Tempt the Hookup (Tempt 3)

“Don’t sign anything until I look it over.” My father, the lawyer, comes out. “Not even a napkin.”

I roll my eyes at him. “I know, Dad.” I look down at Aiden. “So what do you think about the school?”

“It’s good. Can I go tomorrow?” he asks.

“Yeah, I’m going to call Mrs. Hope today and ask what needs to be done,” I tell him and then look over at my mother. “I start work tomorrow. If I can’t get him, can you watch him?”

“Of course,” she says. “We can do all sorts of things.” She leans over and kisses him on the cheek, and he shrugs one shoulder, giggling.

“Now,” my father says, getting up and grabbing his jacket. “Let’s get lunch.”

We walk out, and when we walk past Luca’s office, it’s empty. I try not to let it bother me that his assistant isn’t there either. I wonder if they are more than just co-workers.

We have lunch at McDonald’s only because there is a park. My father stands at the bottom of the slide, waiting to catch Aiden while Mom and I just look on.

“When are you and Luca going to get together and discuss things?” she asks, picking up her coffee and drinking it.

“I have no idea, Mom,” I say, leaning on the table. “Did you know that he’s my neighbor?” I ask her. Her eyes widen and then she’s slapping the table laughing.

“You are kidding, right?” she asks. “I had no idea; we got the area from Noah.” She laughs now. “But now it makes so much sense.”

I shake my head, my hands going to my face as I rub my temples. “I guess we really need to get a plan down.”

“I think that is the best thing that you can do,” she agrees, and my father walks back to the table holding Aiden’s hand.

“I have to get back to the office,” he says, and we get up and walk over to his car.

Once we get back, my mother kisses us goodbye, and I walk back in with my father. I kiss him goodbye, and he makes a promise to Aiden that he will take him to play soccer tomorrow night. I hold Aiden’s hand, and we walk back to Luca’s office. His office door is open, and I see he took his jacket off, and the cuffs are rolled up to his elbows as he reads something. “Knock, knock, knock,” I say, looking in, and he looks up, his face lighting up.

“Hey, you two, I was wondering when you would be coming back,” he says. Getting up, he squats down in front of Aiden. “Did you have fun?”

“We went with Grandpa to McDonald’s,” he says, smiling. “I went down the slide ten times,” he says, holding out both his hands.

“Did you?” Luca laughs and messes his hair up. “I’m sorry I missed it.”

He gets up and looks at me. “Did you make a decision about the school?”

“Yeah,” I tell him. “I called Mrs. Hope, and he can start tomorrow, which is good since I start my job tomorrow.”

“Did she send you a list of things that he needs for tomorrow?” he asks, and I’m about to answer him when Lauren comes in holding two bags of food.

“Hey,” she says, smiling at me, and I force a smile. “I didn’t know you two would be here or I would have gotten extra.”

“That’s okay. We ate,” I tell her, and she hands Luca a bag.

“I got your favorite,” she says, and he smiles at her. I want to roll my eyes; can she be anymore obvious?

“Thank you so much,” he says, grabbing the bag from her. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Yup, that’s my cue. “Okay, we’re out,” I say, then look at Aiden. “Say bye.”

“Bye, Dad,” he says with a smile, and Luca puts his bag of food down, grabbing Aiden under the arms and picking him up.

“I should be home around five. Would you like to come over to my house and see it?” He looks over at me. “Maybe Mom can come also, and we can have dinner.”

“Yeah,” I say awkwardly. “Sure, we can go over things,” I say, looking at Lauren, who just looks at them and smiles. Luca hands me his car keys.

He kisses Aiden, and we walk to the car, making a stop at Walmart where we buy all the stuff he needs for tomorrow. Aiden is so excited about his new school bag he leaves it at the door to show Luca. The doorbell rings, and when I open the door, I’m surprised that it’s all our stuff from my mother’s house. Aiden and I start unpacking our things. Or better yet, I’m unpacking. Aiden is in his room becoming Batman and then Spider-Man.

My phone beeps some time later, and I see it’s almost five thirty. Luca has sent a text telling me he’s home and to come over whenever we are ready.