“Who’s yours?” I ask with genuine interest.
“Ohhh, so many. Donny Osmond sure put on a show. I enjoy good musicians, so I’d probably add Ricky Skaggs, Jon Batiste, and Flea.” She smiles as if she didn’t just list the most unlikely musicians to ever be named in one sentence.
“You gotta respect Flea.” I nod in agreement, feeling oddly connected to this woman whose eclectic interests somehow make perfect sense to me.
“Now that we have that out of the way, I know it’s none of my business, but I’m going to ask anyway. Why are you and the boy not together? Sorry to be so direct, but I’m old, and he won’t be out there long. I’d like to hear it from you, because I know what he wants.”
There it is.
I steady myself and wave off what she thinks Daniel wants. This sly fox just wanted to make sure the coast was clear. She didn’t give a rat’s behind about that first topic. Her skills are impressive.
“I—I don’t think he wants anything. We’ve been friends for a while, and he’s never expressed wanting anything more. Weareclose. I appreciate everything he does for me.”
I try to explain how I ended up engaged to Nathan so quickly. Every time I say it out loud, it gets harder to justify staying with him, but I don’t want to be someone who withdraws love when the circumstances aren’t perfect.
Wait, though—isn’t he doing that to me?
“Daniel and I have spent a lot of time together. Especially lately,” I tell her.
“I know. I’ve heard a lot about you.” She grins. “But I was asked not to say that.”
“But you just did.” I smile back, both apprehensive and amused.
“I didn’t agree to the terms, sweetheart.” She winks at me.
I see a bit of Daniel in her steady gaze, but I heard Jace’s snark clear as a bell in her voice. Which is weird, but not impossible since they grew up together. Color me intrigued.
Questions for another day.
“I’m like the troubleshooter of my family, but DC does that for me, and I’ve gotten too comfortable letting him,” I spill out as honestly as I can. “But … I’m technically engaged to Nathan. Maybe. We’ve had some complications. I’m not thinking about marriage now. Just survival.”
“Oh, Lucy.” She shakes her head. “Maybe you didn’t notice Jude’s in love with you because you aren’t used to being shown with actions. He’s probably not making himself clear with words.” She shakes her head like he needs to straighten his posture or correct some music-related offense.
What the actual heck?
Did she just say that?
The fact that she keeps calling him Jude is the least shocking thing out of her mouth.
“In love with me?!” I squawk. “We care a lot about each other, but that’s a lot to assume.” My eyes practically bug out of my head. “I have no right to put words in his mouth.”
“I’d agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong. He loves you.” She puts her hand up with finality, and I can tell she won’t be accepting any further arguments. “Explain thecomplicationswith your fiancé.”
I might as well spill my guts. I have two settings lately—locked up like Fort Knox or a whole presentation with a slide show and searchable FAQs.
I explain the baby mama situation as briefly and sympathetically as possible.
“Days like today, when Nathan shuts me out, Daniel always shows up. I feel terrible about it. He must be tired of getting dragged into my messes.”
“Somehow, I doubt that, but if you’d known our boy loves you before you dated Nathan, would you have chosen him?”
She’s torturing me. We just met, and this woman is waterboarding me right here. I don’t want to think about this. I run screaming from this question every single day.
“Daniel has never said he loves me, Aunt Judy.”
“That’s not what I asked you, dear, but for the record, he sang it to you ten minutes ago, and we prefer that method of communication, do we not?” She pins me with a knowing grin. Dang her. She should be a lawyer or a politician.
I nod once.
