If she wasn’t careful, she’d blink, and it’d be five years in the future and she’d still be stuck at town hall, working for her overbearing ass of a father and letting her dreams of design wilt in the back corners of her mind. Again.
Will hummed, pulling Rory out of her thoughts. “I’ve gotten used to his shit. Plus, ever since I stood up to him at last year’s baseball game, he doesn’t push me around anymore. Much.”
All three snorted at that. Their daddy was about as delicate as a bull in a china shop. The man didn’t know the meaning of the word subtle. He bulldozed anyone and anything that got in his way.
One of the less-appealing characteristics Rory shared with him.
“Enough about Work Daddy.” Mac leaned forward, her eyes positively gleaming as she addressed Will. “I wanna know what he said when y’all went over there for supper.”
While the Havens had a long-standing tradition of gathering together on Sunday evenings with all of them—Rory and her girls when she had them, Will, Mac, their parents, and Gran—Momma and Daddy had asked Rory, the girls, and Mac to skip this week, instead preferring to speak to Willow and Finn. Alone.
Given Finn’s proposal only days before, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what they’d wanted to discuss.
Will’s lips pursed to the side. “It was…cordial.” She shrugged, taking another sip of her drink. “Y’all know Momma and Gran have been on my side since everything that came out last year.”
That was a delicate way of referencing the web of lies their daddy had concocted about Finn in an effort to keep him away from Will. But all that’d managed to do was damage their father’s relationship with the women in his life.
“Course, it helped that Finn laid the charm on heavy. Momma and Gran didn’t know what to do with themselves, swoonin’ all over him. Daddy grumbled a whole lot and shot daggers at Finn, but I think he realized, no matter what he did, there wasn’t anything he could do to stop us from gettin’ married.” A giggle burst from her lips—a sure sign she was already a little tipsy. “Married.”
Yeah, married. Rory still wasn’t sure howshe felt about that. She was happy for her sister, of course. She’d be an evil witch if she weren’t, considering the road Will and Finn had traversed just to get to their happily ever after. They’d been through a hell of a lot, and they deserved every ounce of happiness they could capture. She wasn’t so bitter and cynical that she’d deny them that.
But, well…Rory’s thoughts on marriage had soured. Just a tad.
“Rory?” Will asked, her voice tentative. “You’re okay with all of this, aren’t you? You’ll be in the wedding and help me plan it all?”
Rory snapped her attention up to her sister, then glanced over at Mac, who was staring at her with a tiny bit of pity and a whole lot ofdo not fuck this up for Willthrown in.
She pasted on her practiced smile. “What? Of course! Why wouldn’t I?”
Will shot Mac a look, then settled her eyes back on Rory. “Just…you know.” She shrugged. “With everything that’s goin’ on between you and Sean.”
Rory waved her hand as if to dismiss the words in the air before they could land like daggers in her heart. “Don’t you worry about that. It’s completely behind me. Water under the bridge.”
“That so?” Mac studied her, eyes scrutinizing. Will might buy Rory’s lies, but Mac wasn’t so easily fooled. A skeptic down to her very bones. “Then there must be some other reason you’re gulpin’ down margaritas like they’re sweet tea.”
Well, hell. Nothing much slipped past Mac, and Rory was so off her game, she hadn’t expected her astuteness.
Instead of backing down, she offered her pot-stirrer of a sister a smile, then said the first thing that came to mind. “Actually, there is.” She downed the last of her margarita before setting the glass on the coffee table with a loud clink. “Nash came by the house to see me.”
“Oh,really.” Will’s eyes brightened as she leaned forward in her seat, nearly spilling over the cushions in an effort to get closer to the gossip. “What on earth had him traipsin’ all the way over there?”
“He had a proposition for me.”
Mac snorted. “I just bet he did.”
Rory shot her a glare. “Get your mind outta the gutter. Everything in your world might revolve around clandestine affairs—”
“‘Clandestine affairs’? What are we, eighty?”
“—but there’s nothing scandalous about his offer.”
“Which is…?” Mac pressed.
Rory shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, even though his suggestion had sat like a boulder in her gut ever since he’d mentioned it. A boulder that had managed to sprout butterflies. “A partnership. My design expertise on his clients’ homes in exchange for him helpin’ me get the house remodeled.”
“Really?” Willow perked up, her eyes going wide and a smile sweeping over her mouth. “Rory, that’s great! I know you’ve been tryin’ to do more designing, and Nash does such amazing work. Between the two of you, your house is gonna be gorgeous when y’all’re—”
“I haven’t said yes.”
