Forever Lucy by Terri Anne Browning
Her laugh warmed me to my soul, wiping away the last of the fear from earlier. “Tempting, but no thanks, babe. I don’t need the moon when you’re my sun.”
I brushed my lips over hers, but before I could deepen the kiss, my phone started making angry noises. Groaning, I lifted my head until our eyes met. “Bet that’s Nat.”
“Probably,” she grumbled. “Let’s ignore it, though.”
Her phone went off before mine could even stop. “If we don’t answer, you know they’ll just show up here.”
“I really don’t want to deal with any of them right now,” she muttered, turning her head away.
I hated seeing that look on her face. Pissed off at both our moms, I dropped another kiss on her lips. “Go pack a bag.”
“What? Why?”
I grabbed my phone and then hers. “Because we’re not dealing with them right now. We’re not doing a damn thing about the wedding for the next week.”
“But where are we going?”
“Fuck if I know, sweetness. Wherever we can get a flight to.” She stared at me in openmouthed amazement. Laughing, I lifted her to her feet and tapped her on the ass as I pushed her toward our room. “Pack a few things for me, and I’ll get us some plane tickets.”
“But I don’t even know what to pack.”
“So pack a little of everything.” I caught her around the waist from behind and lowered my head to her neck. She shivered as I kissed her shoulder. “Don’t plan on wearing too many clothes, though. Wherever we end up, you can damn well believe it will have a huge-ass bed.”
Giggling, she raced to our room just as her phone went off again. A glance at the screen showed the missed call had been from Layla, but the new caller was her dad. Knowing I couldn’t just take off with his daughter without telling him, I answered Jesse’s call.
“Is she okay?” were the first words out of his mouth as soon as he heard my voice.
“She’s good now,” I assured him. “I had no idea about all the wedding crap, I swear.”
“Me either,” he said with a rough sigh. “I thought she was happy.”
“Well, she wasn’t. But it’s not just the wedding that’s made her miserable. This thing with her and Layla has her more torn up than anything, man.”
There was a short pause on his end where I could have sworn I heard the wheels in his head screech to a halt. “What thing between them?”
That he hadn’t seen it either made me feel a little better for not realizing something was going on between Lucy and her mom. “Look, I don’t honestly know what all is going on, but Layla and Lucy… Their relationship isn’t what it used to be. Maybe you should talk to them about it because I don’t want to make it worse.”
“Let me talk to Lu.”
“Nope, can’t do that. She’s packing.”
“What the fuck do you mean she’s packing?” he roared.
“Relax. We’re just going to take a little break from everything going on. She needs to relax and get away. I’ll have her back in a week, I swear. You’ll see her after your trip to Paris.” I already had the airline app open and was searching through the earliest flights. We were doing Saint Lucia for our honeymoon, but Lucy didn’t know that yet. Still, I wanted something that wasn’t even remotely similar. An idea popped into my head, and I checked the earliest flight to the destination. Fuck yeah! “Until then, don’t call. You can text to check in with her, but don’t bother her with anything else.”
The pause this time was tenser, and I knew I was being ballsy as hell with the man who was about to become my father-in-law, but right then, I didn’t give two fucks. Lucy wasn’t happy, but I was going to change all of that. I’d put that glow back in her eyes, wipe away all her stress, and make her laugh again.
Instead of blowing up like I had been mentally preparing myself for, he only sounded resigned when he spoke. “I won’t call, but you better make sure as hell she texts me when you get wherever you’re going, boy. Because if something happens to my baby girl, there isn’t a place on this planet you can hide from me.”
“Nothing will happen to her,” I assured him in a cool, calm voice. “If anything, I’m cleaning up the mess your wife made.” I reserved both first-class seats and checked out with just a swipe of my thumb before pulling up the info for the hotel I had in mind, all while still talking to him. “And you can tell Layla and Emmie that they can go ahead and start canceling all the wedding preparations they’ve made.”
