Page 134 of The Grand Duel
She nods. “Can I leave it with you? I can’t stop you visiting, and I wouldn’t. But I can’t keep wondering if you’re going to show up with a different answer each week. Especially when I somehow manage to convince myself it’s going to be different every time.”
“Sure,” I tell her, already knowing that I won’t be stopping.
She blows out a heavy breath, her shoulders sagging. And as heavy as the weight is on my chest, seeing it leave her makes it an easy one to carry.
“Did you go see Ave first?”
“Of course I did,” I tell her, and she chuckles, sitting up and out of my hold.
“I knew you had when the dogs came up here without you.” She wipes at her face, giving me a tentative smile as she only makes her smudged makeup worse. “She’s teething so badly. Iwanted to wake her up when I got home, but Nina said it took her over an hour to get her down.”
“She’s growing too fast. I swear Lowell kids are born different.”
“They are,” she agrees. “Ellis is talking so well already.”
“Yeah, that boy is going to be one of those who’s good at everything.”
She chuckles. “Mainly because his dad is a competitive, overdramatic fool.”
I don’t disagree.
“Why did you come out here tonight?” she asks, peering up at me. “You normally call on weekdays.”
“I got back from Italy this morning.” I shrug. “It’s been a few days. I just wanted to see Ellis and Ave.”
“How was Italy?”
“It was good.” My lip curls despite all I do to stop it.
“What even is that?”
“What?” I look at her and frown.
“Your smile. It looks painful.”
“I’m not smiling,” I say defensively.
“You were.” She looks me over, amusement lighting up her eyes. “Did something happen in Italy?”
“No,” I say, my poker face firm.
When she doesn’t say anything, I turn to look at her and find her waiting.
“You’ve got makeup all over your face.”
“What happened?”
I focus my attention on the lake, shaking my head at her. “Since when did you get so intuitive?”
“I didn’t. You’re just acting off.”
“By smiling?”
“It’s not your normal smile.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
She laughs lightly, and I can’t help but like the fact after how emotional she was just now. “What am I so intuitive about, Charlie?”