Chapter Thirty

“So, what you’re saying is that it didn’t go well,” Spencer said, trying for levity, but at seeing Sullivan’s rolling eyes, realized it was too soon to joke around about the situation with Lucy.

“I can’t believe she didn’t tell me she called you from the woods,” Sullivan said, taking a sip from his beer bottle and eyeing his twin.

“It didn’t sound like you guys did a whole lot of talking in the car, though, so I’m guessing keeping you informed wasn’t high on her priority list,” Spencer said.

“True,” Sullivan agreed.

It had been nearly two days before Spencer and Sullivan had had a chance to sit down and talk about ‘The Lucy Situation’, but now that Sullivan was relaying everything, he was getting more and more sad about the fact he probably wasn’t going to see Lucy again. Neither man had heard from her, though neither was terribly surprised by the radio silence.

“Well,” Spencer said, glancing at his watch. “She’s supposed to have a session at the warehouse this afternoon. I guess we’ll wait and see if she shows.”

“Call or text me to let me know if she comes, will ya?” Sullivan asked. “I just want to know she’s okay.”

“Yeah,” Spencer replied. “I will.”

“Thanks.”

“If not,” Spencer said. “I think you should go find her.”

“What?”

“Go find her, tell her you like her, want to see her again, whatever. Sweep her off her feet or something. Sure, it’s awkward as ass right now, but once everyone has forgiven and forgotten, you guys need to get together. You seem to be good for each other. It’s time to let the ghost of Jewel go and focus on the here and now.”

“And you really think Lucy is my here and now?” Sullivan asked.

“I do,” Spencer said simply. “So don’t let her go so easily.”

“Yeah,” Sullivan said to himself. “I guess so.”

**

she’s not here, the text read a few hours later, and Sullivan winced slightly as he sat in front of his laptop, staring at it blankly. No call, the next text pinged.

 I don’t think she’s coming.

Damn, Sullivan thought to himself, not sure what to do next.

He sat and debated for a long minute before slamming the laptop shut and standing, grabbing his coat from the nearby peg, nabbing his car keys and heading out into the driveway.

A few minutes later, he stood, nervously shifting from foot to foot, getting up the nerve to knock on Brandt and Lucy’s door.

C’mon, you weenie, he mentally berated himself, then reached up and rapped hard on the wood of the door.

After a long minute the door opened, and Sullivan’s expectant smile fell.

It was Brandt, not Lucy, who had answered.

“She’s not here,” Brandt said simply. “Which one are you?”

Sullivan cleared his throat. “Sully. Uh, Sullivan. Hi again,” he said, thrusting his hands into his pockets nervously as Brandt eyed him up and down.

“Hi again,” Brandt echoed. “She’s not here. She had a massage with a client earlier and then said she was going to go for a long walk to clear her head. I’m guessing she’s… wherever, doing that right now.”

“She didn’t say where she was going?” Sullivan asked, and Brandt shook his head no. “Do you… do you think she’ll even speak to me if I do find her?”

“It’s been a couple of days… I think the anger is gone, and now the hurt remains. You’ll just have to do something about that,” he said, feeling sorry for the man in front of him. “Carefully.”

“Thanks,” Sullivan breathed, turning to go. “Really.”

“Good luck,” Brandt said quietly, carefully closing the front door.

**

Sullivan sat in the car for a long moment, trying to decide where to look for Lucy, then put the car into drive.

He wasn’t positive, but he had a hunch.

Twenty minutes later, he breathed a sigh of relief that his hunch had been right. He’d navigated the car onto Seventeen Mile Drive, scanning each lay-by for signs of her, and searching the walking trail for evidence of Lucy. Finally, he made it to the same spot they had walked before, and had stopped to watch the otters.

Lucy was perched on a rock, her arms wrapped around her legs and her hair flying in the breeze as she watched the otters play in the surf.

He got out of the car, and, before he lost courage or started overthinking things, headed her way.

She jumped when he sat down beside her, but didn’t turn away. “How did you find me?” she asked quietly.

“I looked where I would go if I were in your position,” Sullivan said sfotly, his eyes on the water. “Besides, who can be having a bad day when they’re watching otters, right?”

Lucy smiled slightly. “Right.”

“I’m pretty sure it bears repeating how sorry I am. We are,” he amended quickly.

Lucy nodded but remained silent.

“Spencer meant well. I think it’s because he cares about you that he didn’t want to turn you down on meeting up, or feel like you weren’t worth his time. And that day of the farmer’s market, he was sick as a dog and begged me to go so you wouldn’t be standing there alone. After that, he just handled it in typical Spencer fashion – badly. And…”

“Why did you do it?” Lucy asked suddenly.

Sullivan shrugged. “I was gonna say, and because after that, I asked him to set things up. I… I really liked spending time with you. I wanted to see you – again and again. I kind of liked being a mystery, if I’m honest. Spencer is the fun, outgoing one. I’m the boring, shy one, and for once, I kind of liked being a mystery, or being thought of as the guy who always has fun and is out and about in the world.”

