Page 18 of Happily Ever Never

I pressed my lips together, knowing that Luke wouldn’tnecessarily purposely try to pit the two against each other, but itcould happen. Leif was a permanent fixture in Luke’s life now. Mine, too, forthat matter.

It had dawned on me before, that because of Leif’s job andthe flexibility, they didn’t need me. They could have found a way to use thesupport system and daycare within the Montgomery world so they didn’t need ananny. They had everything they needed within their family. I was superfluous.Or at least that’s how it had felt at first. Though perhaps not completely. Iwas grateful that I had the relationship I did with Brooke, Leif, and Leif’sfamily. There had even been talk of me adding to my duties, and not just withLuke.

Sebastian needed help. We all knew that. He knew that. Fornow, his parents were doing all they could for him. The Montgomery family wasdoing their best, but he was still breaking inside and learning how to dealwith things. I wanted to reach out and help as much as I could. Brooke and Ihad even discussed how we could possibly blend the two duties.

I didn’t know if it would work out, but I knew the Montgomerys planned to broach the subject soon. And if Icould find a way, I would help out. If it couldn’t beme, then I would find someone else. Raising a kid on your own wasn’t easy inthe slightest. Raising one when you were still grieving and young and dealingwith the rest of the world at the same time? I wasn’t sure how I would do it.But Sebastian was strong, and he could figure it out.

“May?” Luke asked. I blinked, pulling myself out of mythoughts.

“Sorry, buddy. Having a weird day.”

“I have weird days, too. But Mom says all I need to do isfocus and try to think about what makes me happy.”

I smiled softly. “And what makes you happy, Luke?” I asked,smiling at one of my favorite people in the world.

“Triceratops!” he answered, and I laughed, handing over hisjuice box before we went through his spelling for the day.

He was still a little too young for full spelling lists, buthe enjoyed learning, so he was a little ahead of his schoolmates.

We cleaned up his homework and snack when Leif walked in,takeout in his hand, and a bag of groceries in his other arm. “Hey, May.”

I looked up at Brooke’s boyfriend and grinned. “Hi there. Itlooks like you couldn’t decide whether to cook or not after you did all yourshopping.”

He looked down at both bags and shook his head. “It’s been along day. I had to pick up a few things for the rest of the week, and no, Ididn’t feel like making dinner. Brooke had meetings all day, and I know she’s notgoing to be in the mood to cook when she gets home either.”

“You should have told me. I would’ve made a vegetablecasserole or something. I know we talked about it.”

“It’s not your job to cook for us every night. I know youlike to, but tonight was supposed to be my night. And I’m not in the mood. So,it’s fried chicken and other goodies.”

My stomach grumbled. “If I didn’t have dinner plans later, Iwould totally steal a chicken thigh.”

“Oh, yes. That was another reason Brooke wouldn’t let youcook tonight.”

“We’ll see. I think this date might be my last one.”

He blinked at me. “Are you serious?”

“Yep. I don’t want to do it anymore. So, this will be mylast try.”

The decision had been coming for a while. This would be thefinal date I set myself, despite the promise I had made to my father, and thefact that my family enjoyed setting me up on them. I didn’t want to do thisanymore. I didn’t want to try to find my happily ever after. All I found werehappily ever nevers, and that was all I would get.

Luke ran around me in circles as I took one of the bags fromLeif, and we all went into the kitchen.

“And then we met with the new librarian. And she hasdinosaur books for me,” Luke gushed.

I grinned as he went through his day with Leif as he hadwith me and watched as the man listened with such attention that I knew hewasn’t faking it to please Luke. He was actually interested.

Leif was already a wonderful father, even though ittechnically wasn’t legal.

I knew Brooke and Leif would make that happen one day, evenif they hadn’t told me. I just had a feeling. I might not be great with myrelationships or trying to figure out who people were and what they wanted, butI could tell with these two.

“Okay, I’m headed out. I’ll see you tomorrow?” I asked Luke.

“Yep. Mommy is taking me in because she doesn’t have to workuntil later.”

I grinned as he tried his best to go over what we hadalready discussed earlier. “You’ve got it.” I looked up at Leif. “I’ll pick himup from school, and then we have a few enrichment activities to go over.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He met my gaze. “My aunt and uncle aretalking with Sebastian tomorrow, by the way. We’ll see what they have to say. Iknow it will put more work on you, but thank you for offering.”