Page 9 of Reuniting with Lucy
“I love you, sis,” Emma said. “But you tend to put other people’s needs and feelings before your own.”
“Emma’s right,” Kate said. “You’re a people-pleaser. Plus, you hate to be alone.”
“Is it possible that you like the idea of being married so much, you’ve talked yourself into a life with Curtis simply because he asked?” Lizzie said.
“But I don’t even know Jack,” Lucy protested. “Yes, I’ll admit, there’s still a bit of an attraction. But he could be a serial killer for all I know. Or married. Or gay. I don’t know anything about him!”
More blank stares. Lucy sighed. “You don’t think I should marry Curtis, regardless of what happens with Jack.” It wasn’t a question, and their silence confirmed her statement.
“What if I break up with Curtis and nothing happens with Jack?” Lucy asked. “Or what if something does happen, but then it ends horribly, and I’ll have given up a chance at a stable relationship with Curtis?”
“That’s a chance you take with any relationship,” Emma said. “Don’t think with your head. What is your heart telling you?”
“Emma, why do you have to be so reasonable? If I think with my heart…” Lucy closed her eyes, put her palms up like she was meditating, and took a deep breath. She meant it as a joke to mock her sister, but while pretending to take a dramatic moment to search her soul, something strange happened—her soul answered.
The second she tuned in to her heart, she realized it stood at odds with her head. Her heart, not to mention her lady parts, were voting for Jack. More like screaming for him. Declaring anarchy if he wasn’t chosen. But she loved Curtis too. There was some definite turmoil goin’ on. Lucy opened her eyes.
“I don’t know, you guys,” Lucy said. “It sucks that you don’t like Curtis.Andthat you think I’m marrying him just to spare his feelings, but I really do love him.”
“Then don’t worry about what we think,” Emma said.
“I have to think about it,” Lucy said. “I’ve only known Jack for about ten minutes. Literally. Just because we have an attraction doesn’t mean we’re meant for happily ever after. Plus, you’re assuming Jack wants a relationship with me. It’s very possible that he doesn’t.”
“It has been ten years,” Kate said. “You have a point.”
“You don’t have to decide anything right now,” Lizzie said. “We’ve said our piece, but it’s ultimately up to you. It’s your life.”
Should she throw away a great relationship with Curtis to risk a potential one with Jack? Was he even interested in that? Were you truly in love with one person if you had thoughts of another? Could she be happy with Curtis for the rest of her life? It was too much.
“Didn’t you promise mimosas?” Lucy asked. “After conversing with you three, I could use one now.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Another week passed, and Lucy once again sat at her parents’ dining room table, surrounded by crazy people. Nana had lime green hair this week and wore a T-shirt that said, “Sometimes I talk to myself. Then we both laugh and laugh.” Lucy noticed she was using a spoon that looked an awful lot like the ones at the coffee shop.
“Nana,” Lucy said. “Did you take that spoon from The Drip?”
Nana’s eyes shot to her son.
“Mother,” Lucy’s dad said. “We’ve talked about this. You can’t keep taking things that aren’t yours.” He held up a hand to stop her from making excuses. “Even if you think Lucy wouldn’t mind, what’s hers is not necessarily yours. Stop stealing stuff.”
When he looked away, Nana stuck her tongue out at him, and Lucy chuckled.
In a lengthy family group chat, one that didn’t include Nana, they’d discussed the possibility that Nana had lost it, was in the process of losing it, or had become a kleptomaniac. Lucy texted that a geriatric onset of kleptomania seemed improbable and suggested that maybe Nana just wanted attention.
Their dad said he’d talk to her, but in the meantime, asked everyone to keep an eye on her. Lucy’s other theory was that she was just being mischievous. That was more plausible and lined up better with Nana’s personality.
“All right, everybody,” Lucy’s mother said. “It’s that time of year again. We’re a couple of months out, but we need to plan to get a family photo taken for the Christmas card.”
Everyone groaned and mumbled excuses, which her mother ignored.
“Since everyone’s schedules are so busy, I thought I’d just make the appointment with the photographer, and you all could figure out a way to make it happen. Daisy will only be in town for ten days around Thanksgiving, which narrows our window drastically. I’ll let you know when I decide on this year’s color scheme.”
Between dinner and dessert, they all beelined to the living room to check their phones. Sophie Parker had a strict no-cell-phones-at-the-dinner-table policy, so it had been almost an hour since anyone had had contact with the outside world.
Adam and Lucy both had texts and voicemails from Jack, saying something was wrong at the site and asking that they call right away. “You call,” Lucy said needlessly to Adam. He was already dialing.
“Hey, man. What’s up?” Adam listened for a second and then swore. “That sounds expensive.”