Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
L ucy rubbed her forehead wearily, stepping out of the back door of the farmhouse, trying to summon the energy to walk to work. The first couple of days she was home were super busy, alternating between pulling double and triple duty at the brewery and winery and caring for relatives who’d been knocked down by the flu. Yesterday, they appeared to have rid the farm of all the bad germs—or the plague, as Nora called it—because everyone was finally out of bed, and they were back to business as usual.
Which left her with too much time on her hands. She’d made more than a few mistakes in the brewhouse over the past couple days, too distracted to keep her mind on the task at hand. Theo and Sam cornered her yesterday afternoon, concerned.
Theo had point-blank asked if Joey and Miles had been gentlemen, he and Sam more than ready to hop into a car to drive to Baltimore to open a can of whoop-ass, depending on her answer. She reassured them that Joey and Miles were wonderful…but she wasn’t sure she’d convinced them. Probably because it was hard to say their names aloud without her throat closing.
With the entire family well again, they turned their attention to her, holding a “welcome back” dinner last night, everyone inundating her with questions about her trip, where she’d gone and what she’d seen. After they cleared the table, she gave her family the silly souvenirs she’d bought in Nashville.
Unfortunately, with so much focus on her, it hadn’t taken her sisters and Aunt Claire long to figure out she wasn’t as cheerful as she was pretending. They’d each taken her aside at one point or another to ask if she was okay. She’d lied and told them she was just tired, but Lucy knew none of them were fooled.
“Where the hell have you been?”
Lucy twirled around, frowning when she spotted Scottie storming across the yard. She’d gotten a late start this morning, after yet another shitty night of sleep. She couldn’t understand how a person could sleep like a damn baby for twenty-eight years of her life, then have that ability wrecked in just three short weeks. Sleeping alone sucked.
“Excuse me?” Lucy didn’t have the energy for Scottie today. Hell, she never had the energy for him. But, perhaps more than that, she didn’t have the right temperament. She was already late for work and trying to deal with him was going to set her back even later.
“Where have you been?” Scottie repeated when he reached her.
“You’re going to have to be more specific. I was just at the farmhouse, and now I’m on the way to the brewhouse.”
“When did you get back in town?”
Lucy wanted to tell the prick her comings and goings were none of his business, but then she decided it would be quicker to just answer his question. “Four days ago.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“Why would I?” This conversation felt like déjà vu, Scottie of the opinion lately that she had to check in with him for some reason.
Scottie put his hands on his hips, giving her that condescending sneer she knew far too well. “You want to explain to me what the hell you were thinking, leaving town with two men you barely know?”
Lucy crossed her arms. “No.”
“I think I deserve an explanation, Lucy.”
She scowled, the lid she’d barely been holding on her temper flying off. “Why the hell would you think that? We aren’t dating, Scottie. We aren’t even friends. You’re just someone that I used to know. So back off and get the hell away from me.”
She turned to head to the brewhouse, but Scottie surprised her, gripping her upper arm and spinning her around.
She shoved his hand off, furious. “Don’t you dare touch me!”
“I don’t know what kind of stunt you were pulling by leaving town with those guys, but enough is enough. I’ve made it perfectly clear how I feel about you, Lucy. I get that you want to punish me for some perceived slight in high school, but don’t you think it’s time to get the hell over it?”
“Really? You’ve made it perfectly clear?” Lucy was aghast. “You hovering and acting like some possessive, jealous asshole, all while never saying a fucking word to me about your feelings isn’t perfectly clear, Scottie. You don’t just get to decide I’m your girlfriend without asking me.”
“Lucy. You have to see how perfect we are for each other.”
Her mouth fell open because… what ?
“I don’t like you, Scottie. And while you haven’t bothered to tell me your feelings, I know for a fact I’ve made my disdain for you as clear as a cloudless sky.”
Scottie rolled his eyes, like she was being unreasonable. She hated when he treated her like she was some stupid little girl.
“You’re just being emotional. You’ve always been that way. You get upset too easy and it’s always over nothing.”
Lucy narrowed her eyes. “I know you’re not trying to mansplain my feelings to me.”
