While Lucah drove, I looked on my phone for a place to stop to get some presents, and I found a little candy shop off the highway, so Lucah took the exit.
“I’m pretty sure you’re going to pass me as their favorite person ever,” Lucah said as we walked into what looked like Willy Wonka’s wet dream. Floor to ceiling walls of candy containers, all in colors so bright they almost hurt your eyes.
“Is this what heaven looks like?” I said, still staring.
“God, I hope so,” Lucah said, his eyes as big as mine. “Come on.” He grabbed a basket for himself and one for me.
“Ready?” He crouched down as if he was a runner, getting ready at the starting gate. Oh was that how this was gonna go? I crouched down next to him and put on my best competitive face. I had no idea what we were racing for, or how we would determine a winner, but that didn’t matter because, well, CANDY.
“Set,” I said.
“GO!” We yelled at the same time, startling some of the other customers, but I took off and headed right for the jellybeans at the back and Lucah went for the chocolate on the right wall. I grabbed a bag and started filling it with my favorite flavors, including buttered popcorn and toasted marshmallow. I had the feeling Lucah would like those, given his love of s’mores. I filled several bags and then moved to the gummies. Sharks, bears, worms, octopi, even ones shaped like some of the presidents. I looked at my haul and I didn’t even want to begin to figure out how many calories and grams of sugar were in this one basket. I looked around and found Lucah. The red hair was easy to spot.
I snuck up behind him and poked him in the ribs.
“Hey, what have you got?” He turned and the grin on his face was similar to the one that he’d had when he showed me his car. I’d have to add that to the list of Things That Make Lucah Giddy.
“They have these.” He held up what appeared to be two graham crackers with a marshmallow in between that had been dipped in chocolate.
“I also got chocolate and toasted marshmallow jellybeans.” I pointed to the bag. Lucah put his basket down and held my face in both hands.
“I love you.”
“I know.”
We ended up having to get a third basket, because I knew Sloane would be very upset with me if I didn’t bring something back for her, so I got some mango jellybeans and some gourmet chocolate from Switzerland.
“We definitely shouldn’t eat any of this in the car,” Lucah said with a serious face after we’d checked out.
“No. We should save it.” We put the bags on the backseat and stared at them for a minute.
“Fuck that,” we both said at the same time. I went for the chocolate covered potato chips and Lucah grabbed three of the s’mores bars.
We drove the rest of the way trading bites back and forth and licking the chocolate from each other’s fingers as my music played and we argued about which song we should listen to. Lucah pulled off the highway and drove down tree-lined streets and past homes that were definitely built recently. People biked on the sidewalks, kids played kickball in a few of the backyards and everything was bright and shiny and new. It was fucking Mayberry.
“Wow, this is really nice.”
“Yeah, it kind of freaks me out a bit coming here. This is one of those towns that you see on the news and everyone says that nothing bad could ever happen there, and then you find out there’s a serial killer or a meth lab or something.” He shook his head and turned onto a side street.
“Pessimistic much?”
“It’s been my experience that places like this are ideal for hiding things. But it’s not my choice to live here, and the schools are good, I guess, and there aren’t any sex offenders.”
“How do you know there aren’t any sex offenders?”
“Because I checked. I also checked to make sure there weren’t any convicted criminals. Tate asked me to, but don’t mention anything about it. April doesn’t know.” Was it possible for something to be both creepy and sweet at the same time? Because that was. If he was that protective of his nieces, I couldn’t imagine how protective he’d be over his own children.
Our children. Whoa. That was a thought I was not ready to think. Not even close. Go away, baby thoughts! I did joke about having his ginger babies, but that was just for fun. I wasn’t serious about it . . .
“We’re here,” he said, pulling into the driveway of one of the houses. I had to be honest, it looked pretty much like all the others, except for the two pink bicycles in the yard, and the trampoline. Lucah turned Bluebird off and got out. And I started to panic.
