Chapter 12 #2
Jenn brought out a protective instinct in me. Lucy didn’t need my protection. Her dad had that covered. But with Jenn I felt like, for once, I could be the one someone turned to. The one to fix things.
I felt like I was a man in control.
The power of that was intoxicating.
“I do feel safe with you. We’ve only known each other for a short time, but you’re important to me.” She leaned into me. “I want to be with you.” She seemed embarrassed by the admission.
I reached down and tilted her chin up so she looked at me. I took a deep breath. Then I jumped over the cliff head first. “I feel the same way, Jenn. I really do.”
There was a thick tension in the air between us. I found myself looking at her full mouth … and then I kissed her.
It started off sweet and simple, our mouths pressed together.
I could tell she didn’t have a lot of experience and it was this, paired with the thought of being the one in charge, that had me wrapping my arms around her, pinning her body to mine.
I groaned in the back of my throat and pushed my tongue between her lips.
She startled, but obediently opened her mouth, allowing me access, which drove me wild.
I wanted to taste every inch of her. I wanted to own her completely.
After a few minutes, she pulled away, breaking the kiss. We were both breathless, and I had to resist the urge to pull her back to me.
“Jenn.” I said her name like I was drowning. I wanted to kiss her again. I felt starved for her affection.
“I know,” was all she said. Her eyes were wide as she looked up at me, her chest heaving.
My phone vibrated in my hand, startling me out of my reverie. I looked at the time and blanched. “I uh, I have to go.” I didn’t want to see the hurt on her face, so I looked away.
“I’ll text you later,” I told her before I left.
“Promise?” she called after me.
And like the last time she asked this of me, I kept quiet.
“I’ve been calling and texting you for over an hour! Where have you been?” Lucy asked worriedly as soon as I arrived at her house. “I thought something had happened to you!”
I was a horrible liar, but I needed to learn how to do it better—and fast. “I was running at Jagged Point. You know there’s no cell reception there.”
She frowned. “You’re always up there lately.” I wasn’t sure she entirely believed me. “Maybe I need to take up running and join you. That way we can actually spend some time together.”
My heart thudded erratically as I gave, what I hoped, was a dismissive chuckle. “Come on, Lucy, running will only mess up all that pricey makeup.”
Lucy pursed her lips. “You think I’m only interested in my looks? How little you think of me, Rhett.” She turned away, but I could see the hurt on her face.
“It’s true, though, isn’t it?” I laughed, more at her than with her. “Besides, you hate it there. I wouldn’t want to put you out or anything.” I knew I sounded aloof, but I needed to shut down the idea of her coming to Jagged Point hard and fast.
Lucy narrowed her eyes. “What’s with you? Why are you being such a jerk?”
“I’m not,” I said defensively, my frustration rising. “Maybe you’re just overly sensitive. I think this wedding stuff has gone to your head.” I pointed to my temple. “It’s making you crazy.”
She looked like she wanted to say something else, but then she noticed the Band-Aids on my leg and the dried blood crusting my skin. “Good God, Rhett, what have you done to yourself?” Lucy’s hurt faded with her genuine concern for my well-being.
“It’s no big deal. Just a little road rash.”
She looked at my wounds with a troubled expression. “Where’d you get the Band-Aids? You came straight here from your run, right?”
“I had a couple in my pocket,” I lied quickly.
Lucy raised an eyebrow, as if sensing my dishonesty, but surprisingly didn’t say anything else. “Maybe you should spend less time running up there and more time doing the things you’re supposed to,” she remarked flatly.
The image of Jenn and the kiss we shared earlier flooded my brain, and I had to move away from Lucy for fear she’d sense the other woman on me somehow. “I’m okay, honestly. It’s only a scrape.”
I finally forced myself to kiss her; a quick peck on the lips.
“Well, now that you’re here, you can look at the seating plan.
” Lucy led me toward her parents’ large dining table, where the seating plan had been laid out, and I held in my groan of annoyance.
There was a large sketch of the banquet room at Blue Hound Vineyard, where Mabel had insisted we have the reception.
Names had been written on small flags and stuck at each table indicating where everyone was to be seated.
“My Great-Aunt Emily asked to be put somewhere near the front because her eyesight is bad and she wants to be able to see us. I know we said this table was for your friends and your mom, but I think you’ll agree that great-aunts are more important than friends any day of the week, and your mom will have a great spot next to the window. ”
“I don’t have a lot of people coming as it is, Lucy. And it doesn’t feel right to put my mom all the way back there,” I said, pointing at the table near the back of the room where my family and friends had been moved.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t even think of it that way.” She winced. “Of course you’re right. Okay, so maybe your mom could sit at this table near the front with my cousins who are flying in from Louisiana.” She began shuffling some of the seats around again.
I didn’t care about any of this, but Lucy mistook my silence for something else entirely. “You seem out of it. Let me get you something to drink. I think the fall really banged you up. Stay here, I’ll be back in a sec.” Lucy was out the door before I could say anything.
“She’s gone completely nuts over this wedding stuff, hasn’t she?”
I looked up as Bailey came into the room.
She was only fifteen but was a breath of fresh air.
She possessed that breezy, carefree attitude most teenagers had.
She still expected life to go exactly as she wanted and believed nothing could go wrong.
And if things did go wrong, then her daddy would fix it for her.
But I noticed how badly she wanted her parents’ attention—and how rarely she got it.
Because of that I had taken to spending time with her.
Bailey laughed at my jokes and thought I was cool, which felt good.
