Too Late To Love Me I Already Left With His Twins (Lydia and Dave) novel Chapter 235

“It absolutely is.”

I bit back a laugh.

Apparently, I was now being given a full architectural tour of a café I had never heard of by two six-year-olds who had somehow researched it more thoroughly than most adults researched their vacations.

“And…” Ava paused dramatically before looking at me with those hopeful eyes I knew far too well. “Can we go?”

I glanced toward Dave.

He was sitting across from us, one arm resting against the sofa while he listened to the twins with an expression that made it painfully obvious he was already sold on the idea.

“Today?” I asked.

“Yes,” Eli answered immediately.

“With Dad?”

Ava nodded.

I looked at Dave.

He lifted both hands slightly, as if surrendering the decision to me. “They asked me too.”

Of course they had.

I looked back at the twins.

Their faces were bright with anticipation, and for a moment I felt that familiar instinct to say no simply because I liked knowing where they were, who they were with, and what they were doing.

Then I looked at Dave again.

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And something inside me quietly exhaled.

Maybe I needed the break.

Not from the children.

Never from them.

From him.

From having him in my house, sitting in my living room, laughing with our children while my bram apparently decided it had forgotten how to behave normally around the man.

I had work waiting for me anyway.

A client who had been calling me every hour.

Emails I hadn’t answered.

A strategy document sitting untouched on my desk.

Maybe letting the twins go would give me exactly what I needed.

“Fine,” I said.

The reaction was immediate.

“Yes!”

Ava jumped off the sofa.

Eli practically launched himself into the air.

I laughed despite myself. “You two haven’t even left yet.”

“We’re going to have so much fun!”

“And you’re going to take pictures,” I added.

“A lot of pictures.”

“And you’re staying with your father.”

“Yes, Mom.”

“And you listen to him.”

“Yes, Mom.”

“And nobody runs off.”

“Yes, Mom.”

I narrowed my eyes.

“Eli.”

“Yes, Mom.”

“You answered that one too quickly.”

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He grinned.

Il behave.”

Dave laughed under his breath.

I pointed at him. “And you.”

He looked at me innocently. “Me?”

“Yes. Bring my children back in one piece.”

“I think I can manage that.”

“You better.”

He smiled.

Something about that smile made me look away first.

Ridiculous.

Absolutely ridiculous.

Once they were gone, the house became strangely quiet.

I stood in the middle of the living room for a moment, listening to the silence.

Then my phone rang.

I looked at the screen.

The client.

Of course.

I sighed and walked toward my office.

The woman on the other end of the video call appeared almost immediately, perfectly made up despite the fact that it was barely past noon. Her hair was immaculate, her nails were freshly done, and her expression suggested that she had already decided the entire internet was against her.

“I need this handled,” she said before I could even greet her properly.

I opened my laptop.

“That’s what we’re here for.”

“You don’t understand. People are dragging me everywhere.”

“I understand.”

“No, Lydia. They’re calling me a homewrecker.”

I paused.

“You did sleep with your friend’s husband.”

Silence.

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She stared at me.

tared back.

“I didn’t say it to judge you,” I added calmly. “I’m saying it because we need to understand what the public is reacting to.”

She folded her arms.

“So what do we do?”

I leaned back in my chair.

“We don’t deny everything. That will make you look dishonest. We don’t attack your former friend. That will make you look cruel. And we definitely don’t start posting emotional explanations every three hours.”

She frowned.

“Then what?”

“We control the narrative.”

For the next hour, I walked her through the strategy piece by piece.

No impulsive posts.

No vague I*******m stories.

No crying on live television.

No subtweets.

No screenshots of private conversations.

We would release a carefully worded statement, shift attention toward her current work, and allow the public’s attention span to do what it always did.

Move on.

By the time the call ended, I felt like I had just completed an Olympic event.

I closed my laptop and leaned back.

Finally.

Silence.

I barely had time to enjoy it before the front door opened.

“We’re back!”

I heard Eli before I saw him.

I smiled.

Of course.

A second later, both twins came rushing into the living room, talking so quickly that neither sentence made complete sense.

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“Mom, you should have seen it!”

There were pink petals everywhere!”

“And the bookstore!”

“And the drinks!”

“And Dad let us choose our own books!”

I looked toward Dave as he entered behind them.

He looked far too pleased with himself..

“Sounds like someone had fun.”

“Mom, look!”

Ava pulled out a phone and started showing me pictures.

There were photographs of the twins standing beneath the artificial pink rain, another of them sitting beneath the towering bookshelves, and one where Eli was holding an enormous book with an expression of exaggerated seriousness.

I laughed.

“You actually enjoyed yourselves.”

“Obviously.”

Eli climbed onto the sofa beside me.

Ava sat on my other side.

Dave remained standing for a moment before eventually taking the armchair opposite us.

For the first time that afternoon, the room felt full again.

And strangely enough…

I didn’t mind.

Then the doorbell rang.

I frowned.

“I wasn’t expecting anyone.”

I got up and walked toward the entrance.

When I opened the door, the smile on my face disappeared.

Theo stood there.

Holding a beautifully packaged box..

For one second, I simply stared.

He looked equally surprised to see me.

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“Hi.”

His eyes moved briefly past me into the house.

Then toward the living room.

And finally…

They landed on Dave.

The air changed.

Not dramatically.

Not enough for anyone else to notice.

But I noticed.

Dave stood up.

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