Forever Lucy (Lucy & Harris 5)

“And Jace?” I hesitated to ask. He and Kin argued more often than anything else these days. I was anxiously waiting for the ball to drop with them and Kin to call me to say she’d broken up with him. What I hated the most was that I didn’t know what the problem was so I could fix it for them. Which was tearing Kin apart. She had no idea what was going on with Jace, but at least he had stopped lying to her. Yet, I wasn’t sure what was worse for my friend: the lying or the silence.

Kin was quiet for a long pause, and I couldn’t even hear her breathing at first. Then she exhaled roughly, and I heard a quiver in her voice when she finally spoke. “Jace is Jace. He tells me he loves me, he kisses me, he loses himself when we make love. But then his phone rings, and he gets this look on his face. He won’t tell me who’s on the phone, and he never takes the call when I’m around. He’s cheating on me. I know it. I can feel it.”

“Of course he’s not,” I cried, and Harris shot me a startled look as he braked for a red light. “Jace would never cheat on you, Kin. He loves you.”

“He loves me,” she agreed. “But…maybe he loves someone else too.”

“No. Jace is a one-woman kind of guy.”

“I want to believe that,” she whispered. “But…” She broke off, and I heard a voice in the background. “Oh, hey, Alicia. Yeah, I’m coming.” The voice said something else, and Kin’s voice filled my ear clearly again. “Lucy, I’ll call you tonight. I’m helping Alicia and Kassa with dinner, and it’s time to start on the rest of the food.”

“Kin…” I didn’t know what I was going to say to her, but I didn’t want her to go when she was so obviously upset about Jace. “He loves you, babe.”

“I know that. And I love him too. But…he’s breaking me, Lucy. And I’m so tired of feeling broken.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that, because her feelings were so similar to my own the day I’d had the blow-up with Mom that it startled me. Swallowing hard, I blinked back the tears I had yet to shed. “I’m here, Kin. I will always be here.”

“And I know that too,” she said with a shaky little laugh. “Love you, babe. Talk to you tonight.”

“Love you, girl. Later.” Dropping the phone in my lap, I turned my head to watch the scenery passing by through the passenger window and fighting my own tears yet again.

Harris drove silently for several miles, knowing I needed a moment to get myself under control. Reaching across the car, he took my hand and kissed my palm before linking our fingers and resting our hands on the shifter. “He does love her,” he assured me. “And I know it would kill him if he lost her.”

“But if he doesn’t get his act together, that’s exactly what’s going to happen,” I predicted.

His fingers tightened around my own. “Jace will smarten up, sweetness. Don’t worry about them right now. We’re headed to your sister’s house and are about to eat my favorite dinner in the world. It’s going to be a good day.”

I gave him a tight smile. “Yeah,” I said with a nod. But inside, I was silently begging him to take me home. I wasn’t sure if I was strong enough to deal with anyone today, and by anyone, I meant Mom, but also Nat and Aunt Emmie too.

I was to the point where I was ready to beg Harris just to elope to Vegas and be done with it. If all that mattered to him was that I walked down the aisle to him, then it shouldn’t matter if it happened in a little chapel with some Elvis impersonator officiating.

But even as the thought swam through my mind—for the hundredth time, no less—I felt a pang of regret. I didn’t want to get married in Vegas. Not without our families. Not without Dad. I wanted to wear my dress, and I wanted Dad to give me away. Those two things kept my mouth shut and from blurting out the plea to elope. I didn’t want to start my marriage off with regrets, and I knew not having Dad give me away would eat at me.

Lana’s driveway was alr

eady overflowing with vehicles when we arrived. Every year, the married women traded off on who hosted Thanksgiving. This year was my sister’s turn, and next year, it was supposed to be Harper’s. The thought of hosting so many people for a huge family dinner was daunting, but I actually wanted to give it a try. Our apartment was too small, however, so I knew my turn would have to wait until we had a house of our own.

Harris took my hand once we were both on the sidewalk, and we started up the driveway. Before we could reach the door, it opened, and a herd of wild beasts came out to attack us, followed by Bliss, who toddled behind the bigger kids. Seeing my youngest niece, I scooped her up and started planting kisses all over her beautiful little face.

“Lu!” she squealed and hugged me as tightly as her chubby little fists would allow.

“Stop stealing all my kisses!” Drake cried as he tried to wade through all the kids who were still surrounding us but were mostly focused on Harris. “Those are Daddy’s kisses, Bliss!”

With a giggle, she jumped out of my arms like a little daredevil and straight into her father’s. Drake caught her easily, and I was so used to seeing it that my heart didn’t even jump, but Harris was already reaching out in case Drake didn’t get her in time.

“You make me nervous, kid,” he grunted to her as he dropped a kiss on the back of Bliss’s head.

“Wait until you have a few of your own,” Drake said with a chuckle. “They’ll do trapeze off the top of the stairs, and you won’t even blink. You’ll just catch them, and let them do it again.”

“I want sons,” Harris muttered under his breath to me. “Girls will put me in an early grave.”

Laughing happily for the first time all day, I glanced down at the beasts still at our feet. “Okay, you brats. Release his legs,” I told Mason and Trinity, who had glued themselves to his legs for a ride.

“But we want rides,” Mason argued. “Please, Harris? Please, please?”

Harris bent and pulled his sister off his leg. He arranged her on his back before lifting Mason above his head. “I think you need to take a plane ride, Mas.”

“Yeah!” he yelled. “Let’s go.”