“Maybe I could use this money to buy me a time machine and travel back in time and prevent you from cheating on me,” she said, and he laughed.

“It would be great if we could though.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know if I could try, Lucas. It’s just so hard.”

Lucas looked up at the ceiling frustrated. “How will you know if we don’t try?”

“I don’t know.”

“Go out with me. Give us a chance.”

“I don’t know, Lucas. It’s just all so scary. I don’t think I can do the hurt again,” she said, and Lucas wasn’t sure but he thought she was crying.

His voice dropped down an octave. “I won’t hurt you baby, ever again.”

“I just don’t know.”

“Do you miss me?” he asked.

He held his breath as he waited for her answer. When she said “Yes,” it came out in a whoosh and the biggest grin replaced the worried line of his mouth.

“I miss you. So much.”

“But that doesn’t mean anything. Just because my body wants you and even though I miss you, I still know you’re a bad idea,” she insisted.

“Maybe I’m not.”

“Maybe you are.”

Lucas rolled his eyes and looked back down at the carpet. “Until you give me a fair chance, I don’t think it’s right of you to make that assumption,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I want us to be a family, Fallon.”

Fallon let out a breath. “In a perfect world we would be, but I would also be able to let go of what happened.”

“Again, let’s try. I’m going to be on break in a week before playoffs start,” he began, but Fallon cut him off.

“Yeah, but you have the campaign.”

“So? I can still plan stuff with you and Aiden around that. I want us to try during my break Fallon. Really try.”

“I don’t know Lucas, that’s asking a lot.”

“I don’t think it is,” Lucas countered. “I just want two weeks, that’s all. Me, you and Aiden, let’s see if it works.”

When Fallon didn’t say anything for a long time, Lucas wasn’t sure if she fell asleep or if she was thinking. She then said, “Let me think about it.”

A slow grin went across Lucas’ face. If she was willing to think about it, then she obviously wanted the same thing.

A family with him.

“Okay.”

“Okay, so I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” she asked.

“Tomorrow. Maybe I can get a good luck kiss out of you before the game?” Lucas said with laughter in his voice.

“Don’t count on it,” she laughed. “Good night, Lucas.”

“Good night baby,” Lucas said. He didn’t hang up the phone because he wanted her to do it first. It was childish, but they used to always do it. When she didn’t hang up either, Lucas smiled as he listened to her breathe. “Hang up,” he whispered.

“No, you hang up,” she whispered back.

Lucas started to laugh. He loved when they did this when he was on the road. They would fight about who hung up first, and finally they would hang up at the same time.

It felt so right doing it again and when he said, “Together?” she laughed. It had been so long but at that moment he felt like they were kids again, no worries in the world.

When Fallon stopped laughing, she said, “Okay, one, two, three…”

“Night,” they both said before hanging up. Lucas grinned down at the phone. They were going to work out, things were moving for them. He just hoped they were moving in the right direction.

To his perfect family.

Chapter 24

Fallon couldn’t believe she was considering giving Lucas those two weeks.

As she drove to the Luther Arena, she couldn’t help but want to do it. Maybe he was right, she couldn’t assume he would do her wrong. He said he was a changed man, and she had seen it after their fight. He would have never called and apologized before, but he had now. But all Fallon could think was even if she was to give him those two weeks, if she couldn’t trust him, what good would it do? It would only confuse him, her, and Aiden. She would have to forgive him before she could commit to something like that, but how could she forgive him when every time she looked at him, she thought of that moment when she found him in bed with Allison.

It was a vicious cycle of pain and something had to be done, or Fallon would be living a life — aside from Aiden — that she really didn’t like. Until she fully got over Lucas she would never be able to give her heart away. Part of her knew she would never get over him, but if she wasn’t going to give him a chance then she needed to do it. It was getting old, this game she was playing. She needed to decide what was best for herself and Aiden. If that was Lucas, then damn it, she needed to try. She needed to listen to her heart.

But the damn thing was telling her to be with him while her brain was telling her that he had cheated once, he’d do it again!

Ah! She was tiptoeing on the line between sane and crazy!

“I heard you crying again last night.”

Fallon looked over to where Audrey sat looking out the window. “I’m a mess, you should get used to it.”

Audrey laughed. “Why were you crying?”

“Lucas,” she said as if that explained everything.

“Okay?”

“We got into it, and he then called later and apologized. He then proceeded to asked for two weeks for me to see that he was a changed man.”