Page 139 of Ruin
I consider telling him about Beth, but now isn’t the time. I’d rather talk about us first, and then I’ll tell him about her visiting. Or maybe I won’t. Maybe it’ll be her and I’s little secret. I don’t have secrets with people, and not that this is a big deal, but it kind of feels important. Special.
“I have chicken, or we can have breakfast.”
“Oh, you know I want pancakes.”
He chuckles, closing the fridge and pulling out the box from the cabinet. Together, we work on making pancakes. He mixes up the batter and starts cooking them while I pull out berries from his fridge to make a compote. I find cream on the top shelf, so when everything is almost done, I make fresh whipped cream.
When we’re finished eating, we go to the sun room, which is freshly painted with new furniture.
“This looks nice.”
“One room at a time,” he says.
We each take a chair, and then we talk.
We talk more than we ever had before, one conversation leading into another. I don’t hold anything back. I spill everything to him. I’ve never been so vulnerable in my life, but I’m on a roll and each word gets easier to say—the more I tell him, and the more he doesn’t judge me or complain or say anything bad, the more Iwantto say.
I can trust him. He isn’t my father or some other piece of shit I’ve dealt with over the years.
Lucian is a good man, and he’s mine.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Kolton
When our conversation dies down, we sit in silence for a while, looking out into the expansive yard and watching the birds fly by.
“There’s a woodpecker out there somewhere. Little shit wakes me up before sunrise.”
I chuckle. “How dare he.”
Lucian gets to his feet. “Come on. Let’s go grab some things so I can make you a proper dinner later. That is… if you’re staying?”
Of everything we talked about, we did not talk about that. If I was staying, and if so, for how long.
“I’d like to.”
He offers out his hand. “Then let’s go.”
We take Lucian’s car, and he drives toward the grocery store.
“I should talk to Kaison about taking his boat out,” I say.
“That would be nice.”
“We could go with him and Cora, maybe?”
Lucian smiles. “I think that would be even better.” He takes my hand, linking out fingers together. Such a simple gesture, but it feels so damn good. “He’s your brother, and he’s a good guy, Kolt. I’d love to see you two have a relationship.”
“We do.”
“A better one.”
“We could do better,” I comment. “Oh—Cora is pregnant.”
“What? No way.”
“Yep. It’s… a lot to think about.”
