Happily Ever Never

20. Brooke

20

brOOKE

I’m woken by sunlight warming my face and birdsong outside my window. I lie there quietly, soaking in the feeling of being nestled in Lucas’s muscular arms. They’re wrapped around me, and I’m the little spoon.

Seconds drift by. A minute. Two minutes. I can feel the steady thud of Lucas’s heartbeat, and I have never had a stronger sense of being cared for so deeply. I don’t want to move and break the spell, but finally I stir, stretch, and roll onto my back.

“Morning, glory.” Lucas rolls onto his side.

“It is, isn’t it?” This is frighteningly wonderful. But it still doesn’t mean anything. We’ll escape this world, and I won’t be Susie anymore, slowly falling all over again for Jasper, the boy she loved who grew up to be a better man than he knows.

I heave a sigh. No point in thinking about that now. We’ve had days and days of wonderfulness and the book chapters are filling in, but the book’s not full yet.

For the first time, I feel a twinge of sadness at the thought of leaving this world .

“Well, fancy meeting you here.” Lucas strokes my hair out of my face.

I snort. “You’ve really got to work on your pickup lines.”

“Do I, though? I’m thinking that you’re a sure bet.”

“The nerve! I might just withhold sex tonight.”

“No, you won’t,” Lucas smirks.

“No, I won’t,” I sigh. “Jerk.”

“Guilty as charged.”

“This isn’t the worst way to wake up,” I murmur into Lucas’s shoulder.

I have been having sex with my boss every night. Angry, bossy, impatient Lucas Sheffield. And he’s amazing in bed, not just because of his skills, but because of the feeling behind them.

He’s deeply devoted to my pleasure, and he’s got a sixth sense about what the right thing is to do, when.

Every night I tell myself that we need to stop this before it becomes a habit that’s too hard to break, but Lucas is harder to resist than chocolate mousse.

“So, whose turn is it to burn the eggs this morning?” Lucas asks.

I yawn again and sit up, and the blanket falls away. “Well I was thinking—what is that?” I cry out.

There are men’s voices coming from the living room.

“What the hell? Did they send a search party after me?” Lucas throws back the covers and leaps out of bed. Instantly I miss his warmth.

He hastily pulls his boxer shorts on and hurries out of bed. Groaning, I rush over to the closet and pull on sweatpants and a T-shirt.

I run down the hall into the living room, to find Lucas glaring at two men who are carrying tool kits and wearing black T-shirts and khakis. The T-shirts identify them as coming from the Handyman Connection. Their name tags identify them as Andrew and Manuel.

“Morning, Susie. We got a cancellation, so today opened up for us. We’re here to fix the bedroom ceiling,” Manuel says to me.

“How did you get in?” Lucas snarls at them.

Manuel gives him a bland smile. “Everyone in town knows that Susie’s parents put a key to the front door under the fake rock.”

He’s right. How had I forgotten that?

My face flames bright red. I mean, I went to grade school, middle school, and high school with these guys, and now they know I’m banging Jasper.

I mean Lucas. His name is Lucas, and I didn’t go to school with these guys, but I do remember them. I remember Andrew was a pretty good running back, and he had to get married when he was a senior because he got the head cheerleader in trouble, and they divorced but then got back together again.

“We need a few minutes. Can you wait outside?” I manufacture a polite smile as if I hadn’t just been caught, as Henry would put it, canoodling with my boss. So okay, fine, Henry was right about me. I’m a canoodler.

They give us an amused, lingering look before grabbing their tools and tromping out the front door.

Lucas and I take the fastest one-minute shower ever, then dress at the speed of light. I find a dirndl skirt and a red cotton blouse, and Lucas pulls out his usual billionaire businessman outfit.

We rush out of the house and leave the door open for the handymen, hurrying down the sidewalk to escape their judgy stares.

“I had a tour scheduled for us at the newspaper office this morning anyway, remember?” I say to Lucas as we stroll towards Main Street .

He makes a sour face. “If I pretend to have forgotten, can we do something else?”

“No, I arranged it with the owner. You can look through some old editions of the Green Acres Gazette and get to know more about the town’s history.”

Lucas lets out a groan. “Why are you dragging me to all the businesses where people hate me?”

I shrug. “What else do we have to do with all this free time?”

His mouth curls up in a slow smile. “I can think of some things. Dirty, dirty things.”

“I need to recover.” I smile back. “We can do that after lunch.”

“Hmm.” He scowls. “Okay, I’m going to figure this out. It’s part of a plan. It’s something Susie McGillicuddy would do to further her goal of saving downtown. What’s going to happen if I meet the owners of these businesses?”

Fine, I’ll give him a hint. “You’ll get to know them better?”

“I already know them,” he grumbles. “Well, Jasper already knew them. He grew up with these people.”

“He doesn’t know them anymore. He hasn’t seen them in more than ten years. Jasper knew them when he was a kid.” We’re walking down Main Street now, passing the Sew What tailor and alterations shop, which is yet another store name that gives Lucas conniption fits.

“It still feels like a real waste of time. I know we’re not that busy here, but we could still find better things to do. Hey, want to go rent a boat on Loon Lake? We haven’t done that yet, and it would mean time away from these people, which is infinitely preferable to time with these people.”

“We can do that some other time. Has it really been all bad, getting to know these people again?”

“Well... it was kind of decent of Mr. Hardcastle to apologize to me. And I guess Mr. Vickers has been less toxic. And Theodore is at least allowing us to eat at his cafe now, even if he doesn’t exactly offer service with a smile.” He chews his lower lip. “Are you trying to get me—I mean Jasper—to see them as decent human beings and see how much their businesses mean to them and the community?”

“Bingo!”

