The Upside of Love (3 page)

“Your girls are beautiful.” I smiled.

“They are the loves of my life. All three of them.”

I sat there thinking what an incredible man Ian Braxton was and how much he loved Rory. I could see it in his eyes every time she walked in the room. I signed the last piece of paper and Ian smiled at me as he held out his hand.

“Congratulations, Lily.”

“Thanks, Ian. Thank you for everything.”

“You’re quite welcome. Once you get your studio set up, I’d love to come see it.”

I smiled and we walked back to the patio where Luke and Rory were. We drank a couple more glasses of wine and then headed home.

Luke

I threw my keys on the counter as soon as we walked into the apartment. Lily headed straight for the bathroom and I went into the bedroom. As soon as I climbed in bed, I checked my email and was surprised when I saw I had over twenty responses to my help wanted ad.

“Lily, hurry up, babe.”

She walked into the bedroom in nothing but her bra and panties with her hair piled on top of her head.

“Damn, woman. You’re killing me.” I smiled as I watched her take off her bra and slip on the nightshirt she pulled from the drawer.

“Behave yourself, Mr. Matthews,” she said as she climbed in beside me.

“Look, babe. Look at all these responses to my ad.”

“That’s great. Are you going to start interviewing soon?”

“Yep. I’ll start setting them up tomorrow morning.”

I set down my phone and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close to me and inhaling her scent as she snuggled against my chest.

“I loved you taking a half of day off from the bar and spending it with me. When I open up the studio, I’m afraid things are going to get so busy that we won’t have time for each other anymore.”

“Aw, babe. Don’t say that. We will always have time for each other. We’ll make time. Don’t worry about that. Remember, no matter how crazy life gets, there’s always time for Love In Between.”

She smiled as she looked up at me. “That’s how you came up with the name for your band.”

“Yeah. That’s right,” I said as I kissed her head.

“I love you, Luke. Good night.”

“I love you more, Lily. Good night, babe.”

****

I awoke to the aroma of coffee going up my nose. I opened one eye and saw Lily sitting over me, holding a cup of coffee in my face.

“Morning,” I said as I rubbed my eyes.

“Good morning. Time to get up, sleepy head. You have interviews to schedule and I have a shop to put together.”

I took the mug from her and sat up. “Okay. Okay. I’m up. But I refuse to get out of this bed until my beautiful girlfriend gives me a kiss.”

“I think that can be arranged.” She smiled as she leaned in and kissed me.

She jumped up from the bed and pulled a sundress out of the closet. “I’m so excited. I sent Gretchen and Giselle a text and told them that I’m taking them somewhere today. I’m going to surprise them and take them to the shop. They’re going to flip!” she squealed.

Seeing the excitement pour out from Lily was amazing. I was so happy that she was finally going to live her life as a photographer with her own studio. I wanted nothing more than for her to be happy. My phone buzzed and there was a text message from Lucky.

“Dude, fuck me, man. Giselle is so hormonal she’s driving me nuts. One minute we’re laughing together and the next she’s screaming at me.”

I chuckled.
“Pamper her and just take it. She’s the mother of your child. Remember that.”

“Somehow I knew you’d say something like that.”

“It seems Giselle is being overly hormonal with Lucky.” I laughed.

“She’s overly hormonal when she’s
not
pregnant.” Lily smiled.

I got out of bed and jumped into the shower. When I finished, Lily was standing in the doorway of the bathroom, staring at me.

“You want some of this?” I smiled.

“Yes, but later. I need to lay down some rules for you when interviewing these women who applied to be your assistant.”

“Oh, really? And what rules would that be?” I asked with a smirk as I dried off.

“They must not be attractive. They must be fully clothed and they must have the personality of a doormat. Actually, a lesbian would be perfect.”

I walked over to her and placed my hands on her hips. “Are you really worried, babe?”

“I’m a woman and sometimes a woman can be insecure when it comes to other women working with the man she loves.”

“Please, Lily, you know me better than that,” I said as I kissed her forehead.

“It’s not you I don’t trust, it’s the other women. I mean, look at you. You are an incredibly sexy man and any woman would be stupid not to try and get her hooks into you. I deal with it every time we go out.”

“I love you and only you, babe. You know that. Now stop with the nonsense. But I will keep your rules in mind.” I winked.

“Thank you, baby. Okay, I’m off to the studio! I love you.” She smiled as she kissed me goodbye.

“I love you too, Lil. Have fun and I’ll see you later.”

****

When I arrived at the bar, Lucky was there, doing some wiring on the stage.

“Dude, when are the chicks coming? I think I need to sit in on the interviews with you so you can make the right choice.”

“You are not sitting in on the interviews and you’re going to be a father.”

