Page 29 of Paper Flowers (Stonebrook #1)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

LUKE

S adie and I have been laying on the sectional sofa watching all of Juliette’s favorite Disney movies for most of the day.

Only getting up to get something to eat or drink.

The morning storm woke me up earlier than I wanted to be.

I called Nina when Sadie woke up and she could hardly hold the tears back.

She held it together for Sadie when they FaceTimed but I can see how hard that was for her.

William eventually took over the call and said he was getting ready to leave for the cemetery.

I had flowers delivered yesterday for Juliette and William is going to place them at her headstone for us.

I thought about taking a drive up there for the day but I think that would have been too much for Sadie.

She’s been making great progress with her therapy sessions.

I don’t want her to regress. She has grown so much in one year and she looks more like Juliette each passing day.

At some point in her life, Sadie will be living longer than she had her mom.

It pains me that she won’t have her mom for the important and all the in between moments.

But I will be here for her. I will be the father I needed when I was her age.

I will be present in her presence. To show her that her dreams are just as important to me as they are to her.

If she ever feels lonely, she could always come to me.

I will treasure the time I have with her because I know how time can slip away from you.

I hope I can teach my daughter how to be a kind, strong, selfless, independent woman.

I hope she never expects anything less than damn near perfect from her partner.

I hope she remembers how her mom and I loved each other.

I hope she can forgive me for having feelings for Dayna.

I was having a difficult time pulling myself out of a panic attack when I got Dayna’s message.

The moment Dayna reached out to me, I just knew in my heart, the feelings I am feeling towards her are the right ones.

She would drop everything for us. I just needed time to be with my daughter.

To mourn the loss of my wife and gather my thoughts.

It has been a really confusing time the last two months but I know for certain what I want.

I was cleaning the kitchen before Dayna came over when I noticed Sadie fell asleep. We made ourselves a couple of peanut butter and banana sandwiches for lunch. It was quite messy, but it was really good. My phone vibrates on the ottoman and I grab it before it wakes Sadie up.

Dayna: I’m here.

I’ll open the door for you, Sadie is asleep on the sofa.

I’m standing in the doorway on the porch and the rain is now pouring down on her.

She’s hugging the ice cream at her chest with her umbrella in her hand, walking quickly through the downpour.

Her rain boots splash and swish against the rain soaked cement pathway to my porch.

Just like I’d suspect she would, Dayna trips over herself and the ice cream falls out of her grip.

I run down to help her up and she’s soaked.

She reaches for the bag of ice cream and I pick her up from underneath her arms. She hands me the umbrella but my shirt is already soaked through.

We reach the foyer and she wipes her boots on the welcome mat and leaves her umbrella outside. I nod at her to follow me inside and hands me the bag of ice cream. She wiggles her boots like she’s hesitant to bring them inside.

“You can leave your boots by the door, I’ll give you a pair of my sweats and socks since your pants are soaked through.” I say quietly as I walk to the kitchen to put the ice cream in the freezer. Opening the freezer drawer makes me realize how fucking cold it is with this wet shirt on.

“I’d appreciate dry pants and s—socks so much.” She said in a grateful but shivering tone.

My shirt is sticking to me tighter than normal and I take it off in one smooth motion.

Dayna’s whiskey color eyes slowly drop down to the center of my waist and just like clockwork, her face is fully flushed.

“It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, but thank you for the silent compliment.

” I give her a wink and walk past her. I head upstairs to my bedroom to change and get Dayna some dry clothes.

I threw on my old college hoodie and walked back to the kitchen.

I hand Dayna the clothes as she’s standing to head to the bathroom to change.

Once she’s back, she sits down on the barstool and removes her socks.

Of course they’re mismatched. She never had a single matching pair after she wore them. “Do you ever wear a matching pair?

“Yeah, when they’re new and they’re already paired up for me.” She said playfully as she slips my socks on her feet and they go up past her calves. The sweatpants are baggy on her as she rolled the waistband a couple times to hold them up.

I let out a quiet chuckle looking at her as she put on my flannel shirt I left out for her.

