I’m enjoying the moment so much that I don’t notice Tommy walking in.
“Everything okay in here?” he asks, leaning against the doorframe with a suspicious look on his face.
“Of course,” CeCe responds as if it’s a crazy question.
“Of course,” I mimic her, giving Tommy a look that I hope says I don’t have any idea, either, but let’s go with it.
He smiles and looks back and forth between the two of us, his eyes resting on the pitcher of lemonade and the grocery bag on the chair between us. “Did you guys go to Whole Foods?”
“I thought you . . .” I look from him to CeCe, who has suddenly stopped laughing. And just like that, the magic of the moment is gone.
Being a parent really sucks sometimes.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Alexis
Tommy, as usual, is the first one up. I find him in the piano room, working on the puzzle. They started from the top, CeCe’s choice, and the sky is beginning to come together. I can’t remember if the thin and wispy clouds are cumulous or whatever the other kind is, but it looks beautiful.
“Morning.” I give him a quick kiss before heading into the kitchen to get us both coffee.
“So what’s on tap for today?” I ask. We’ve been trying to tackle at least one item from his list every day, and as much as I resisted the idea at first, it’s been nice giving every day its own purpose.
“I was thinking maybe Big Kahuna’s,” Tommy says.
The mention of the water park down the street sends waves of worry through me. I shiver at the thought of Tommy there, carrying the portable oxygen concentrator he started bringing everywhere two days ago.
It’s almost to the point where even the walk up our stairs leaves him breathless, and I don’t see how he could manage to climb to the top of those towering slides. And knowing him, he wouldn’t be able to sit back and watch others have all the fun without him.
I bite my lip, trying to figure out how to be a voice of reason without crushing his spirit.
“The mini-golf part,” he says.
I exhale a sigh of relief. Mini golf we can handle.
“Are we going to make an exception on the grounding?” I ask.
“About that,” Tommy says.
“Were we too hard on her?” I ask.
“Probably not,” Tommy says. “But maybe we can let it slide this once? It might be selfish of me, but I don’t want to waste a day of the time we have left with CeCe being punished.”
“You are the least selfish person I know, Tommy Whistler.” I give him a kiss and watch as he focuses his attention on finding a puzzle piece that has a bird’s left wing on it.
Once he finds it and snaps the wing into place, he looks up with an expression I can’t quite read. “Speaking of being less selfish and more selfless, Monica called me this morning.”
The coffee I’d been drinking goes down the wrong way and I start coughing.
“Monica-Monica?” I ask, just to be sure.
“That Monica.”
My stomach turns at the thought of my worst fears being realized. I assumed there would be a run-in at some point, but I thought it would be more accidental, and I didn’t think it would happen this soon.
“What did she say?” I ask, trying and failing to sound casual.
“That it’s been a while.”
I snort. “That’s an understatement.”
“She heard what’s going on, from Brit, I’d guess,” he says. “She wants to come see me. To talk.”
“To talk?” I raise my eyebrow suspiciously. For what reason, I have no idea. Tommy has made it clear I have nothing to be worried about—but that’s easy to say when his ex is just an idea. But when he sees her again, with her jet-black hair, olive skin and almost translucent green eyes, making you wonder what cultures collided to create her, then it might be a different story.
I shiver at the thought. Monica would be a hard act to follow even for a woman who had high self-esteem and a positive body image.
“Of course, just to talk,” Tommy says. “If you aren’t comfortable with it, I’ll tell her not to come. I know I promised.”
I take another sip of my now cold coffee. He did promise. But I know I can’t and won’t stop him from talking to her. If nothing else, he deserves closure. There was a moment when she mattered to him, and if he can forgive her, then he’s