He grunts and shoves another load of food into his mouth, his eyes no longer meeting mine, but I don’t miss the way his jaw is tight and his body has gone taut.
“Luc?”I ask when he doesn’t say anything.“Luc, will you look at me please?”My pulse is thumping now, my Spidey senses going into hyperdrive.“Luc?
He slowly lifts his eyes to meet mine.There’s no missing the conflict and confusion I see in them.“I guess you’ve got it all sorted then.”
“It is, but I still need your help, of course.I was kind of hoping you and the guys would help me move?There’s furniture there already, so it won’t take long.Maybe just one truck load?And then there’s the shopping that I’ll need to go do.I’ll need my guy to help me choose the right TV and gaming system, and all that other stuff for when he comes over for movie nights atmyplace.”
Finally I spot a spark in his expression and his shoulders relax a little.That’s something at least.
“OK.I guess I can do that.Wouldn’t want you to end up with a thirty-one-inch when my girl deserves atleasta sixty,” he says with a shrug, but I can see my suggestion has gonesomeway to smoothing out his mood.He nods down to my plate.“You better eat up before it gets cold.”
I lift my fork but I’m still confused about his reaction.He went from being all excited tonot.I thought he’d be happy I was being independent and capable, standing on my own two feet and making adult, grown-up decisions without any help from him or Dad or anyone else.
“Hey,” he says, breaking the weird silence that’s fallen between us.I lift my head and catch his soft, warm smile as he holds his glass in the air and nods down to my matching one.“My girl is moving out—”
“Again.”
A smirk moves his lips but I’m glued to his eyes, which are guarded.“Again.But even still, that deserves a toast, right?”He waits until I’ve raised my glass, mimicking his.“To new places andhopefullya new rank for me.If I can pass the test, that is.”
I tap my crystal glass to his with a clink and a huge, hopefully encouraging, grin.“You’re going to ace it, Luc.”
“You think so, do you?”
I scoff and roll my eyes.“Ofcourseyou’re going to.You’ve got me to help you study.There’s no way you can fail with me by your side.”
His eyes bore into mine for a spell, both of us looking at each other and not saying anything.If it were any man other than Luc, I’d swear we were having a moment.But since itisLuc, and there’s no ship to sail when it comes to me and him, I decide to wave it off with my default coping mechanism—sass.
“Well then.We better eat up so that I can quiz you before I make you sit through an ooey-gooey rom-com that I know you’ll hate but you’ll watch with me anyway.”
His lips curl up and he shoots me a wink, the serious mood thankfully broken.“It’s a hard job, Lonnie.But someone’s got to do it.”