Page 108 of Everything After

“We did,” she said, smiling. “He was kind to me when I first got here. Amanda, Neil and Will took me under their wing for a while.”

I stiffened at the mention of Will. Lily cocked her head to the side, then avoided my gaze. My eyes narrowed and I scrutinized her closer because I’d always suspected something went down between them, even if I’d never asked her about that

For a moment I wondered whether to ask Neil if he’d heard anything about them, and decided against that, because when it came down to it, I figured I’d rather remain in the dark.

“Yeah, Neil told me a bit about his ex,” Kara said, and placed a hand over Neil’s which rested next to the beer given him before I’d started cooking. The contact between them drew Neil’s gaze to their hands, but he made no attempt to pull it away.

“You two look like you’ve been getting along,” Lily suggested, nodding at how friendly they appeared.

“We’ve had a while to find common ground from our pasts, and she’s not hard to look at,” Neil suggested.

“I think there’s a compliment in there somewhere,” Kara replied, laughing.

“Oh, I got plenty of those, but I figured I’d hold something back for that date you agreed to go on with me next weekend,” Neil replied.

“Told you,” I said to Lily, waving a spatula between Kara and Neil, then turning my back to stir a pot of gravy.

“Told her what?” Kara asked with suspicious eyes.

“That you two were almost eye-fucking the minute you laid eyes on each other,” I said, looking over my shoulder at Kara.

Lily swatted my arm. I chuckled about the mischief I’d made.

“I wasn’t that crude,” I argued, biting back a smile and shaking my head. “I only said that you told me you were wet before you’d even spoken to Neil,” I clarified with Kara, for everyone else.

“Alfie!” Lily admonished. Her eyes widened horror, thinking I’d back track on what I’d said.

Kara held both hands up in surrender. “Well, I did…” she paused. “But not like that. I was only expressing how attractive you were,” she said, addressing Neil.

“Are we really having this conversation?” Lily muttered. She glanced at both of our guests, mortified.

“We’re all adults here. But I could tell them a few stories about you, if you want me to even the score.”

I saw the heat creep into Lily’s cheeks, and she shook her head. “Do that and you’ll be wearing that gravy,” she warned.

I chuckled and went back to stirring the pot. “Don’t you love it when adults have frank and open conversations?” I teased. “Lily, remember that time when…” I trailed off, pretending I was going to overshare something embarrassing about her.

“Alfie.” My name sounded like a question on her lips, but I figured she thought if I’d said something embarrassing about her, she’d have returned the favor.

“Only kidding, baby. I’ll leave the imagination up to them about our private bedroom kinks.”

“Great idea,” she gushed. “Or there may never be another opportunity to participate in them again.”

Chuckling, I went back to making dinner while Lily changed the subject and caught up with Neil’s assessment of the alumni reunion.

CHAPTER 59

ALFIE

When Neil, Kara and their girls left our home just after 9:00 p.m. that evening, Lily looked completely burned out. Although we’d had a relaxing evening after dinner, it was clear from Lily’s brooding expression that her mind had possibly reverted to her meeting with Saffy earlier in the day.

I was about to suggest a bath and an early night when her cell phone rang. From where she was sitting, Lily glanced around for her purse. Before she could get out of her comfortable chair, I picked it up, took her cell phone out and handed it to her.

“It’s Jack. Hi, Jack,” she said, smiling once she’d answered. She listened for a moment then sighed. “It went okay, I suppose.”

From that snippet of conversation, I figured he’d rung to support her after her meeting with Saffy, so I left them to talk and headed upstairs, where I filled the tub with warm water, plenty of bubbles and added a candle or two.

Lily surprised me when she appeared at the bathroom door. She yawned, stretched her arms above her head and then massaged her neck.