Unable to find my voice, all I could do was nod.
Then I remembered Dad and turned startled eyes toward him.
Oh, shit. Was I going to have to scrape Harris’s remains off the pavement down in the courtyard and send them to his parents?
But instead of being upset by Harris kissing me like that, Dad was grinning. He tipped his mug at Harris. “Smart thinking, dude.”
??
By the time we got back from our day on the sandbar, I was starving. We’d worked up an appetite while exploring the shallows beside the sandbar and then relaxing in the sun. Harris had packed us a small lunch, but we’d eaten it hours ago and as soon as I caught scent of Mom’s homemade marinara and fresh yeast garlic knots, my stomach started grumbling.
Today had been one of my all-time favorite days. Being with Harris, exploring new things with him and getting to be myself around him was something I would never get tired of. I loved how safe I felt with him. How loved he made me feel with just a small touch here and a look there. He was helping erase the pain of the past six months and my heart felt freer than it had in a very long time.
I was still wearing my new swimsuit, which was a simple purple one piece that he’d picked out at one of the Ron Jon Surf Shops and tossed my way. I’d tried it on in one of the little changing rooms while Harris had stood outside muttering to himself about all the reasons why he shouldn’t follow me inside. When I told him it fit, he’d opened the door, quickly pulled off the sales tag and then grabbed a handful of the same swimsuits in different colors before going to pay for them.
I’d seen the desire in his eyes so I hadn’t even teased him when we got into the car he’d rented. That look had left me glowing with a new sense of power for the rest of the day. I could cause that look in his eyes. Me, and only me.
“Hey, kids,” Mom called out when we opened the door. “Wash up and we’ll eat.”
As I went to move into the kitchen, Harris wrapped his arms around my waist, stopping me. I looked up at him and saw the love shining back at me that matched my own. I was never going to get tired of seeing that look. Never. “Can we have a repeat of last night?”
I grinned and stepped up onto tiptoes to kiss him. “Oh, yeah. You don’t even have to ask, babe.”
Chapter 16
Harris
The next three weeks passed in the blink of an eye.
Our time in Panama City Beach was over before I realized it and then we moved on to Orlando for some fun at Disney World. I’d never really liked amusement parks and carnival rides, but between Lucy and the twins, I learned quickly to enjoy them. Lucy loved crazy rides, and the way she clung to my arm as we faced down a Yeti and then a falling elevator had me loving them right along with her.
Jesse and Layla made me feel like they always had, like I was one of their family. If I had my way, I’d be an official member of their family soon. I’d already talked to Jesse about what my intentions were, and even though he hadn’t been thrilled about where I saw my future with his daughter, he’d given me his blessing.
As long as I never broke his little girl’s heart.
That wasn’t ever going to happen again. Ever. I’d tried living without Lucy in my life and it wasn’t a life worth living. Now we could put that behind us and move forward into the life we should have had all along.
We had one more night left at Disney before we all flew to D.C. to drop Lucy off. My stomach was in knots thinking about leaving her at Georgetown for the next six weeks. I didn’t want to leave her, especially when we hadn’t talked about what her plans were for after the summer term was over. Was she going to stay in D.C.? Would she come back to California for a few weeks and then return to Georgetown for the fall semester?
I didn’t know and had been avoiding finding out because I didn’t know if I could handle her answer. I had to get back to work the day she was supposed to start classes. As much as I ached to stay with her, I knew I couldn’t leave my staff hanging for another six weeks without me.
Nate and Barb were doing a great job, and Nate called me every night to let me know how things had gone, but I knew it was starting to get rough without me there to run interference for the band. The five chicks of the Blonde Bombshells were getting impatient, all of them texting me at odd hours throughout the day and night. Weirdly enough, it wasn’t London or Genesis causing the problems though, which was a change. It was all on Peyton, who was the true drama queen of the five. The other four Bombshells were even thinking of kicking her out of the band, and I was pretty sure that with Peyton gone their chances of getting a contract with a manager and a label would increase dramatically.
Lucy and I’d spent that day exploring Epcot with the twins while Jesse and Layla had a quiet day to themselves back in our three-bedroom suite at Bay Lake Tower. Now Lucy and I were in the Magic Kingdom, alone, while we waited for the fireworks to begin. For the last few days we’d been watching the fireworks show from the living room balcony in our suite with the others, but I wanted tonight to be just the two of us. Even if we were surrounded by thousands of strangers, I didn’t want to have this conversation with the twins interrupting or her parents listening in.
As much as I dreaded it, we had to talk about what would happen when I left her in D.C. The not knowing what was going to happen was eating me alive and I needed to stop being a pussy and just ask her. Finding the perfect spot in front of the palace, I sat down on one of the few benches that were surprisingly empty. She sat close and I draped my arm along the back of the bench as we settled in to wait.
Taking her hand, I started playing with her fingers. She was so much smaller than I was in so many ways. My hand made two of hers. I didn’t have to be careful with her, though. She wouldn’t break if I was too rough, something we’d both found out in plenty of ways during our time in Panama. We hadn’t been able to share a bed since we had been at Disney, since I was sharing a room with the twins and Lucy’s room was right beside her parents. I wasn’t going to complain, though. Just being there with her was enough for me.
“You’ve been quiet all day,” Lucy murmured as she set her head on my shoulder. “Everything okay?”
“Sweetness, I’m with you. Everything in the world could go to hell and I wouldn’t care right now.” I continued to play with her fingers. Swallowing hard, I sent up a silent prayer that this conversation went well, and dived head first into it. “We haven’t really talked about what happens next, though.” Her head snapped up, dark eyes looking straight into mine. I clenched my jaw, but went on. “What are your plans for after the summer semester, Lu?”
Her eyes widened and she just sat there staring at me for nearly two full minutes. I was too scared to even blink. What was she thinking? I knew it was something deep from the way her eyes darkened, but I was clueless as to what was going through her head right then. Was she trying to come up with a way to tell me she was going to stay at Georgetown? That we would have to do the whole long-distance thing?
As much as I would hate having the country between us for most of the year, I would make it work. Georgetown had always been her dream school. It was where she would shine the brightest with her talent for writing. I’d fly out to see her every other week and we would be fine. I just needed to know what her plan
was so I could make my own plans around it.