“I’m tired of the continual temper tantrums, Lucy. I don’t know what happened between you and those guys, but it’s obviously over, considering you’re here and they’re gone. I was wrong to give you so much space. I’m not going to make that mistake again.”
Lucy balled up a fist, but before she could throw it, Scottie grabbed her shoulders, pulled her toward him, and kissed her.
She pushed at his chest and started kicking his legs, twisting her head to get away from his sloppy, disgusting kiss. “Get your hands off me!”
Scottie was stronger than Lucy might have expected, her anger turning to fear when he reached around her body and grabbed her ass, dragging her lower body against his, letting her feel his hard-on.
“It’s always been you and me, Lucy. Ever since we were kids.” Scottie kept trying to kiss her, his fingers gripping her so tightly she knew he was leaving bruises. “Why are you fighting me?!”
“Let go!” she yelled loudly.
“What the fuck is going on?!”
Lucy was besieged with instant relief when Levi’s booming voice bellowed from across the yard. She’d been pushing hard against Scottie’s chest, so when he released her suddenly, she teetered, trying to regain her balance. She failed, falling backward and landing on her ass, hard.
Neither Scottie nor Levi seemed to notice, her oldest cousin charging the mayor like a bull waved on by a red flag. Scottie threw his hands up, though whether it was in defense or surrender, Lucy couldn’t tell. Not that it did him a damn bit of good.
Levi swung hard, catching Scottie partly on the hand covering his face and partly on the jaw.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” her cousin roared.
“You can’t hit me!” Scottie insisted. “I’m the mayor!”
“I don’t give a shit if you’re the King of England. You were hurting Lu!”
Scottie rubbed his jaw. “No, I wasn’t. We’re a couple.”
Lucy pushed herself off the ground in a fury. “Are you fucking insane?!”
Levi grasped the front of Scottie’s shirt. “I heard her saying no. Heard her telling you to let go.”
“It was just a misunderstanding,” Scottie insisted, his hands on Levi’s wrists. Lucy didn’t know if he was trying to pry them off his shirt or if he was just hoping to keep Levi from taking another swing.
Levi shook Scottie roughly. “I didn’t misunderstand a goddamn thing. My cousin said no , and you ignored her.”
“Lucy.” Scottie looked at her from the corner of his eye. “Please. Tell him to let me go.”
“Like I told you to do?” Lucy spat out.
Levi glanced her direction. “You okay?”
She nodded.
“Lucy,” Scottie tried again. “Why are you acting like this? I know you have feelings for me. The way you always hung out at my house when we were kids. How jealous you were of the girls I dated in high school. The way you tried to get my attention by dancing with those guys then leaving town with them. You didn’t stay with them . You came home. Because you want me .”
Was that how Scottie viewed their past?
Lucy took a deep breath, fighting like the devil to calm down. It didn’t work. She’d never met a more self-centered person in her life because he genuinely seemed to believe he was at the center of everything she’d ever done. “I’m only going to say this one more time, Scottie. I am not your girlfriend. I’m not interested in dating you. I don’t even like you. We. Are. Nothing.”
For the first time, Lucy got the sense her words were actually sinking in.
“But… I… You were always so nice to me.”
“I’m nice to everybody !” she shouted back.
“No.” He shook his head. “I was different. I was special to you.”
It occurred to Lucy that Scottie’s parents had always lifted him up on a pedestal, told him he was the most important person in the world. As such, he didn’t hear the word “no” often. He also wasn’t accustomed to not getting something he wanted.
Neither of those things gave him the right to come at her the way he did, and she refused to think about how bad things could have gotten if Levi hadn’t shown up. Lucy really hadn’t been able to break free from his grip.
“Did you hear what she said?” Levi asked, keeping a firm grip on Scottie’s shirt. “Mayor or not, you’re not welcome on this property. Show your face here again and I’ll have the sheriff arrest you for trespassing.”
Scottie looked from Levi to Lucy, then back to Levi.
“Fine,” he said stiffly.
Levi released his shirt, and Scottie ran his hands over the front of it, trying to press out the creases with his palms, then he rubbed his injured jaw again. Finally, he turned to her, lifting his chin in that way he had that let people know he was looking down his nose at them. “You’re not worth the trouble.”
Levi reared his fist back, but Lucy grabbed her cousin’s arm, holding on tight.
