an even bigger priority than before, now that he’d spent time with Bran.

God, I felt so guilty about it now. Lucas had helped take care of Bran for two days without knowing the boy was his son. His flesh and blood.

“Did you have a good time with Lucas?” I asked him after an open house on Sunday.

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