“Does that feel better?”

“It does, thanks.” She crosses her arms across her chest trying to warm up. She’s being a little more reserved and I can tell there’s something bothering her. I pull the barstool out for her to take a seat at the island and I sit on the other one beside her.

“How was work? Did my sub leave any notes?” She flinches at the question and now I’m concerned. “Were my kids that bad?” I ask .

“No, no, they were great.” She’s avoiding my eyes. Looking around my kitchen trying to catch her gaze, I lean in to her.

“Okay, so if it’s not my students, what’s wrong?”

She finally looks me in the eye, “Can we please talk about it tomorrow?”

“Dayna, Baby, tell me, what happened?” God, she’s making me nervous. Whatever it is, she’s trying not to let it overshadow today. But honestly, this is the one day I need the distraction.

“It’s just, I had to tell Morgan about our friendship .”

“Our friendship. ”

“I told her about our past together and how lately…we’ve been hanging out more.” She tells me the details of what they talked about and I can’t wrap my mind around why she would choose today to do it?

“Did something happen for you to tell her?”

With a deep breath Dayna says she spoke to Dean this afternoon. I feel like I’m fuming. I take my sweater off and adjust my undershirt. It’s fucking hot in here now. Dayna is fidgeting in her seat and I just know there’s more she’s not saying.

“Mr. Carter the Psychologist is a whole different person than Dean Carter, my ex-husband.” I’m gripping my sweater in my lap.

“He said some pretty nasty things to me today and I don’t want to get in the way of Sadie’s sessions.”

Sadie has one more session with Dean before the holidays but if he can’t respect his ex-wife, I don’t think I want him working with my daughter. I was worried Sadie was going to be mistreated by him but I was wrong. It’s Dayna who is taking the heat for me— because of me.

“Do I need to pull Sadie out? What did he tell you?”

“Nothing worth repeating.” She uses my exact words and I know it’s bad.

“Dayna…” With her hands now on the countertop, I place my hand on hers and she doesn’t look at me. She looks towards the living room, where we can see Sadie still asleep.

She turned her head back to me and in a whispered tone, “He asked if we were sleeping together. He said for me to remember which last name I have when I’m screaming your name in bed.” She looks down and puts her hands over her face. My blood is pumping. I swear to god I’ll ruin him.

“I’m changing my last name. I cannot be tied to that man any longer. It makes my skin crawl to know how easily he can hurt me so effortlessly.”

He chose to talk to her like this today knowing I was going to be home, knowing what today was for me and Sadie. If he had any concerns about my relationship with Dayna, he should have addressed it to me personally.

“Listen to me, he knew why I was home. I told him after Sadie’s last session I was going to keep the two of us home. He knew what he was doing when he walked into your office.”

She looks at me with tear-filled eyes, “Everything is so fucked up” She whispered.

“I—I didn’t want to do this today. I fucked everything up.

I’m constantly ruining everything that’s good.

” I can’t hear her talk about herself like that a second longer.

I get up and stand between her legs. Putting one hand on her thigh and with the other, I move the strand of hair out of her face and tuck it behind her ear.

“The only thing you did was show my daughter how much you care for her. She obviously enjoys the time she has with you or else she wouldn’t be drawing about it. I never want to hear you say you ruined anything. Because, you are mending everything that is broken. Do you understand?”

I pick her chin up lightly with my finger and the sorrow in her eyes begins to fade away.

I lean in closer and I can feel the warmth of her inner thighs against my joggers.

I press my hips into hers. She lets out the softest moan, making my dick go hard.

I look at her soft pillowy lips, that are just needing to be kissed. I want this. I want her.

“Can I kiss you?” I breathlessly let out.

“Luke, I don’t want to take advantage of you.” She whispers back.

“Shh, you could never do such a thing. I’m going to ask you again— can I kiss your lips?” I’m rubbing my hands on her thighs up and down against my sweatpants hoping she’ll say yes .

“Kiss me.” She finally says.

I move slowly, running my hand through the back of her silky dark brown hair.