“He’s not worth it either,” she told him.
Scottie sniffed. Then—wisely—he walked away.
Levi cupped her cheek, doing a quick visual scan of her face. “Did he hurt you?”
She shook her head. She was definitely going to have bruises on her arms and ass, but Levi was still a man on the edge, so she thought it wise not to bring that up, lest he chase Scottie down for round two.
“What the hell was that about?” Levi raked his fingers through his long hair, shoving it out of his face.
“Scottie seemed to believe we were a couple.”
Levi snorted. “Right. As if you’d settle for a douchebag like that.”
She smiled. “Thanks for coming to the rescue. For a paper pusher, he’s surprisingly strong. I…” She stopped when her voice quivered at the end.
Levi heard it, of course, because the big teddy bear of a man reached out to pull her in for a hug. She wrapped her arms around him, soaking in the comfort.
“Is Scottie the reason you’ve been out of sorts since coming back?”
Lucy took a step back, then shook her head before realizing her negative answer would require her to come up with another.
“Are you out of sorts because you came back?”
She blew out a long, slow breath. “Yeah.”
“Always suspected if you ever left the farm, you wouldn’t want to return.”
Levi was the oldest of her cousins. He’d been sixteen when her parents died, so he probably knew and remembered them the best. She was curious how much he knew about their divorce.
“My mom certainly didn’t.” She would never have said such a thing if she weren’t feeling so low, so lost.
“Do you remember a lot about that?” Levi asked, cautiously. “You were pretty young.”
Lucy wasn’t sure why she’d opened this door, but now that she had, she didn’t have the strength to close it again. “I remember them fighting a lot. How she left for a year. How happy I was when she came back.”
The sympathy in Levi’s gaze told her that he knew all of that. Lucy had been a mama’s girl. Her early memories of her childhood filled with images of her trailing along in her mother’s wake, listening to her stories, longing to be just like her.
“The night before…” Lucy swallowed heavily. “Before they died, they had a bad fight. The worst one I’d ever heard. Usually when they got like that, I’d grab the girls and go to Grandma’s or to your house, but Nora, Mila, and Remi were already in bed. Mom and Dad were screaming at each other. I couldn’t make out a lot of the words, but I heard my name. I always wondered, always worried that maybe I was the reason they?—”
“No,” Levi said loudly. “No. It wasn’t anything like that.” Then he rubbed his chin, his brows furrowed. Lucy got the sense he was debating over whether to tell her more.
“What do you know?” she asked.
“I didn’t know you thought that, Lu. I’m sorry. Maybe I should have told you. Your dad came to see mine the morning…” Levi sighed before saying, “That last morning. I overheard them talking. Uncle Ronnie said that your mom wanted a divorce and she wanted custody of you.”
“Me? Just me?”
“Mila’s been my mom’s shadow since birth, and there was no denying, even back then, that Remi and Nora would wither away and die if they weren’t breathing this farm air.”
Lucy smiled, though her heart was aching. Levi’s description of her younger sisters was accurate. None of them would ever call another place home. Stormy Weather Farm was it for them. They’d never felt trapped here.
Maybe this would all be easier if anyone else in the family had ever left the farm, but they’d all remained, let their roots sink deep into the soil. It made her feel like the cuckoo bird who’d been left in someone else’s nest.
“You and your mom…” Levi paused.
Lucy batted away a stray tear. “She was my idol. My world. I wanted to be her when I grew up. And then she…”
“She left.”
Lucy nodded. These were memories she’d purposely shut away for years because she couldn’t understand how even now, she could still love her mother so much, miss her so intensely after she’d willingly walked away from them, from her .
“Uncle Ronnie wanted to fight for you,” Levi continued. “Couldn’t imagine letting you go. But he was worried that maybe?—”
“I’d want to go with Mom.”
“You were only ten, Lu. If it had come to that… Well, it would have been a really shitty decision for a kid to have to make.”
“I would have stayed.”
The second she said the words, she knew they were a lie.
Levi gave her a sad smile. “I’m not so sure you would have.”
Lucy lowered her head, staring at the ground until Levi lifted it up with a calloused finger under her chin.
“And that would have been okay,” he said. “You’re not tied here, Lu.”
