“It’s cool.” Seth gestured to the box. “What’s that?”
“A box that a friend would very much like to see.”
“I’ll take it down for you,” Seth offered.
“Thanks, I’m going to see if I can track down Mother Superior,” Ember said before she started down the stairs.
Brandon walked up next to his friend and hissed, “I saw her first.”
“Based on what you told me, I doubt it matters.”
“Yeah, still.”
“You’re an idiot,” Seth said and laughed when his friend flipped him off.
Ember continued down the stairs and, though she was flattered that Brandon had a crush on her, she was going to have to be very careful not to lead him on.
Get both.”
Darcy turned to see Lucien holding a shopping basket. The sight of him doing something so routine had a strange effect on her: it made her sad. She glanced in his basket and spotted the pudding, which caused a smile even as her heart ached.
“Still like pudding, I see.”
If she wasn’t standing there watching him, she would never have believed that Lucien Black looked embarrassed, but he recovered quickly. “It’s an addiction.” In the week since her run-in with Kenneth, Lucien was in the office more, and they were definitely making progress in the friendship department. Trouble was, being near him again only reinforced what she already knew. She didn’t want to be just his friend.
In an attempt to ease the craving for something she couldn’t have, she stopped off at the grocery store on her way home from work. Ice cream was a poor substitute, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
And it was while she stood in front of the freezer, trying to decide between New York Super Fudge Chunk and Half Baked, that the voice of the man she was trying to forget had popped up behind her.
“Do you shop here often?” As soon as the words were out, she wanted to slam her head against the freezer, repeatedly. Now she was embarrassed for being so lame.
He seemed to sense what she was feeling and answered, “It’s convenient.”
“Shopping for one?” That was it. She was really on a roll of stupidity now.
Something flashed in his eyes before they drifted to her basket. “Yeah, same as you.”
He studied her for a few minutes, his thoughts his own, then he asked, “Have you had dinner?”
Nerves rippled down her spine as excitement made her heart beat faster. “No.”
He lifted his basket. “I won’t be able to eat all of this myself.”
The memory hit so hard that she felt tears burning the back of her eyes. She knew he was feeling it too because, though he looked unconcerned, she saw his jaw clench.
“You’re a terrible liar, but I’d love some.”
She watched as the weight he seemed to always carry simply dropped from his shoulders before he reached for her hand.
“I know the perfect place.”
They sat under a tree in the park eating a dinner that consisted entirely of chocolate pudding. Darcy licked the spoon before handing it back to Lucien. “Have you ever switched it up and gotten vanilla?”
The grin he gave her was so boyish that for a moment she saw him at sixteen doing exactly what he was now. “No.” When he offered her the spoon, she put up her hand.
“I couldn’t eat another spoonful.” She leaned back against the tree and watched him scrape the small cup to get every last bite. At that moment he reminded her so much of the boy she’d known, but he wasn’t that boy anymore. One glance at his clothes, which cost more than she made in a week, was proof of that.
“Are you happy?” It was a question she’d been wanting to ask him, but had never had the nerve. But the shared memory of the pudding and the reminder of how good it had been between them once had the words tumbling from her mouth. She tensed, prepared for the anger she knew had to be in him. He studied her for a minute and then took a few more moments to throw the cup in the bag they were using for trash. She assumed that this was his way of not answering her, but then his head lifted and his eyes met hers.
“Are you?”
She took a minute to think about it, since it wasn’t something she ever really delved into. “I’ve been content. Happy, I think, is too strong a word, but I haven’t been unhappy.”
“How’s your mom?”
Darcy rested her head against the tree to look up at