Forever Lucy (Lucy & Harris 5)

I grabbed my phone and then hers. “Because we’re not dealing with them right now. We’re not doing a damn thing about the wedding for the next week.”

“But where are we going?”

“Fuck if I know, sweetness. Wherever we can get a flight to.” She stared at me in openmouthed amazement. Laughing, I lifted her to her feet and tapped her on the ass as I pushed her toward our room. “Pack a few things for me, and I’ll get us some plane tickets.”

“But I don’t even know what to pack.”

“So pack a little of everything.” I caught her around the waist from behind and lowered my head to her neck. She shivered as I kissed her shoulder. “Don’t plan on wearing too many clothes, though. Wherever we end up, you can damn well believe it will have a huge-ass bed.”

Giggling, she raced to our room just as her phone went off again. A glance at the screen showed the missed call had been from Layla, but the new caller was her dad. Knowing I couldn’t just take off with his daughter without telling him, I answered Jesse’s call.

“Is she okay?” were the first words out of his mouth as soon as he heard my voice.

“She’s good now,” I assured him. “I had no idea about all the wedding crap, I swear.”

“Me either,” he said with a rough sigh. “I thought she was happy.”

“Well, she wasn’t. But it’s not just the wedding that’s made her miserable. This thing with her and Layla has her more torn up than anything, man.”

There was a short pause on his end where I could have sworn I heard the wheels in his head screech to a halt. “What thing between them?”

That he hadn’t seen it either made me feel a little better for not realizing something was going on between Lucy and her mom. “Look, I don’t honestly know what all is going on, but Layla and Lucy… Their relationship isn’t what it used to be. Maybe you should talk to them about it because I don’t want to make it worse.”

“Let me talk to Lu.”

“Nope, can’t do that. She’s packing.”

“What the fuck do you mean she’s packing?” he roared.

“Relax. We’re just going to take a little break from everything going on. She needs to relax and get away. I’ll have her back in a week, I swear. You’ll see her after your trip to Paris.” I already had the airline app open and was searching through the earliest flights. We were doing Saint Lucia for our honeymoon, but Lucy didn’t know that yet. Still, I wanted something that wasn’t even remotely similar. An idea popped into my head, and I checked the earliest flight to the destination. Fuck yeah! “Until then, don’t call. You can text to check in with her, but don’t bother her with anything else.”

The pause this time was tenser, and I knew I was being ballsy as hell with the man who was about to become my father-in-law, but right then, I didn’t give two fucks. Lucy wasn’t happy, but I was going to change all of that. I’d put that glow back in her eyes, wipe away all her stress, and make her laugh again.

Instead of blowing up like I had been mentally preparing myself for, he only sounded resigned when he spoke. “I won’t call, but you better make sure as hell she texts me when you get wherever you’re going, boy. Because if something happens to my baby girl, there isn’t a place on this planet you can hide from me.”

“Nothing will happen to her,” I assured him in a cool, calm voice. “If anything, I’m cleaning up the mess your wife made.” I reserved both first-class seats and checked out with just a swipe of my thumb before pulling up the info for the hotel I had in mind, all while still talking to him. “And you can tell Layla and Emmie that they can go ahead and start canceling all the wedding preparations they’ve made.”

“You’re canceling the wedding?” His voice boomed in my ear. “What the fuck did I miss?”

“The wedding is still on, and Lucy still loves her dress. Lucy and I are just doing everything ourselves from this point on. Thanks for your help, but Lu and I have it from here on out. This is our wedding, not theirs.”

“Listen, Harris, I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but I can fix this. Give me a week, and I’ll have it all sorted out. By the time you get back, everything will be okay.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” I bit out. “Like I said, we’ve got this from here on out. And that includes paying for it.”

“I didn’t do shit, boy, so stop treating me like the villain here,” he gritted out.

“No one is blameless in this, Jesse. Not the moms, not you, and especially not me. Not having a clue what was going on makes us even more at fault.” He let out a harsh breath, telling me without words that he agreed with me. “Tell them to cancel everything, especially that goddamn cake.”

“Yeah, I will.” Another short pause. “Just tell her I love her, okay?”

“Yeah, I will. We’ll see you next week.”

No sooner had I hung up than my phone went off again. I glared down at Nat’s name on my screen and finally answered. “What?”

“Don’t be mad,” she pleaded. “I’ll fix this. I swear I will. Emmie and I will make this Lucy’s dream wedding.”

“That’s what you were supposed to be fucking doing in the first damn place,” I snapped. “So, thanks, but no thanks. We don’t need or want your help. Lu and I will take things from here. All I need you to do is cancel everything you three have done so far.”