His brown eyes went wide. “That’s so cool! My mom can sew. She made my Halloween costume!”
“That’s awesome. What are you going to be?”
“A vampire. Mom made me a really cool cape. Do you want to see it?” He jumped up from his chair and ran to Luca. “Can we go get it?”
“After we finish up here, bud.”
Stomping his foot, Dante crossed his arms and glared at Luca. “But I want Sasha to see it!”
Standing up, I flanked Luca. “No worries, kiddo. I’ll be here all night. I’ll check it out after we finish the pumpkin.”
Looking between the two of us, Dante huffed out a breath. “Fine. But you’re sitting next to me.” He grabbed my hand and led me back to the table.
Pulling out the cleanest chair, Dante waited for me to sit, then tried to push it in.
“Let me help.” Luca effortlessly moved me closer to the table. He leaned down,placing another kiss on my cheek. “Thank you.”
I patted his hand on my shoulder. “No worries.”
* * *
AThanksgiving Dayflu kept me from dinner with my parents and them from meeting Luca for the first time. After four months of dating, I finally felt ready, but the bug of death decided the meeting was not meant to be.
Perhaps more disappointing than missing a delicious meal, it would be the first missed Thursday night since we started the tradition. I told him to stay away. He didn’t need to get sick.
Shuffling through my apartment to get another glass of water, I noticed Ashley had left her phone charger on the counter.She’d gone to dinner at Malcolm’s sister’s and stayed the night with him since I was ground zero for gross snotty illness.The front door opened, and I snatched up the charger cord. “You forget something,Ash?”
In the kitchen doorway, I ran into a hard chest.
“Luca! What are you doing here?”
He took a couple of steps toward the counter and put downseveralbags. As he removed his jacket and scarf, he gave me a once-over. “When Sasha Mitchell tells me she’s too sick for a sleepover, alarm bells go off. At first, I thought you might be trying to get out of me meeting your folks, but after Ashley texted me to check on you, I knew it was the real deal.”
Placing my hands on my hips, I tried my best to be indignant but failed.Lucawasn’t entirely off base. There had been some second thoughts about him meeting the entire family on Thanksgiving. I mean,who does that? It would’ve been better for him to meet my parents first, then the rest of thebizarroMitchell clan at a later date. Like, maybe never.
Before I could say anything, there was a tickle in my throat, and a coughing fit took over. In a flash, Luca was by my side,guiding me to the couch.
“Okay, Sash, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to sit here and watch one of your trash shows about tiaras or housewives, or murder, and I’m going toheatup some homemade chicken noodle soup for you. Then I’ll make you tea or whatever else you need.”
“That’s some queen shit.”I blew my nose, then tucked thetissuein my robe’s pocket.
Luca grinned and gave me a peck on the lips. He didn’t even cringe at being so close to my chapped nose and stale, sick breath. “I’ll be right back.”
I settled into the couch as Luca made a racket in my kitchen. In between the curses, I heard him questioningwhy I didn’t havenormalkitchen gear. After twenty minutes, he came in with a big, steaming bowl of soup.
“Well, I’m glad I made the soup at home. You only have one dull knife.”
Shrugging, I sat up to accommodate the delicious-looking soup. “I don’t cook, remember?”
He shook his head, gesturing back toward the kitchen. “But that kitchen’s just ridiculous. You don’t even have any soup spoons.”
I held up the large spoon. “What do you call this?”
“A serving spoon.” He deadpanned.
“It’s what I use for soup, so it’s a soup spoon.”
Ignoring Luca’s grumbling, I scooped up a big spoonful and slurped it down. Even with my sense of taste severely diminished, I could still tell it was top-shelf soup.I finished the chicken noodle magic in less time than was probably attractive and set the bowl on the coffee table. Luca settled down next to me with a cup of tea.