She knew that. Or at least, she wanted to.
God. She needed to put this new information about her mom away for now because, holy fuck…it was way too much to unpack. Especially when she was already on the verge of a complete meltdown, thanks to zero sleep and a severely broken heart.
Lucy didn’t know how to respond to any of it, so instead, she just held on to the lie. “This is home. I’m happy to be back.”
Levi looked like he wanted to push the issue, but something in her face must have told him she was too close to the edge because he backed away. And since he was wonderful, he changed the subject.
Unfortunately, the one he chose didn’t lighten the mood like he clearly expected. “You know, we’ve all got a pool going.”
“Oh?” Lucy asked.
“Half the family thinks you have the hots for Miles. The other half, Joey.”
Lucy forced a laugh, even as her heart split in two at the sound of their names. Steeling herself, she took a deep breath and forged on. “Who did you guess?”
Levi never missed a beat. “Miles.”
“Not Joey?” Lucy was surprised. After all, she and Joey had been flirty during their time here at the farm, so she thought he’d be the obvious choice.
“Caught you casting a few sideway glances at Miles while they were here filming. The more he kept his distance, the more you looked. Am I right? Because I’m in the minority, so my cut of the pot would be pretty sweet.”
Rather than respond, Lucy gave him a noncommittal shrug that he mistook for her being coy.
“Are you going to see them again?” Levi asked.
She shook her head.
Levi frowned, his brows furrowed with concern. “Lu, are you okay?”
Lucy swallowed deeply, anxious to get away. If she stayed here much longer, listened to the compassion in her cousin’s tone, she’d shatter.
“I better head to the brewhouse.” Lucy turned that direction. “I’m really late now.”
“Lucy,” Levi started. “Wait.”
She paused, surprised when he reached out and gave her another hug.
“I’m around if you ever want to talk about it.” He placed a brotherly kiss on her forehead and let her go.
Lucy wouldn’t be able to avoid the subject of Joey and Miles forever, but she wasn’t able to tackle that subject today any more than the one about her mother.
So she pulled on the mantle of numbness she’d been wearing since returning, hoping it would get her through.
Because it was going to be a long day.
And a long life.
Lucy stared at the ceiling, fighting to make herself get up. She couldn’t be late for work again. She’d already sucked enough at her job this week. At this rate, Sam and Theo were likely to fire her worthless ass.
She’d retreated to her room last night right after a simple dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup with her sisters, claiming she had a headache, which had been true. Too little sleep was taking its toll. When she paired that with the Scottie drama, the new information about her mom, and the broken heart she’d been stupidly trying to convince herself she didn’t have, it was safe to say she was completely overwhelmed and overwrought.
She rubbed her scratchy eyes, then looked up when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.
“You okay?” Mila asked, opening the door without waiting for an invitation. They were sisters, which meant those kinds of niceties were nonexistent. If Lucy or her sisters wanted privacy, they simply locked their doors.
“What are you still doing here?” Lucy asked. Typically by this time of the morning, she was alone in the house as all three of her sisters were already putting a dent in the list of duties around the farm.
“We were worried about you,” Mila replied.
“We?”
Rather than answer, Mila opened the door wider, stepping inside, allowing Remi and Nora to enter as well.
Lucy was shocked to see them. “You’re late for work,” she said stupidly.
Remi laughed. “That’s the best part about working on a family farm. No one can fire us.”
Lucy sat up, sitting with her legs crossed beneath the duvet as her sisters walked over and perched around her on the sides of her mattress.
“I’m fine,” Lucy said. “My headache is all better.”
Nora pursed her lips. “You still have dark circles under your eyes.”
Mila, ever the caregiver, reached out to place the back of her hand on Lucy’s forehead. “You sure you aren’t coming down with the flu?”
“I’m not,” Lucy was quick to reassure her.
Mila picked up the silly little stuffed cat that Lucy always kept on her bed. It was the last gift her dad had ever given her, and she couldn’t seem to make herself put it away, even though at twenty-eight, she was too old for stuffed animals.
“Well, that’s good. Because I wouldn’t wish that plague on my worst enemy.” Mila, along with Aunt Claire and Uncle Rex, had suffered the worst case of the flu, all three of them down for the count for several days, while the rest of the family rebounded quickly, most only laid up for a day.