“So. What’s your point?”

“Focus on your kid.”

“Man, Giselle is busting my balls. You know, I love her, but then I hate her. Do you know what I mean?”

“Actually, I don’t,” I said as I walked to my office.

“What’s going on with you?” Lucky asked.

“Nothing. It’s just Lily is worried about who I’ll hire for my assistant.”

“Why would she be worried? You’re…you.” He laughed.

“Exactly, and I told her that.”

“Chicks are weird. It’s probably just a hormone thing like Giselle.”

“Lily’s not pregnant.”

“No, not yet anyway!” He winked.

As I was about to kick him out of my office, there was a brunette in standing in the doorway.

“Well, hello, Angel. How may I help you?” Lucky smiled as he took her hand and lightly kissed it.

“I have an interview with the owner, Luke.”

“Well, that would be—”

“Me,” I said as I stepped from behind my desk. “I’m Luke Matthews.”

“Hi, Mr. Matthews. My name is Cody Chase.”

“Cody, I love that name and it’s so you.” Lucky smiled.

“Lucky, get the hell out of here.”

“I’m going. I’m going,” he said. “Maybe Cody and I can chat later.” He smiled.

I shut the door and shook my head. “Ignore my friend. He has way too much testosterone.”

She giggled and sat down in the chair across from me.

The interview went good and she was very qualified for the job, but I had others I had to interview today and tomorrow, so I told her that I’d get back with her either way. After I walked Cody to the door, I took a seat at the bar.

“How was she?” Maddie asked.

“She was good. Very qualified. I liked her. She’s a good candidate.”

“She’s very pretty,” Maddie said as she wiped a glass.

“I didn’t notice.”

“Good answer.” She smiled.

“The next girl should be here in about five minutes. Just send her to my office.”

“Will do, boss.”

Lily

I couldn’t wait to show Giselle and Gretchen the studio. It was something I’d talked about for a long time. They had no clue about any of this. I wanted it to be a total surprise. Gretchen and I watched as Giselle waddled her way to the car. I couldn’t help but smile at her because she looked so damn cute and she was the last person that I’d thought would have a baby.

“So, where are you taking us?” she asked as she climbed into the car.

“It’s a surprise. How are you feeling?”

“Besides fat and bloated, I’m feeling pretty good. Lucky and I have an ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow. We’re going to find out the sex of the baby.”

“That’s awesome! You better call me the second you find out.”

“Nope, actually, I’m having all of you over tomorrow night for dinner and then you’ll find out.” Giselle smiled.

“Hopefully, Luke can make it. He’s been so buried at the bar.”

I pulled in the parking lot and into the space right in front of the studio.

“Follow me, ladies.” I smiled as I unlocked the door.

“Lily, what is this?” Gretchen asked.

“Welcome to A Day In The Life Photography Studio.”

“What?! Oh my God!” the both of them exclaimed.

“This is amazing, Lily. Congratulations!” Giselle said as she hugged me.

“I can’t believe it. You finally have your own studio and Luke has his bar. You two are so perfect and you’re going to have an incredible future,” Gretchen said as she hugged me.

“Yeah. Life is really good.” I smiled. I would have to look into hiring a contractor to come in and fix up the inside. I have all kinds of equipment I need to buy. Oh my God, I think I’m freaking out.”

Giselle and Gretchen laughed. “Don’t stress, and take it one day at a time. We’ll help you as much as we can. Plus, you have that handsome boyfriend of yours to help,” Giselle replied.

“Luke is so busy with the bar that he needs to hire an assistant. I laid down the ground rules this morning about who he can and can’t hire.”

“Well, if he hires some hottie, then you’ll have to do the same because you’re going to need help here.”

“Very true.” I smiled.

“I may have the name of a contractor for you. He’s the boyfriend of Sierra Adams over at Adams Advertising, the agency that
Prim
uses to help with the magazine.”

“Perfect!” I smiled.

“I’ll text you his number later. Now, can we go grab some lunch? This little one is starving,” Giselle said as she rubbed her tummy.

Giselle craved Mexican food. In fact, she ate it every day. We sat down in the booth and I pulled out my phone and sent Luke a text message.

“Hi, baby. How did your interviews go?”

“Hi, babe. They went really good. What are you doing?”

“I’m having lunch with Giselle and Gretchen. I hope they were ugly?”

“They were smokin hot, babe. I can’t help it.”

“Very funny. You’ll pay for that when you get home.”

“I know. That’s why I said it.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

After we placed our order, I asked Giselle about Lucky.

“So what’s going on with you and Lucky?”

“What do you mean? He’s my baby daddy and that’s about it. We’ve been fighting a lot. Like an old married couple.”

