Lex and Lu(47)

“Oh, he asked. I just avoided it. I didn’t want him to think it had anything to do with him, I guess.”

Willa digested that but didn’t say anything. “You think he would have thought that?” she asked.

Lu smiled. “This is Lex we are talking about.”

“True,” Willa said, returning her smile. Willa studied Lu for a moment. “You look better than you did earlier today,” she observed.

Lu didn’t say anything for a moment. Drinking some of her wine, she thought about her conversation with Jo, the time she’d spent with Nina. She no longer felt devastated, as she had after returning from the church. “Maybe what Pete said was true.”

When Willa and Sky looked at her questioningly, she said, “I feel less … weighed down. I’m not sure if that’s the right term, but I feel better that he knows. I’ve always wanted him to know. It was so unfair to both of them.”

“You forgive him for what happened at the church?” Willa pushed.

“Willa, there was nothing to forgive.”

“Why do you let him do that to you?”

“Will, I don’t see it like you. I’m not mad at him. I know you want me to be, but I’m not. It’s over. He knows about Nina, and what comes next is going to be dictated by him. However he wants to get to know her, I’m not going to fight him. He deserves that from me.”

Willa and Sky looked at each other. Sky nudged Willa to tell Lu with her look.

“He talked to me about what he wants. And maybe it won’t be as much of a shock to you as it was to me. At least that’s what it seems like right now.” Willa took a sip of her wine. She was pissed. Why was she more angry than Lu? Did she expect more from Lex than her sister did? Or was her anger all wrapped up with her feelings for Pete?

“Oh. Why didn’t he talk to me?” Lu asked, hurt despite the fact that she knew she shouldn’t be.

“He said he didn’t think he could be in the same room with you.”

“Ah. Wonder if that will ever change,” she said softly.

“I don’t think so. Not for a while at least,” Willa answered bluntly.

Lu knew she couldn’t blame him. Not after what she’d told him. This was the price and she’d be willing to pay it. If it seemed odd that he was willing to blame her and not even consider being upset with anyone else, she congratulated herself. This was the outcome she’d been working for so that he didn’t feel betrayed by everyone.

“So, what did he say,” Lu asked, bracing herself. She couldn’t even come up with a thought on how he would want to handle this.

“He wants you and Nina to move to England.”

Lu drew a deep breath. “You can’t be serious!”

“Oh, I’m completely serious. He said he would give you six months to work it out. His lawyers will help with the visa issue. He’d find a place for the two of you to live. In the meantime, he wanted joint custody. He seemed to know that joint custody would mean school holidays only. But once you moved there, you would be splitting weekends, weeknights, holidays.” Willa stopped, allowing all of this to sink in. “He wants the custody agreement worked out before you move there so that there is no ambiguity.” She put air quotes around ambiguity. “He had it all worked out in his head.”

Lu looked stricken again. “Shit,” she muttered. Grabbing her wine glass, she got up and walked to the window. Taking a sip of her wine, she thought about his request. Of course, after everything that had happened, it was more of a demand. Could they really move to England? Why would he want her close to him? Before she could even think about that, she realized that he didn’t want her close to him. He wanted Nina close to him and he would tolerate her to accomplish his goal. Moving didn’t really worry her. She needed time to complete her dissertation. But when she was done, she worried about finding a team to be able to continue her work.

“Lu,” Willa said, dragging her back to the conversation, “are you OK?”

Lu walked back and sat down on the floor.

“What are you thinking?” Sky asked.

“I’m thinking it could be worse.”

“Seriously?” Willa and Sky asked at the same time.

Lu looked at both of them. “Seriously.”

Incredulity reflected back at her from both sets of eyes. “Look, how else is he going to have access to Nina? It’s not ideal, but for the next year, I’ll be writing my dissertation anyway. I can do that from anywhere. My research is mostly complete. Besides, there are worse places to go. Dr. Ziegler was a Rhodes Scholar and I know he still has contacts there. If I need to come back to do some work, I can work that out.” She paused, looking at both of them. “Nina will adapt. She’s far more adaptable than we are.”