Page 38 of Doctor Holliday

“Flowers?” Kim asked. “That’s nice, Luce.”

“When you see each other all the time, and you come home looking like you do after your dates, then you can call him your boyfriend.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Lucy held her hands up, her mouth agape, as she stared at Callie.

“What’s she looking like, Cal? Like, are we talking walk-of-shame looks?”

“No!” Lucy yelped, but her laugh spoke volumes. She didn’t love being teased, and she felt too old to consider Keaton her boyfriend. And yet, here she was. “No walk-of-shame business. I have never spent the night with him.”

“Not yet.” Callie shrugged. “And you come home with messy hair. Lipstick gone?—”

“Callahan.” Lucy pointed a finger at her in warning.

“Call it what it is, Mom.”

“Kissing, Callie. He kisses me good night.”

“Oh, I know. I’ve seen that, Aunt Kim.”

“You two are impossible.” Lucy groaned and flipped the sandwiches.

“You’re in love with him,” Callie announced.

“Too soon for that.”

“Mom.”

Lucy jerked her gaze up from the sandwiches to meet Callie’s eyes. But Callie’s observation rattled her. She turned her back to her to get plates from the cabinet. She was just shy of forty. Was it too soon for love? Could she fall that quickly? Feel so much so soon?

“You’ve dated,” Callie started. “When you decided I was old enough to understand that my mom went out on dates now and then, you went out on dates. Right?”

“Mmm.” Lucy nodded. “Nothing?—”

“You had fun. There were some okay guys. Some nice-looking guys. But no one you talked about, outside of telling me you were having dinner with Jon. Or seeing a matinee with Alex. You talk about Keaton all the time.”

“No, I don’t.” Lucy rolled her eyes.

“Hear me out.” Callie shrugged. “I don’t mean you talk about him like a starstruck sixteen-year-old girl. I mean you talk to me, and Keaton is part of our lives now. You tell me that Keaton called about Ruby’s dance recital. You tell me Keaton read the latest David Baldacci book. You tell me about Keaton being frustrated with the Bruins. You’re not flirty and goofy about him.”

Lucy reached to remove one of the sandwiches from the skillet, but she froze, eyes locked with Callie’s.

“You talk to me like he’s part of us. Like he always has been.”

“Cal.” Lucy swallowed hard.

“On that note.” Kim’s voice startled Lucy. She had forgotten her sister was part of this conversation, that her sister hadinstigatedit. “I’m gonna let you go. And I’ll let Deanna know you’ll be bringing a guest.”

“Callie!” Lucy called. “I’m bring Cal?—”

She stopped talking when she saw the home screen pop up on her phone. For once, Kim had actually let her go when she said she was going to.

“It’s okay.” Callie spoke softly. “You know that, right?”

Maybe because her heart was in her throat and she couldn’t speak clearly, maybe because she had no idea what to say and needed a second to think—whatever the reason, Lucy pulled in a long, deep breath and held it for a moment, and finally, let it out slowly. In control.

Because right now, she didn’t feel in control of anything else.

“If you love him.” Callie quirked her eyebrows at her.