The Upside of Love (15 page)

Luke

Starting over. Reintroducing ourselves. I let go of her hand as soon as the waiter set down my plate in front of me. Her half smile, the look on her face; it was a start. Hopefully, the start of a new beginning for both of us. I picked up half of my sandwich and handed it to her. She picked up half of hers, and we exchanged.

“Thank you, Miss Gilmore.”

“Thank you, Mr. Matthews.”

“Why don’t you tell me a little about what I’ll be doing as your assistant?”

She explained about lighting and handing her different cameras and lenses. Just as long as I got to be with her, I didn’t care what I did. As we were eating, her phone beeped with a message from Brynn. She quickly typed a message back and then looked at me.

“How are you now with Brynn and Hunter? Please don’t get mad at me for bringing it up.”

“I found that the universe works in mysterious ways. I met Hunter so he could get together with my sister if that makes sense. The two of them were meant to be together and I see that now.”

“As in fate?” I asked.

She looked down as she dipped her French fry in ketchup. “Yeah. Maybe.”

There was still a hint of pain in her response. “So then all is good with you and them?”

I was trying to get a feel for how she might or might not forgive me.

“Things are okay, but they will never go back to the way it used to be. I think the thing for me is how they kept it from me, how I almost married him, and how they would have still went on together behind my back. That will always be in the forefront of my mind.”

Progress. She was talking to me the way she used to. She could have told me that it was none of my business, but instead, she chose to talk about it, which made me happy. We finished eating and we paid our own bill. I was going to have to respect her wishes if I wanted a second chance with her. I got up from the booth first and waited for her to get out before leaving the restaurant. As soon as she slid out from her seat, I placed my hand on the small of her back. We walked to Central Park and took in the beauty it had to offer. Lily had brought her camera and started taking pictures.

“Lily, look! It’s the Central Park Zoo. Let’s go,” I excitedly said as I grabbed her hand without even thinking about it. “Sorry,” I said as I looked down and let go of her hand. “I guess I got overly excited.”

She didn’t say a word. She just smiled. We each bought our own ticket and headed straight to the penguin exhibit. As we stood and watched them, the smile on Lily’s face never left. She loved the penguins just as much as I did. Our next stop was the snow leopards.

“Look at how beautiful they are,” she said as she took their pictures. “Did you know that their teeth are over four inches long?” she asked as she looked over at me.

“No, I didn’t know that. I would hate to get caught in a mouth like that.”

“I love their coloring. Did you know that their colors are so they can camouflage themselves in the mountains?”

“No,” I said as I arched one eyebrow. “Are you a snow leopard expert and just never told me?”

She laughed. “No. I was obsessed with them one time when I was a child and I wanted a baby snow leopard as a pet. My dad told me to do a lot of research and write a paper on the facts about them and he’d take it under consideration. Let’s just say that he was high when he said that and then denied he’d ever said it when he was sober.”

“That was really shitty.”

“Yeah, well, he was sometimes a shitty father.”

She walked away from the snow leopards and went over to look at the lemurs.

“Look! It’s King Julian!” She smiled.

“Is there anything special I should know about them?”

She laughed. “No. I never wanted one, but look at how cute they are. I may have to reconsider.”

I looked around and noticed a stand that sold stuffed animals. I told Lily that I needed to find a restroom and that I’d be right back. I made my way to the stand that I noticed earlier that sold snow leopard stuffed animals. I purchased one and then found Lily taking pictures of the red pandas.

“I found something,” I said.

“Really? What?”

I handed her the baby snow leopard with a smile. “He asked me if I knew your name because he wanted to go home with you.”

She took the stuffed animal from my hands. “Luke,” she said as she looked down.

“Now you have the baby snow leopard you always wanted. I thought since you did all that research, you deserved one.”

“Thank you,” she said as she held it up to her face and smiled.

****

Lily

Happy. That was how I was at the moment. He caught me off guard and I didn’t know what to do.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I just have a headache. Come on; let’s go see the other animals.”

I really wasn’t feeling well and after we looked at all the animals, we hailed a cab and took it back to the hotel. Luke put his hand on my forehead.

“Lily, you’re burning up. I think you may have a fever.”

“I don’t think I have a fever. I’m just really tired. I think I’m still jet-lagged.”

“You have a fever.”

When we reached the hotel, Luke told me to go to my room and that he’d pick up some Motrin from the gift shop. I did as he asked because I didn’t have the strength to argue with him. My headache was getting worse by the second. When I opened the door, I threw my purse on the floor, kicked off my shoes, threw myself on the bed, and closed my eyes. A few moments later, Luke knocked on the door. It took every bit of strength I had to get up and answer it.