The front door burst open and two little screaming girls emerged, hair flying behind them as they threw themselves at Lucah and he caught both of them, twirling around as they shrieked.
I got out and braced myself on the car for a minute as I walked around to join them. Lucah had tossed both girls down on the ground and was tickling them into submission.
“Hey, hey,” he said, pulling them up. I remembered that Gracie was four and Fiona was two. Gracie hadn’t gotten the red hair gene (her hair was dark), but Fiona had a mop of bright red curls that tumbled in her eyes. They stared up at me with wide eyes as if I was some sort of alien invader.
“This is my friend Rory. Can you say hello?” Two seconds ago they were screaming, but now it they’d swallowed their voices.
“Hi, it’s so nice to meet you,” I said, crouching down. Gracie sort of glared at me from under her dark bangs. I nearly gasped because her eyes were almost exactly like Lucah’s. Fiona was more curious and moved forward.
“Rory?” she said in her sweet little voice.
“Yup, this is Rory. Can you give her a hug?” Lucah said, pushing her forward. Fiona put her little arms around my neck and then she pulled back and smacked a kiss on my cheek.
“Rory,” she said, resting her head on my shoulder.
“Are you going to be a grump, or are you going to say hello?” Fiona was whispering my name in my ear and patting my back as a man who could only be Tate walked out of the house, followed by a woman with dark hair who wasn’t much taller than I was.
“Looks like Fi has a new friend,” Tate said. Yup. He was definitely a Blythe. Unlike Lucah and Ryder, however, his hair shaded toward blonde, and he wasn’t as tall or as bulky as Ryder. He also had glasses and a little bit more of a nerdy vibe. He leaned down and stroked Fiona’s hair.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Rory. We’ve heard a lot about you.” People always say that when you meet them, and it always gave me a sense of dread. I had no idea what Lucah could have told them. Tate crouched down as well, and so did April. We were all on kid level.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said putting out my hand and he shook it. April came over and whispered in Gracie’s ear.
“Hi Rory, so nice to meet you.” I shook hands with April as well, and Gracie was the last holdout.
“You know, Gracie girl, if you’re real nice to Rory, I bet she’ll let you play with her hair.” I smiled, like this prospect was exciting. In reality, imagining those chubby little fingers pulling at my hair was a bit horrifying.
“Hi,” Gracie finally said with a little wave.
“Hi, Gracie.” I waved back. “I brought you something. Do you want to see it?” The prospect of presents made her eyes light up.
“Go with Rory and see what she brought you,” April said, pushing Gracie toward me. Lucah picked Fiona up and Gracie took my hand and I opened the door of the car.
“I didn’t wrap it—” I started to say, but Gracie dove for the bags.
“Candy, candy, candy!”
Mayhem ensued. Gracie and Fiona both went for the bags, some of which weren’t for them, but for Sloane, and all four adults tried to get them under control without a meltdown, and I ended up apologizing a million times for bringing candy.
Oh, there were tears and carrying on and I was freaking out and wishing Lucah had talked me out of the candy idea.
Somehow, Tate and April got the two now-s
obbing girls to give up most of the candy and only keep a small bag of jellybeans and gummy presidents each.
“They’ll forget about it in about ten minutes. Their memories are pretty short,” Lucah said in my ear. “Trust me.”
We all went toward the house and I prayed that I wouldn’t screw anything else up.
“I’m really very sorry about that,” I said as Lucah closed the door behind me.
“It’s not your fault, I assure you. Both of them are overdue for their naps, but they wanted to stay up and see Unkie Lu.” Unkie Lu? I gave him a look and he shrugged.
“It’s hard to say Uncle Lucah.”
The house was gorgeous, and it was clear whoever had decorated it liked the finer things. Or at least they had, but then children had taken over. The banister was covered in fingerprints and what looked like paint, there were toys and clothing items and more socks than I could count strewn about as if someone had taken them and thrown them into the air.
