“That’s a great idea,” I told him. “You can choose therestaurant.”
“We could do this whenever you sell apainting,Mom.”
I laughed. “Not every time, but whenever I have a show,forsure.”
He hugged me again. He was getting so strong now. I swallowed. I hated seeing the changes in my baby, even though I enjoyed what an interesting kid he wasbecoming.
“Love you, sweetie.” I tucked the coversaroundhim.
“Love you too.” With his eyes closed, he looked like a younger Tristan. The one who hated going to bed because he feared he’d miss something, but then conked out almost as soon as his head hit thepillow.
Hannah was almost asleep. I kissed her forehead and told her I loved her too. Then I went to the kitchen to make myself some herbal tea. As I walked into the room, Leo was already there, getting a drink ofwater.
“Holy crap! What are you doing herealready?”
“Sorry, Jackie. I kept knocking and nobody answered. I didn’t want to ring the doorbell in case the kids were asleep. So I tried the door, and it was open. Should you be leaving the doorunlocked?”
“Probably not. But luckily, the way my heart is thumping now, I’ll be dead if it’s aburglar.”
“This is how we met,” he pointed out. “Except now it’s reversed. I scared you in yourkitchen.”
“Yeah, and I’m not wearing a towel.” I was still dressed up in the sparkly outfit I had on for the opening, except I’d shed the high ankleboots.
His gaze raked over me. “I wishyouwere…”
I ignored his suggestive look and put the kettle on. For some reason, Leo being here in my home, my safe place, felt like an invasion. While I’d been shocked and then happy to see him at the show, now I felt cautious. How many nights had I spent in this very room, cradling my cup of tea and wishing that he were here. Yet now that he was, I didn’t feel like I could trust him. As Sharon said, he couldn’t waltz in and expect things to magically go back to the way they were. Ugh. Conflicted didn’t even begin to explain myfeelings.
“I’m going to make some tea. Unless you wantabeer?”
He shook his head. Once the tea was ready, we sat across from each other in thelivingroom.
“How did the opening go?” Leo askedpolitely.
“Great! You started something, I sold five paintings altogether.” My mother ended up buying one. But best of all, three complete strangers bought paintings as well. To me, it was a huge thrill that someone bought a painting because they loved it and not because theylikedme.
“Congratulations,” he said with a smile. Leo’s natural expression was stern and wary, but his smile transformed him. I resisted an urge to touch the angular planes of the face I’d missed so much. Despite all my efforts, I still cared a lot. It was too hard to forget everything that Leo had beentome.
“Alors,it’s late, and I don’t wanna keep you up.” That slight French-Canadian accent once more twigged something inside me. Right from the beginning, the differentness of Leo was sofascinating.
His whole body trembled, like he was shaking something off. “I can see that things are going great for you, and I just got some goodnewstoo.”
“Whatisit?”
“Sophie is transferring with her hotel to work here. She and Wes are going to move to Vancouver by the end oftheyear.”
“Oh my gosh, that’s fantastic. You’ll get to see Charlotte allthetime.”
He nodded vigorously. “Yeah. I realized that if I wanted a true relationship with my daughter, I couldn’t keep seeing her only during the summers and holidays. You helped me to see that being a real parent means doing a lot of little things. You know, taking responsibility for the day-to-daystuff.”
“You can braid hair now,” Ipointedout.
The smile faded from his face. He leaned forward and I tensed, wary of what he was going to say next. He was so persuasive, but I couldn’t let him back in unless I could truly trust him.Your Jedi mind tricks are not going to work on me,Coach.
“When Sophie called to tell me, I was happy. But not as happy as I should have been. You know, I asked her to move here the day after you left. I figured that at least if I had my family—like you do—I would feel better. I promised Sophie that I’d stay in Vancouver for at least three seasons if theymovedhere.”
“Really? That’s newforyou.”
“What’s a season or two in a long-term career? Besides, I likeVancouver.”