He has a plane to catch. I can’t imagine why he’d be here unless something disastrous has happened.
I rise slowly and walk to him, my heart beating so fast in my chest that it’s hard to breathe.
“Lucie,” he says, pulling my hands into his. “Can I…can we—？”
He looks around and then pulls me behind a pillar, where we are hidden from view.
My mouth opens, but he stops me. “Let me go first, okay? I’m not with Kate.” He binds my wrists with his large palms, begging me to meet his eye. “I had no idea she was coming, but I’m not with her. I love you, and I’m so fucking sorry it took me this long to say it. I’m so fucking sorry I freaked out last week. But if you’ll just take me back, I swear to God—” his voice cracks. He stops, swallowing. “I swear to God, I’ll do better.”
I press my face to his chest, and it all comes out—the pain I’ve held in for the past hour and the past week and the past month. His hold on me tightens.
“What about your flight?” I ask, wiping my eyes.
“I’m not going.”
“But—”
He shakes his head. “It’s done. You guys come first now, and I’m not putting it off until Monday or next year or when the twins have left for college. It wouldn’t have worked anyway…How the hell could I have you and the twins on the west coast when I was working in New York?”
I swallow hard to keep from bursting into tears again.
“I’ve been waiting to hear you say that since I was six,” I whisper, laughing and crying at once. “Maybe not the twins part.”
He pulls me closer. “I’m so glad you waited. I promise I’m going to make it worth your while.”
His lips press to mine, and then we walk out the side-stage door and reenter the auditorium from the back, sliding into seats just as the lights are lowering.
When the curtain rises, Henry steps up first and his robotic arm works without a hitch.
Sophie jumps to her feet before he’s even done. “That’s my brother,” she announces to the kids around her, loud enough that we can hear her all the way in the back, “so you all need to stand up and clap.”
And they do.
WE WALK OUTSIDE ONCE the show concludes to meet Jeremy, who theoretically got held up at work and is only arriving now. Caleb has remained in the school lobby at my request—Jeremy’s mom will do most of the parenting this weekend, but I want this tentative peace with him to last at least until the twins are home safely.
“Great job, buddy!” Jeremy says, thumping Henry on the back as if he was there. “Did you crush the other kids?”
“It’s not a competition, Daddy,” Sophie scolds. And while his father mutters something along the lines of that’s what losers say, Henry looks at me and gives me that secret smile of his—the one that rests entirely in his eyes and makes me think he might already be wiser than his father and I put together.
I hand Jeremy their weekend bags.
“So what are you doing while we’re gone?” he asks. “You could come with us, you know.”
I stare at him, incredulous. “I’m not sure your girlfriend would appreciate that.”
“I think that’s over. She wasn’t coming until tomorrow and I can tell her to stay home.”
Oh my God. The fact that Jeremy never seems to realize he doesn’t still have a chance should no longer shock me, but it does. I shake my head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Well, think about it. I can send a car for you if you change your mind.”
I drop to my knees and pull Henry and Sophie into my arms, praying the conversation hasn’t given them some renewed hope about me and their father.
“Remember,” Henry whispers. “You promised to be brave.”
I laugh and kiss his cheek. He doesn’t want me and Jeremy together. He wants Caleb in his life, and that’s what I want too.
I return to the lobby, where Caleb is typing on his phone. My stomach tightens, waiting for him to tell me some new emergency is calling him away.
But when I reach him, he puts the phone in his pocket and rests his hands on my hips. The parents milling around do double takes—let them. I’ve moved on and I want the whole world to know. Especially the Toms of the world, who are likely to get punched in the face if they manhandle me henceforth.
“It occurs to me,” he says, “that we both have the weekend free. What if we went away?”