“You guys are looking to move in together, right?” He studies me and Lucas until I feel like squirming.
“We are.” I smile. “Lucas’s realtor found a very nice place.”
“It’s a little small, but it’ll do.” Lucas pulls me tight and presses a soft kiss on top of my head. “Once we’re moved in, I just need to buy her a ring so everyone knows she’s taken.”
I quirk an eyebrow, bemused but glad that he’s changed his mind about the wedding.
“Congratulations. When’s the date?” Belle asks.
“Not for several months. I’m going to give her the kind of wedding all women dream of. She deserves the best.” Lucas looks at his twin and his wife with something that seems halfway between envy and admiration.
Then I finally realize something. Lucas isn’t trying to get the beautiful penthouse and give me nice things like this pretty dress to control me the way my dad did my mother. Lucas is doing this because he has a need to provide for me, to prove I matter to him. I’m not blind. I see the huge diamond on Belle’s finger, and beautiful pearls dangling from her ears. But she doesn’t merely look like a woman who’s expensively kept. People glancing at her will know with certainty that she has a loving and indulgent husband who she loves to death. It’s in the way she glows, the soft gleam she gets every time she glances at her husband. Then there’s Elliot. He grins at her affectionately, and occasionally feeds her the cheese and crackers.
Lucas wants that for us. He wants it so bad, it’s almost palpable. My heart twists at the cruel words I said to him in Charlottesville. Even though we’re back together, he’ll never forget—and the wounds they left probably still hurt underneath.
I’ve got to find a way to make it up to him—show him I was a scared little girl back then, but I’m braver and wiser now.
Elliot puts his free arm on the back of the couch and twists away from us. “Nonny, if you don’t come out soon, we’re going to eat all the brie!”
The door remains closed.
“My brother and his wife are here. I’m about to tell them about that boy in your algebra class.”
Before he can straighten back to us, the door opens, and a teenager with brown hair marches out, the hem of her black maxi dress almost skimming the floor. She’s probably thirteen or fourteen, and she’s skinny without any curves yet, although her facial resemblance to Belle is striking.
“Must you share details of my life?” Nonny says.
Elliot shrugs. “You wouldn’t come out.”
“Totally unfair. I was about to.”
“Hey, whatever means are necessary.” Elliot turns to us. “I’m thinking about hacking into his account.”
“Just hire a PI and see what he’s up to,” Lucas suggests.
She flushes as she takes us in. “Hi.”
I smile at her. “Hi.”
“Sorry about the outburst. And just so you know”—she glances at Lucas—“that idea is terrible.”
He merely laughs.
She rolls her eyes in the way only a teenager can, until I’m afraid they’ll spill out of her eye sockets. “Elliot can be overprotective. And drive me insane.” She sits down on the floor near the table and takes a cracker.
“I think it’s nice,” I say. “It means he cares about you.”
“I really want to figure this out on my own. What do old people know about love anyway?”
I can’t help it. I burst out laughing at her serious expression. Elliot, Belle and Lucas join in my hilarity. Elliot pats Belle affectionately and hands her a thick slice of brie.
In that moment, I learn two things.
One: Elliot is cool. He’s protective and he cares deeply about not only his wife but her younger sister. An asshole like Blake would never be as indulgent or patient.
Two: I’m glad we’re having dinner together. Because I know that Elliot can be my ally in convincing Lucas that we really should get married ASAP.
Chapter Twenty-Seven