“Please, never. It’s just different with Mom ’cause she wants to know about Ashlyn and Jace, and then about me. And I’m like, Mom, we seriously do nothing but hang out on the beach and work.”
“She misses you guys. We all do.”
“I know. We miss you guys too,” Avery said sadly, and Lucy crossed her legs, rocking back in her chair. “But Jace is soaring on the Panthers. They are doing so well.”
“I know, I’ve been watching.”
“I don’t know how you do it, watching all the games. I sometimes forget to put Jace’s on if we aren’t there.”
Lucy smiled as she shrugged. “Years of doing it. Guess I’m a pro.”
“Guess so,” she agreed, her voice happy. “How’s Angie loving hockey? Jace said she was killing it, and we just love the pictures you guys sent.”
“God, yes, she loves it. She’s only gone twice, but she’s awesome and enjoys it, so that’s good.”
“Yeah, Jace said something about a Benji? I thought Shea Adler was the coach?”
Why did butterflies go off in her gut at his name? Man, she needed to get that under control. “He’s an assistant coach. He plays with Jayden on the Assassins.”
“Oh! Okay, cool. She’s taken to him, from what I heard.”
“Yeah, I’m kind of nervous about her going to Rick’s. I’m sure he’s gonna have a lot to say.”
“Fuck that dude. He’ll be okay,” Avery bit out. Rick didn’t have any fans in the Sinclair family.
“Yeah, I just hate arguing with him.”
“Jace told me about the recital.”
“Bullshit.”
“Yeah, oh well. Only eleven more years.”
It was a bittersweet thing to think, but it was true. While she didn’t want her baby to grow up, she sure as hell didn’t want to deal with Rick anymore. “Yeah.”
Silence fell between the two, and as it had been for the last twenty-four hours, Lucy’s mind went to Benji. Would she defend him if Rick said anything? Or would she ignore Rick like she tried to do most of the time? Another reason why she couldn’t ever even think of trying to date Benji—it would be cruel to subject him to the vile person Rick was. He’d run the other way. Yeah. It wouldn’t work. She would be setting everyone up for failure.
“Whoa, silence isn’t how you roll, Lucy. What’s up?”
Lucy’s lips curved as she looked up at the ceiling. “Angie’s coach, Benji…he asked me out last night, and I’ve been thinking about it like crazy.”
“Whattttt?” she yelled and Lucy laughed. “What did you say? Yes, right?”
“No,” Lucy said, and she was surprised with how sad she sounded. “I probably should have. He’s this big, awkward, sweet guy—God, he’s so cute—and he’s got to be in his thirties, so you know he isn’t looking for a fling. I don’t want to get involved, have it go south, and then Angie gets hurt, y’know?”
“Oh,” Avery said, sounding just as sad as Lucy. “But you need to be happy too, Lucy. I’ve said this many times. Everyone has. Y’all are adults, and if he’s as great as Angie says he is, I doubt he would let what happens between you two affect his relationship with her.”
“Yeah, but I’m good. I’m happy.”
Lucy paused, though, and she wasn’t sure if Avery believed her. Hell, she wasn’t sure she believed herself. Sometimes she felt like something was missing in her soul. A piece that Rick had taken and ruined. She wasn’t saying that Benji was that piece, she didn’t know the guy, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t want to at least see if he was. Which was a first. And that should mean something. But she knew at the point in her life she was in, a relationship just wouldn’t work.
Clearing her throat, Lucy smiled as Avery struggled with her words. “I love you, you know that.”
“I do.”
“And I mean this with all the love in my soul, I do, Lucy, but you’re happy with Angie, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be. But when she’s gone, you’re nowhere near happy. You are lonely and worry so much about her that it’s affecting you. Jace tells me all the time that you used to be the person who had a grin on your face all the time. The only time I see you smile is when you hold Ashlyn or when you’re talking to Angie—”
Offended, Lucy sat up. “That’s not true, I smile all the time.”
“But it doesn’t reach your eyes. It doesn’t seem real,” Avery said slowly. “You’re so bitter and angry, and you do so well shielding Angie from that, but sometimes I think maybe you don’t want to be happy.”
Swallowing hard, Lucy picked at a string on her twill pants. “I am happy.”
“Lucy.”
Just her name, and it said so much. Clearing her throat, Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Did you want to say yes to him?”
“I did,” she said simply. “But it just wouldn’t work. My life is so busy, I don’t have time, and it wouldn’t be fair to him when the shitshow of Rick comes through.”