Chapter Twenty Nine

“Thank you for the ride,” Lucy said stiffly, reaching into the backseat and retrieving her god awful ugly luggage while Sullivan sat, clenching and unclenching his hands on the steering wheel.

The ride back from Big Sur had been in virtual silence, and Sullivan was grateful it was less than an hour to get back home to Monterey from the cabin. He tried – unsuccessfully – a couple of times to engage Lucy in conversation but she was having none of it.

He even tried talking about the weather and the traffic on the road – nothing.

Finally, he had just pushed down on the accelerator and concentrated on getting them back as soon as possible.

“You’re welcome,” Sullivan said in reply. “Lucy, I… can we…”

She leaned down to peer into the car from her vantage point standing on the curb. “I don’t know. I need time, okay?” she said, her tone softening at the pleading look in his eyes. She was prepared to tell him to bite her, but one look into those eyes…

“Time, sure,” he echoed. “Well, you know where to find me. I hope you do.”

She nodded once, and then carefully shut the door. She forced herself not to watch as the car pulled away from the driveway and into traffic. She marched up the stairs and crashed in through the front door.

She heard a muffled yell and a loud thud, then glanced back outside and finally noticed the unfamiliar car in the driveway.

Shit.

Looked like Nikki was doing a little Courtesan-ing, she thought darkly. It made sense, of course – expecting her to be gone all weekend, Brandt would definitely be taking advantage of some private time with… someone. She idly hoped it was Mr. Whole Foods as she dumped her luggage near the door and chugged into the kitchen in search of something – anything.

She settled on a huge bottle of water – she still felt dehydrated from her scamper through the woods – and an apple and went to sit outside.

It was more than an hour later before Brandt emerged onto the porch and Lucy watched the car from the driveway reverse and pull away with a wave out of the window. “Mr. Whole Foods?” she asked as Brandt sat down.

“Mm hm,” he said with a wide grin, which faded as he eyed her. “Not to put too fine a point on it, but what the hell are you doing here? You are supposed to be either shacking up in the woods or getting a major workout in the woods. Or doing both simultaneously,” Brandt said with a leer. “Why are you back so soon?”

Lucy turned to spill out the whole story, and instead found herself bursting into tears upon seeing her best friend’s face.

Growing up, she had never been much of a crier, but ever since Ryan’s deployment, she had turned into a crying machine, and today was no exception.

Brandt waited out the crying jag with soothing words and a long hug, and then Lucy was finally able to spill the whole there’s-two-of-them story.

Brandt kept his poker face intact, already well aware of the duality, but hating that Lucy was much more hurt and humiliated than any of them had bargained for.

“So, that’s it,” Lucy said in conclusion. “The whole sordid tale.”

“And how do you feel now?” Brandt nudged.

Lucy shrugged, unsure of her feelings. “I don’t know, honestly. I’m still mad and hurt, but…”

“May I tell you what I’m thinking, as a keen observer on life?” Brandt asked as Lucy wiped her eyes for the final time.

“Do I have a choice?” Lucy asked with a wobbly smile.

“Shut up, minion. No, you have no choice.”

“All right then, keen observer of life, go ahead,” she said, encouraging him with a hand gesture to come on.

“Every time you have come home from the gym, you’ve been happy and excited – about yourself. Yes, we talk about how hot Spencer is, but you never really shared much about him. Just about how he was helping you change.”

“Oookay,” Lucy said, drawing out the word.

“The few times you’ve seen Sullivan and you’ve come back from those outings, you are talking about him. You were happy and excited and it’s all about him. You… it’s like you glowed.  Spencer may have been good eye candy and got you motivated about working out, but Sullivan is the one you connected with. I know they pulled a serious fast one here, but I would sincerely consider that fact before chucking either one of them.”

Lucy sniffed, but remained silent.

“I know you loved Ryan so, so much. But Luce, he would want you to be happy and to be out there and to be meeting people. Maybe Sullivan is who you are supposed to meet, just through Spencer. Maybe… maybe you need to give them a chance. But especially him. Give Sullivan a chance.”

“Maybe,” Lucy admitted softly. “Maybe.”

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