I stood suddenly. “I need some time to think about this.”
Chelsea didn’t get up or try to stop me. She just nodded, hanging her head. “I understand.”
I handed her the hotel key. “I’ll have plane tickets sent to your room tomorrow morning.”
She looked like she wanted to ask about a dozen questions, but all she did was nod again.
Fuck.
I didn’t know how to feel. I really didn’t.28ChelseaLuna hummed as she showed me how she learned to pour her own bowl of cereal while I was gone for the weekend. It was Monday morning. Birds were chirping outside, the sun was shining, and I needed to be at the office in a little less than an hour. I also hadn’t heard a word from Damon since our conversation in Savannah, and I’d kept myself up at night worrying he was meeting with teams of lawyers to figure out how to take custody of Luna from me.
Except, I knew that was crazy.
Maybe I’d only really known him for a week, but it felt like more. And I couldn’t truly make myself believe Damon would do something like that. If I did, I knew I wouldn’t have ever told him the truth, no matter how wrong it might’ve been.
I was stirred from my thoughts when Luna lifted up a milk carton the size of her head. Her eyes were barely over the counter as she stood on her little pink kitty stool and tried to aim the milk into her bowl.
“Oh—” I said, half-reaching for her. “Do you want me to help you?”
Luna grunted with effort, then sloshed about half a gallon of milk in the bowl. It splashed over the side and dripped from the counter to the floor. Unbothered, she set the milk back down with determination in her eyes and her tongue sticking out. She screwed the cap on—which made her shoot me a smug little grin—then scooted it out of her way.
Next, she poured cereal into the bowl until it created a floating mountain of multi-colored sugar balls.
She spread her hands. “Tada!”
“Wow,” I said. “That’s really impressive. I guess I don’t need to help you make your breakfast anymore, huh?” So long as that big money from Rose Athletic actually hits my account this Friday. Otherwise, Luna would run through a month’s worth of milk money in three days with pouring skills like that.
There was a knock at the door. My heart sped up. Had Damon come? Was he going to take Luna away? Did he just want to see her?
I pulled open the door and saw Milly. She was already dressed in her tennis skirt and visor, presumably for a morning training session she was on the way to.
“Oh, it’s you,” I said.
“Nice to see you too.” Milly let herself in and set her bag on my coffee table. “I want to know how your weekend went.”
Considering the size of my apartment, we’d both gotten used to having our conversations in front of Luna. Thankfully, she was still just young enough to only pick up on bits and pieces, and we didn’t need to be too careful.
“I told him,” I said.
Milly didn’t say anything at first, then her eyes went wide. “You told him. Like… you told him, told him?”
“Yeah.”
“Did he murder you?”
“Unless this is hell, no. Because I don’t think there would be Mondays in Heaven.”
She slumped back in the chair. “Wow. What made you do that? I mean, what about all the things you were worried about before?”
“Do what?” Luna paused with one of the paper dolls I’d made in her hand. “Who is him?”
“Nothing sweetie. We need to go soon though, why don’t you go use the bathroom before we head out.”
“Okie dokie.” Luna hopped down from her chair and headed to the restroom.
I chewed the inside of my mouth. “We might’ve slept together, too.”
Milly made a silent “O” with her mouth. “Girl. You were with the man for two days. Did you also propose?”
“No. But I think I was wrong about him. And I suddenly felt like the shittiest person on Earth for not telling him the truth earlier. I had to.”
“Well, what now?”
“Now I show up to work and hope he doesn’t toss me out the window.”
“Well, what did he say after you told him?”
“Nothing. He just walked off and had plane tickets sent to my room. He hasn’t texted, called, or anything.”
“Hmm.” Milly popped up from the couch. “You’ll figure something out. You always do.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s not super helpful.”
“Is that what you wanted? Practical advice? Because my philosophy is to let my friends vent when they have problems, not give them solutions they’ll ignore.”
I groaned. “If you’ve got a solution, I’m all ears.”
“You kind of are…” Milly reached for my ear and tugged it. “I’ve never noticed how big they are.”