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He shrugs, taking a drink of his coffee. “We’ll find out.”
Annoyance bubbles under the surface at his ability to be so nonchalant about this. Of course he wouldn’t be concerned, because with his fucking luck he could just find another job by tomorrow if this one doesn’t work out.
But as I sit with this feeling for a moment, I don’t think it is annoyance… Because when I really think about it, I actually admire his ability to shrug it off and just do what’s right for him. The annoyance isn’t towards him… it’s towards me and my inability to shrug anything off.
“Drink up,” Luca says, pulling me from my thoughts. He pushes himself off the counter, grabbing his tie-dye sweats from the floor. “I’ll drive you to get your car.”
We finish our coffee and get dressed, heading out into the cool December morning air so he can drive me to the gym.
And as we pull into the parking lot, Max is getting out of his car.
Luca smiles as he parks beside my car, watching as Max eyes us. “Oh, the scandal.”
I shake my head, unbuckling my seatbelt and reaching for the door handle.
“Wait.”
I turn to face Luca, and he has a mischievous look on his face. I assume Max is still out there and can see us, as it would be completely fair for him to be wondering what the fuck this is.
But I don’t look away from Luca to check.
The corner of his mouth tilts up and my heart pounds against my ribs.
As his lips meet mine, I once again let go, and just let it happen.
And it feels good.
THIRTY-ONE
“Mr. Mitchell, Ethan threw his ball at me!”
Harper looks up at me with tears in her eyes.
“You are supposed to catch it! I had to throw it at you!” Ethan stares at Harper and then points at her, turning to me. “She didn’t catch it!”
“I couldn’t, you threw it too hard!” A tear runs down Harper’s cheek.
“Ok.” I take Harper’s hand and walk her over to Ethan, who is glaring at her. She holds onto my hand tight and leans against my arm.
“Ethan, can we try throwing the ball a little softer, so Harper has a chance to catch it?” I look down to Harper. She still has tears in her eyes, looking absolutely distraught over the situation. I crouch down to look her in the eye. “You know, we can’t always catch the ball, and that’s ok. Sometimes we miss, but then we have the chance to try again.”
She sniffles. “But it hit me.”
I nod. “Yeah, and that’s not fun. Are you ok?”
She nods, sniffling again.
“Good.” I smile at her. “You know what I do when I miss, or the ball hits me?”
“What?”
“Shake it off,” I sing and shimmy my shoulders, channeling my inner Taylor Swift. And I nailed it because Harper giggles and smiles. I smile back at her. “Your turn.”
She does an adorable little dance, singing, “Shake it off.”
“Amazing.” I smile and start to stand up, but she gives me a serious look, eyes roaming over my bruised face.
“Did you get hit by a ball too?”
