Chapter Thirteen Hunter
Chapter Thirteen
Hunter
I don’t know what it is about ocean air, but it relaxes me.
I really should think about getting a place in the Hamptons next summer.
Between the tourists and the humidity, summer weekends in New York can get stifling.
I end up going into the office because there’s nothing else to do.
Maybe I need more ocean breezes in my life.
I turn the light off in the bathroom and open the door to the bedroom.
The bedside light is on and the curtains are drawn. But the bed is empty.
“Lucy?” I ask.
“I’m here,” she replies in a whisper.
She’s laid out a bed in front of the couch, and she’s covered in blanket from the bed.
“Oh, no,” I say. “I don’t think so. Get up off the floor.”
“I’m not on the floor. I took the cushions off the couch.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening,” I say. What is she thinking? Like I’d let her sleep on the floor like that.
“It’s my fault we’re sharing a room. I’m the one who told Katherine we were dating. It’s fine. I’ll probably have the best night’s sleep of my life.”
“Lucy, get up right now and get into the bed.”
“No! I’m fine.” She pulls the blanket up around her neck like a shield.
“No, you’re not fine,” I say. “Get up.” She’s the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met in my life.
She makes no move to comply, so I bend down and scoop her up.
She flails in my arms, trying to escape, but she’s no match for me, and I dump her down onto the bed.
“You’re sleeping in the bed. If you don’t think two adults can share a bed without getting naked, I’ll happily take the couch.
” I glance at the small couch and revise my thought. “I’ll be fine on the floor.”
Lucy pushes up on the bed so she’s sitting. “You can’t sleep on the floor.” She presses her lips into a thin line. “We’ll have to share.” She scoots over. “But we need a pillow wall.”
I chuckle. “You think I won’t be able to resist you?”
She doesn’t look at me, and I enjoy her embarrassment a little.
We were definitely flirting on the beach.
When she’s not so uptight, trying to make everything perfect, she’s fun and pretty and .
. . sensitive. She’s all the words I wouldn’t have used to describe Lucy when I first met her.
She also makes incredible s’mores. I wonder if her mouth still tastes of chocolate. What? Where did that thought come from?
“Just help me with the wall,” she says, still avoiding my gaze.
Silently, we put pillows down the center of the bed and then slip under the covers.
“You okay over there?” I call dramatically.
“You’re ridiculous,” she replies.
I pull the pillow at the top off the bed and toss it behind me so I can see Lucy. She’s lying facing me. She doesn’t object.
“Maybe I am,” I reply.
“The fire worked out,” she says. “Just like Katherine wanted.”
“Just like Katherine wanted,” I reply, searching her gaze. But did she enjoy tonight? Surely not everything has to be about Katherine.
“Tomorrow is fishing,” she says. “For you guys, anyway.”
“Right,” I say, just before I remember I haven’t brought my seasickness pills. “Shit.”
Lucy pushes up on her hands so she’s sitting. “What? Did you forget to confirm or something?”
I shake my head. “I didn’t bring my seasickness pills.”
“You get seasick?” she asks.
“Yeah, I’m not a good boat passenger.”
She giggles, and it sounds so young and carefree and fucking intimate I feel it in my balls. It’s like this version of Lucy is the real one. The one that doesn’t care what people think. The one that can be herself. This is the one I like. I really like.
“Why on earth did you arrange a fishing trip for this weekend if you get seasick?”
“Why do you think?”
She shrugs and flops back down on the bed. “I guess because Ed likes fishing so much.”
“Exactly. We all do things we don’t want to do for people we love.”
Her eyes grow wide. “But—”
“But there’s a line. Or there should be. You don’t need to give up yourself to make everyone happy. There’s a line.”
Looking back, I took on my father’s business because I knew it would make him happy—make him proud of me.
And I kept at it—kept administering CPR on the business when I should have called time of death months before.
I didn’t, because I wanted to make my dad happy.
I won’t make the same mistake again. I didn’t realize until this moment that my biggest mistake was not seeing the line.
I didn’t necessarily know to look for it then, but experience taught me a hard lesson. It’s not one I’ll soon forget.
“A line?”
“A line between making someone you love happy and sacrificing everything to make it happen.”
Lucy blinks, and blinks again. “You think I cross that line?”
I shrug. “I think you love your sister. You want to make this weekend perfect. I get it. But I think Katherine will be happy to be with her friends and family. I don’t think she cares about color-blended blankets.”
