Page 107 of Everything After

“I’m guessing this has something to do with Kara and Neil? Did you cancel on them to come pick me up?”

I chuckled. “No, they’re still at the house.”

Lily leaned forward to see my face better, her eyes wide in surprise. “Let me get this straight. You invited two people that don’t know each other to our home, then you left them there all alone?”

I chuckled, my grin widening. “Trust me, Lily. They’ll get to know each other much better with me out of the way for a while.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I kinda meddled, but only this much,” I said, gesturing with my thumb and forefinger an inch apart. “Oh, and I might have asked her a crude question.”

“Alfie! What did you say?” Lily’s frowny face stared back at me, making me laugh again.

“You should have seen Kara’s reaction to Neil when she first saw him. The woman’s ovaries might have taken a hit.”

Lily giggled and shook her head which then morphed into a nod. “Well, I can’t lie. Neil’s extremely hot-looking,” she replied, sounding amused.

“Yeah, so… I might have asked her if he made her wet.”

Lily’s jaw dropped like it had become unhinged. “You did what? Tell me you’re joking.”

“I didn’t set out to do it. I just opened my mouth and my question fell out.”

“Don’t think I can’t see that devilish grin on your face, Alfie Black. Why would you embarrass her like that?”

“She said something like ‘her lady parts were weeping’,” I said, changing course as we reached the edge of the water and flew along the coastline.

“So, I asked if she was telling me she was wet.” A giggle burst from Lily’s throat that was so sweet considering the topic of conversation, making me chuckle. “Anyway, both Neil and her had instant chemistry so I figured I’d bow out under the guise of picking you up and we can see what’s developed when we get back.”

“Now I’m curious,” Lily admitted. “Who would have thought you cared about other people’s love lives. You’re giving me second thoughts about going back to work and leaving you with this baby.”

“Baby, our kid will be my sole focus when he arrives. Meanwhile, when we get in there, watch their interactions and tell me if I’m wrong,” I stated. I turned off the engine and while we waited a few seconds for the rotors to fully stop, I helped Lily remove her headset, smoothed her hair down and cradled herface in my hands. “But before we go in, there’s something I want to arrange, Mrs. Black.”

“What?” she asked as our gaze became more intense the longer we stared each other out.

“You’re not working on the album next weekend, right?”

“No. The weekends are free. I don’t have anything scheduled on weekends for about three weeks.”

“Cool. Then I think we should take this ride, find a bolt hole and spend some quality time together before this baby gets in the middle of everything.”

Lily flashed me one of her coy smiles, the ones that always made my dick stir in interest. “Hm, what did you have in mind?”

“Ah, now that would be telling, but trust me, I’ve been googling, and I found something I think you’ll enjoy.”

“As long as it isn’t line dancing,” she quipped. I unbuckled my seatbelt, slid off my seat and jumped onto the ground. I jogged around to her side of the helicopter, unbuckled her seatbelt and lifted her down to the ground. “No, there might be some music and slow dancing involved but no line dancing… promise,” I said.

“Oh, in that case, I can’t wait.”

On arrival home, I volunteered to make dinner as everyone gathered around the breakfast bar while I cooked. At first Kara and I spoke about our pasts, how we’d initially met and although Lily had heard some of my history with Kara before, there were snippets of information about my family Lily hadn’t known.

“Your mom was an amazing singer,” Kara said, sharing her opinion. “She had a Karen Carpenter slash Alanis Morisette quality to her tone, depending on the song she sang.”

My heart squeezed tight with a sudden wave of emotion that swelled from my chest at Kara’s memory of the one woman, aside from Lily, I’d have laid my life down for.

For a moment my throat burned, and I became too choked to respond. Lily, sensing the shift in my mood, slid off her bar stool and came around my side of the kitchen counter. She wrapped a hand around my waist and laid her head on my shoulder, in a show of her comforting support. “You’re so lucky to have gotten to know Alfie’s mom, I wish I’d met both of his parents.”

“They were great people,” Kara confirmed again. “So, you and Neil went to college together, he’s told me,” she stated, which told me, she too had seen how mentioning my mom had affected me.