“Taylor called me, and I guess I beat you here.”
“Kim took a lot of back roads leaving town. It was like being in an action movie, except, you know, a lot less fun.”
“Well, I don’t know,” Gran said as she poured Lucy a glass of ice water and gestured for her to sit. “Watching an action movie is fun, but it’s probably not fun for the charactersinthe movie.”
Once she was settled at the kitchen table and had a few sips of water, Lucy finally started to relax. It was hard not to with the two people who made her feel safe sitting at the table with her.
“So Kim Perkins, huh?” Nick said. “Didn’t see that coming, because Taylor didn’t mention her mom’s part in it. She just said people were in town looking for you and you were on your way home.”
“Trust me, I didn’t believe it, either.”
She filled them in on her entire conversation with Taylor’s mother, and it didn’t sound any less believable coming out of her mouth than it had from Kim’s. They just listened, eyes wide until she was done.
“Well, this has certainly been quite a day,” Helen said after a moment.
Lucy sighed. “Well, I did get the bins I wanted for packing. They’re in my car, which is still in the market’s parking lot, but at least I got them. Oh! Oh, Gran. I didn’t get the sugar.”
“Considering you snuck out the back alley and there are no registers out there, it’s probably for the best you didn’t have the sugar yet,” she replied, and they all laughed.
With the tension eased, Lucy looked at her grandmother, taking comfort from the steadiness of her gaze. Even though it had turned into a mess, Gran hadn’t been wrong. Lucy needed to live her life. She had a strong foundation, and now she needed to build the life she wanted to live without hiding from people who wanted a say in it.
“I’ll get one of my brothers and we’ll grab your car,” he told Lucy before smiling at Helen. “And some sugar.”
“You’re so sweet, Nick,” Helen said. “What would we do without you?”
And then Lucy wanted to cry again because she was going to find out the answer to that question very soon.
What would she do without him?
* * *
Nick was so disgusted with himself, he didn’t even look in the mirror once while brushing his teeth before bed.
He was a horrible person. There was no way around that, and he knew he was going to toss and turn all night, but he didn’t care. He deserved it.
When Lucy had told him about the Fairee crowd finding her, his first thought was for her safety. But his second thought was about all the people in her life who’d turned their backs on her rather than deal with the hassle.
And how maybe it would cost her Miami.
If her friend in Miami decided to team up with a cocktail artist who came with less baggage, maybe Lucy would decide to stay in Wayward Harbor.
With him.
What kind of jerk hoped a woman’s dreams would be crushed so she’d give up and spend her life with him?
Nick didn’t deserve her.
After rinsing his brush, he finished up in the bathroom and yanked the door open. Gray was in the hallway, on his way to the stairs, but he stopped when he saw Nick’s face.
“You good?”
He was very much not good, actually. “Sure. Just tired.”
“I’ve seen you so tired you fell asleep at the kitchen table and you looked better than you do right now.” His brother jerked his head toward the stairs. “Want to sit on the porch and talk about it? Have a beer?”
“I just brushed my teeth.”
“That is such ayouthing to say. Come on and keep me company.”