“Uh yeah. Sorry about the mess. It was clean five minutes ago,” April said sheepishly.
“No, no. Your house is lovely.”
“It used to be. But that’s what happens when these little monsters come along. They kind of take over your life and your space and your sanity.” April grinned at me. I laughed nervously. I hoped she was joking.
The sounds of crying stopped and Tate brought both the girls back out. To the left of the entry was the living room, and on the right was a formal dining room with a table covered in coloring books and stuffed animals.
“See? No permanent damage done. Can we get you something? Water? Glass of wine?” Dear God, could I use a glass of wine. But I didn’t want to look like a lush, so I asked for water with ice. Lucah had the same.
“Lucah’s told us so much about you, I feel like we’ve already met,” April said as she set the girls up on the floor with a box of crayons and two coloring books.
Well, I couldn’t really say the same. Lucah was very close-mouthed about his family.
“Good things, I hope.” I looked at Lucah and he gave me a face of feigned innocence. “They better be good things.” I glared at him, and he put his arm around me and kissed the side of my face.
“Don’t be so paranoid.”
I couldn’t help it. I sipped my water and prayed for someone to say something else that would start a conversation I could excel at.
“Well, you seem to know about me, but Lucah hasn’t been as forthcoming about you. Except for the girls. He talks about them all the time.” Said girls were wrestling each other over a crayon. April broke up the fight by taking the crayon and breaking it in half, giving one to each. Like King Solomon, only in this case she’d actually cut the baby in half. Or the crayon.
Tate and April both laughed. I was missing the joke. I glanced at Lucah and his ears were getting red.
“We’re just surprised he told you anything at all. He’s not exactly forthcoming with anyone,” Tate said. “Not an open book, are you?” He slapped Lucah on the knee. “He’s always been like that, though. Even when we were kids.”
I couldn’t really imagine Lucah as a child. I was kind of hoping that childhood photos would make an appearance sometime during this visit.
“Well, he put up quite a fight,” I said.
“I had to. It was my job.” That made Tate laugh again.
“He used to pretend to be a spy growing up. He would invent an alias and a personality and refuse to answer to anything else. I think a lot of parents would have told him to stop pretending, but Mom and Dad always went along with it. Even that time when you were a doctor. What was your name again?”
“Dr. Harold Oglethorpe,” Lucah said. His arm tensed around my shoulder. Now he was the one stressing.
Tate shook his head, smiling. There was definitely an older brother/younger brother dynamic going on here.
“So, Tate, in the interest of disclosure, what do you do?” It was a terrible transition, and made it very clear that I was changing the subject.
“I’m a corporate attorney at a firm in Cambridge.”
“Impressive. I thought about going to law school, but I always knew I wanted to work for my father. Still, I guess I could always go back.”
“How are things going with the company? You’ve had some . . . difficulties recently, or so I’ve heard,” Tate said. At least he’d tried to put it delicately.
I sighed.
“That’s a bit of an understatement. Things are . . . we’re doing the best we can, but reassuring our clients is a full-time job right now, and we’ve been struggling to fill the positions that are now vacant while at the same time doing enough background checks to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen again.”
We talked some more about my company and how I’d started working there, and April jumped in. She ran a non-profit that helped out-of-work women (many of them single mothers) get back on their feet with job training and interview skills and professional attire. I’d liked her immediately, but after she told me what she did, I liked her even more.
She reminded me of my own mother. Gorgeous and put together, and able to tackle anything with a serene smile. The girls had two more fights that she broke up without even raising her voice. April Blythe was one of those women. The ones who had it all. I wanted to hate her, but I was in awe, so I couldn’t.
After the initial ice was broken, we moved into the kitchen where April had quite a spread set out.
“I didn’t bake any of this,” she confessed to me. “I was going to pretend that I had because I was trying to impress you, but then I was worried about you asking for a recipe, so I figured I should just be upfront.” I wouldn’t have asked for a recipe, and knowing the food that Sloane could turn out, I would have stayed in ignorance.