“So, let’s have it,” Remi said. Her youngest sister was no fan of small talk. If her sisters came here with an agenda—and it appeared they had—Remi would be impatient to get down to business.
“Let’s have what?” Lucy asked.
“What happened when you were away, Lu?” Remi asked. “Every time one of us talked to you on the phone, you sounded blissfully happy, like you were having the greatest time of your life. Were you just pretending?”
Lucy shook her head. “No. It really was an amazing trip. I loved every second of it.”
Remi nodded, as if she’d been expecting that answer. “Good. So I guess that leaves one of two other possibilities. One, you’re sad to be back, or two, you fell for one of the guys and now you’re nursing a broken heart.”
Lucy mentally checked the box that said, “All of the above,” but didn’t say it aloud because damn.
She needed to find a way to ease them into the fact that she had indulged in an honest-to-God menage.
“I’m happy to be back,” she lied. It spoke to how close she and her sisters were that not one of them bought it.
“Lu…you know you don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to,” Mila said softly. While Lucy was most like their mother, Remi and Nora more like their dad, Mila took after Aunt Claire, a gentle soul with a kind heart and a born nurturer. Lucy wouldn’t be surprised if, like Aunt Claire, Mila had a big brood of kids that she raised right here on the farm.
“Millie,” Lucy said, using the nickname her dad had given Mila when she was little. Lucy, Remi, and Nora were the only ones who still used it on occasion. “I have responsibilities here.”
Remi and Nora rolled their eyes in perfect unison.
“Jesus Christ,” Remi muttered.
“What?” Lucy asked. “I do.”
Remi pierced her with a hard look. “You don’t mean us , do you?”
Lucy wasn’t sure how to reply to that because she didn’t want her sisters to think they were the reason she wasn’t leaving. Even if it was partly true. “I mean the brewery.”
Nora snorted. “You are hands down the worst liar on the planet. You always have been. Theo and Sam are perfectly capable of running the brewery on their own.”
Lucy threw her hands up in frustration. “I left you short-handed when you needed me. You were all sick and I should have been here to help.”
“It wasn’t all of us and it was the flu, for God’s sake. No one was dying,” Nora pointed out. “Prior to that, we were doing just fine— without you.”
Remi picked up the argument. “There are a million Storms, plus no less than two dozen employees on the property. We weren’t short-handed, and you know it. You just won’t admit it because you’re operating under some misguided notion that you still have to take care of us.” Remi gestured at her, Nora, and Mila.
Mila reached out and took Lucy’s hands. They were the closest in age, Mila only a year younger than Lucy. “You’re not Mom, Lu.”
Lucy froze. “What do you mean?”
“You’re not abandoning us.”
Like Mom did.
None of them said those words aloud, but it was clear they were all thinking it.
Lucy let Mila’s words sink in, uncertain how to feel about them. To the little girl who’d always aspired to be just like her mother, they hurt. To the bitter girl who’d been abandoned by her hero, they freed her.
Lucy had cried herself to sleep every night since Joey and Miles left. To be honest, she wouldn’t have thought she had any more left to shed.
Her sisters found a new well. Lucy had spent most of her life trying to convince herself she was happy here, that living here, working here, was enough. It was one of the reasons she never took a vacation. She’d always suspected that if she ever left for parts unknown, she wouldn’t want to come back and she’d been right.
But perhaps more than that, she was afraid that leaving would prove she was just like her mother, and Lucy’s heart couldn’t make up its fucking mind if that was a good or bad thing.
“You were just a kid too when she left, you know?” Nora pointed out. “I know you tried to protect us, tried to shelter us from their fights.”
“You were so young.” Lucy always hoped Nora and Remi didn’t remember much about that time. Especially Nora.
“I remember it all,” Nora confessed quietly. The two of them held each other’s gazes, too many painful memories flowing between them, as Lucy recalled her sister’s face the night their parents died, the vacant look in her eyes, the way Lucy had climbed into bed and slept with her every night for the next month, not because Nora needed that but because Lucy had.
