LUCI
I’m so hopingthe knock on my door is my landlady because I’m about to give her a big piece of my mind for letting anyone into my apartment without permission.
I don’t care that she was lured by my mother’s tomato soup cake. There is just no excuse, and I’m pretty sure what she did is illegal, to boot.
“Hey, baby.”
My heart stops when I pull the door open, and strangely, I’m not sure who I’m looking at for a moment. It’s like when you see someone completely out of context andknowyou know them but can’t remember how.
I’m so confused. And I can’t seem to move.
Or breathe.
Time has stopped, the earth is no longer spinning, and my thoughts, my speech, and my body are frozen.
Solid.
This isn’t supposed to happen, my two worlds colliding.
Behind me, representing my old life, are my mother and father and Pastor Sandy.
And in front of me, right there in the flesh, I finally register, I am looking right at Max, Greyson, and Rowan.
Oh god. It’s the guys.
“Since we missed you this morning, darlin’,” Rowan says, “we wanted to come by and take you to lunch.”
Oh no, no, no.
And questions. I have so many questions.
But all I can do is mumble the stupidest one. “H… how do you know where I live?”
The guys look at each other with small smiles.
Oh. Okay. Right.
Got it.
Max leans against the doorjamb, apparently unable to see into the dimly lit room behind me. “You know, baby, we were a little worried we scared you off with our proposal last night. Knowing Rowan,” he says with a laugh, “he fucked up the whole conversation.
I shut my eyes, as if doing so will backspace to a spot where I can start all over.
But when I open them, my three hot lovers are still there, and someone behind me clears their throat.
These opposite ends of my life—the old and the new, the one in front of me and the one behind—have no business overlapping. The connection could be lethal.
This isn’t supposed to happen.
But then, I guess I wasn’t supposed to leave my hometown, come to Chicago, study bookkeeping, or dress up at the club and play with three gorgeous mafia men.
Oops.
Was it inevitable?
Without looking, I know my mother is at my side. I don’t see her or hear her and yet I know she’s there.
“WHO are these men, Lucinda?” she shrills.