Page 129 of When the Stars Fall
“Your dad will always be there for you,” I assured him. “That won’t ever change. But your mom needs friends of her own too. And I’m her... special friend.”Special friend? I sounded like a douche. “So what do you say? Can we have fun at this party?”
He nodded and then he grinned and I let out a sigh of relief as I unclipped his seat belt. Then I texted Lila to let her know we’d arrived and we were standing outside the stone, terracotta-roofed winery that looked like a Tuscan villa.
I hadn’t seen Lila since six o’clock this morning when she left for work. She and Christy had designed all the floral arrangements for the weddings so the last time I saw her, nine hours ago, she was wearing jeans, a T-shirt, and no makeup, her hair in one of those messy buns.
But now... fuck me. She wore her hair half up, half down, waves falling over her bare shoulders. Her dress was midnight blue and strapless with a full skirt that stopped just below her knee. But damn, those shoes. Black strappy high-heeled sandals with thick ribbons that tied around her ankle. I wanted to untie them with my teeth.
When she spotted us, she paused on the verandah and put her hand over her mouth as I led Noah up the stairs to meet her.
“Oh my God, you look so... you both look... you’re gorgeous.” Her smile was aimed at both of us.
“And you look so fu-udging beautiful.” Good save. Remembering Noah, I’d caught myself just in time.
A laugh burst out of her. “Fudging beautiful?”
“Uh huh. It’s the sweeter version of ducking beautiful.”
“You look ducking beautiful, Mommy,” Noah piped up.
I laughed.
“Thank you, honey. But let’s not say ducking.”
“Okay.” He paused a beat. “You look fudging beautiful.”
That made me laugh harder. Lila elbowed me in the ribs. “Stop.”
Chapter Forty-Five
Lila
“Let’s say our goodbyes.”I grabbed Jude’s hand. “We need to get Noah and tell him it’s time to go.”
“No, we don’t.”
“Yes, we do. We don’t have to stay for this.”
“We’re staying.”
“Seriously, Jude. It’s been an amazing time. I don’t want to ruin it.” His jaw clenched. Clearly, I’d hit a nerve, but I wanted to end on a high note and I didn’t want to subject him to a firework display. “Let’s get Noah and—”
“He’s looking forward to this. It’s all he’s been talking about. We’re not going to disappoint him.”
“Are you going to be okay though?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m okay.”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“Lila. Stop. Noah wants to see the fireworks. We’re doing this.”
“You have nothing to prove to me.”
He exhaled a frustrated breath. I was annoying him with my protests but I wanted him to be absolutely sure that this was something he could handle. He didn’t have to be subjected to undue stress.