“But that’s my baggage to carry. Not yours.” Nora crawled across the mattress, sitting down next to Lucy, placing her arm around her shoulders. “You have to stop fighting against your true nature. Because Millie is right. You’re your own person with your own dreams and ambitions, all of which you should follow without worrying about what anyone else thinks.”
Nora was right. They all had baggage. The difference was, Lucy wasn’t just lugging hers around; she was holding it in front of her like some kind of shield.
Mila squeezed her hand. “You don’t have to stay on the farm out of a sense of obligation, or some misplaced guilt, or because you’re afraid leaving will hurt us. We want you to be happy…wherever that is.”
Lucy sniffled, swiping at her eyes. “Thank you.”
“And whoever it’s with,” Remi said, a wicked twinkle in her eye.
Lucy wasn’t getting out of this room without answering the question of which man had captured her heart, and now that her sisters had given her the green light to follow her dreams—as well as a fuck ton of shit to think about, like finding a therapist—she felt brave enough to tell them.
“So…” Nora prodded.
“I did fall in love, with…” Lucy drew in a breath. Her sisters loved her, and she was ninety-nine-point-nine percent sure nothing she was about to say would change that, but what if they didn’t understand? Or worse, approve?
“With?” Mila asked.
“Both of them,” Lucy confessed.
Her sisters were silent for a moment—then all three of them spoke up at the same time.
“Did you tell them?” Mila asked.
“Did they fight over you?” Remi looked way too excited by that prospect.
Nora frowned. “Were they upset you couldn’t choose? Is that why you’re home?”
Lucy looked from sister to sister as she answered their questions in turn. “No. No. No. No.”
Mila tilted her head, clearly confused. “They knew you were into both of them, and they were okay with that?”
Lucy nodded. “The three of us…” Heat licked Lucy’s cheeks, and she knew if she looked in a mirror, her face would be bloodred.
“Shut the front door!” Remi shouted, rising from the bed. She was the sister Lucy had been least worried about telling because Remi was a wild child from the word go. God help the man who fell in love with her.
“You slept with both of them?” Lucy couldn’t tell if Nora was impressed or horrified. Part of her thought it might be the first.
Mila studied Lucy’s face hard. “At the same time?”
Lucy bit her lower lip, then lifted her shoulders slowly. “Yes.”
“Holy. Fuck! I won the pool! All by myself!” Remi started doing the Running Man dance, laughing with glee.
“What are you talking about?” Lucy was shocked, yet she couldn’t help laughing. “You bet I’d fallen for both of them?”
Remi pointed to Mila. “You owe me a twenty.” Then Nora. “You owe me a twenty.” Then she waved her hands in the air. “Everyone owes me a twenty!”
Lucy shook her head, smiling widely. “You’re a lunatic.” She was relieved that Nora and Mila were both laughing as well.
“So this really was love and not just some sex thing?” Leave it to Mila to dig right down to the heart of the matter.
“It felt like way more than sex, but none of us really talked about our feelings because we knew our time was so short. I haven’t known them for very long.”
“Who cares?” Mila gushed. “It’s so romantic!”
“God, it has to be love, because I’ve been a wreck since they left,” Lucy admitted.
“Why did they leave?” Nora asked, before answering her own question. “Oh shit. You dropped the damn R word, didn’t you?”
Lucy grimaced. “Regardless of what y’all say, I do have responsibilities here.”
“Ones that can be farmed out to someone else,” Remi replied, like Lucy’s concerns were completely unfounded.
“I own a third of the brewery,” Lucy reminded them.
Remi sat back down on the bed. “Pish posh. This is your time, Lu. I can feel it.”
Lucy wanted to believe that was true, but she’d been playing a lot of logic tag with her dreams the past few days, which meant she had a long list of concerns. “They didn’t ask me to come with them.”
Nora scoffed. “Because you told them you needed to be here . I saw the way they looked at you when they dropped you off. Neither one of them was happy. They want you with them. I’m sure of it.”
“What if I show up and that’s not true?” Lucy asked.
Remi rolled her eyes. “In that extremely unlikely case, you hit the road on your own. You don’t need a fucking man to check off all those places on your list. Kiss and Tell is a success. You’re making good money from it, and let’s face it, you’re tapped out on material here.”
