Page 112 of Scarred

“You look really good in my kitchen, little moon. Almost too good,” I say quietly against her skin.

“I like being here with you,” she smiles. “So how long have you lived here?”

“A little over two years,” I say, walking over to the wine I picked up the other day for her. “Scarlett was about six months old when we moved in.”

I uncork the bottle and let it breathe while I get two wine glasses down. I’m usually a beer and bourbon kind of guy, but I enjoy the occasional glass of red wine with a steak.

“So Mae is your mom’s mom or dad’s?” She asks, slicing into another potato.

“Actually, neither,” I say, pouring us a glass. “She’s Jules’s grandma on her mother’s side.”

“She’s not your relative?” I’m not surprised she’s shocked. Most people are when I tell them my late wife’s grandma lives with me.

“No. Not by blood, anyway.” I hand her the wine glass and lean against the counter next to her. “Jules and Mae were really close. She practically raised her. After she…after she passed, Mae was just as lost as I was.” I take a sip of wine and feel the heaviness settle in my chest as I remember those first few months.

“Jules was all Mae had left, and the only time I saw life come back into her eyes was when she was holding Scarlett,” I say softly. “I knew my parents couldn’t stay here and help me out forever, and I needed someone I trusted to care for Scar when I couldn’t be here.”

I stare out the window and watch the last light fade away over the Bayside skyline. People down below are busy walking the streets, and the traffic is in constant motion.

That’s the part that people don’t prepare you for when someone you love dies. Your world as you know it ends, but you wake up the next day, and nothing else has changed. Neighbors still walk down the street to their favorite coffee shop, laughter still surrounds you as people eat brunch with their friends…life still moves on around you, even when yours has stopped.

Clearing my throat, I give Luna a small smile.

“It was an easy decision to move Mae in when I got this place. We both needed to be somewhere new where the past wasn’t suffocating us. And Scarlett…”

I smile as her image appears in my mind. “I guess you can say, she saved us both.”

Luna’s green eyes swell with tears as she quickly swipes the back of her hand across them.

“I’ve got to stop making you cry,” I say with a sad laugh. “I don’t like seeing you upset. Especially because of me.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t help it,” she sniffs. “I just think it’s really beautiful that you two have each other.”

Pulling her to me, she welcomes the embrace as we hug each other tight.

“You’re pretty amazing, you know that?” She whispers against my chest. “Mae and Scarlett are lucky to have you.”

“If someone had told me three years ago that I would be standing here now…

Happy.

Smiling.

Cooking dinner with a beautiful woman…

I would never have believed it.”

I kiss the top of her head and hold her closer.

“You’re the amazing one, little moon.

And right now in this moment…

I feel like I’m the lucky one.”

THIRTY-FOUR

LUNA