“What are we making?” Lily asked as I pushed the cart through the grocery store.

“I thought maybe we can cook some spaghetti with a homemade sauce, salad, and bread.”

“You make homemade sauce?”

“I sure do, and Charley loves it. My mom never cooked alone; she always made us cook as a family from the time we were six years old.”

Lily hooked her arm around mine and laid her head on my shoulder. “Your mom sounds amazing. My mom never cooked; she had her chef do all the cooking, and we rarely ate as a family.”

My heart ached for her when she told me that. I leaned over and kissed her head. “Come on, let’s get what we need and get out of here.”

We were walking through the store when I saw Bernie. “Hey, Luke,” he said as he looked at Lily.

“Hey, Bernie, how was Florida?” I asked him.

“Florida was great, and I’m getting closer to retirement. Who’s this beautiful woman on your arm, Luke?”

“This is Lily Gilmore. Lily, meet Bernie, the owner of Bernie’s Bar.”

Lily shook Bernie’s hand, and he smiled at her. “I’m going to take a stab in the dark here, but you wouldn’t happen to be Johnny Gilmore’s daughter, would you?”

Lily looked at him and smiled. “Yes, Johnny was my father.”

“I knew it!” Bernie exclaimed. “Look at you, all grown up. Your dad used to play in my bar when he was in Santa Monica, and he used to show me pictures of you. He was a brilliant musician; I’m sorry to hear about his death.”

“Thank you,” Lily said. “He was a great musician.”

“Hey, Luke, we need to sit down and discuss what you want to do with the bar. This last trip to Florida pushed me closer to selling, and the next time I go, I’m not coming back.”

“I know, and I have to give it some more thought. I’ll call you.”

“Don’t take too long, son, I have others who are interested. It was nice to meet you, Lily. Luke, I’ll talk to you soon,” he said as he walked away.

Lily looked at me as I sighed. “What was all that about?” she asked.

“We’ll talk about it over dinner,” I replied as we stepped into the checkout lane.

Lily

Luke opened the bottle of wine as I took two glasses from the cupboard. He started making the sauce, and I started on something a little more simple—the salad.

“How was your day at work?” he asked.

“It was good, and my students were very well-behaved today.”

“Did Charley say anything to you about us?” he asked as he began to chop the onions.

“No, though she did smile at me a lot.” I laughed.

“She’s a great little girl, and I hope to have a daughter like her someday.”

I stopped my knife halfway through the tomato when Luke said that. A sick feeling in my stomach instantly developed because the talk of family terrified me, but I proceeded to talk about it anyway.

“How many kids would you like to have?” I asked like an idiot.

“I don’t know; four kids would be nice, I guess.”

“Four!” I gasped.

Luke chuckled as he put the onions in the sauce. “What’s wrong with four kids?”

“Nothing’s wrong with four kids. I’m just surprised you want so many.”

“Cal—forget it. I’m sorry I brought it up,” he said.

I could see the sadness in his face as he turned to the stove and stirred the sauce. I put down the knife, and I wrapped my arms around his waist. “Don’t ever be sorry. You need to talk about her, Luke, and I don’t ever want you to feel as though you can’t or shouldn’t.”

He put down the spoon and turned to face me. “It just doesn’t feel right to talk about her like that, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You wouldn’t hurt me. She was a huge part of your life for many years, and I want to know about her.”

Luke softly brushed his lips against mine. “You’re amazing, do you know that?”

“I’ve been told a few times.” I smiled.

He hugged me and went back to making the sauce as I finished slicing the tomatoes for the salad.

“On the night of the accident, we’d been on our way home from a trip,” he began to speak. “We were stopped at a red light a few streets away from here. When the light turned green, and I began to go through the intersection, another car ran the red light and crashed into us, hitting Callie’s side. Our car spun out of control; then another car hit my side.” Luke paused for a moment. “I’ll never forget the sound of both crashes, the sounds of the squealing tires, the brightness of the headlights as both cars headed towards us, and Callie screaming my name before I blacked out. I’d woken up in the hospital three days later without any recollection of the accident at that moment. My parents had told me that Callie had died, and that’s when everything came rushing back to me.”

I gulped as I heard him tell the story, and my eyes couldn’t help but fill with tears. He wouldn’t look at me, and I knew if I tried to comfort him in any way, he would lose it, so I quickly changed the subject.

“Have I told you how much of an asshole Hunter is?”

Luke looked over at me and started to laugh. “What?”

“He’s an asshole, plain and simple. He’s an uptight, cock sucking, piece of shit, and I truly despise him. Did I ever tell you that he color coordinated his underwear with his clothes?”

“Seriously?” Luke asked.

“I’m dead serious, and not only did he do that, but he also kept a divider in his drawer for his socks. What guy does that? Oh, and the best part, he has pants that he’ll only wear on certain days of the week.”

Luke was laughing and shaking his head. “What the hell did you ever see in that guy?”

I had to stop and think about that for a moment because I honestly didn’t know. “He wasn’t hot, that’s for sure. He was cute in a boyish way. I think it was because he’s a charmer, and he charmed his way into my life, like the lying piece of shit he is.”

Luke walked over to me, put his hands on my hips, and kissed me on the forehead. “Watch your mouth.” He smiled.

“Sorry,” I said as I looked up at him.

I grabbed two plates from the cupboard, some silverware out of the drawer, and set the table for dinner. I heard the beep of my phone indicating there was a text message.

“Your phone went off, babe,” he said.

I walked over to the counter and picked it up. The message was from Giselle.

“I’m off to Seattle for a modeling job, and Lucky’s coming with me. I just thought you and Luke would want to know.”

I knitted my eyebrows and quickly replied.

“What the hell’s going on with the two of you? Are you a couple or something?”

“We’re two adults who are having fun—without a commitment.”

“Alright, if you say so,” I replied.

Luke set the spaghetti on the table. “What’s wrong? You look confused.”

“I am confused. I’m confused about this whole Lucky and Giselle thing. She’s going to Seattle on a modeling job, and he’s going with her. Don’t you think that’s weird?”

“Lily, Lucky’s weird; you should know that by now.” He laughed.

I sat down at the table as Luke put some spaghetti on my plate. “Eat up.”

I took a bite as he watched me. “Luke, this is the best spaghetti I’ve ever had,” I said.

“You’re not just saying that spare my feelings, are you?”

“Of course not! The sauce is truly amazing.”

I left a long piece of spaghetti hanging from my mouth as I motioned with my finger for him to come closer. He smiled and leaned across the table, taking the other end of the spaghetti in his mouth and followed it until his lips reached mine. He licked my lips with his tongue and then inserted it in my mouth. I smiled as he kissed me. We got up from our seats as we continued to share a kiss. He slowly put his hands up my shirt, pulling the cups to my bra down and feeling my hardened nipples. I reached my hand down to his hard cock and stroked it through the fabric of his jeans. Getting lost in the hotness of the moment, our kiss became more passionate with a little bit of roughness until we were interrupted by a knock on the door.