I worked hard to make her feel special because it was nice to have the adoration of someone in the Herbaugh family.
“Yeah, I’d say she’s completely lost it,” I agreed with a lopsided smile, enjoying the pointed joke we shared at Lucy’s expense.
“I tried messaging you a few times earlier. You never replied.” The younger girl pouted.
“Sorry, just been busy.” I put my arm around her shoulders, giving her a squeeze. “I’ll make it up to you.”
Bailey leaned into me, giving me a cute smile. “You’d better.”
Appeased, she looked down at the seating plan, rolling her eyes when she saw that she had been put at the kid’s table.
“You don’t approve?” I asked, giving her a nudge.
She side-eyed me. “I’m fifteen, not five,” she grumbled. “I swear, when I turn eighteen, I’m outta here.”
Lucy came back into the room carrying a pitcher of lemonade and snorted at Bailey’s dramatic words. She rolled her eyes in an exact copy of her younger sister. “Yeah right, Bai.”
“I am!” Bailey pouted indignantly, glaring with all the fury of a misunderstood teenager.
“You have no idea how lucky you are. Mom and Dad do everything for you—way more than they ever did for me.” Lucy didn’t have much patience for her little sister, who obviously looked up to her.
“Give me a break. You’re the princess of the family and always have been,” Bailey snapped, her frustration with her sister growing.
Lucy laughed, unaware how she pushed Bailey’s buttons—how she pushed everyone’s buttons.
“Poor little Bailey. Always the victim,” Lucy spat out.
“Lucy, stop being so nasty—” I began to interject.
“Stay out of it, Rhett,” Lucy warned, glaring at me. I closed my mouth instead of telling her to watch her tone like I wanted to. I thought about how, in that moment, what I really wanted to do was smack that prissy expression off her pretty face.
Bailey’s eyes flashed and in a sweeping motion she pushed the seating chart off the table and onto the floor.
“Bailey!” Lucy screamed.
Then Lucy picked up the pitcher full of lemonade and heaved it in her sister’s direction. Bailey ducked as the glass shattered against the wall.
We all stood there in a moment of shock at how quickly things had escalated. Bailey and Lucy stared at each other, their faces a mirror of barely suppressed rage.
But it was Bailey’s anger that dissipated first. She glanced at the mess of paper on the floor then at her sister, and I could see her regret.
Bailey chewed on her bottom lip, looking worried and apologetic. “I’m really sorry, Lucy.” She glanced at her watch. “Shoot, I’m late for volleyball practice.”
Lucy looked up sharply. “Sure you’re sorry, Bai. You’re always sorry,” Lucy snarled. “And weren’t you kicked off the team?”
Bailey had started backing away toward the door, probably realizing that the best thing to do was to retreat. “Dad spoke to Coach, so everything’s fine now.”
“Of course Dad fixed it for you,” Lucy muttered tiredly.
“Like you’re one to talk,” Bailey shot back with one final burst of indignant irritation.
“Just go, Bailey.” Lucy wouldn’t even look at her.
Her sister hesitated for a few seconds longer. She looked at me, and all I could do was shrug. “See you later, Bailey,” I said, wanting for all the world to follow her out the door.
Instead, I watched as Lucy started picking up the mess of papers on the floor. “I don’t know why you’re taking your bad mood out on Bailey,” I said. “You’re the one that wanted all this.” I waved a hand at the ruined seating plan.
Lucy looked at me in shock, her lower lip trembling. “I’m doing all this for you, Rhett.”
I wanted to laugh, because it was definitely not for me. “Still, you need to chill out and leave Bailey alone.”
Her eyes darkened. “Are you taking up for Bailey? She wrecked the seating plan with her temper tantrum!”
“And you threw a pitcher of lemonade at her. I think you’re even.”
“I guess I should expect this from you, given how checked out you’ve been lately.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out to see a message from Marty.
Marty: You busy or are your balls still in your woman’s purse?
I felt a flush of shame.
“I’ve got to go,” I told her hastily.
Lucy looked up at me, her brow furrowed. “You’re leaving me to clean this up by myself? Are you serious?”
“Wedding stuff is your department, remember?”
I quickly typed out a message to Marty.
Me: Pick up some beer, I’ll come get you.
Marty: Sure the Mrs. won’t mind? We both know she’s the one calling the shots.
Lucy frowned in confusion. “What’s wrong with you? You’re never here when I need you anymore.”
I was thinking how to respond when my phone chimed again.
Marty: Maybe I need to come over there and show that chick of yours what a real man is like.
“I told Marty I’d pick him up. I’m late,” I explained, knowing it was no excuse.
“Marty? The guy who works for Sal? Since when do you hang out with him? He’s a total sleazeball, Rhett.” Lucy looked aghast.
Me: I’m on my way.
“I’ve got to go, Lucy. Stop being such a bitch about it,” I snarled. I didn’t have the patience to listen to her talk about wedding flowers or the reception menu. I didn’t care about any of it.
She gasped. I had never called her that before, and I didn’t know how to take it back. Or whether I wanted to.
“What did you call me?” Her voice wobbled slightly, but I knew she wouldn’t let herself cry in front of me.
I wouldn’t apologize. Not to Lucy. “I’ll text you later.”
“Promise?” Lucy asked, and I was hit by a wave of déjà vu. But this time, I knew I had to give her the word she craved. The one I had so easily withheld from Jenn.
Because I needed to placate her in order to keep her off my back.
So, I looked at the woman I was supposed to marry and gave her an insincere smile. I felt a sense of satisfaction in lying to her.
“Promise.”