Lost Without You/A Jordan Knight FanFic✔️

08

NOW

It's Saturday. My Lucy day.

Again, she's making me wait for her.

"Finally," I whisper as the front door opens, but it's not her.

Alice shuffles her flip-flop clad feet toward my truck, a light breeze ruffling the skirt to her strapless sundress.

Slender shoulders with perfect posture.

Flawless skin bronzed by long summer days.

It's hard to believe she said yes to getting into an RV with me and taking off to destinations unknown. It's hard to believe the graceful dancer fell for the guy in dirty work boots who lived with his parents. It's even harder to believe I lost her.

I climb out of my truck and shut the door behind me. "Good morning."

Alice works for a smile that looks amicable at best. "Morning." She fiddles with her watch. "What's your situation? Do you need to sell your house before you can buy me out of this one? Because I'd like to close on our house in two weeks." She presses her lips together for a beat. "Lucy's and my house."

Good thing she clarified that. I might have thought she was offering to take me back. The urge to roll my eyes at her nervous chattering nearly wins, but I control it.

"Unless you've changed your mind. I really think you should talk to Lucy about it first. And I do have a potential buyer if you don't want it."

When I don't answer, she clears her throat. I've been staring at her. All of her.

"Don't look at me like that," she whispers as her gaze cuts to her feet.

"Like what?"

"Like we're still married."

I laugh in spite of the pain in my chest. "Is that such a bad look?" Sidestepping her, I head toward the house to find Lucy. Her bedroom door is shut, and I knock twice.

"Come in," she says.

"What are you doing?"

Lucy turns away from her window. I know what she was doing ... watching me talk to Alice.

"I've wondered where this was at." I pick up my book from her dresser. One of my amazing facts books. "This one has some of my favorites. A strawberry is not a berry, but an orange is. And speaking of oranges, Bobby Leach went over Niagara Falls in a barrel and survived, but he later slipped on an orange peel and died as a result."

"Mom said she was drawn to your nerdy side as much as your 'handsome side,' which I think she means sexy but doesn't want to say that to me. She said you're always the life of a party with your random facts."

My smile grows just knowing that Alice talks to Lucy about me in a positive way. I miss wooing my wife with randomness and vocabulary like Lachanophobia—fear of vegetables. I miss the way she'd smile at parties when I geeked out. I've always known she liked my nerdy side. And I always liked the way it made her giggle and shake her head. I used to convince myself that she was thinking, "How did I get so lucky?"

But ... maybe that was just my mantra for her.

"While my friends played video games, I read Encyclopedia Britannica. I asked for the whole set for Christmas when I was twelve."

"Oh my god." Lucy laughs like her mom used to laugh at me.

"Do you miss her?" Her humor fades.

My forehead tenses as I scratch the back of my neck. "Who?"