“Come on. Let’s get you into bed, Lily. Do you want to change first?”

I nodded as I lay down across the comforter. “In the top drawer is a pair of shorts and a tank top.”

He handed them to me and I made my way to the bathroom to change. When I was done, Luke had the covers pulled back and I climbed in, laying my head on the soft pillow. He took the thermometer he purchased from the lobby shop and put it under my tongue.

“Keep it under there.” He smiled as he gave me the snow leopard.

After a few minutes, the thermometer beeped and he took it from my mouth.

“Ouch. It’s 102. I told you that you had a fever.” He opened the Motrin bottle and handed me a bottle of water.

I took the little orange pills and chased them down with water. I couldn’t believe that I was sick. I was never sick. This had to be the worst timing. I clutched my snow leopard tightly to my chest as Luke pulled the covers up over me.

“Get some rest,” he said as he lightly put his hand on my head.

I just wanted to sleep. Thank God the photo shoot was the day after tomorrow. Hopefully, I’d be better by then. I remembered drifting off into a deep sleep, but at the same time, I felt restless because I had a dream about me and Luke. A dream where we were having sex and it was nothing short of incredible until I looked up and saw Callie staring down at us. My eyes flew open and I sat straight up, then I fell back down. Luke was sitting on the couch and he instantly came to my side.

“Are you okay?”

“Why are you still here?” I asked sleepily. “And, yeah, I just had a nightmare. It’s probably the fever.”

He went into the bathroom and wet a washcloth and then placed it across my forehead. “Feeling any better?”

“No,” I replied as I looked at him. “You don’t have to stay here. You can go. I appreciate everything you’ve already done.”

“I came to New York to be with you, Lily, and you’re sick. There’s no way I’m leaving you when you’re like this. Do you want to know what the best part is?”

“What?”

“You don’t have the strength to argue with me.” He smiled.

“You’re right,” I said as I closed my eyes and fell back asleep.

Once again, I woke up and looked over at Luke, who was lying across the couch, sleeping. I had to pee, so I climbed out of bed and made my way to the bathroom. My body felt like it had been hit by a train, with every muscle and joint in agony. As I was in the bathroom, there was a knock on the door.

“You okay in there, Lily?” Luke asked.

“Yeah,” I said as I flushed the toilet.

I walked out of the bathroom and Luke was standing there with the bottle of Motrin in his hands.

“You need to take a couple more.”

“How long have I been sleeping?” I asked as I climbed back into bed.

“Five hours.”

“I want to take a bath.”

“I’ll start one for you and then I have something I have to do, but I’ll be back.”

I nodded my head, and after he started the water, I took off my shirt. He looked at me with hunger in his eyes. I wasn’t even thinking straight and I shouldn’t have done that in front of him.

“Is it okay if I take your room key?”

“Yeah. It’s fine.”

“Okay. I’m leaving, but I’ll be back. Be careful in the bathtub. I won’t be gone long.”

I gave him a half smile and he left the room. Stripping out of the rest of my clothes, I climbed into the relaxing tub and closed my eyes.

Luke

Seeing her sick like that really upset me. I’d never known Lily to be sick unless you count the nights she got drunk and was hanging over the toilet vomiting while I held back her hair. I had remembered seeing a deli earlier when Lily and I were walking down the street. As I stepped through the door, I could smell the aroma of chicken soup with a mix of pastrami.

“Can you I help you?” the girl behind the counter asked.

“I’d like to order a bowl of chicken noodle soup, a corned beef sandwich, and a tuna salad sandwich with lettuce and tomato.”

“Coming right up, sir.” She smiled.

Once my order was ready to go, I stopped into a party store before heading back to the hotel. I picked up a few bottles of water and a few bottles of Coke. I needed to make sure Lily stayed hydrated. When I opened the door, Lily walked out of the bathroom with her robe on.

“What did you get?” she asked as she slipped her feet into the complimentary slippers and climbed back into bed, sitting up against the headboard.

I set the brown bags down on the table and pulled out her soup and sandwich. “I brought you some chicken noodle soup and a sandwich. You need to eat.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You don’t need to eat the sandwich now, but the soup you do,” I said as I handed it to her with a spoon. “I also picked up bottles of water and coke. It’s way cheaper than what the hotel charges.”

“Good thinking.” She smiled.

I took my sandwich and sat down on the couch. Lily looked at me and I was surprised at what she said.

“You can sit on the bed. You don’t need to sit all the way over there.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” she replied as she patted the bed.

I took my sandwich and sat up next to her.

“I want to thank you for taking care of me. This really would have sucked if I was alone.”

