Fade to Black Read Online Free

him standing in the family room. “ Spaghetti, and it will be ready soon. Did you finish your homework at Billy’s after
school?”
    “Yes, Mother.”
    “Leonardo, you know I don’t appreciate that
tone.”
    “You ask me every night, and every night I
tell you the same thing. Billy’s mom is almost as tough as you are about
homework.”
    “Okay, smarty pants, why don’t you go clean
up and I’ll get dinner started while checking your homework.”
    “Can’t I watch something on TV while I
wait?”
    “Nope, we have company.”
    Leo started looking around and froze when
he saw Devlin in the family room. “Who’s that?”
    Lily hesitated for a moment. “He’s a
friend. He wanted to see some of my art, and if he has the time, he’s more than
welcome to stay for dinner.” She looked up at Devlin shyly. Her heart wanted
him to stay for dinner so she could spend more time with him. Not sure how much they were going to have together, she wanted something
more than the few minutes they had.
    “Cool,” Leo said and started to walk away.
    “There’s my Mister Manners.” Lily grabbed
him in a bear hug and ruffled his hair.
    “Mom, stop.”
    “Never.” She proceeded to tickle him until he finally escaped and ran out of the kitchen
to his room. “Don’t forget to put your stuff away and wash your hands.” She
turned back to Devlin. “Really, we’re only having a simple meal and it’d be no
problem if you’d like to stay.”
    “I’d love to, and sometimes, simple meals
are the best. Is there anything I can do?”
    “You could open the bottle of wine.” She
nodded toward the rack. “Whichever one you might like is fine.” She pulled out
the pots she needed and started dinner while laying Leo’s homework out on the
counter. While she cooked, she also checked it in addition to trying to make
small talk with Devlin.
    “Stop. Just stop,” he said.
    She turned toward him. “What?”
    “You’re going to burn yourself.”
    Shaking her head at him, she turned back
around to stir the sauce. “No, I won’t. Well, I could, but really, I do this
all the time.”
    “Here,” he said as walked over to her,
“either let me cook, or check the homework. I can do either, so you shouldn’t
have to do both.”
    Lily stood there blinking at him, unsure of
what to do. Rarely did anyone help her; she pretty much did it all on her own.
Dory helped when she could, but that was different. They’d been friends
forever, even before Leo was born. They were more like sisters. This was a man,
an attractive man who she just met, and he wanted to help her. Was she
completely crazy letting him into her life, even this little bit, just because
she felt safe because he was famous? What if he was some crazy serial killer
who kept it all under wraps because of his fame, what if …
    “Wow. What is going on inside your head? I
just asked if you wanted some help. Here, why don’t I take the homework since
you know where everything is in your kitchen?” He slowly started gathering up
the papers when he saw the color flood her cheeks. She lifted a shaking hand to
cover her mouth. “See? \ Iit’s just me ,
taking the papers and backing slowly away, no need to be scared. I’m not some
crazed lunatic who’s going to burn your dinner, or worse, not make sure your
son did everything right.”
    Shaking her head, she laughed. “I’m sorry.
Some habits are hard to break. Yes, thank you, it would be wonderful if you
could check his homework. I make a small mark next to the ones he has wrong or
want to make sure he understands.” She made a mental note to go back through
them after he left. She’d seen and read interviews with him, she knew he was
intelligent, but helping a child with homework was something completely
different. “Oh, and he’s been having problems with math, I tend to go over those
a bit more with him. And on his spelling words you need to go over them three
times, that’s the magic number with him. Oh,