Page 44 of The Damaged Hearts Bargain

And then they were back out in the sunlight, the heat bouncing off the pavement and the light bright and white above them. Groups of people had gathered here and there and the happy couple had gone off to… Well, Cal had a fair idea of what happened right after a wedding, or at least she hoped that’s what was happening.

“I’m glad you came,” Lucy said, pressing Cal’s arm close against her body so that Cal could feel her heat.

“You asked and I delivered,” said Cal, trying to breathe properly. “Never let it be said that I don’t keep a promise.”

“It was sweet of you.” Lucy was looking down at her, eyes deep blue and sparkling and Cal had to bite her tongue not to pull her in and kiss her. No mixed messages though. That wouldn’t be fair. “Um, there’s another few hours before the reception starts.”

“Ah,” Cal said, thinking of what the happy couple were probably doing and then, naturally thinking of her and Lucy doing the same. She cleared her throat. “Ah,” she managed to say again.

Lucy put a hand on her shoulder. “Listen, I understand what you were trying to say yesterday, I really do. But I also think that you’re not being fair.”

“Me? Unfair?” Cal laughed. “I’m just trying to keep things on the up and up, make sure we’re communicating, no one’s getting hurt, all that good stuff. I’m pretty sure that’s the very opposite of unfair.”

“No, you’re assuming things,” Lucy said.

“Oh, I am, am I?” Lucy’s eyes were still sparkling and Cal couldn’t tear her gaze away.

“You are,” Lucy said quite seriously. “First of all, you’re assuming that all I want in life is a relationship based off one conversation we had when you hardly know me. Second of all, you’re assuming that anything we may or may not feel for each other would turn into a relationship.”

Cal had to squint a little against the sun. “Hmmm. And you’re saying that neither of those things is necessarily true?”

Lucy tilted her head. “I’m saying that you have no idea what’s in the box until you open the box.”

A slight shiver went down Cal’s back despite the heat. “Are you suggesting that… I open your box?”

Lucy snorted with laughter and Cal’s lips twitched because she really did have the most adorable laugh. “I’m suggesting that… I don’t know. That we think less about tomorrow and more about today perhaps?”

Cal was about to respond to this, she could feel the words coming, though she had no idea what she was about to say, when a thick-set man hurried up to them both.

“It’s here, it’s here,” he puffed.

“Billy?” said Lucy. “I thought you and George were setting up the hall for the reception?”

“We are,” said Billy, still slightly out of breath. “But I dropped by the post office to get the keys and there it was, just waiting, sticking out of the top of a sack like I was destined to see it. It practically had a spotlight on it and everything.”

“What are the two of you talking about?” asked Cal.

Billy shoved an envelope into Lucy’s hand. “Open it!”

Lucy looked down at it. “It’s um, it’s an artist’s residency I applied for in London,” she said, distinctly not opening the letter. “It, um… It…”

“Open it,” Billy said again.

Lucy’s big blue eyes looked at Cal and Cal nodded gently, taking the letter out of her hands and carefully opening it. Billy was practically jumping up and down on the spot as Cal withdrew the letter, but Lucy was still, eyes closed, hand on Cal’s shoulder.

And in the moment that Cal opened the letter, something happened. Her heart beat hard, her stomach tightened, and Cal realized that she was… invested in this. Invested in the life of someone she barely knew, someone she had no business being invested in.

Lucy’s hand tightened on her shoulder. “Uh, you do know how to read, right?”

“Of course I know how to read,” snapped Cal, unfolding the letter properly and feeling ashamed of herself for snapping but also wrong-footed by the fact that she cared so much.

“What does it say? What does it say?” Billy asked, hopping from one foot to the other.

Cal cleared her throat and for a dread instant wondered if she could really give bad news to Lucy. “Dear Ms. Evans,” she began,hardly daring to read the next line. “We’re delighted to inform you that—” Which was as far as she got.

Because then Lucy was squashing her into a hug and Billy was joining them and Lucy was screeching in delight and Cal was laughing.

“I got it, I got it!” Lucy cried.

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