Page 105 of Insidious

His whole face brightens instantly.

“Yeah,” he says quickly, as if I may change my mind at any second. “Yeah. I’d love that.”

Then his expression falls.

“Damn. I should’ve asked you, not the other way around.”

“I have been a bit highhanded and made reservations for tomorrow. Manon is coming to babysit.”

That stops Isaac in his tracks.

“What?”

I shrug, trying very hard to act nonchalant.

“I spoke to Manon. She’s going to babysit.”

For a second, he just stares at me.

“My mum?”

The sheer disbelief in his voice almost makes me laugh.

“Yeah,” I say softly. “She’s your mum, Isaac.”

Relief trickles into his face. And then he smiles. It is so blinding that it catches me off guard, how handsome he looks.

“Thank you,” he says in a whisper.

The sincerity in it squeezes unexpectedly at my chest.

***

The conversation with Manon had been … awkward.

I stood in the kitchen, twisting the phone cord around my fingers while Amelie was having her bath upstairs.

“Hello, Luna.”

Her voice was cautious, like she thought I might hang up.

“Hi.”

An enormous pause followed while we played the who will blink first game.

Then—

“I owe you an apology.”

That’s Manon—straight to it. My grip tightened on the phone.

“For bringing Chloe into the delivery room,” she said in a rush, like she had practiced it a hundred times. “For not noticing how unwell you were. For … all of it. I am really, really sorry.” Emotion made her voice tremble slightly on the last words. “I should have protected you better. I should have been looking out for you. Instead …”

Manon is a proud woman. This must be hard for her.

I swallowed slowly past the lump in my throat before answering. “You didn’t know.”

“No,” she said softly. “But I should have. I put myself in your position and realized, I wouldn’t have liked that at all”