Page 64 of His Hot Mess

I’d convinced Manuel I’d make it worth his while if he kept the high-value shirts aside for me next time I came by, too.

I tipped my chin at Manuel and he gave me a salute and a nod to a growing pile next to him.

“Will you excuse me?” I said to Sal and Lucy as I headed over to him. Some of the shirts he’d found for me were worth hundreds of dollars.

* * *

By the timewe pulled away from the rag yard, it was well into the afternoon.

“We should head over to Target for those plates,” I said.

Lucy nodded. She was quiet again, but this time, she didn’t have an electric angry tension around her like we both had on the way over. I didn’t know what it was, but she made the turnoff when the map on my phone dinged without a word.

Except for the reminder about the plates, I was quiet too. It was only when I spotted the antique store up on our right that I blurted out another word.

“Wait.”

Lucy looked at me.

“Do you mind if we stop here? There’s something I want to check out. While we have the truck.”

I explained that I’d been thinking about adding a couple of tables to the store to style jewelry and accessories on. “I’ll only be a minute,” I promised.

Lucy had a funny look on her face that I couldn’t quite place, but she said, “okay,” and pulled off the highway.

“Mind if I look around too?” Lucy asked as we stepped inside the store, the shop bell dinging behind us.

There were moments I forgot Lucy used to be a designer, that even if clothes weren’t her thing (all her questions today notwithstanding), she loved vintage furniture, and had a great eye for it too.

“Of course,” I said, and Lucy disappeared down an aisle while I went and looked at tables.

There were several options I liked, but I got distracted by some of the other items. I ended up getting a shopping cart and filling it with various things I hadn’t thought about needing for Sadie’s Vintage but that would look amazing in it. A couple of lamps. A necklace display tree. A curio-shelf.

Twenty minutes later my cart was full, and I was just thinking it was time to collect Lucy and get out of here when I saw the stack of beautiful vintage plates—at least a hundred of them. They were probably used for weddings. I pictured a Great Gatsby style backyard party with the trees strung with lights.

Dancing with a man with his hair combed back, a begrudging smile on his face.

I scowled, wiping Chris’s stupid face from my mind. Then my stomach did a flip. The wedding was one place I wouldn’t be able to avoid Chris. We’d both be there, standing next to Lucy and Graydon…

Then I remembered Lucy. I craned my neck around the store but couldn’t see her through the crammed aisles. I brought my cart to the desk and told the man behind the counter I’d take the wedding plates too. He agreed to begin packing everything up in boxes while I went to find Lucy.

I spotted her before she saw me. She was sitting in a beautiful, ornate rocking chair, her arms wrapped around her midsection.

The sight made something hitch in my breath. Next to her was a bassinet and on the other side a child’s table and chairs.

As I got closer, I could see there were tears running down her cheeks. All the residual anger I was holding against her dissolved like sand, sliding through my fingers.

“Hey, Luce.” I said, pulling one of the child’s chairs up next to her and sitting down on it like a little stool.

She turned at the sound and moved to get up. “No,” I said. “Stay there, it looks comfortable.”

“It is comfortable,” she said, smiling. Her eyes were brimming with fresh tears, her lip wobbly. I took her hand and she took in a shaky breath.

“I got my period again,” she said.

My chest sunk. I squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry.”

But Lucy shook her head. “No Sadie,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

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