She grits her teeth and murmurs an apology, her eyes once more glued to the two-lane highway.
After a few minutes, Lucy speaks up. “Okay, so we have the basics down. Will your parents ask us about our firstdate? How many details do we need to have up our sleeve? I’m great at thinking of things on the spot, but I do want to be as prepared as possible.”
“My family won’t pry too much. I think. At least they don’t with me. My mom and sister tend to let me do my thing. They may question who I’m with and how things are going, but they don’t seem to need too many details. They know it won’t last long. Though, it has been a different experience with you since I said—”
I cut myself off, realizing I was on the verge of telling her my family already knows about her.
“Said what, Mr. Harper?” Lucy narrows her eyes suspiciously in my direction.
“It’s funny,” I say with a mirthless laugh. Might as well tell her. Hopefully she won’t be too mad. “I may have actually told my mom and sister back in April that you were my girlfriend to get them off my back about committing and settling down…”
Moments pass before she bursts out in laughter. “Oh my gosh. You did not. No wonder you needed me for this trip specifically. Oh man. You’re lucky I ruined lunch for us yesterday, or you never would have gotten me to agree to this sort of thing.”
She shakes her head, and I find myself grinning ear to ear. I enjoy how easygoing she can be at times. “Oh, is that so? I can think of a few ways I could have gotten you to agree to a weekend rendezvous with me.”
“You’re a real lady-killer, aren’t you?” she asks rhetorically, snickering and shaking her head.
“Are my charms working on you?”
“Not a chance, Pebbles.”
“Pebbles?”
“Little, tiny stones.” Her grin is victorious, and when I raise an eyebrow at her, she only laughs.
Shaking my head, I join in her laughter simply because I like the sound of it. But then she stops and sneaks a look at me. “You mentioned your mom and sister twice but not your dad.”
My heart aches with a familiar twinge of loss that has somehow simultaneously dulled over the years and remained the same. “He passed away a long time ago. When I was only a boy.”
“Hm,” she says with a nod, her eyes fixed on the road. “So you had to be the man of the house growing up, huh?”
I’m shocked by her statement. I’m used to the “I’m sorry” or “That must suck” type of responses.
“Sorry. You don’t have to answer that,” she hurriedly says.
“No, it’s fine. Just took me by surprise. Yes. That’s exactly what I did. I tried to fill his shoes, though, to be fair, they were pretty large for a boy like me.”
She laughs lightly at my weak joke, and I’m thankful. I continue. “My family consists of my mother, Marian, my older sister, Stella, and her husband, Lucas. You’ll probably meet our family friends, Gracie and Jared, and, oh… Mom’s new husband as of about a year ago, the pastor of Dasher Valley Baptist, Brother Johnny.”
“Got it.” Lucy nods her head affirmatively.
“And they are all really looking forward to meeting you. Especially my sister and Gracie. You might have to give details to those two if they pull you away from me, but I promise to try and prevent that from happening.”
“It’ll be okay. Like I said, I’m good at coming up with things on the spot. Part of my charm as a romance writer.” She does this littleside to side head tilt thing as she bounces her shoulders. The action is playful and cute and cheerful, like she’s up to the task of creating some lovey-dovey backstory for us. “Oh, I love this song.”
She turns up the volume and sings along with “Take Back Home Girl” by Chris Lane and Tori Kelly. As the words resonate, and I lose myself in Lucy’s little driver-style dance moves, I can’t help but wonder if I will ever meet a woman that I want to take home to Dasher Valley for real. So far, Lacey is the only one of my girlfriends to meet my family, and that was mostly because we were in high school together and dated for over a year. Lucy is only the second woman, but this is all a ruse, so it doesn’t really count.
When the song comes to an end, Lucy catches me staring at her and apologizes for dancing and singing too loud.
I brush her off and tell her she can dance and sing as much as she wants as long as she keeps us on the road, but in the back of my mind, I wonder who ever told her to dull her shine.
BEAT THREE
A SEXY COMPLICATION // "GLITCH"
Chapter 5
Lucy
