Page 3 of House of Payne

“Your dad can go a week without you.”

I don’t get the chance to respond before the door to the diner opens and Noah walks in wearing a pair of dark jeans and a button-down shirt. His brown hair is tousled and curls at the nape of his neck. A smile lights his face when he spots me.

My heart skips a beat, and I smile at him. “Hey, Mom, I’ll call you back later. Noah just walked in.”

“Okay, baby. Just let me know about the Florida trip. I really do miss you, London.”

I smile even wider when Noah reaches for my hand and squeezes it firmly. “I miss you, too. I love you.”

“Love you more. Bye.”

The line clicks, and I push my phone into my back pocket as Noahleans forward and presses a kiss to my cheek. He smells like a tropical rainforest, and I close my eyes and savor the image of him in a pair of swimming trunks while I lounge nearby in a one-piece, pretending to leaf through a book.

The more I think about it, the more tempted I am to take my mom up on her offer.

“Hey, baby,” he greets, and we hug over the counter the best we can. “How’s your day?”

“Oh, no, we’re definitely starting with you, Mr. Graduate.”

His cheeks turn red. He’s never enjoyed talking about himself, and maybe that’s what I like so much about him. My mother is the opposite. She can go off on a tangent if you ask her a simple question about herself. My dad didn’t seem to mind, but I’m sure it could have been annoying at times.

“How’s your day been?” I ask. I wanted to watch him graduate, but Dad had business meetings today, so I had to stay back and man the ship. He can’t afford to hire anyone else. He hardly pays me, and I know even that leaves him with little to nothing for himself.

“The ceremony was pretty cool,” he admits with a shrug. “I’m just happy all the hard work has finally paid off. It’s nice to think about getting a break the next couple of weeks before my job starts.”

“So, you got the job?” I remember that he went in for an interview a few weeks ago, one he desperately wanted the job for.

His face lights up, and he nods.

“Oh my God. That’s wonderful, Noah!” I exclaim. I take my apron off and go around the corner to wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him close and kissing him on the lips. He kisses me back but pulls away when the bell above the back door sounds.

Noah doesn’t pull away when my dad comes into the front. “What are you two lovebirds up to?” He has mail in his hand and his glasses rest on his nose.

“Noah graduated today,” I say quickly before Noah can downplay it. “Isn’t that great?”

“Great?” Dad repeats. “That’s incredible. You only graduate college once!”

“That’s not entirely true,” Noah starts, but Dad isn’t listening.

“You know what, son, I’ll make you anything your heart desires. On the house, of course.” Not that he would charge Noah anyway. The two have become close since we started dating, and Dad often refers to him as the son he never had. It makes me happy to see them get along so well.

“I do love your lasagna,” Noah comments.

“Then lasagna you shall have. Do me a favor and flip the sign so nobody stops us from celebrating.”

Dad’s in a pretty good mood, which isn’t usually the case after he attends business meetings. Hope flares in my chest that maybe this means things are about to start looking up for us again. It’s the kind of news to turn my day around.

Still, I’m almost afraid to ask.

I don’t want to get my hopes up.

“Okay,” Noah chuckles while Dad rushes to the kitchen.

I follow him as he moves to the front of the store and flips the sign that says “Come on in, we’re open” to the “Don’t frown, we’ll be back” side, although it isn’t like anyone else would come in anyway. The place has been desolate these past few days. Weeks. Months.

“London,” Noah says my name, and I can tell something serious is on his mind. “There’s something we still need to talk about.”

The second the words leave his mouth, my body becomes frigid because I know what’s coming.