“You’re canceling the wedding?” His voice boomed in my ear. “What the fuck did I miss?”
“The wedding is still on, and Lucy still loves her dress. Lucy and I are just doing everything ourselves from this point on. Thanks for your help, but Lu and I have it from here on out. This is our wedding, not theirs.”
“Listen, Harris, I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but I can fix this. Give me a week, and I’ll have it all sorted out. By the time you get back, everything will be okay.”
“Thanks, but no thanks,” I bit out. “Like I said, we’ve got this from here on out. And that includes paying for it.”
“I didn’t do shit, boy, so stop treating me like the villain here,” he gritted out.
“No one is blameless in this, Jesse. Not the moms, not you, and especially not me. Not having a clue what was going on makes us even more at fault.” He let out a harsh breath, telling me without words that he agreed with me. “Tell them to cancel everything, especially that goddamn cake.”
“Yeah, I will.” Another short pause. “Just tell her I love her, okay?”
“Yeah, I will. We’ll see you next week.”
No sooner had I hung up than my phone went off again. I glared down at Nat’s name on my screen and finally answered. “What?”
“Don’t be mad,” she pleaded. “I’ll fix this. I swear I will. Emmie and I will make this Lucy’s dream wedding.”
“That’s what you were supposed to be fucking doing in the first damn place,” I snapped. “So, thanks, but no thanks. We don’t need or want your help. Lu and I will take things from here. All I need you to do is cancel everything you three have done so far.”
“But, Harris—”
I quickly cut her off. “But, nothing. I don’t want to hear excuses or whatever the fuck else you have to say right now. We don’t need or want your help, Natalie. Lucy and I will take care of the wedding ourselves, and that includes paying for it.”
Lucy came out of our room with both of our carry-ons rolling behind her. “Everything set?”
I covered the phone with my hand. “Yeah, sweetness. Our flight takes off in three hours. Let’s go. You got everything we need?”
“I hope so,” she said with an excited laugh. “I like this spontaneity. It’s kind of fun.”
Some of the old glow was back in her eyes, and I dropped a soft kiss on her lips. “Me too, Lu.”
“Hello? Harris, are you still there?” Nat was yelling. “Harris, don’t hang up. Please, let’s talk about this.”
Lucy’s eyes fell to the phone, and that little bit of glow evaporated. “She sounds upset.”
“Who cares? She can deal with it while we’re gone.” I lifted the phone back to my ear. “Don’t call me for the next week. Lucy and I are going on vacation, and we don’t want anyone’s drama interrupting our time.”
“Harris, I’m so sorry,” Nat whispered brokenly. “Just give me a chance to fix this.”
“You’ve had months to fix it. Now it’s my turn. Just do as I said, Nat. We’ll see you next week.”
“O-okay.” Her voice cracked. “I love you both. Please be careful and have a good time.”
I muttered a curse under my breath. She wasn’t even a decade older than me, but she was the only mom I’d ever known. She had taken care of me, loved me like her own child long before she married my dad. To hear her crying felt like being boiled alive in hot oil. “We love you too, Nat. Look, just give me a few days to calm down, and we can talk when I get home, okay? Don’t cry.”
“O-okay,” she sobbed. “I really am so sorry.”
“I know you are. But saying you’re sorry isn’t always enough. Something you should understand since you haven’t forgiven Jenna yet.”
Her gasp sounded pained, but she didn’t say anything. I was tired of the drama for the day, so I hung up. I switched our phones to silent and then took Lucy’s hand. “Let’s get out of here, sweetness.”
As we stepped into the elevator, she was practically dancing with excitement. “Where are we going?”
“How do you feel about breathtaking mountainous views, decadent cups of hot chocolate, and making love in bed while it snows outside?” Her eyes widened, but I could see the appeal those suggestions had for her. “Have you ever been to Colorado?”
“Once? I can’t really remember it, though. Dad had a concert, but we didn’t do a lot of exploring.”