“I walked in on them the other day having sex on the couch,” Gretchen said as she bit into a chip.

“When’s he moving out?”

“As soon as his place is ready. They said probably about another month.”

“Do you want him to leave? I mean, you are going to need help with the baby.”

“He’s messy and he doesn’t listen. He leaves the toilet seat up and I almost fell in the other night when I went to go pee because it was dark. He leaves his dishes in the sink and his socks in every room in the house. His shoes are always in the middle of the floor and he leaves glass rings on my tables.”

Gretchen and I sat there laughing. We both silently thanked God that Sam and Luke weren’t like that.

“Well, then I guess it’s time for him to leave.” I smiled.

“I love him but then I hate him. He’s very immature. Anyway, dinner is at seven tomorrow night.”

“We will be there.” I smiled.

****

I picked up Charley from school because Maddie was tied up at the bar and Adam was in class. As much as I missed teaching, my passion was photography.

“Hey, baby girl.” I smiled as Charley climbed into the Explorer.

“Hi, Lily. Guess what?”

“What?”

“I got Student of the Week!” She smiled as she showed me her award.

“Fantastic, Charley! Give me a high five. Wait until your mom and Uncle Luke find out.”

“Can we go for ice cream?” she asked.

“We sure can. Let’s go.”

I drove us to the ice cream parlor and, when I opened the door, Charley walked through and I stopped. I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was following or watching me. After looking around and seeing nothing and no one, I joined Charley at the counter and we picked out what kind of ice cream we were going to have. As we were eating our ice cream, I had an idea.

“Let’s Face Time Uncle Luke and show him what we’re doing.”

“Yeah! He’ll be so jealous.”

I pulled out my phone and proceeded to Face Time him. He answered.

“Hey, babe. What are you doing?” He laughed.

“Charley and I are sitting in the ice cream parlor having ice cream and we wanted to show you.”

“Hey, peanut!” Luke said as Charley appeared on the screen.

“Hi, Uncle Luke. Look; I got your favorite ice cream.” She laughed as she showed him her cone.

“No fair. I want some.”

“You can’t because you’re not here.” Charley smiled.

“You two have all the fun.”

“I know you’re busy. So I’ll see you later.”

“I love you, babe.”

“I love you too.” I smiled as I kissed the screen.

“That’s gross,” Charley said. “My mom and dad are always kissing on the couch. Yuck!”

“Someday, when you’re older, you’ll want to kiss the boy you’re in love with,” I said.

“No way. I don’t want to get cooties. My mom said that all boys have cooties.”

I laughed as I tapped her on the nose. Once we finished, I took Charley back to my apartment and she did homework while I went into the bedroom. I looked at the guitar sitting in the corner and picked it up. I began strumming the chords.

“Lily,” Charley said as she stood in the doorway.

“Yeah, baby.”

“Will you teach me how to play?”

“Of course I will. Come here,” I said as I held out my hand.

She walked over to me with a smile on her face and sat down next to me. I set the guitar in her lap and positioned her fingers on the strings to form a D chord. As she strummed, I adjusted her fingers so she was playing correctly. I had flashbacks of my father sitting on the edge of his bed, teaching me.

“What’s going on in here?” Luke smiled as he stood in the doorway.

“I’m teaching Charley a few chords.”

“Look, Uncle Luke, I’m playing!” she exclaimed as she strummed the chords.

“I see that, peanut, and I’m jealous. You never asked me to teach you to play.”

“You can teach me too.” She smiled.

I got up from the bed and gave Luke a kiss.

“How did it go at the studio?” he asked.

“It went well. Giselle and Gretchen loved it, and they’re excited for me. Giselle has the name of a contractor she’s giving me to get in contact with.”

“Good. Maddie should be here shortly. She and Adam are taking Charley out to dinner.”

“What are we doing for dinner? Do you want to stay in and cook?” I asked.

Luke softly kissed my head. “That sounds like a plan. Do we have anything here?”

I laughed. “No. We’d have to go to the store and buy something.”

“Then I think it sounds like a take-out kind of night.” He smiled.

Maddie arrived a few moments later to pick up Charley. She didn’t want to leave because she wanted to practice playing the one chord I taught her.

“Have a great dinner, Charley.” I smiled as I kissed her on the cheek. “You can come over and practice anytime you want.”

“Thanks, Lily. I love you.” She smiled as she hugged me.

“I love you too, baby.”

She kissed Luke goodbye and, as the door shut, I had a thought.

“We need to buy Charley her own guitar,” I said.

“I was thinking that too. I have an older guitar I can give her to practice on and if she becomes really serious about playing, then we can buy her one.”

“That’s a good idea.” I smiled as I wrapped my arms around him.