“We’re….”
“You are acting weird,” Lola cuts in, probably sensing I was going to argue. “Both of you are. What’s going on?”
“I can’t tell you,” I say. “Not until Felix is here.”
“I think I know,” Lola says, still in that infuriatingly calm tone. “I think you and Dad are….”
The apartment buzzer cuts her off. It sounds way louder than it normally does, screeching through the apartment, through my head. The insane urge to make Felix go away comes to me.
“I guess that’s him,” Lola says with a shrug. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Lola….”
She ignores me as she spins, walking from the room.
I’m glad. I had no idea what I was going to say.
I step into the living room as Lola lets Felix in.
My nerves tighten as my gaze moves over him, his rolled-up sleeves, his tight forearms, those hands that were all over me not too long ago.
My body and instincts try to get me to run over to him, jump into his arms, and pulse against him how I did yesterday.
A glint of hope – Felix and Lola share a hug. Even if she suspects, which she clearly does, maybe it can work out.
Maybe.
Or am I reading too much into a simple embrace?
“Does anybody want a drink?” I ask, striding into the kitchen, mostly to give me a break from the thick-as-heck tension hanging in the air.
“Sure,” Lola replies. “Water’s fine.”
“I’ll take a water too,” Felix says dully.
I can hear the detachment in his voice, maybe his way of dealing with all the impending awkwardness.
Carrying three drinks into the living room on a tray, I place them down on the coffee table, wincing at the clink together. Lola and Felix are sitting on opposite sides of the coffee table, so I take the couch in the middle as though I’m the referee.
That doesn’t work. Felix wasn’t playing this game solo.
“What’s so important?” Lola asks after a sip of water, looking between us. “Dad?”
Felix swallows, his lips tight. His eyes are unusually emotional, and for a second, I think he’s going to roar just to relieve some of this pressure.
I feel the same.
“Faye and I are in a relationship,” Felix says, his voice steady. “I’d say we’re boyfriend and girlfriend, but it’s much more than that. We intend to get married one day and have a family. We’re serious.”
That’s enough, I almost yell.
Partly it’s because I’m not sure Lola’s ready to hear all of that in one big outpour. But it’s also because his words are making me want to go to him, hold him, lay my cheek against his chest and listen to his beating heart.
“Right,” Lola says, still giving little away.
If she’s shocked, she’s doing a great job at not showing it.
“Faye?” she asks.