Chapter 49
The rest of dinner went rather peacefully, and about an hour later, they were back in the motel room. Lulu was exhausted, so they got her settled into the bed right away. Once she was asleep, Lucky grabbed the room key and started for the door.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Liz whispered, afraid to wake Lulu.
“I need to make a phone call.”
“Why can’t you do it in here?” she asked, not wanting to be left alone in the strange room.
“Because I’m probably going to yell, and I don’t want to wake her up,” he answered, motioning to Lulu.
“Oh, let me guess, Luke?”
He nodded and turned the knob. As he stepped out of the room and started to close the door, she jumped for it, stopping him. “I’m going with you,” she said, slipping out of the room.
“Why?”
She shrugged, trying to act casual about it. “I’m bored, this sounds like it could be pretty entertaining.”
Lucky eyes her suspiciously, but locked the door behind them anyway, pocketing the key and heading for the main building, where he had seen a pay phone earlier. “Suit yourself.”
Liz leaned against the wall while Lucky quickly entered his calling card information and waited for someone to answer. He propped his elbow against the phone and rested his head on his hand, threading his fingers through his hair. For some reason, Liz couldn’t take her eyes off of him. Luckily, he was busy staring at the ground, and didn’t notice that he was being studied.
“Hello?”
“Mom? I don’t suppose Dad is there?”
“Um, no, remember, he’s off with Sonny somewhere. He probably won’t be back for a few days.”
“You’re sure? He couldn’t be at the club or anything, could he?”
“Not as far as I know. Last I heard, he was leaving the country with Sonny. Is something wrong? Did you get Lulu to camp okay?”
Lucky sighed and looked up, startled to find that Liz had been watching him. She quickly averted her eyes and stared at the building across from them.
“Lucky? Are you still there?” Laura asked, concerned by the sudden silence on the other end of the line.
“Hm? Oh, yeah, I’m here. Um, actually, Dad told us the wrong day, check-in isn’t until tomorrow, so we had to get a hotel for the night.”
“Ah, so that would explain the call. I’m sorry about that, are you going to be okay there? How is Lulu doing?”
“She’s fine. She thinks this is great fun, actually. We’re just going to drop her off as soon as they’ll let us tomorrow, then head home.”
“Okay. Oh, by the way, who do you mean by ‘we’? Did you get Charisma to go with you?”
Lucky paused, glancing up at Liz again, who was now studying her shoes. “Um, no, she canceled at the last minute. Elizabeth is with us instead. It turns out that Dad asked her to take Lulu without telling us. It was all a big set-up, like usual.”
“Oh, honey, I’m sorry about that. I’ll make sure he gets the couch whenever he gets home from his trip,” Laura said, laughing. “Try not to kill each other, okay?”
Lucky smiled and shook his head. “We’ll try, but no promises If Dad gets back before I do, don’t let him leave the country again until I get home. “
Laura laughed again. “Will do. Be careful tonight, okay? Give Lulu my love.”
“I will,” he said, getting ready to hang up.
“And Liz,” she quickly added.
Lucky rolled his eyes, glancing over at her again. “Don’t push it, Mom. Good night.”
“Night, honey.”
He hung up and frowned at Liz as he dialed Luke’s. “My mother sends her love,” he said sarcastically. She nodded, not sure why he even told her, then waited for him to finish the call. He listened as the other end rang, but was never answered. Figuring she was right, that he really did go somewhere with Sonny, he hung up and headed back to their room.
~*~
Laura hung up the phone and chuckled to herself as she made her way into the living room to relax. A few minutes later, the door opened, and Luke came in. “Hey, baby.”
“Hey, yourself,” she said, turning to look at him. “Our son just called. It seems you sent him to New Jersey a day early, and he was forced to stay the night in a hotel.”
Luke feigned shock and sat in the chair next to her. “Did I do that? Well, I must have messed up the dates. Isn’t today the 19th?”
Laura shook her head. “No, it’s only the 18th.”
“Dang it, I must have been looking at last year’s calendar again!” he said, trying to suppress a grin. “I really need to stop doing that. So, how mad was he?”
“Considering he got stuck with Liz, pretty mad. I told him I would make you sleep on the couch again.”
“Ooh, nice touch,” he said, winking at her. “This ‘good cop, bad cop’ thing works pretty good.”
“As long as I’m always the good cop,” Laura said, standing up to go into the kitchen for a snack. “I prefer that my children actually like me.”
“Are you kidding me? Good cop’s no fun! Trust me, they’re going to thank me for this later. You just wait.”
“I am waiting. I’m waiting to see if they kill each other on the drive home!””
~*~
“He wasn’t there?” Liz asked, following Lucky back to their room.
“Nope, she claims he really is with Sonny somewhere. He must have her totally snowed.”
“You think so? Are you sure she’s not in on it, too?”
Lucky unlocked the door and pushed it open, motioning for her to go in ahead of him. “I doubt it. Mom hates it when he meddles like that. Especially when it comes to her kids.”
“If you say so. I still think she’s in on it.” Liz sighed and surveyed the small room. Lulu was sleeping in the middle of the bed, the covers all twisted around her. “So, now what do you suggest we do?”
“Well, the TV would probably wake her up, that is, if it even works in the first place,” he said, looking at his watch, “and this town is pretty much dead right now, so going somewhere is out of the question. I guess sleep is the only thing left.”
“You know, Luke could have warned us to bring some extra clothes or something. Now I’ve got to sleep in this and wear it tomorrow! I’m going to feel so gross by the time we get home!”
“Hey, I’m in the same boat as you. Maybe we should stop at the store and get something else to wear before we bring Lulu in. She doesn’t have to be there until 2:00 anyway.”
“Good idea. Maybe if I can put on something clean, I’ll feel better. Until then, I guess I’m stuck in this.” She tugged at her shirt, untucking it to get a little more comfortable. “So, what are the sleeping arrangements?”
Lucky shrugged, looking at the floor. “Well, I doubt either of us is going to want to sleep on that floor,” he said, pointing at the ground. “It looks like they haven’t vacuumed in years!”
Liz wrinkled her nose and sat on the edge of the bed. “No, I’m definitely not sleeping there. Look, the bed is big, and if we keep Lulu between us, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Lucky thought for a minute, then nodded. “Yeah, I guess that will work.” He turned off the main light and walked around to the other side of the bed, gently pulling some of the blanket away from Lulu, trying not to wake her. Liz sighed and climbed in on the other side of her, prying away the other end of it so she could cover herself. She rolled over onto her side, facing Lucky. Her shoulder had pretty much healed, but was still a little sore when she laid on it.
Unaware that he was being watched, Lucky removed his shirt and started to climb into the other side of the bed. He looked over and found that Liz was staring at him again. “What?”
“Um, nothing,” she mumbled, quickly rolling onto her back. She closed her eyes and tried desperately to get the image of Lucky’s bare chest out of her mind, but it was a losing battle. Something told her she wouldn’t be falling asleep very easily tonight!
