Trenton reaches for a napkin and begins to nervously rip pieces from the corners of it. “Um … is he … um … here?”
“No.”
“Fuck,” he says tossing the torn napkin with a sigh. “I would have loved to meet him, you know?”
“I’d rather not upset him,” I reply, jutting my chin out.
Trenton sighs again and looks away for a moment. “Maybe we can have dinner tonight? The three of us?”
“Maybe. Listen, I have to go,” I say getting to my feet again. This time I’m walking out of here no matter what he has to say.
“Okay. Um, I’ll come back here later then. Say around eight?” he asks, looking into my eyes with so much hope that I could almost swear he’s about to burst from it.
“I’ll talk to him and see what he wants to do,” I promise softly.
Trenton nods as he gets to his feet, the smile still on his face, and uses a knuckle to wipe away a stray tear.
“If I don’t see you guys later, I … Goddamn, Taylee. It was good to see you again,” he says as he shakes his head thoughtfully.
I clasp my hands in front of me and look down at my feet. If what he says is true, if he really thought about me all of these years, then why the hell did he get married again? Why didn’t he look us up?
But the young girl in me that fell for the tall, dark, mysterious, semi-stranger is starting to come to the surface again. I lean over and give him a quick peck on the cheek before I turn around and run out of the restaurant.
And I don’t stop running until I get home again.
“It’s about time you got home.”
I raise an eyebrow at Luke who’s laying on the living room couch. I’m trying to catch my breath from my sprint and doing my best not to blurt out what just happened, but I’m honestly more disappointed in him for not being in his room where I sent him earlier.
“What are you doing out here?” I snap at him.
Luke chuckles as he swings his long legs off the couch, sits up, and runs a hand back through his hair.
Just like Trenton.
“I got bored in my room and I came out to see if you wanted to watch some T.V. and you were gone. That’s what I’m doing out here.”
I sigh and rub my face tiredly. I don’t want to argue with him now. Hell, I don’t even want to tell him who I just ran into, but it wouldn’t be fair to leave the choice out of his hands.
“You look wrecked, Mom,” he comments with a curious tone. “Want the couch? I can move over to the love seat.”
As he gets to his feet, I shake my head and walk over to take the empty spot next to him. Luke keeps his curious gaze on me because he can tell there’s something I need to say to him and once I’ve told him what I have to say, he’ll either laugh and walk away like he does with normal things, or he’ll go to his room and slam the door.
It’s always one of the two with him. Luke hates serious conversations almost as much as I hate to have them with him, however this is important.
For both of us.
“I went back to the diner,” I begin slowly.
“Mom, I’m not interested in that waitress, so I really hope you didn’t try something stupid,” he says, vehemently shaking his head.
“I ran into your dad,” I blurt out softly.
Luke blinks rapidly a few times before he slowly turns his gaze away from me, and moves further down the couch, trying to put a little more distance between us.
“Honey, he wants to meet you tonight,” I say, moving closer to him.
Luke gets to his feet and scoffs. He walks over to the living room window and pushes the blinds aside, gazing out into the mid-day sun. I can’t tell what he’s thinking, but I can feel his anger. It radiates from him like a nuclear shock and in a weird way, I can feel myself becoming angry for him too.