Forever Lucy (Lucy & Harris 5)

My friend jumped to her feet, the hurt and anger rolling off her in tidal waves. “I’m going home,” she muttered to me. “I’ll call you tomorrow, Lucy.”

“What the fuck, Kin?” Jace called after her. “I thought you were coming home with me tonight.”

“Go fuck yourself, Jace!” She flipped him off as she disappeared into the crowd.

“What the fuck just happened?”

“Kassa texted her,” Harris informed him, watching his friend closely as he let him in on the fact that his girlfriend had caught him in a lie. “She and Gray are on their way here.”

“Fuck,” he groaned. Scrubbing his hands over his face, he jerked to his feet. “I gotta go, man. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Harris gave a nod as Jace disappeared in the direction I’d last seen Kin. Our gazes found each other again and locked. “What the hell was that about?”

His eyes were just as huge as I figured mine were. “No idea, sweetness. Something is definitely wrong with him, though.”

--

Kin still wasn’t talking to or about Jace on Saturday. I couldn’t say I blamed her for being upset. Whatever was going on with Jace, he wasn’t confiding in his girlfriend or anyone else as far as I could tell. Kassa didn’t even know what was up with her brother. The first thing that had entered my head was that maybe he was cheating on Kin, but that was laughable. Jace St. Charles cheat on Kin? That was about as ridiculous as Harris cheating on me.

But Jace wasn’t sharing what was going on with him, and Kin was having some major trust issues with him over it after he’d flat out lied to her a few nights before.

Still, she put on a smile for my family and friends as the day went on. Natalie and Mom were hosting my bridal shower at the country club where Dad and the other rockers were playing golf with Harris and his friends. I hadn’t been sure what to expect with this whole shower thing, but so far I was having fun.

After the craziness of the last few months, it was nice to just relax with all the women I loved and spend the day laughing rather than agonizing over the mile-long, never-ending list of things that still needed my attention before this wedding was finally sorted. We were in the banquet room at the back of the building, and between the moms and Aunt Emmie, the place was overflowing with white and light purple balloons.

The wait staff was walking around with trays of champagne and mimosas for the adults and cups of orange juice for the kids, who had a smaller room just off the side of the banquet room where they could play and enjoy themselves while the adults focused on me. There was a small buffet set up which was full of little finger foods that would satisfy either kid or adult hunger. A table off to the side was piled high with gifts I’d spent two solid weeks adding to several bridal registries that would supposedly help start my marriage off easier.

“Have you and Harris thought about buying a house?” Marissa Niall asked, taking a sip of her mimosa.

My brow puckered at the question as I stared at the beautiful woman before me. It seriously wasn’t fair that she was so gorgeous. But with Marissa, that beauty wasn’t just skin deep. The kindness of her soul seemed to make her physically glow. Or maybe it was all the love her husband drowned her in daily that made her glow. Either way, Marissa was stunning, and I had always been a little enthralled by her.

But a house had been the last thing on my mind lately. On top of wedding planning, I also had school to deal with, and I’d been trying to fit in at least one meeting with my support group each week. “Not really. We’re happy with the apartment for now.” Shit, I didn’t need the stress of house-hunting on top of all the crap that was still piled on my plate right then.

“Well, there’s plenty of time for that later on,” she rushed to assure me, and I figured I’d been unable to hide the panic I felt at just the idea of a house. “I was only wondering if you two had thought about it since there was a house that just went up for sale a block from Liam and Gabriella’s house.”

“Oh, I love that house!” Gabriella Bryant gushed as she came over to us. “The couple who is selling it just moved in a few years ago, but they did so much work to it. And that nursery they redid is a baby’s paradise. Her mom just got sick, though, so they’re moving back to Seattle to be closer to her parents.”

“Maybe you and Harris would like to take a look at it,” Annabelle Brockman murmured as she joined us. “I could get you a viewing anytime.”

“Oh, uh…” I tried to search for a plausible enough excuse, but nothing came instantly to mind. “Um, sure.” I finally gave in when she continued to stare at me expectantly. What was the harm in just looking at a house anyway? “I’ll have to talk to Harris about what time will suit him, though.”

“Sure, no problem. Just let me know, and I’ll set up the viewing.”

“Careful, Lucy,” Mieke said with a laugh. “Mom will have you in a new house within weeks if you’re not careful.”

“It’s just a viewing,” Annabelle assu

red her with a twist of her lips. “And if you didn’t want that house next door to me and your dad, you shouldn’t have bought it.”

“Oh no! I love my house. It’s just that I wasn’t even in the market for one, Mom. I’m still not completely convinced Dad didn’t run off your Nashville neighbors so I could live next door to you two, though.”

“I plead the fifth,” she muttered, taking a sip of her drink, but she couldn’t hide the guilty color her cheeks were turning.

Mieke shot me an amused look that had us both bursting out laughing. “Okay. Okay. We’ll look, but I’m not promising anything,” I told Annabelle. “We really are happy where we’re at.”

“But what about when you start having babies?”

I suddenly knew what a deer felt like when it got caught in the high beams of an oncoming eighteen-wheeler. “We have plenty of time before we even start thinking about having babies,” I squeaked out.