Lucy truly wanted to follow that dream, but she couldn’t help but wonder if that was a risky venture. “Is it stupid to plan my future around a YouTube show? I mean, nothing lasts forever.”
“You’re a clever, creative woman,” Nora said. “Once the show dries up, you move on to the next adventure.”
The weight that had been pressing down on Lucy lifted when her sister used the word adventure .
“They’re right,” Mila added. “Follow the guys, hop back on the RV, and give this thing between the three of you a chance. And when it all works out, think of how cool your Kiss and Tell story will be. You can talk about how you chased after them, and they saw you and hugged you and told you they loved you.”
Lucy laughed. “You read too many romance novels, Millie.”
Mila shrugged, not bothering to deny something they all knew was true.
Lucy felt a wave of excitement wash through her at the thought of going through with this. “I should talk to Sam and Theo first. Because this would impact them the most.”
“Fine. Be a boring adult first if you have to. It won’t make a difference,” Remi scoffed, like that conversation would be no big deal. Lucy tended to agree with her. She was closest to Sam and Theo, the three of them together day in and day out at the brewhouse. If she told them how important this was to her, they wouldn’t stand in her way.
“They’re going to say the same thing we are,” Nora replied confidently.
Lucy glanced at her phone. “Should I call Joey and Miles to ask if I can join them? If they say no, then?—”
“Hell no,” Remi interjected. “That ruins the story. This requires a dramatic entrance.”
Lucy laughed nervously. “Am I really doing this? Chasing after two guys?”
Remi clapped her hands together. “You bet your sweet ass you are. Do you know where they are?”
“Baltimore. They’re staying with Joey’s sister, Layla. I don’t know where she lives, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find the pub her in-laws own. Joey told me about it. Pat’s Pub. I guess I just start there.”
“Perfect. You’ve got your plan. Now go talk to Sam and Theo, then come back here and start packing.”
“I’m leaving today?” Lucy asked, even though she was perfectly aware her ass would be headed to the car this minute if she didn’t have to prepare.
“Of course you are,” Remi said. “We’re not taking a chance on you changing your mind.”
Now that she’d made her decision, wild horses couldn’t keep Lucy from getting to Baltimore.
“Okay,” Lucy said, several hours later, closing the lid on her suitcase and taking one last look around her bedroom. “That’s enough to start with. If I need more clothes or if there’s something I forgot to pack that I want, I’ll just grab it over the holidays.”
Lucy had spent an hour this morning in a meeting with Theo and Sam, as they tried to hammer out her new position at the brewery. The three of them owned equal shares, splitting the earnings three ways. They’d discussed Theo and Sam buying her out, but none of them wanted that. It felt too permanent. Instead, it was agreed she’d be a silent partner, the profits divided up differently, with Theo and Sam getting equal larger portions, hers smaller. This left the door open for her to return if she decided to.
After that meeting, she stopped by the B&B to say goodbye to Aunt Claire and Uncle Rex. Her sisters had done a good job spreading the word about her departure, so her quiet goodbye turned into a larger one as Levi, Jace, Maverick, Grayson, and Everett were there, waiting to see her off. The fact that no one seemed shocked by her sudden exit told Lucy just how shitty a job she’d done at hiding her misery over returning.
What her sisters hadn’t shared with the family was her feelings for both Joey and Miles. They’d all decided to keep that a secret until they saw how things panned out.
Lucy was grateful the goodbyes were all joyful ones, not a single tear shed. Her family was truly happy for her, their support going a long way toward convincing her she’d made the right decision.
Remi grabbed her suitcase, while Lucy slung her backpack and laptop case over her shoulders before walking downstairs. Mila and Nora were waiting for her at the foot of the staircase.
Mila had a brown paper bag in her hands. She lifted it. “Peanut butter and honey sandwich for the road.”
Lucy smiled as she took the bag. “My favorite, Millie.”
She and her sisters had just stepped out onto the porch when the sound of an approaching car reached them.
“Maybe someone else wants to say goodbye,” Nora suggested.
“I’ve already said goodbye to everyone who—” Lucy gasped when the car turned the corner, coming into view.
Remi stepped around her so she could see the vehicle. “Who is it?” Then her sister glanced her direction. “Is that…”
“It’s them,” Lucy said with a huge grin. “They’re here!”