A Taste of Sir (Doms of Decadence 6)

“Yeah, yeah, I know. He invited me home plenty of times.” But she couldn’t come. There were just too many memories. Anger and resentment and guilt.

You should have come home earlier. Should have worked all of this out.

Except somehow, it was easier to counsel other people than it was to take her own advice.

“He could have waited. Or visited me.”

“That he could have,” Clay said in agreement. “I know it’s hard to come home, honey.” He squeezed her shoulder. “We all feel it. But he’s going be really happy to see you.”

Will he?

That’s not fair, Lacey. Just because he has a new wife doesn’t mean he cares about you any less.

But then, how much had he ever really noticed her?

She smiled tightly. “You’re right. This is as much my fault as his. Don’t worry, I’m going to be polite.”

“When are you anything else, honey?” He gave her a funny look, and she felt her stomach tighten. Did he know? Did he realize it was all an act, and that underneath she was a complete mess? “If you’re going to insist on driving then I’ll follow behind. You feel the car do anything odd, you pull over straight away, hear me?”

She saluted him, her mouth too dry to speak. God, she hated coming home.

***

Her laugh sounded like a hyena on crack.

The high-pitched cackle made the hairs on Lacey’s arms stand on end. She watched as her father placed his arm around his new wife’s waist. She leaned into him, the top of her head not even reaching her father’s shoulder. All the Andrews men were tall. Even Lacey, at five-foot ten, felt small around them.

Another shrill chortle erupted from the woman. She shivered.

“You cold?”

She looked over as Travis sat next to her at the outdoor table. He put his plate down, which was piled high with sausages, steak, potato salad, and coleslaw. It was more than she could eat in two days.

“Not hungry today?” she asked.

“I can always go back for seconds.”

She snorted. “With your brothers around? I doubt that.”

He glanced down at her uneaten food pointedly. “Then you better go add some more to your plate now, huh?”

She sighed. “Travis, I’m not seven anymore. You can’t tell me what to eat.”

“Couldn’t tell you then, either. Always were a stubborn thing.”

“Gee, I wonder where I get that from?”

They grinned at each other.

“Point taken,” he said. He looked over at her father and his bride. “What do you think of her?”

Lacey put her elbow on the table and leaned her chin into the palm of her hand. “Her name is Brandi with an I. That’s going to be annoying to remember when I’m writing out a card and stuff.”

Travis let out a soft grunt of laughter. “Because you intend to send her so many cards?”

“My point exactly. Christmas and birthdays come by once a year how am I supposed to remember to spell Brandi with an I? And isn’t she too old to spell her name that way?”

“You don’t care how her name is spelled.”