Page 53 of Love, Maybe (baby?) (The Lucky Girls 2)

Noah takes out two bowls and pours granola in them. I scoop yogurt from the container with a spoon, and after digging in his pantry for a while, muttering about what he finds back there, Noah produces a jar of honey.

“It’s old, but honey doesn’t expire, right?”

I laugh and shake my head. “Some things last forever.”

He grins at me and spoons crystallized honey into the bowls. He pulls a face.

“Not as fancy as I would have liked it, but there you go.”

“It’s great, Noah,” I say with a giggle. “Sometimes, it’s the stuff that’s impromptu that really makes it.”

Noah nods, putting a spoonful in his mouth.

“This is amazing,” he says with a full mouth.

When I take a bite, I groan and agree.

“Best after-sex granola, ever.”

Noah chuckles and gestures with his head for me to follow him back to the bedroom.

When we sit in bed, eating our breakfast in the middle of the night, I look up to find Noah watching me.

“What?” I ask, feeling a little self-conscious.

“You’re beautiful,” he says. He touches my hair, running it through his fingers for a moment before he takes another bite of his food.

“Thanks.”

“Do you take after your mom or your dad?” Noah asks.

I glance at him. “My dad.”

“Well, he must have been a good-looking guy.”

I hesitate long enough that Noah looks worried. “Oh, God. He didn’t pass away, did he?”

“No,” I say and take another bite.

Noah looks relieved.

“But he did leave us when I was very young.”

Noah looks horrified again. “I’m sorry.”

I shrug. “It’s not that big a deal. I mean, I don’t know any different, right? I think it was harder on my mom than it was on me.”

“You said your parents live in Texas,” Noah says.

I nod. “My mom remarried shortly after I went to college. I’m glad for her. She didn’t stay behind all alone after I left, you know? And she’s really happy. Finn is good for her. I refer to them as my parents because it’s easier than saying calling him my stepdad all the time, but he’s not a father figure in my life.”

“I’m sorry,” Noah says.

I shake my head. “It’s really not that big a deal.”

“You’ve said that twice. Which makes me think it might be.”

Suddenly, I want to cry, and I have no good reason why something that happened to me when I was just a kid would bother me now.

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