I wanted to kiss her so badly, but I couldn’t. One, she was sick and two, she wasn’t ready. I could still sense the hesitance in her.

“You’re welcome. You know that I’ll always take care of you.”

“Luke, don’t,” she said as she looked down.

“We’re going to talk, Lily. Not tonight and maybe not tomorrow, but we’re going to talk and you better be ready.”

****

Lily

I told Luke to go to his room and get some sleep. I didn’t want him staying in my room all night and sleeping on the couch. He paid a lot of money for his room and I wanted to make sure he was comfortable.

“Are you going to be okay?” he asked.

“I’ll be fine. I’m already feeling a little bit better, thanks to you. Plus, I have Leo to keep me company.”

“Who’s Leo?” he asked with a confused look.

I held up the snow leopard and smiled.

“Ah, so that’s his name. I’m taking your room key in case you need me in the middle of the night.”

“That’s fine. If I need anything, I’ll text you. I promise.”

He leaned over and kissed me on the head. “Sorry. It’s a habit. Feel better and sleep well,” he said as he got up from the bed and left the room. When the door shut, I regretted telling him to leave. I felt alone. I pulled out my phone and called Giselle to see how Isabella was doing. They were bringing her home from the hospital today.

“Lily. How are you?” she answered.

“Sick. Can you believe it?”

“Oh no. Flu?”

“I don’t know. I have a fever and I’m really tired and achy all over.”

“Make sure to stay hydrated.”

“Luke is making sure of that.”

“So lover boy found you?”

“Yep. He sure did.”

“Are you being nice?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes. He’s taking such good care of me and it hurts,” I said as a tear fell down my face.

“Why does it hurt? He loves you and you love him. Stop fighting it, Lily. Damn, I love you, but you are being dumb about this.”

“You don’t understand it, Giselle. I’m doing this for him.”

“What? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Listen, I called to find out how Isabella is doing.”

“She’s fine. Now back to what you’re doing for Luke.”

“I have to go. I’m not feeling good. I’ll call you later.”
Click
.

I woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee and Luke sitting on the edge of my bed with his hand across my forehead. I opened one eye.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking to see if you still have a fever.”

“Do I?”

“It doesn’t feel like it, but we better take your temperature,” he said as he stuck the thermometer under my tongue. “I brought you breakfast. I ordered room service for us and had it delivered to my room so you wouldn’t be disturbed. I brought it over.”

The thermometer beeped and Luke smiled as he read it. “99.5. I would say you’re getting better.”

I sat up with ease. My body didn’t ache as bad as yesterday and my headache seemed to have disappeared. Luke set the tray on my lap and then climbed in next to me with his. I took a sip of coffee and it was so delicious. As I lifted the silver lid from the plate, I took in the aroma of bacon and eggs. I looked over at Luke and smiled.

“Good choice, Mr. Matthews.”

“Did you sleep well?” he asked.

“I think so. I don’t remember waking up at all.”

“That’s good. I think you’re on the mend. You probably had some twelve- or twenty-four-hour bug.”

I sat there and ate my eggs as a sudden thought came to mind. I turned and looked at him.

“Who’s running the bar?”

He laughed. “Is that what you’re thinking about?”

“For some strange reason, it just hit me.”

“Maddie, Candi, and my parents are holding down the fort.”

“You mentioned that Cody quit. May I ask why?” I said as I spread the strawberry jam across a piece of toast.

“She was hitting on me and I had to put a stop to it. I guess she felt that she couldn’t work for me anymore.”

“You said you were over me, yet you showed up here.”

“I said a lot of things I didn’t mean, Lily.”

We were interrupted by the ringing sound of my phone. I reached over and grabbed it from the nightstand.

“Hey, Adalynn.”

“Hi, Lily. I have bad news. The photo shoot has to be rescheduled for next month.”

“What? Why?”

“The damn designer didn’t get the complete outfits done in time. Something about his sick mother. I don’t know. But anyway, he was supposed to have overnighted them yesterday to the hotel, but how could he if he didn’t finish them up? He was afraid to call me to tell me he was running behind.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Tell me about it. But you stay the rest of the week and enjoy New York. Do me a favor and scout out some different locations for the shoot. You’re creative and I know you’ll find something amazing.”

“Thanks, Adalynn. I’ll talk to you soon.” I hung up and sighed.

“What was that about?” Luke asked.

“The photo shoot isn’t happening now until next month. She told me to stay the rest of the week and scout out some locations.”

“That’s too bad,” he said.

“Yeah. But on the bright side, I get to come back. Isn’t that right, Leo?” I said as I kissed my snow leopard’s face.