Still lost in her thoughts as she rolled Nina’s bag toward the door, Lu started when she heard the knock. Moving quickly to answer it, she was surprised to find Lex on the other side. He’d never picked Nina up before, as he always sent Mrs. Auberly.
“What are you doing here?” she said, perhaps a bit too zealousy. She felt awkward and then silly for her overly loud greeting.
“Hey,” Lex said, with a crooked smile. “I came to get Nina,” he told her as if this were a common occurrence. Closing the door behind himself, he leaned down to drop a kiss on top of her head. “How are you?”
Stuttering a bit from his presence and the familiarity of his greeting, Lu answered cautiously. “Um, I’m fine.”
Nina must have heard Lex’s voice, because she came bounding into the room and slid to a stop right in front of him. “Daddy!” she exclaimed. Lex scooped her up for an off-the-ground hug.
“Hey, Bit,” he said, borrowing Pete’s nickname for her. “Are you ready?”
“Yes. Mommy helped me pack everything.”
“Great.” Setting her on the ground, he leaned down so his face was level with hers. “Can you give your mom and me a couple of minutes to talk?”
“Sure,” she said and promptly bounded back toward her room.
“Runs everywhere, huh?” Lex commented.
“Yes.” Lu looked at him, tilting her head. “Remind you of anyone?”
“Nah,” he deadpanned.
“Yeah, right,” Lu said, earning herself a Lex Pellitteri grin, which made her stomach do funny things. “Can I get you something to drink?” she offered as she made her way over to the kitchen and pulled open the refrigerator door.
“No, I’m good.”
Closing the door, Lu leaned over and rested her elbows on the counter as Lex took a seat on the bar stool.
“I didn’t mean to catch you off guard,” he said, suddenly serious. “I’ve been kind of a dick.”
Lu’s brow furrowed. “What?”
“Sending someone else to get Nina for the past couple of months. That was a shit move and I apologize.”
Lu had no idea how to respond. She wanted to tell him that it was OK and that she understood. Because part of her felt relief that she didn’t have to see him on a twice-weekly basis. But the sincerity of his voice demanded a response.
“We’re all adjusting,” she said magnanimously.
He smirked. “Yes, we are. But I’ve chosen to make it more difficult.”
Lu didn’t say anything, just looked at him as the silence stretched between them. She didn’t have any desire to condemn him for any of his reactions. She briefly pictured Willa, in a devil suit sitting on her shoulder, nudging her with a pitchfork. Make him pay, she would say. But how could she do that when he’d been reacting to the situation that the people he loved most had choreographed?
He raised his eyebrow.
“What do you want me to say, Lex?”
“I want you to call a spade a spade.”
“What good does that do?”
“It might not do any good, but at least I’d know that you are being honest.”
Lu felt like he’d slapped her. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means that I can’t read you and that pretty much sucks.” He continued to hold her gaze, but all sense of play had dissipated in the air like a puddle in a desert.
Pushing up from the counter, Lu stepped back, leaning onto the counter opposite to have some distance. Crossing her arms over her chest, all of her defenses came up.
“Lex, are you trying to make me mad?”
Shaking his head, he said, “No. I’m not. Sorry. I wanted to apologize and somehow I think I’ve made it worse.”
“It’s fine. We’re good.”
Nodding his head, he got up from the stool and walked around the counter, seizing the space that she claimed. Standing in front of her, he asked, “Really? We’re good?”
“Yes,” she said, but she didn’t relax her position. His proximity made all of the muscles in her body tense, while other parts of her loosened. She felt uncomfortable, but she could articulate why.
He leaned back on the counter, giving her much-needed space, as if he could read her mind and knew what she needed.
“I have a proposition,” he said, as if she were stupid and he needed to talk slow.
Smirking and rolling her eyes, she said, “OK.”
He smiled that smile over her actions. Jelly, her insides were jelly.
“This is my first Christmas with Nina.”
“Yes, I know.”
“And I want to spend it with her.”
“And you are,” she said, slowly.