Hearts in Motion (Boggy Creek Valley 5) - Page 72
I had to press my mouth together into a tight line to keep from laughing as Bree drew in a long, deep breath.
“For the love of all things,” she said. “I never tell you when I’m dating a guy because you do this!”
Joanne huffed. “And what is this?”
“Question me. First, it’s are we back together? Then, it’s when are we setting the wedding date? And am I really going to embarrass you by not getting married in the church?”
Joanne made another huffing sound. “I would do no such thing. But did you say marriage? Is that something the two of you have talked about?”
Bree’s eyes shot back to me, and for a moment I thought she might throw her phone across the park. “I’m hanging up on you now.”
“No, wait!” Joanne called out. “Your father and I have been invited to Boston with Lance and Karen.”
“Lance and Karen Larson?” Bree asked.
Joanne sighed. “Well, what other Lance and Karen would there be, Brighton?”
Bree hit mute on the phone and said, “That’s Kyle’s parents. His dad’s also the police chief.”
I nodded.
“Brighton?”
“Sorry, Mom. Okay, when?”
“Well, they got tickets to a play tomorrow, and they’d like to spend a few days in Boston. Your father and I thought—”
“You should totally go!” Bree practically shouted.
“Oh, well, I was calling to see if you wouldn’t mind if we left in the morning, and you manned the bed and breakfast for the day and night.”
“I think you should leave with Lance and Karen. You and Dad deserve a little bit of downtime.”
“Well, I mean, that would be nice. Are you okay handling things this evening and tomorrow?”
“Please, I’ve handled it before when you guys have gone on vacation. Besides, we only have a handful of guests.”
She cleared her throat. “Eight now, if you count Walt…er…Luke.”
“He doesn’t count.”
“He most certainly does, Brighton Rogers.”
Bree sighed in frustration. “Fine, he counts. I’ll take care of everything. And don’t worry, MaryLou will be there to help—and Luke can help as well. Right, Luke?”
“Um, yes. Right.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” her mother said. “I’ll go tell your father. When will you be back, so we can let Lance and Karen know what time we can leave?”
Bree looked at me and winked. “We’re on our way back now.”
Joanne let out a small excited sound. “Wonderful. See you soon, sweetheart.”
Bree hung up, then looked at me. “Luck appears to be on our side, Mr. Morrison.”
With a grin, I replied, “It appears so.”
Bree and I walked back to her car and headed to Willow Tree. On the drive there, Jack texted me to see how things were going with Bree. I was more than happy to tell him we were back together. He sent a GIF of a guy jumping up and down in excitement, and then Lou texted me four words: It’s about damn time.
Laughing, I said, “We can add Jack and Lou to the list of people who are happy we’re back together.”
“How are Lou and Jack?” she asked. “We should invite them to Boggy Creek when things settle down.”
“They’d love that.”
Bree pulled into the parking lot of the Willow Tree and stopped next to my car. We got out and started toward the front when I took her hand in mine and pulled her to a stop.
“Bree, I do need to mention that I’m obligated to promote the movie. I’ll still need to go back to LA and appear at the premiere.”
“Okay,” she said with a smile.
“I wasn’t sure if you wanted to keep us a secret until it’s all over, or…”
She shook her head. “No, I’m tired of keeping us a secret. If we don’t make a big show of us being together, maybe people won’t make a big deal about it. And if you don’t make a big announcement about retiring from acting and simply step away, people won’t really pay attention.”
I raised a brow. “Are you saying I’ll be easy to forget?”
With a chuckle, she replied, “No. I’m saying if you make a big production about stepping away from acting, it will only cause people to be more curious.”
“What about the premieres? My agent will want me to walk those red carpets with Kathleen.”
A look passed over Bree’s face, and I couldn’t tell if it was anger or something else. “Well, that’s too bad, because I’ll be your escort from now on.”
“You will?” I asked, surprised by her statement.
“Yes. Your wife.”
“You’re cheating on me?”
Luke and I both turned to see Kyle standing there with a wide smile on his face.
“Hey, Kyle,” I said as we shook hands.
“Good to see you, Luke,” Kyle said. He turned and looked at Bree. “I see we worked things out. What happened to making him work for it, Brighton?”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s complicated, Larson. Why are you here? My God, do you ever do your job?”
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