. I can't seem to make it happen so that I'm both.”
Lily listened closely. She was sad to hear Wyatt was troubled, but also happy that he had chosen to open up to her. This was exactly what she had wanted on this date. She wanted to know the other side of Wyatt that she had never seen before. She wanted to learn about who he really was, to dig deeper in finding out what made him so amazing and so complex.
“For what it's worth, I think you're an amazing father,” Lily said.
Wyatt lifted his gaze to meet hers. “Yeah?”
“Yes,” she said. “Maggie adores you, Wyatt. I know that, because I see it in her eyes. She looks up to you. She sees you as a hero. In her mind, you're invincible, you know that? I know that sometimes it's hard to see things like that, but trust me, it's true. You should never kick yourself because you think you are doing a good job of raising her. You're doing a better job than most men do, and you've had to deal with some things that most men haven't. You shouldn't be ashamed. You should be proud.”
Wyatt's face relaxed. “See, this is why I like talking to you. You always make me feel okay about things. It's funny, but I don't know anybody else who is able to do that.”
Lily couldn't help but to smile at the comment. It made her feel really good. “I just tell you what I know is to be the truth.”
He sighed, and took a slowly sip from his glass. He set it down and unwrapped his cloth napkin, before placing it on top of his lap. “Well I really appreciate it, Lily. I do.”
“So how has the house felt different without me there?” she asked.
Why did I just ask that? She thought. Dammit. I didn't mean for that to just spill out. I'm such an idiot.
Wyatt nodded slowly. “It has, actually.”
“I didn't mean to bring all of that up again,” she said. “I don't know why I even said that.”
“No, it's okay,” he assured her. “I think it's a fair question. I told you a little bit over the phone, but not everything.”
She cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?”
Wyatt ran his fingers through his hair. It was almost like he was a little nervous. “You're going to think I'm crazy.”
Lily laughed. “I doubt it.”
“Seriously,” he said. “I'm nuts. So about fifteen minutes after you left that morning, there was a knocking on the front door. It turned out to just be Mildred, but I didn't know that right away. I got so excited, thinking that it was you. I had hoped that maybe you had forgotten something in the guest bedroom and you had come back to pick it up.”
Lily's heart melted as she watched him speak. “Really? You got excited?”
He nodded. “Yes. Embarrassingly so. I was in the basement with Maggie and I ran up the stairs as fast as I could to get the door. Of course, I was a little shocked and admittedly, somewhat disappointed, when I saw Mildred standing on the other side.”
Lily couldn't believe what she was hearing. Had Wyatt really missed her just as much as she had missed him? He'd had mentioned on the phone that he had been thinking about her, but she never realized it was like this.
Maybe he really does feel something toward me, she thought. Maybe this is actually real. Is it possible that it wasn't just my imagination?
“Since we're letting all of this out, I guess I should tell you that when I got home that day, I just started crying,” she said, her cheeks tingling as she began to blush.
“You cried?” Wyatt said. “That makes me feel horrible.”
“It wasn't bad tears,” she replied. “Well, not all of them were bad anyway. I was crying because I realized that my life at your house was one of the best weeks I'd ever had. And I mean ever. Sitting on my own couch in my own living room, I felt so out of place. It was like I didn't belong there any more.”
Wyatt was silent for a moment. It seemed like he was just trying to take it all in. “Wow. I had no idea.”
Lily nodded. “I know, it's ridiculous. I realize that it was only a week of living at your house. I was just a guest. But you know what? After a few days, it started to feel like I was where I belonged.”
“It's not ridiculous,” Wyatt said. “You know what is, though? You're going to think I'm out of my mind, but I started to actually miss your cooking.”
Lily laughed. “Stop. Now I know you're making things up.”
Wyatt shook his head. “I'm being serious. I guess it wasn't the actual food that I missed, though. It was just having you there to cook it. I miss knowing that you'll be there when I come home from work.”
Lily's eyes slowly filled with tears as her body filled with emotion. She did her absolute best to hold it all back, though. The last thing she wanted was to cry like a fool and ruin her makeup.