Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
Lucy’s parents lived in a big Victorian on the edge of town. The exterior of the house was painted a deep plum color, punctuated by the vibrant yellow door. It had been a wonderful place to grow up, with creaky floorboards, small nooks, and weirdly proportioned rooms that had been perfect for a small child to explore. She let her gaze roam over the home while Cormac parked the car, with its ornate trim, dramatic shutters, and the fanciful turret that had been her childhood bedroom. Her father had put his inheritance into the dilapidated home when Lucy was a child, and she’d grown up helping them restore it to—well, not quite its former glory, but the Dolly and Gus equivalent. It was a quirky, colorful home, and it suited Lucy’s parents perfectly.
Her lips curled into a smile despite the stress of the recent happenings. She didn’t want to move back in with her parents, but this place would always be home. Until she stepped out of Cormac’s SUV and heard the gravel crunch underfoot, she hadn’t realized just how much she needed a bit of comfort and stability.
Dolly came flying out the front door a moment after everyone had exited the car. She crashed into Lucy and wrapped her in a bone-crushing hug, pulling back to let her gaze roam over Lucy’s face. “Oh, baby,” she said, squeezing Lucy’s cheeks. “I was so worried.”
“I know, Mom,” Lucy replied, “but I’m fine.” She pulled away and introduced Ruby, Vicky, and Cormac as her father came ambling across the front yard.
“We met at the Expo,” Gus said when she introduced Cormac. He shook the other man’s hand. “You taking care of our daughter?”
“As best I can,” Cormac replied, more solemnly than Lucy had expected.
“Come in! Come in!” Dolly ushered everyone in the front door and through to the back of the home, where the sunroom lived in all its warm and sun-drenched glory. It ran the whole length of the back of the house. In early afternoon, the enclosed verandah wasn’t yet sweltering, with only a few early rays of western sunlight angling through the windows. Plants lined three walls, while eclectic, mismatched furniture gave off a sense of comfort and coziness.
Dolly and Vicky disappeared into the kitchen while Gus sat down in his favorite rocking chair.
Ruby sat on a cushioned footstool next to him and nodded to the backyard. “Are those beehives?” she asked.
“They are,” Gus answered. “We’ve been trying to plant wildflowers and encourage pollination for the past decade or so, but I just got new hives this year.”
“How cool!” Ruby sprang up to look out the window. “I’ve always loved bees. Do you harvest your own honey?”
“We do,” Gus answered, pride pulling his lips into a smile. “Dolly makes the most delicious honey cakes with it.”
Lucy chose a seat on the old rattan three-seater covered in ancient floral cushions. The couch creaked as Cormac sat next to her, his arm stretching out behind her head. She glanced at the big man, arching her brows. “You okay?” she asked quietly.
Cormac tore his gaze away from the view of the backyard and glanced at her. His hand slid onto her shoulder, thumb stroking softly. “I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about.”
“After what happened earlier?”
Cormac nodded.
“I’m okay,” Lucy said, and she was surprised to find it was the truth. After the adrenaline rush of her encounter with Aaron, the coffee and cake with Vicky and Ruby had settled her nerves. Meeting those two women had given her a glimpse into another aspect of Cormac’s personality. He wasn’t just the serious bodyguard who scanned for threats all day, every day, and occasionally demolished donuts that didn’t belong to him. He was a son and a brother who got teased and bossed around, and though he grumbled, she’d seen his shoulders relax the moment they’d stepped through his mother’s front door.
He was just like her: an important part of a small yet tight-knit family. He loved them even though they sometimes drove him crazy. It humanized him a little more in Lucy’s eyes, made it easier to understand him. He was protective because he cared very deeply about people.
She wasn’t delusional enough to think he cared about her that way. They weren’t dating, and he certainly wasn’t going to propose. His mother and sister were overexcited, that was all. If he’d never brought a girl home, it was natural for them to get the wrong idea. He didn’t care about her in the way he did them, but Lucy still liked knowing he had the capacity. It meant he was a good man, able to love deeply. It made it easier to trust that he had her best interests at heart.
“…and her tires were slashed last year as well! I told her, Lucy, you be careful, but did she listen to me?” Dolly came into the sunroom carrying a tray bearing an ornate tea pot and six mugs. She’d taken out the nice tea set, Lucy noted.
“Slashed tires!” Vicky followed close behind, carrying a plate of homemade cookies. “My, my. Cormac, did you know about that?”
Cormac frowned. “No,” he said, turning to Lucy.
“Mom, I told you: they weren’t slashed. The air had been let out of them.”
“The police were utterly useless,” Dolly continued, ignoring her daughter. “Wouldn’t even arrest Aaron Phillips after he did that in broad daylight!”
