Page 42 of The Dangers of Daydreaming

I gave him a shaky smile. “Sorry, Mom,” I said into the phone. “I need to run, but I will text you tonight. Promise.” I would. I needed to connect with her, and I missed talking to her as much as I used to. I just needed to not be blindsided by the conversation.

“Oh sure, sure, honey.” She didn’t even sound too disappointed. Was this just the new normal, so it was no shock that I was evading a conversation with her? “Brian and I need to go meet with the florist in half an hour anyway. Love you.” So, no, she just had more wedding stuff to deal with.

“Love you.” I hung up. Or she did. I’m not sure which of us got to the red button sooner.

I stared down at the phone, blinking back dumb, unnecessary tears. What was wrong with me?

“You okay?”

I bit my lips together, nodding but not meeting his eye.

“Well, come on then, we’re going to miss the train, after all.”

That made me laugh, a stupid watery chuckle. But it was forward momentum, so I wasn’t complaining.

We made it out of the adorable lighthouse. I felt like I was leaving a scene fromRoad to Avonleabehind when we walked down the dirt path toward the van, and I glanced over my shoulder to capture a mental image. And then a physical one with my phone. “Thank you,” I said, when enough time had passed that I wasn’t afraid of crying. “You probably think I’m crazy for needing an escape from my mom.”

“Not crazy. But I hope you’ll return the favor. I told you about my dad—if he comes calling, I may need you to extricate me.”

“Extricate? Yes, your vocabulary is definitely expanding. I’m so proud.”

His eyes crinkled, and he opened my door.

“I think that’s my problem, though,” I admitted when he turned the car on. “Outside of the occasional forgotten dentist appointment, my mom has never let me down. I should be happy for her.”

“It’s a big change, Luce. Lots of emotions are going to be involved. That’s okay.”

For some reason, that made me feel all teary again, so I just nodded. Finn’s phone started buzzing.

“We are so popular today,” he said, picking it up. “Oh dang, it’s my Gram. I forgot she might be coming home today.”

“That’s great news,” I said, smiling and pulling my laptop from the bag I’d stuffed under the seat. “Go ahead.”

He answered the call, and I got back to work.

And just like that, everything was normal again. No crying Lucy. No Finn saying he liked me. No date.

Chapter 12

Committed

Finn

Lucy’srejectionstillstung.I’d admit to spending a good portion of the evening wallowing in self-pity and my stupidity at trying to take a step forward. That wasn’t the kind of guy I was—the wallowing or the getting attached. Sure, I went on dates, but they were always no strings attached. Always just a good time.

And though I’d like to pretend that had been my plan with Lucy too… I knew it wasn’t.

Which was why I wasn’t giving up.

I’d gone in too hard, too fast, and scared her off—almost ruined what we had going—and I wouldn’t do that again. But Iwasgoing to prove I was serious in how I felt about her. I liked Lucy Sinclair.

A lot.

I didn’t even care that she lived in a different country. I had spent more than a decade of my life in a different country than my grandparents, and I’d still seen them a ton and had a great relationship with them even before I moved in. Plus, I still had just over a week of daily interaction with Lucy left to gauge the situation and its potential. Since it had taken less time than that to willingly make a fool of myself for a date with her, I had a feeling the potential would be impressive.

After a requested late start, the Hastings had all recovered from their bout with the big FP, which was good because if today had been cancelled, the tour would have been derailed. Today was the start of the overnight trip to Cavendish—all the things there made such a long list that we did it in three days with a two-night stay in the city to keep us close to the action.

And the best part was that it wasallAnne-related, so Lucy wouldn’t miss it.

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