She sighs. “Yeah. Maybe.”
The corners of my mouth twitch. “Maybe?” I can almost see her mind working. “Maybe you look good in yellow, even if your mother doesn’t think so.”
She looks so fresh and open, I have to stop myself from reaching over and cupping her face. She looks so warm and relaxed.
“Can I ask you a question?” she asks, her hands neatly pressed together under her face as she looks at me.
“Anything,” I say.
“Anything?” She grins, a mischievous smile on her face that lights up those green eyes.
“Anything.”
“And you’ll tell me the truth?”
“Yes,” I say before I can poke holes in the idea of being entirely honest with the woman next to me.
“Do you like Katherine?”
She’s dropped a grenade over the pillow wall, and we’re both waiting for it to explode.
“You’re asking me if I like your sister?” I ask, stalling.
“You promised to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Her tone isn’t the pushy, indignant one I’ve gotten used to in the run-up to this joint weekend away. It’s playful and lacking agenda.
“I do like Katherine.”
She holds my gaze, knowing there’s more. “But . . .” she coaxes.
“I really like your sister. She’s very sweet and a good complement to Ed.”
She widens her eyes, urging me to elaborate.
“It wouldn’t matter who Ed was marrying, if I’m being honest. I just want to make sure he and I are both equally committed to Portis going forward.”
“You think that marrying Katherine will mean he’s less committed in the future?”
I groan and roll onto my back. “Please don’t tell either of them this. I don’t want to get into it.”
“It sounds like you need to get into it,” she says. “If you think Katherine is—”
“This isn’t about Katherine,” I interrupt. “Like I said, it wouldn’t matter who he was marrying. It’s a big life change, and big life changes tend to shift priorities.”
“And you’re concerned that Ed’s priorities will shift.”
I shrug.
“So it’s not that you’re jealous? You’re not worried about the end of guys’ night as you know it?”
I turn back to her. “Jesus Christ, no, I’m not jealous. Did I look jealous tonight?”
Her cheeks pink, but she doesn’t answer the question. “So you’re worried he’s going to mess up the business. Make mistakes and stuff? Or take too much time off?”
I pull in a breath. “Maybe. I’ve been a part of a business that failed in the past. I don’t want another to go down on my watch.”
She looks surprised by my confession. “Ed always seems very dedicated to his work.”
I smile at the way she defends him. “Yeah. It’s just since the wedding planning started, I’ve picked up a bit of slack. And then if they have kids soon . . .”
“You don’t want to be left running things on your own.”
That’s true enough. I went into this because I wanted to be in business with Ed. I don’t want to run the business myself. “I don’t want it to be inequitable.”
“You should talk to him,” she says. “He’s your friend, and maybe he knows his eye hasn’t been on the ball. Maybe he’ll reroute.”
“Hmmm. That’s easy to say. But it’s Pandora’s box. Once it’s open, you can’t close it again. If I tell him I’m concerned he’s not one hundred percent in, it could undermine our relationship.”
“But it’s already undermining your relationship,” she says. “You’re sitting with this problem, and you’re not sharing it.”
She’s right, but something about telling Ed doesn’t feel good. At the moment, I’m handling it. He has a lot going on. It’s fine. The business is doing well. But I don’t want it to be like this forever. “I don’t want to say anything yet.”
“You want me to say something to Katherine?”
“No!” I snap. “You promised.”
She doesn’t bite back like she normally does. She doesn’t even move. Very gently, she says, “I promised I wouldn’t, and I won’t.”
I believe her. I exhale, feeling better after sharing my worries with her. “Thank you,” I reply.
She nods slightly.
“Sweet dreams, Lucy Jones.”
She gives me a shy smile that feels like a victory, and I close my eyes. I replay the evening through my head like a film. The fire. The s’mores. The blanket.
Lucy. Lucy. Lucy.
Her mouth around my thumb. My lips on her soft hair that smelled of ocean breezes and woodsmoke. The way her body felt in my arms as I picked her up and laid her in bed.
I open my eyes to find her staring at me.
“Hey,” I say.
“Hey,” she replies.
“I was just thinking about tonight.”
“Me too,” she says.
“Did you enjoy yourself?”
“Too much,” she says, and then her eyes flutter closed before I can ask her what about the evening she enjoyed so much—and whether they were the same parts I enjoyed best.