Cormac made a noise beside her, but Lucy had to set the record straight. “There were no witnesses,” Lucy continued, because apparently she enjoyed talking to a wall. “We don’t know it was Aaron who did it.”
That finally got Dolly to acknowledge her. She huffed and chided, “Oh, don’t be naive, Lucy,” setting the tray down and rattling the china in the process. She poured steaming tea into the six waiting cups. “Who else could it be? That horrible man. And before that, when he stole those packages out of the back seat of your car? Do you remember that?”
Vicky’s brow furrowed. “When was this, exactly?”
“It was around the time Amelia and Leo were doing their thing,” Lucy answered, waving a hand.
Cormac let out a sigh, then said the same thing he’d told Lucy when he came to her apartment: “He’s escalating.”
“Exactly!” Dolly harrumphed. “Isn’t that what I said, Gus?”
“Darling, we can’t keep our daughter wrapped in bubble wrap her whole life. If she wanted to do the Expo, she was going to do the Expo. At least she had backup.” He nodded at Cormac who nodded back, cross-generational bro code.
“Her car exploded !” Dolly planted her hands on her hips and glared at her husband. “Or have you forgotten?”
“Of course I haven’t forgotten!”
This sounded like an argument that had been going on before Lucy and the rest of the crew arrived, and Lucy knew from experience it could continue for a long time regardless of who was in the sunroom listening along. Her mother was a peacemaking, meditation-loving, farmers’-market-attending nut, but the woman knew how to stand her ground.
“Mom, Dad, I’m okay. Okay? Cormac made sure of it.”
All eyes turned to look at Cormac, who sat there and didn’t even twitch. The man was unflappable. Lucy was a little jealous. If everyone had turned at once to stare at her, her head would’ve exploded.
Vicky leaned over and patted her son’s arm. “You did, my boy. You did. His home is a castle. No one will hurt Lucy while she’s in there.”
Dolly huffed. “Well. That’s something.”
“He keeps trying to get me to install all kinds of locks and alarms on my old house, but I’m too old for all that,” Vicky continued. “Today the thing went haywire on me. The neighbors threatened to call the police if I didn’t get the thing turned off!”
“Which neighbors?” Cormac asked, coming to life next to Lucy. The rattan creaked beneath him as he leaned forward to meet his mother’s gaze.
“Oh, just batty old Mrs. Montgomery. You know how she is.”
“I’ll talk to her,” Cormac said, accepting a mug of tea from Dolly with a nod.
“You most certainly will not,” Vicky shot back, prim. “Last time you tried to talk to her, she scooped her dog’s poop in my garbage can for three months. The smell never came out! I had to get a new one from the city, and they charged me two hundred dollars for the replacement.”
“We had neighbors just over here”—Dolly pointed to the left—“not next door, but the ones over, who were convinced we were growing pot. They called the cops on us half a dozen times.”
“Not our fault they can’t tell a tomato plant from marijuana,” Gus cut in, chuckling.
“That was so embarrassing,” Lucy said. “Everyone at school was talking about it. They called me Doobie Barlow for weeks, which wasn’t even a good nickname.”
“Totally lame,” Ruby commiserated. Lucy nodded in thanks, but then Ruby added, “Lucy Bonglow would have been way better.”
Vicky, sounding horrified, said, “Ruby!” but Gus started laughing.
Lucy rolled her eyes, cracking a smile, then turned back to her mother. “Whatever happened to them?” She nodded to the side of the house where the neighbors had lived.
“Moved to Vermont,” Gus replied.
“And good riddance,” Dolly answered.
“Wait. Didn’t you call the city on them for building an illegal shed?” Lucy asked, frowning. “And something about informing the IRS that they’d bought a bunch of fancy cars and it seemed suspicious?” She couldn’t quite remember.
Gus’s face went blank. “Us? No.”
Dolly wouldn’t meet Lucy’s gaze. “We didn’t call anyone about anything. They just up and left.”
“I definitely remember a few conversations about giving them a taste of their own medicine. Right?”
“That would be vindictive and cruel,” Dolly answered, neatly avoiding the question.
Gus cut in before Lucy could dig further and said, “Stop stalling. Tell us about yesterday, pumpkin.”
Everyone had tea by now, and Lucy found herself the center of attention as her mother asked her to recount the previous day’s events. She was surprised to find that talking about the explosion no longer made her stomach clench. She’d recounted the story several times now, and the terror had dulled. Now she just felt angry.
Similarly, all those eyes on her didn’t fill her with the usual anxiety. She was slightly uncomfortable being the center of attention, but it wasn’t the crushing, panic-inducing weight that typically accompanied this much attention. Cormac’s warmth at her side helped, as did the kindness and worry reflected in everyone’s eyes.
