Lucy
After Bryan and William escorted me to the suite, I found Annie and Broderick sharing a late night cup of cocoa in the lounge area. Honestly, I would’ve found the sight adorable if I hadn’t been so distressed. Annie saw the look on my face and quickly stood, coming to wrap her arms around me.
“What happened?” she asked with concern.
I bit my bottom lip to keep from crying and shook my head. “I’m the worst sister in the world.”
Annie placed her hands on my arms just above the elbows and gave me a reassuring squeeze. “Surely, whatever it is, it can’t be that bad.”
My non-response was a tangle of self-recrimination. “Annie, your wedding is tomorrow. Yours and Ronan’s. And I’m a selfish harpy. What the hell is wrong with me?”
“Lucy, calm down. Just tell us what happened.”
My panicked eyes met Broderick’s over her shoulder and he gave me a flat, mollifying smile. “Did the shit hit the fan?”
I nodded, covering my face with my hands. “Why am I this way? Why can’t I just be normal?”
“No one wants you normal.” Annie wrapped her arm around my shoulders.
“But you and Ronan—”
“We’re not talking about Ronan and me. We’re talking about you.”
“So Ronan found out? How did he take it?” Broderick cut in, sounding sympathetic. I didn’t deserve sympathy.
“Okay, someone fill me in here.” Annie tugged my hands away from my face. “What is going on?”
“I have . . .” I started, stopped, took a deep breath, and started again. “I have a problem, Annie. I’ve been keeping a secret.”
“Secret? Don’t you mean secrets?” How Broderick managed to say that and still sound sympathetic was beyond me. He was a Jedi master of being likable.
“Broderick . . .”
“Someone fill me in before I explode with curiosity. What could possibly have you this upset?” Annie lifted her voice, glancing between the two of us.
I opened my mouth to confess, but Broderick beat me to it. “Lucy is a compulsive shoplifter and she slept with Sean Cassidy.”
Annie gasped.
I glowered.
Broderick shrugged.
“You were beating around the bush. Now it’s out there and you didn’t have to say it. You’re welcome.”
“Is this true?” Annie asked, her eyes wide with concern.
Concern.
Not judgment.
I sighed dejectedly and flung myself into one of the suite’s club chairs, again burying my face in my hands. “I just tried to steal two hundred euros of golf balls.”
“Holy shit. That’s a lot of golf balls.” Broderick gave a low whistle.
Now I was crying. Not big, gusty sobs crying. Just quiet, I-am-the-worst-person-in-the-world-lament crying. “It’s not really. It’s only about twelve balls. They’re just really expensive here.”
“Okay, wait.” Annie pulled her chair close to mine and gently pulled my hands from my face. She gave me a coaxing smile. “Start from the beginning.”
I gave her a shaky nod then proceeded to spill my guts. I told both her and Broderick everything, the entire saga of Sean Cassidy and Lucy Fitzpatrick, sans the Sean being rubbish in the sack part.
They listened, and Annie wore a thoughtful expression completely free of judgment. It was a world away from how Ronan had stared at me with stunned disbelief, as he somehow came to the conclusion I was in love with Sean.
Was I in love with him?
I rubbed at my chest, where a swelling ache had lingered ever since I left that note for him to find. How could I end things when all I wanted to do was curl myself around him and never let go?
Trying to ignore these perturbing thoughts, I turned back to Annie. “I’m so sorry I made a scene on the eve of your wedding.”
She waved away my apology. “Please. I don’t care about that. I care about you.”
“I have no idea what to do.” I shook my head, new tears leaking from the corners of my eyes.
She pursed her lips, opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “Well, I think you should be with Sean, Lucy.”
I opened my mouth to object and she lifted a hand to stop me.
“I understand your reservations. You’re going to have a hell of a time talking Ronan around. He almost burst a blood vessel when I told him I’d invited Sean to the wedding. But, honey, it’s your life. Not Ronan’s. You need to live it and stop worrying so much about what he—or your mother for that matter—thinks about your decisions. You have to trust that Ronan is going to love you no matter what.”
Her response both gave me hope and deflated me. I was happy she thought I should be with him, but depressed she’d echoed my worries over Ronan.
Annie opened her mouth to speak again when an insistent knock sounded at the door. “Lucy, open up,” came Ronan’s stern voice. Annie froze in place.
“The wedding’s tomorrow. You can’t see me, go away,” she called to him, frazzled.