“Well, why didn’t you just tell me that from the beginning?” he demands, looking at me in exasperation.

I shake my head. “Susie wouldn’t have done that, in the book, because it would have defeated the whole purpose. He thinks he knows them already. He needed to find out that there’s more to them than he thought, and it needed to happen organically.”

We’re approaching the newspaper now, a red brick building with a large sign hanging out front proclaiming its name in Gothic style lettering. There’s ivy running up the brick and a glass-front newspaper box sitting out front.

“Hello, fellow prisoners,” Serena calls out, making her way across the street towards us. She’s wearing a stylish silk snakeskin-print midi dress and camel-colored pumps. I try to ignore the fact that she outlined and glossed her lips perfectly but isn’t wearing any eye makeup, which is something that Serena would never have done back in Manhattan.

“I am out and about avoiding the hotel,” she says, falling into step with us. “What are you up to?”

“Touring the newspaper so Lucas can get to know the town and the business owners even better.”

Lucas makes a sour face.

“If he hates it, I approve.” Serena’s lips quirk in a smile. “By the way, I hear you two are now doing the horizontal mambo on the regular? Really dedicated to that storyline. Good stuff. I bet that book is filling in fast. I can almost taste my favorite half-caf latte from the coffee shop on the first floor of my building. ”

“Holy cow. Those guys just walked in on us maybe fifteen minutes ago. Word got around that fast?” I gasp in dismay.

Serena shrugs. “Small town. Plus, add in the exaggeration factor because this is a novel. You know how it is.”

I sigh in understanding. “Of course. By the time someone finishes sneezing on the north end of town, they’re getting phone calls saying “bless you” from their friends on the south side.”

“Are you writing that down? Again?” Lucas says in exasperation.

“Sure am. This stuff is gold.” Serena is scribbling on a notepad. “Think of it this way—I’m staying in real-world Serena mode instead of Green Acres Serena mode.”

“Have I mentioned how much I truly hate you for inventing this town?” Lucas scowls at her.

“Not today, so by all means, go on with your grouchy-ass self.” Serena smiles at him poisonously.

We reach the Gazette building.

“Come with us on the tour,” I say to Serena. “Afterwards, we’ll all hang out and talk about Manhattan and remind ourselves of who we are. By the way, I don’t mean to be a jerk, but you forgot your eye makeup.”

“No, I didn’t. I did?” Serena’s usual composure cracks and she reaches up to touch her face.

“I mean, not that you need it,” I add quickly. “Right, Lucas?”

Lucas is staring off into the distance, looking bored. “Right,” he says. “What am I agreeing to again?”

“Thanks for saying that, but it’s just further evidence of me slipping into my role here. It’s just not me. I never go out without a full face of makeup. I’d feel naked.” Serena sighs. “I’ll duck into the Gazette bathroom and do my eyes while you two tour.” She opens her purse. “I remembered my makeup bag. Good. ”

The Gazette building opens, and Mr. Vickers walks down the front steps. Ruby and Edna follow behind him.

“Well, well. Hello, Susie.” He shoots me a disappointed look.

He knows too. Everyone knows.

I feel like I should just paint a scarlet letter on my forehead.

“Hello, you two,” Ruby says pointedly.

“So, what brings you here?” I say brightly.

“I’m here to run some advertising,” Mr. Vickers says.

“And we write the weekly gossip column,” Ruby adds. “We’re just nipping out for a walk. What brings you here, Susie?” She looks at Lucas disapprovingly. “And Jasper. Hello, Serena,” she adds.

“Jasper is going to take a tour of the newsletter archives, just so he can get a feel for the town and maybe see the history of Green Acres’ downtown and just how much it means to the people here.” I smile sweetly.

Serena’s eyes light up, and she nods approvingly. She has now figured out my secret plan, which wasn’t all that sophisticated but works perfectly for her kind of book.

Mr. Vickers gives Lucas a skeptical glance. “Do you think it will help?”

“I know it will,” I say fervently.

“Oh, there you two are!” My least favorite person in this world, Dorian, is slithering up the sidewalk towards us. Several townspeople, who were across the street, start wandering our way. We’re the best entertainment in town, the couple that everyone loves to loathe.

“Hello, sir.” He smiles ingratiatingly. The hair on the back of my neck stands up. “I heard you were going to be here,”

“And you came here why?” Lucas says irritably.

Dorian’s smile never wavers, but his gaze drifts down the street to a long black limo. Now more people are wandering our way. Limos are not something you see every day in Green Acres .

The limo pulls up in front of the newspaper office and a door opens. A woman emerges, lugging a suitcase, which she sets on the sidewalk.

She shuts the door, and the limo glides away. Then she turns to face us, and I stifle a gasp. She’s an absolute stunner. Tall, reed-slender, with honey-blond hair and pouty pink lips, wearing a frilly white dress from Anthropologie. Her tan legs are miles long.

She catches sight of us, breaks into a huge smile, and waves. “There you are, babe!” Is she talking to Dorian? Gross. She could do so much better.

She hurries down the sidewalk to us.

“I’ve missed you so much!” she beams at Lucas.

Say what now?

“Excuse me?” He looks at her in bafflement. “Do I know you from somewhere?”

The limo vanishes around a corner. There are at least twenty people gathered in a crowd now, watching us avidly.

A wave of bitter jealousy washes over me. “Who the hell is she?”

The blonde gives Lucas a puzzled look. “Who is she? And why did she ask who I am? Doesn’t everyone here know about me?” Then she actually puts one arm around Lucas’s waist and holds out her free hand, waving it in my face. On her long, slender ring finger is a sparkling diamond.

She smiles at me, but there’s a bit of bite to her smile now. “I’m Jasper’s fiancée, Pri-Annelise.”