“And the worst part is, I should be celebrating,” Lucy finished with a huff, “because guess who stopped at my booth at the Wedding Expo. A buyer for Juniper and Sage!”
Gus blinked, clueless. Dolly gasped along with Vicky, and Ruby arched her brows and nodded, clearly impressed. Cormac’s hand slid back onto her shoulder to squeeze gently.
“The card company?” Dolly asked, wide-eyed.
Lucy nodded. “They want me to pitch a few ideas. She said they were interested in carrying my designs in their stores.”
The squeal that left Lucy’s mother’s lips was so high-pitched, it must have pricked the ears of every dog in Stirling. She set her tea down on the coffee table, sloshing the hot liquid over the edges, then dove at her daughter. Her arms wrapped around Lucy like a steel vise, and Lucy fought for breath as her mother hugged the life out of her.
“I’m so proud of you,” Dolly said, voice muffled in Lucy’s hair.
Lucy gasped and patted her mother’s back. “Thanks,” she croaked.
“That’s wonderful ,” Dolly said. Her eyes shone as she pulled back and studied Lucy.
Over her mother’s shoulder, Lucy saw Vicky’s gaze shift to Cormac, and the older woman gave her son a look that, to Lucy, seemed to convey approval.
Lucy didn’t know why that made her chest warm. She didn’t know why she should care if Cormac’s mother liked her. It’s not like they were dating. They’d kissed once, and he’d made it clear he didn’t want to do it again.
Okay, it was a bit more than a kiss. But still! He clearly wasn’t interested in pursuing anything with her. It shouldn’t matter if his mother approved of Lucy or not.
“What I want to know,” Ruby cut in, “is what this Aaron Phillips creep is hiding.”
Vicky nodded. “There’s more to this than just wedding stationery.”
“Is his shop still open?” Ruby asked, lifting her cup to her lips to take a sip.
“Closed last time I walked by,” Dolly answered.
Lucy narrowed her eyes. “Why were you walking by?”
Dolly’s eyes opened wide, angel that she was. “I was in the neighborhood, that’s all.”
Lucy frowned. Stirling Stationery was on the opposite side of town, far from anything Dolly would normally visit. She wouldn’t be in the neighborhood unless she’d gone there specifically.
“I think we should go check it out,” Ruby proclaimed. “I think we should go right now.”
“Hold on a minute,” Cormac said, lifting his hand. “We should definitely not do that.”
Vicky ignored him. “Yeah! And if he’s at his shop, we can all tell him exactly what we think of his bullying tactics. Run him off like you did the neighbors.”
“We did no such thing,” Dolly answered, but she was cleaning up the tea tray as if preparing to leave.
Gus stood. “I’ll lock up. Should we take the boy’s car? We can all squeeze in, right?”
Apparently Cormac was “the boy” now. Lucy glanced at him and saw the grim set of his jaw.
“I’m not driving you to the Stirling Stationery store,” he said. His voice was utterly calm, but a vein pulsed near his temple.
“We’ll take two cars, then,” Dolly proclaimed, picking up the tray to bring it back into the kitchen. “Augustus, get your keys!”
“Shotgun!” Vicky called out, picking up her purse.
“You can’t call shotgun until you can see the car, Mom,” Ruby complained.
“I am your elder, therefore I can claim the front seat anytime I choose.”
Lucy watched everyone stand up, feeling suddenly like she’d lost complete control of a situation. Or maybe she’d only just realized that she never had any control at all.
The last thing she wanted to do was go see Aaron Phillips—but she also didn’t want to sic all these people on Aaron Phillips. He’d blown up her car; who knew what he’d do to her and Cormac’s families?
Cormac, vibrating beside her, resisted for another few seconds, then let out another gusting sigh and pushed himself to his feet. “Fine. I’ll drive. But you all listen to what I say, understood? No running off and getting yourselves in trouble.”
“Of course, honey,” Vicky said, patting his arm. “You’ll keep us safe.”
A muscle in Cormac’s jaw bulged, but he just let out a breath and turned to help Lucy off the sunken-in couch. His hand slid to her lower back as he led her outside behind the troupe of lunatics they were related to. His touch was warm and soothing, and Lucy didn’t fight the urge to lean into him ever so slightly.
They all piled into his SUV, but before Cormac started the engine, he turned to look at everyone in the vehicle. “This is a terrible idea,” he said, “but I know that I can’t change your mind. So we need some ground rules.”
Everyone nodded.
“No wandering off,” Cormac said, counting off on his fingers. “No getting out of the car. We’ll park across the street and have a look, and then I’ll take you home.”
More nods. Everyone agreed, obedient as angelic children. Lucy, sitting in the front seat, narrowed her eyes.
“Good,” Cormac said, and he started the engine.