Our Finest Hour (The Time #1)(53)

We're quiet until we get out of Isaac's neighborhood and onto the main street.

"It's good to see you healthy again. Isaac was very worried about you."

"Why? It was just the flu." I shrug my shoulders. We reach the intersection, and I push the walk button.

Lucia waits until I look at her, then she rolls her eyes at me. Our past few days together have taught me a lot about Lucia. She loves telenovelas (“It connects me to my heritage.”), she can't stand flies (“Do you know they throw up every time they land?”), and she rolls her eyes when she disagrees with you and doesn't want to say anything but really wants to make sure you know she disagrees.

"What?" The walk sign appears, and we cross.

"Nothing, nothing."

Lucia and I have become friends, I think. She's Claire's grandma, but it’s more than that. We've bonded. In all of the craziness since Claire broke her arm, I didn't expect to gain a friend.

Lucia rolls her eyes again, but this time she cracks a smile.

I laugh at her. “Come on.” I hold open the door to the coffee shop. “You can tell me exactly what you think after we sit.”

The moment my butt is in the seat, she starts talking.

“I want you with Isaac.”

My mouth falls slack around my big bite of whoopie pie. I chew and swallow, using my napkin to wipe the crimson crumbs I know must decorate the corners of my mouth.

“Lucia, Isaac and I have been over this. We’re co-parents. That's it.”

“But why? Why stop there?”

“This situation is hard enough. We don't need to complicate it with romance.”

Lucia sits back and sips her coffee. I wait for the eye roll but it doesn't come.

“I get that,” she says. “Really, I do. It's just... Isaac has put work first for so long. He was determined to be a doctor, then he became one. Now what? He's always wanted to be a dad, especially since…” She stops, coughs into a fist. Alarm widens her eyes the tiniest bit. She picks up like there was never a pause in her statement. “Since his dad is so amazing.”

I let it pass.

Reaching across the table, I cover her hand with my own. She's so warm. “He's a dad now. I'm sorry it took him so long to become one. If I could’ve told him, I would have.”

“I get it. Life is eventful. It has a way of racing forward without asking if you need to stop and take a breath.” She tucks her hair behind her ears and smiles wistfully. “I've been married to Isaac and Lauren's father for thirty-six years, but I remember the beginning. The fear, and uncertainty. The should I's and shouldn't I’s.” She stares down into her coffee, her eyes far away.

Lucia is beautiful. Delicate lines border the corner of her eyes and make parentheses on either side of her mouth. She has an elegance to her. Maybe it's in the lift of her chin. Or in the confident way she talks, like she's a woman who knows. She gets it. Whatever it is. Lucia Cordova understands something I don't.

“Your son…” I pause, mulling over my next words. Lucia looks up, back from wherever she went a moment ago. “He’s amazing, from what I can tell. But Isaac and I, we're in this awkward situation. We're parents to Claire, yet we've never been on a date.” I feel the heat in my cheeks. “I mean, that night…" I look away. Mortification fills me. How can I talk about this with her?

“Aubrey, it's just sex." Lucia makes a noise with her tongue, an admonishing cluck. “Everyone has sex. Even me." She gestures with a hand to her chest, her laughter throaty.

“I'll make sure I don't mention that to Isaac," I say, laughing with her.

“Our family is very open. Though he might not want to hear about his mom and dad in that way."

It's hard enough to imagine my parents ever even knew each other, let alone did what they needed to do to make me.

“I am curious though..." Lucia’s lips twist after she trails off.

“Ask away."

“That night... Did you two not use protection? I thought I'd had enough sex talks with Isaac when he was younger that he understood the importance of protection."

Beneath the table my hands fold together, my fingers intertwining. I take a deep breath.

“We did.” Memories of that night come down on me like a curtain. Isaac, sexy as hell with his shirt off and his pants unbuttoned, leaning over me on his bed. We'd used protection. And yet… “I went over it in my head a hundred times after I got the positive result. I don't know what went wrong. I really don't." I shake my head, still as confounded today as I was that day in my bathroom, staring at the plus sign. “I don’t think he made a mistake, but maybe our judgment was clouded. From alcohol and—” I purse my lips. I've said too much.

Lucia smirks. “Passion?” She raises her eyebrows.

I nod. Now I'm really embarrassed.

“So you and Isaac had passion? When you barely knew each other?" She makes the clucking sound again. “I wonder if you still have that fire between you?"

“Claire is between us now. She's our priority." I'm resolute about this. Claire needs two clearheaded, strong parents. There is no room for messy, dramatic romance.

Lucia watches me for two seconds, her eyes searching my statement for weakness. Then she rolls them.