“Your secret is safe with me,” I whispered back as I picked up a little jam and cheese tartlet.
“Momma, I want a cookie!” Gracie said, tugging at her mother’s skirt.
“Cookie!” Fiona shrieked, trying to push Gracie out of the way.
“You may each have one cookie. Remember that candy you had?” They both shook their heads.
April sighed.
“Cookies have lots sugar. If you eat too much the sugar monster will come and nibble on your toes while you’re sleeping.” She growled and tickled both of them, and then handed each a cookie and told them to go sit at the little kid-sized table in the corner of the room to eat.
Tate and Lucah were chowing down on what looked like shrimp and chicken skewers on the other side of the kitchen.
“God, I hope that bit about the sugar monster doesn’t send them to therapy when they’re older. But you do what you can, right?” April gave me a tight smile and grabbed a tartlet herself. “So, you and Lucah are living together now.”
“Uh, yes.”
“I’m not trying to interrogate you,” she said, putting her hand on my shoulder. “I’m just, well, I’m shocked. But you have to know by now that he’s not the kind of guy who jumps into a commitment like that. Which means you must be pretty darn special.” The guys came over, as if they sensed what we were talking about.
“Hey,” Lucah said, putting his arms around my waist from behind and resting his head on my shoulder.
“Hey,” I said, turning my head and giving him a smile.
“What were you talking about?” he said, swaying us back and forth.
“None of your business, Mr. Blythe,” I said, grabbing another tartlet and holding up for him to eat. Unlike in the car, he didn’t lick my fingers. April and Tate were both watching us, and it was almost as bad as being caught mid-coitus. I had a tendency to forget anyone else was around when I was with Lucah. In addition to the getting emotional at random moments and the urges to declare my love almost constantly. Side effect of love.
I moved away from him and grabbed another tart. Those things were addictive.
April started talking about the Company Ball. Lucah had shown her some pictures he’d covertly taken of me co
ming down the steps. I hadn’t known he’d taken him. Stealthy.
“Where did you get that dress?” April said as she showed me the pictures on her phone. Thankfully, I wasn’t making a weird face in any of them. Or at least not in any of the ones that Lucah had sent her.
“My best friend made it. She’s a designer.”
“Oh, right. Sloane.” Lucah had told them about Sloane as well? Lucah tensed up again at the mention of her name.
“Wow, I guess you know pretty much everything,” I said. I was a little pissed that Lucah hadn’t informed me the extent he’d told them about me and everything else.
“I’m sorry, I’m a little nosy. Your life just seems so glamorous. I’m a little jealous. You’re going off to balls and the most exciting part of my day is finding Cheerios in my bra.” That made me laugh, and then the girls came over again, begging for more cookies.
To distract them, April mentioned something about showing me their rooms, and that was all it took. Ten minutes later I was sitting on the floor of a room that was purple as far as the eye could see and getting a tiara put on my head.
“Now you’re the princess,” Gracie said. The ceremony to make me a princess had been quite elaborate and required me to submit to having my hair brushed (yanked, tangled, teased), my face covered in glitter, and a cape being put on my shoulders.
“Well, thank you so much. I’ve always wanted to be a princess.”
“Unkie Lu is the princess too, but you can be the princess today.” A chuckle made me turn my head and I saw “Unkie Lu” standing in the doorway with his arms crossed, watching the coronation process.
“What do you think? Should I wear more glitter to the office?” I batted my eyelashes at them.
“Shoes!” Fiona yelled. I’d taken my heels off, and she was trying to put them on. Lucah came to help her and somehow he got her standing and shuffling as she squealed with glee.
“I wanna try!” Gracie said, abandoning the tiara and going for the shoes. Girls after my own heart. Then there were shoe races from one end of the room to the other, which were quite hilarious.