Chapter 44 Lucy
FORTY-FOUR
Lucy
“Are you married for real now?” Willa asks as we sit down at the long table at Rye’s Brews.
Before I have a chance to answer, Miles grabs my left hand and holds it up in the air for the entire table to see. Willa and Kingston, Meyer and Archie, and their whole friend group that I’m still trying to keep the names straight on, are here.
A round of congratulations and lots of questions are fired at us.
Meyer has an ear-to-ear grin on her face, and I’m glad to see that Willa looks happy too. She leans over and whispers to me. “I’m really happy for you, Lucy. But just know if he ever hurts you or anything, all you have to do is tell me, and I’ll get rid of him for you. No questions asked.”
I loop an arm around her shoulders and pull her into a hug. “Thanks, Willa. The same goes for you. I’d do anything to keep you safe and happy.”
“You have already. I think it’s my turn to look out for you.”
I pull back and look at her. “Or maybe it’s time that we can just be happy.”
She nods, and I see a very rare mist in her eyes. Willa is not much of a crier, and so for her to be on the verge of tears is a rare occurrence. “I think I’m ready for that.”
Kingston leans forward to look past both of us. “You thought you could get away from me, but it looks like we’re going to be brothers-in-law after all.”
Willa smacks Kingston on his shoulder. “Leave him alone. I don’t want him to run away.”
“Oh, please, nothing’s scaring Miles away from Lucy, you can relax. They’ve lived together for months now and haven’t killed each other.” Kingston laughs.
“Good point.”
Miles drapes an arm around my shoulders and looks across the table at Thea, who has a rare smile on her face. “How’s it going, boss?”
Kingston and Miles finished the paperwork and the meetings with the lawyers last week, finalizing the sale of Miles’s half of the business to Thea.
He’s officially free to return to the family business.
And his first order of business is scouting out a good location to set up a store here in the valley.
“Life’s great. I recently got rid of my most annoying employee,” she says.
“You can’t be talking about me.” Miles gasps in fake disgust.
Thea grins. “But it turns out, he took my advice and married someone way out of his league, so I guess he can stick around.”
“Wait a second—” I cut in. “You told him he should marry me?”
“Well, not exactly those words, but I alluded to the fact that he would be an idiot to let you slip through his fingers.”
I smile sweetly at Miles, who looks embarrassed. “She’s not wrong.”
“I pulled it off—barely. I needed some help, apparently,” Miles says. “It’s a good thing Ainsley came and proposed for us.”
“I think we would have figured it out eventually. Or at least I hope so. But it probably would have taken us a lot longer,” I admit.
“Yeah, right,” Thea cuts in. “It would have taken you guys five years to politely ask the other person if they would mind grabbing a cup of coffee.” Thea practically rolls her eyes. “You two are too nice for your own good.”
Miles leans toward me and whispers in my ear, “She hasn’t seen you in a pillow fight. She doesn’t know just how mean you can be.”
“Oh, please. I’m competitive.”
Miles grins down at me. “That’s what mean people say.”
“I’m going to show you exactly how competitive I can be when we get home,” I threaten.
Miles’ eyes darken as he murmurs, “Is that a promise?”