“I got us a suite at Mountain Thunder Lodge. We can do a little skiing or just stay in bed and watch the world go by from under the covers. Whatever you want to do, we will. If we need anything, we can buy it there.”
“That sounds perfect,” she murmured with a contented little sigh. “I can’t wait.”
The elevator opened up into the garage. I put our cases in the back of her Range Rover and opened her door. As she climbed in, I leaned in and kissed her. “Promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“Don’t keep anything from me again. No matter how big or small, no matter if you think it will upset me or not, I want to take care of it with you.”
“I promise,” she breathed, pulling my head down for another kiss. “But only if you promise to do the same.”
“Promise.”
She grinned. “Good. Now that we have that sorted out, let’s get out of here. The sooner we get to Colorado, the sooner we can make out in the snow.”
“Hell yeah, sweetness. Let’s go.”
Chapter 10
Lucy
December
Six days of pure peace was good for the soul. The time spent in Colorado had worked wonders on my stress level, but spending nearly a week completely disconnected from the outside world tended to do that to a person.
For the first two days, all we did was make love. Our window overlooked the most amazing view I had ever witnessed firsthand, and it snowed every single day. Making love in front of that view, with Harris taking every second to worship my body in the most delicious of ways, had healed something inside of me I didn’t even realize needed healing.
But there had still been an ache inside me that he couldn’t touch with his kisses and the picturesque view beyond our window.
On the third day, I decided we needed to at least explore some of the surrounding area, and even though skiing wasn’t my forte, we still went to the top of the slopes after buying all the snow gear we needed. Harris talked me into tubing, and we spent hours slipping and sliding in a snow tube with the sound of my giggles and screams echoing off the mountains.
During our time in Colorado, my dad only texted me a few times, and as much as I missed him, I was glad for the reprieve. I didn’t know what all he knew, but I was sure I was going to find out the moment he got home from Paris. His latest text asked us to meet him and Mom for dinner once they were back. The thought of seeing Mom made me want to beg Harris to stay a few extra days, but I had responsibilities at home. Drake was creating a surprise for Lana, and I promised him I would watch the girls for him.
Other than a few phone calls to my sister and brother-in-law to assure them I was okay, the only other person I had spoken to was Kin the night we’d gotten to Mountain Thunder Lodge. She had sounded more upbeat than she had earlier that day, but I got the odd feeling she was pretending. I wasn’t sure if it was for my sake, or if she was just trying to convince herself she was okay, but she’d promised she was fine and told me to enjoy my time away from the real world.
That was exactly what I’d done, and now I felt like I weighed about sixty pounds less after having the stress lifted off my shoulders. And for the first time since the craziness over the wedding had begun, I was looking forward to planning our wedding.
In the airport on the way home, I grabbed a few bridal magazines to flip through on the plane. As we took our seats in first class, I opened one. Harris leaned over after fastening his seat belt. “I kind of like that cake design,” he murmured. “Simple but classic.”
I beamed up at him. “How about if we have something like this with that lemon blueberry you liked so much when we did the taste testing?”
He kissed me hard. “I love it,” he breathed at my ear when he pulled back. “Make the appointment, and we’ll talk to the baker about it.”
“Okay.” I scribbled myself a note in the corner and folded down the edge of the page. “Actually, I was wanting to talk to you about the venue for the reception.”
“Yes, I will marry you on the moon, Lu,” he assured me with a wink. “You should have said that’s what you wanted. I could have already reserved the date for us.”
I stuck my tongue out at him. “I think the place Mom and Nat picked for the reception is going to be too big for the smaller guest list we want. I was thinking we could just…”
His brows lifted when I trailed off. “Just?”
“Well, we’re getting married on the anniversary of the day I realized I love you. I was sort of thinking we could have the reception where you realized you were in love with me.” I watched his face for a reaction, but when he didn’t immediately say anything, I shrugged. “It’s just a thought. I know you wouldn’t want First Bass turned upside down.”
