Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 89553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Ed and I are on the landing when we hear Lucy’s outraged voice from one of the guest rooms. “I don’t believe it,” she says. “That’s it! There’s no freaking way I can stay in this house.” We stumble into the room to see what the problem is, expecting to see a nest of vipers or a collapsed ceiling or something.
I scan the room. I can’t see what they’re talking about. Katherine looks concerned and Lucy looks furious.
“What’s the problem?” I ask. Ed and I have scoured the real estate listings over the last couple of months to find something on the beach. Properties like this don’t come up a lot. This house is perfect, with room to grow too.
“Seriously, Katherine. You can’t make me. I can’t bear it.”
“What?” I ask, trying to make sense of what’s going on.
“We’ll strip it off before we move in,” Katherine says.
“What?” I ask, looking around for the lead piping or asbestos tile. What on earth has Lucy spotted that Ed and I didn’t see on our first tour through here?
“Well, we’d better. I’m not stepping a foot into this house again while that wallpaper is here.”
“You don’t like the wallpaper?” I ask, trying to connect the dots between her reaction and the innocuous, beachy motif on the walls. Three lighthouses are spaced at intervals around the room. I really don’t see the problem.
“Of course I don’t like the wallpaper,” Lucy says, like her reaction is entirely rational. I scan the walls, trying to figure out what’s so offensive.
Katherine and Lucy exchange a glance. Lucy turns to me. Katherine turns to Ed. “It’s perfect,” they say in unison.
I have no idea what the hell is going on, but relief runs through me, and I start to laugh. “You’re always so surprising, Lucy Jones. But I’m glad you like it.”
“But seriously, we need to change that wallpaper,” Lucy says.
“If that’s what will make you happy, then that’s what we will do.” Lucy’s happiness is my priority now. And I’m her priority. We’re both looking out for each other. We’re each other’s safe harbor. The rudder in each other’s boat. I’ve never felt so safe and sure about . . . life.
“There’s one condition, though,” Katherine says. “No one gets to use the house unless we’re here. We can’t have Mom and Dad in this place without us, or Mom will have re-papered the entire house in this wallpaper or something worse.”
“Agreed,” we all say together.
I’m not sure whether it’s just because I’m spending more time with her or because she seems to have changed a little, but I like Katherine more than I did when she and Ed were just dating or engaged. Maybe I’ve changed. Now she’s not the person keeping Ed from being chained to his desk twenty-four hours a day. She’s now the woman who makes my best friend happy and the sister of the love of my life.
“This is our place,” Lucy says, wrapping her arms around my waist. “It’s where our love story started. It’s where I started to believe that I could love someone and they might love me back.”
My heart balloons in my chest as I pull her closer. Being with Lucy has made me more me. A better version of myself. A version capable and worthy of the woman in my arms. And I get to be with her forever. I think that makes me the luckiest man alive. “And it’s where we’ll spend the rest of our lives living our love story.”