Page 87 of Under My Skin
“Cool. I’ll see if Alex can lock up.”
“Mom and Elliot are invited too, but I think she might break up with him.”
“Okay . . .” My eyes drop to the tattoo stencil on her arm again in a feeble attempt to remind her why we’re here.
“I like Elliot.” Her lips fall into a slight frown. “He adores her.”
“That’s probably part of the problem.” Ever since the divorce, Lucy’s dad has only dated Greg. It took a few months for him tointroduce him to everyone, but as soon as that happened, Greg has been in the picture. Leslie, on the other hand, has dumped at least four guys in the past six months.
Lucy sighs. “I know. She can’t handle clingy men.”
“Can’t say I blame her.” Gesturing toward the stencil with the tattoo gun, I ask, “Ready?”
“Do you think your mom will want to come?”
Sighing, I lower my hand again. “Do you want me to ask her?” Lucy and I have made a point of going to my mom’s house once a week lately. It was hard at first, but it’s gotten easier. I have Lucy to thank for that—well, Lucy and Bill, my grief counselor.
“Yes.”
I wait for a beat before asking, “Anything else?”
She swallows and shakes her head, but she looks a little like she did before she got on my bike the first time. “Take a breath, Luce.”
She nods, this time her shoulders rising and falling as she breathes. “Okay.”
I lift my brows. “You good?”
Her lips pinch, and I sigh and sit up straight. “We don’t have to do this today. You can still think about it.”
She waves away my concern. “No, not that. I was just thinking about Simon’s apartment.”
I give her a leveling look. “What about Simon’s apartment?”
“His lease is up soon.”
I nod. I know where she’s going with this. She took over Simon’s guest room as soon as my apartment was done and has been living there ever since. “Yeah. He mentioned that.”
“He did?”
Setting down the tattoo gun on my tray, I say, “Yeah. I told him to look for a one bedroom since you’ll probably move in here.”
Her eyes jump to the staircase leading up to the apartment that she mostly decorated herself anyway. “You want me to move in here?”
“Of course I do.” Her eyes widen, and I quickly add, “You canlive with Simon another year if you want, but you practically live here already.”
She looks a little dazed, like she hadn’t thought about how much time she spends here until now. “Yeah, I do.”
I watch closely for her reaction. I planned on bringing up the topic of us living together in a couple of weeks when Simon got more serious about looking for a place, but I guess in the middle of the studio on a random Tuesday works, too.
She blinks, her thoughts seeming to clear. “We’re moving in together?”
I laugh. “If you want to.”
She beams, and my heart stutters at the sight. “Yes, I’d love that.”
I smile. “Good.”
These past six months I’ve felt better than I have in a long time. Even before losing my dad, I don’t think I felt this light. I don’t think I realized how much everything was weighing me down until Lucy.