He kissed me again, deeper and longer this time. As he drew back, his eyes were flashing with amusement. “I’m kind of upset I didn’t think of that myself. I love the idea of marrying you in the same spot where I got gut-punched by the realization I was in love with my best friend. And March 26th is on a Monday, which is one of the club’s slower nights. We can just close the club and have the waitstaff still work. That’s the venue, the waitresses help out the caterer’s staff, and the bartenders are taken care of. It works out perfectly, sweetness.”
Holy crap. That was already a handful of major things taken care of within five minutes, and I hadn’t even broken into a sweat over the decision-making of it all. “Mom would have said having the reception at the club is tacky,” I muttered half to myself.
“Lucy, your mom just wanted you to have the best of the best because she loves you. She went overboard, but don’t think less of her for wanting to make our day special for you.” He linked our fingers together. “And it’s not tacky. We’re sharing with everyone a little bit of how we fell in love, as well as celebrating our marriage. There is nothing tacky about that.”
I snuggled back into my seat, smiling up at him with my heart in my eyes. “I think I just fell a little deeper for you, Harris Cutter.”
Leaning in close, he touched his lips to the shell of my ear. “That’s my goal, sweetness. To make you fall a little more every day.”
“Would you like a glass of wine before we take off?” the flight attendant asked as she stood over Harris’s shoulder and smiled down at us, interrupting our moment.
Smirking, he lifted his head and winked down at me before turning his eyes on her. “We will both have water, no ice, please.”
The woman, a blonde in her late twenties blinked down at him for the longest time, seeming mesmerized by his eyes. A shot of jealousy hit me, but I was used to this kind of thing happening now and swallowed it before it could destroy my happy mood. “Uh… Um, of course,” she said after a moment. “R-right away,” she breathed.
He turned that aquamarine gaze back to me, and I became even more breathless than the flight attendant when I met those hungry eyes. “What’s next?”
“Um… The guest list?”
“Are you asking me or telling?” he asked with a knowing grin.
I rolled my eyes at him, but I grinned back. “Telling you.”
&
I flipped to the back of the second magazine I’d gotten, which had a few blank pages just for notes. “Think we can get this solved before we get home?”
“I’m hopeful if you are,” he said with a nod, ignoring the flight attendant as she placed our waters in front of us. It wasn’t that he was being rude, I honestly thought he just didn’t see her because his eyes were glued to me. Which had me falling that much harder.
By the time the plane’s wheels touched down at LAX, we had worked out the guest list, and we were both happy with the number once it was final. One hundred and thirty-six people, as opposed to the five hundred that had been the moms’ hard limit? I’d take that.
“Now, we just have to pick out the invitations and have them printed,” I told him as we walked through the airport parking garage. “We got more accomplished in one plane ride than I did in months of planning with Mom.”
He unlocked the Range Rover and put our cases in the back before clasping me by the waist and pulling me in for a long, drugging kiss. “Are you happy with these decisions? Will this be your dream wedding?”
I stroked my fingers over the stubble on his jaw. “The dream was always marrying you. Which was one of the reasons I put up with Mom and Nat for so long. It didn’t matter what or where in the beginning. I just wanted to become your wife. Then things started to get out of hand,” I told him honestly. “But now, with you helping me, it’s every dream I’ve ever had come to life.”
He swallowed hard and pushed a few curls back from my face. “Lucy, I can’t fucking wait to marry you.”
I leaned into his touch as he cupped my cheek. “I can’t wait either, babe. It’s going to be the best day of our lives, I swear.”
On the drive home, I called the baker and asked his assistant to set us up an appointment as soon as possible to talk about a moderate-sized cake. She gushed over meeting with us again and sounded almost relieved to be hearing from us. “The way Mrs. Armstrong made it sound, we thought your wedding was off, Miss Thornton. We were so sad to think that you and Mr. Cutter wouldn’t be getting married. You two were so obviously in love the last time we saw you, and it made Chef a little teary when he thought you two were no more.”