Page 43 of Her Favorite Fumble
“You need to start at the beginning and tell me everything.”
“Okay, but I’m on break, so I have to talk fast.”
Lucy told Sydney everything, from having coffee with Reese Noonan to her job at the Uneven Keel. She even told Sydney about Nick, though she left out the kissing. She wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t want to talk about that.
“So you’re in Maine, freezing your ass off, while living with a guy you just met and slinging beer at a dive bar,” Sydney said when she finished.
“I wouldn’t call it a dive bar. And I remember hot days here when I was a kid, so I know summer will come eventually.”
“When’s your Gran coming back?”
“I’m not sure. At least another month if not a little more, I think.”
“Okay,” Sydney said, and Lucy could hear the click of her nails as she drummed her fingers on a hard surface. It made her think of Lavinia, and she smiled. “So I’ll expect you in two to three months, then? I mean, I assume you’ll want to visit with your grandmother for a while.”
For a few seconds, as relief flooded her body and washed out the tension, Lucy wasn’t sure she could speak. She nodded, but Sydney couldn’t hear that, obviously, so she did her best to swallow the knot of emotion. “Yeah, but I’ll let you know when things start winding down up here.”
“We’ll have the guest room ready for you. I’m so excited to see you again!”
A tear slid over Lucy’s cheek even though she was smiling. It was good to have somebody whowantedher. “Me, too. I’ll talk to you soon!”
She’d done it, she thought as she slid her phone back into her pocket.
The dream life in Miami was still waiting for her.
* * *
“Since you’re rarely in a good mood, it can be hard to tell, but I’m pretty sure you’re in a really foul mood today,” Gray said, leaning against Helen’s garden shed.
They’d just finished reframing the doorway and installing new hinges because the shed was getting old and the door wasn’t closing properly anymore. All that was left was to hang the new door, but it was a two-man job and Gray had drawn the short straw.
“My mood is fine. I just want to get this door hung before you have to leave to meet those people about the addition.”
“Why am I taking the meeting again?”
The question irked Nick because he’d rather they talked and worked at the same time, but it was a valid one. Nick usually took the meetings with prospective clients. “Because I went to high school with the guy—and, sure, we’re all adults now—but let’s just say we weren’t friends and leave it at that.”
“It’s probably for the best,” his brother said, lifting the new door so it stood on end. “You’re definitely in a bad mood.”
Nick didn’t bother denying it again. Mostly because Gray wasn’t wrong. He’d been in a mood since Lucy got home from work last night, though he thought he’d been doing a good job of hiding it.
He couldn’t have missed the joy and pride radiating from Lucy when she walked through the door, but he’d assumed the shots she made for the private party were a success. Then she told him about calling her friend in Miami.
The first hit had been realizing Lucy still intended to go.
The second came when he realized, on some level, he’d started to believe she might not.
Oh, he’d smiled. He congratulated her, both for the party and for having called Sydney. He admired the photos she’d taken. He said all the right things, but he was sulking on the inside.
They’d just finished hanging the door and making sure the hinges and clasps and locks all aligned when they heard a car pull into the drive out front.
“Is that Lucy?”
Nick frowned. “It shouldn’t be, but it sounds like her car.”
Gray checked the time on his phone. “I hope she didn’t block me in because I have to run. I’ll let you know how it goes.”
Nick started picking up his tools, and a few minutes passed before the fact he hadn’t heard Gray’s truck start stole his attention from thoughts about how much he hated Miami considering he’d never been there.