Our lips finally touched and the taste of her cherry lips sent shock waves throughout my body.

It’s like she’s breathing life into my broken soul.

The neediness of our kiss has me begging her for more.

I trace my tongue against the bottom of her lip and she moves her mouth open just enough for the tips of our tongues to touch.

She pulled our bodies closer and wrapped her long legs around my waist. God, that move made me painfully hard.

Her nails are brushing against my back, making me dangerously close to picking her up and taking her to my bed.

Slowly pulling apart, our breathing begins to slow. I kiss her forehead and then take a glance at the living room and Sadie is still asleep.

“You asked me what we were doing and at the time, I didn’t have much of an answer for you. I have one now, if you’d like to hear it?”

She nods her head, “Yes.”

“I need to be upfront and completely honest with you, I will always love Juliette. I miss her terribly and it hurts that I can’t give you my all right now.” Her body shudders and I know she’s thinking the worst. I reach for her hand and I hold it to my heart.

“I have feelings for you, and I think you have an idea of how strong they are. If you can be patient with me I know, this is worth it. So please, give me a chance. Give me and my daughter a chance.” My heart has never been so exposed as it is right now. I can see how she’s processing my words.

“I know you will always love her, she was your wife, and she’s the mother of your amazing daughter.

I would be worried if you didn’t. If I can help ease your heartache for just a little while, I’m yours.

” Dayna puts her hand on my beard and rubs her thumb along my cheek and I place my hand on top of hers.

“I’m all in. For you. For Sadie.”

I lean in and kiss her gently. I wrap my arms around her and hold her closely. She rests her head against my chest and I hear Sadie calling for me.

“Daddy? ”

“I’m in the kitchen Sadie Girl.”

I release Dayna from my arms and Sadie walks in. Her wavy brown hair is a mess, and it’s the cutest fucking thing ever. She sees Dayna sitting at the kitchen island and her hazel eyes light up. Dayna gives a subtle wave and steps down from the stool. “Hey Sadie, can I give you a hug?”

“I’d love a hug right now.” She gets down on her knees and opens her arms to give my daughter a much needed hug and my heart wants to plunge through my chest.

“When did you get here?” Sadie asks Dayna,

“I just got here a few minutes ago, I brought you and your Daddy a treat.” Sadie’s gleeful eyes look straight at me.

“Go wash your hands and I’ll serve you.” My daughter walks over to the kitchen sink and washes her hands.

Dayna holds a kitchen towel for her to dry them.

I grab the bowls, spoons and ice cream scooper from the island drawer.

Dayna grabs the ice cream out of the freezer drawer.

“Thank you for the ice cream and for being here for us.”

“Anything for you and Sadie. I’m going to get going.

” Before she can leave, Sadie gives her a hug “Thank you for the hugs and ice cream. You make my heart not hurt when you are here.” Fuck me.

Dayna is a crumble up mess right now after their exchange.

Hiding her emotions from Sadie she wipes her eyes.

“You are so precious and I’m here for you.

” She gently kisses the top of Sadie’s forehead. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

With ice cream all over her face Sadie smiles up at her.

“Hey Sadie Girl, why don’t you wash your face while I walk Dayna outside.

” With a small wave, Sadie runs upstairs and I pull Dayna in to sneak a hug and a kiss.

“You don’t know how much that means to me.

You are so special to my little girl and it does wonders to my heart.

” I whisper against her neck. “She’s amazing, Luke.

” She runs her fingers through my hair and I press into her to kiss her harder.

A moan escaped her mouth and I know she can feel me against the center of her stomach.

She gradually moves backwards towards the door and I just want her to stay longer.

“Will you be at work tomorrow?” She says as she gives me quick kisses .

“Yes, we have to paint our booth banner for the Fall Carnival before Morgan gets on us for lack of excitement.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Good night, Evans.”

“Good night, L-U-K-E.” She spells out my name but I know she wants to say Love. I feel it in the way she kisses me. She loves me and I know, deep down in the tangles of my damaged heart, I love her too.