Page 79 of My Lucky Charm

I hold up my hands as if to say Well? I’m waiting.

Celeste walks over to the wall of windows and looks out over the city. “Are you settling in?”

“It’s fine,” I say. “Can we skip to the part where you just tell me what’s going on?”

She turns a pained face at me. Maybe this is . . . something hard to tell me? What could it be?

“Scarlett told me about the game last night.”

“Celeste,” I say. “Why are you here?”

“Ted asked me to marry him.”

A long pause.

She faces me, and only now do I see the ring on her finger. “And I said yes.”

“Great,” I say, honestly. I’m relieved it wasn’t something medical. “Congratulations. But, that doesn’t really explain what you’re doing in Chicago.”

“Actually, it does,” she says with a heavy sigh. “He wants to elope.”

I watch her, knowing there’s more.

“And have a honeymoon all at the same time.”

My stomach drops as the picture comes into focus. “And he doesn’t want to take Scarlett.”

“I mean, would you want a ten-year-old on your honeymoon, Gray?”

“She’s almost eleven.” I fold my arms. “Does she know?” I ask, not liking the idea of this marriage or this trip making my kid feel like she’s in the way.

“She knows bits and pieces,” Celeste says. “But you know how she is.”

“Smart,” I say.

“So smart.” Celeste’s eyes get wide, as if to ask How did that happen? “I had to think of a way to make it clear to her that she’s not a pest.”

“Is this what it’s going to be like with him?” I ask, a bit brisk. “Does he know that the girl sitting in the other room probably eavesdropping on us is the most important thing in the world to you? And that you guys are a package deal?”

“It’s not that,” she says. “He loves Scarlett. I mean, everyone loves Scarlett. He just thought—and I agree—that it might be nice for us to have some time away. Just the two of us. And maybe it would help her get used to the idea of you living here instead of ten minutes away.”

I frown, trying not to let on that I hate—absolutely hate—not being ten minutes away.

“Okay, but what does she think about this?” Because that’s all I care about. Celeste and Ted can ride off into the sunset on a white horse and I don’t give a rip, unless it affects Scarlett.

“I think she’s happy to see you,” Celeste says. “But I don’t know about the rest of it. She’s not saying much.” She sighs. “Look, Gray. I know it’s selfish, but I never got to do anything like this. I was a mom before I was nineteen. And I know you were a dad, but Scarlett lived with me. And you were . . . gone.”

I start to protest, but she cuts me off.

“No, it’s fine, I understood what I was getting into. I never wanted to be the reason you didn’t go make all these big dreams come true. You were made for something great, and I just . . .” she trails off. “I just couldn’t follow. Not then.”

I look away. As if I could forget. Does Celeste remember that I asked her to marry me? That I was willing to step up and do the right thing? Never mind that she’d already moved on to a new guy when she found out she was pregnant. That it was obvious we didn’t love each other. That we’d only be getting married to raise our daughter, and while I was willing to do that, she wasn’t.

She said she wanted the fairytale.

I guess Ted is Prince Charming.

We agreed that we’d stay friends, no matter what, for Scarlett’s sake, but I won’t pretend this move away from my kid hasn’t been the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.

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