“I get that,” Lucy said. “I do. I sometimes feel like I’m playing a part of the happy, fun, laughing girl when all I want to do is curl up and hide in a corner somewhere.”

Sullivan nodded in agreement. “I’m just sorry we didn’t straighten it out sooner.”

“You understand why I felt like I couldn’t trust you guys, right?”

Sullivan nodded. “Yes, but I hope eventually you will.”

“I feel like I was part of some sort of twisted twin pity project,” Lucy said.

“Well, stop thinking that. In fact, let’s forget all of this. The guy you hung out with? The guy you liked hanging out with? That was me. Can’t we just go from there? Please?”

She finally looked at him, her eyes searching his before she nodded slowly. “I’d like that.”

She shivered as a sudden gust of wind rippled her hair and breezed across the back of her neck. “C’mere,” Sullivan said softly, extending his arm and inviting her to rest against his chest. After a moment’s hesitation, she snugged herself against his body, relishing his warmth, and the feel of his arm around her. She sighed and tried to forget all the bad emotions of the last few days, and focus on how this felt – right now.

“Do you want to know about the first time I saw you?” Sullivan asked after a long moment.

“At the market?” Lucy asked, and Sullivan shook his head no.

“No, I saw you before that,” he said. “A few nights before, Spencer and I had gone to a bonfire on the beach. And you were there.”

She leaned away from his, meeting his eyes. “You were there? At Del Monte?”

“Mm hm,” Sullivan said, tucking her back against him. “I didn’t know you then, but I remember looking up and seeing this girl dancing by the fire. She was so free and uninhibited and seemed to be dancing just for herself, and be damned what anyone else thought. I watched you and watched you, and god Luce, you were so beautiful dancing in that firelight. And then when you walked towards me that day we met at the farmer’s market, I just… it’s like I already knew you, even though we’d never spoken. You were the girl from the fire, and I just wanted to know you. Still do,” he added after a breath.

Lucy swallowed, hearing the tenderness and awe in his voice, and stunned that he had seen her at the bonfire, and even now remembered what she looked like when she was dancing.

He saw her, saw who she was.

She had been an idiot about this whole thing – it was time to move on and get on with things.

Get on with life.

“I can’t believe that,” Lucy said with a smile. “But thank you for telling me.”

“Want to try again? Start over?”

Lucy thought about it, and then shrugged. “Don’t really want to start over, but I’m okay with continuing on. If that’s okay with you,” she said with a happy smile.

He pulled away so he could see her face. “Yeah,” he said huskily. “That’s okay with me.”

“I’m still a little mad,” she admitted, sounding just the opposite, and he grinned.

“Then let me try and convince you not to be,” he said, dropping his head and kissing her deeply on the mouth. She moaned slightly at the contact, both of them tightening their arms around each other as they shifted to fit closer together. She fisted her hands into his hair as he tugged her closer, his mouth searching hers, her breath ragged against his.

They remained entwined for long minutes, kissing and nibbling and teasing one another before Sullivan finally broke away to gulp in some air. “Luce…”

Her cheeks were flushed and her hair windblown, and to Sullivan, she had never looked so beautiful and alive. “Let’s get out of here,” he whispered, his lips close to her ear.

She glanced at him, an eyebrow raised. “And go…”

“Anywhere with a bed,” he said gruffly. “Please…”

She pulled back at that suggestion, searching his face. “Are you…”

“Please,” he whispered, aching for her. “I want you.”

“But…”

“Do you want me? Or did I just really spectacularly misread this whole non-conversation we just had?”

“No, no,” Lucy said quickly, trying not to grin too widely. “I’m with you, but… well, I… there’s a reason your brother is training me, you know. I’m not exactly… a Victoria’s Secret model here,” she said, gesturing vaguely towards her body.

“You’re idiotic,” he said, standing quickly and tugging her to her feet. “Either come to bed with me willingly, or I’ll caveman you into bed and have my way with you.”

“Oooh,” Lucy said, trying to hide her grin and failing miserably. “Threatening. Very manly.”

“Do you find it manly? I hope you find it manly and not, you know, misogynistic.”

“You couldn’t caveman me anyway,” Lucy said teasingly. “You couldn’t lift me on account of the whole not a Victoria’s’ Secret model thing.”

“Wanna bet?” he asked, stalking closer to her. She giggled and took a step back, nearly tumbling off the rock. He shot out a hand and steadied her, their eyes meeting and both sets blazing with emotion. He kissed her again – hard – then reached over and yanked her into a fireman’s carry over his shoulder.

She squealed and thumped her hands on his back while protesting colorfully, but his stride didn’t waver until he reached his car, unlocked it, and gently set her inside. “Never bet a Jackson,” he said to her before jogging around to the driver’s side and leaping in.

“I like a challenge,” Lucy said, smiling as the car rocketed out of the parking lot.

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