Page 12 of Ambrosia Kisses
"Don't tempt me with a good time," Lucy says, breezing into the living room still in her PJs. "Who are we feeding to the sharks?"
"I help!" Lyra shouts, racing after Lucy while flailing her stuffed penguin around above her head. She stumbles to a stop when she sees me wiping tears. "You sad, Aunt Paiswey?"
"She's fine, princess," Lucy says.
Lyra doesn't buy it for a second. She's too smart for that. She's also a tiny savage…kind of like my best friend. "I help feed da meanie to shawks?"
"Shit," Oliver mumbles, grimacing. He squeezes my shoulder and then hands me off to Lucy before scooping their daughter into his arms. She squeals as he holds her above his head. "You can definitely help feed Uncle Ridley to the sharks, baby girl."
"Ohh." Lyra blinks at him. "He in twouble?"
"Yep," Oliver confirms, kissing her on the cheek before he sets her on her feet again. "Why don't you go get dressed and brush your teeth, and you can go tell Grandma that he's in trouble?"
"Gammie gonna yell at him?" Lyra asks, her little lips pursed.
"Probably."
"Yay!" She takes off down the hall.
"You really don't have to do that," I murmur to Oliver, inwardly cringing at the thought of his whole family getting involved. That isn't what I want. I mean…don't get me wrong, letting Gracie yell at him would probably make me feel a tiny bit better, but it's not her fault her son is a jerk. She shouldn't have to do my dirty work. "I don't even know why I'm crying."
"I do. You still have feelings for him," Lucy says, looping her arm through mine to drag me to the couch.
I don't argue because it's not like she's wrong. Isn't that the problem? No matter how much time passes or what else life throws my way, I can't seem to forget him. I can't get past him. I'm just…stuck. And now he wants to waltz back in, claiming he still wakes up saying my name?
Hell no.
"What happened, Paisley?" Lucy asks, settling beside me.
"He was being a hot, annoying jerk. He asked who I was going to meet and basically accused me of fuc…" My gaze darts toward the hall, checking to make sure Lyra isn't within hearing distance. She repeats everything. "Sleeping with one of hiscousins or one of the farmhands. So I told him that he doesn't get a say in who I fu…sleep with because he's the one who lied to me and then fled the country. He acted like that didn't happen." I huff, glaring down at the arm of the sofa. "So I maybe said some things and then stormed off."
"What kind of things?"
"I'm going to go get Lexi up and help make sure Lyra is getting dressed." Oliver drops a kiss on Lucy's head before ducking out of the room to give us a little privacy.
"What kind of things?" Lucy asks as soon as he's out of earshot.
"I told him that I fell in love with him back then," I admit, wrapping my arms around myself. "And then I told him to go to hell and booked it here before I said anything else I'd regret."
"Oh, Paisley." Lucy slides her arm around my waist in a one-armed hug. "Can I say something you probably don't want to hear?"
"Definitely not."
She smiles, her blue eyes full of empathy. "I'm going to say it anyway."
I groan because I already knew she would. Lucy is Lucy. She interferes because her heart is as big as her body. It's part of why I love her so much. She's never met a stranger in her life, and she sees the best in everyone.
"I know you think he used you back then, but I know him, Paisley, and that isn't Ridley. Whatever was between the two of you was real for both of you."
"Yeah, so real he fled the country," I snort. Worse, he stayed gone. For most of the last three years, while my life fell apart and I picked up the pieces, he was in Italy. It's hard to believe that a man as fearless as him would hide away for three damn years because he was afraid of us. No. The truth is simpler and far sadder, at least for me. Staying in Italy was always his plan.Losing his V-Card was just an item on his bucket list before he went back, and I'm the unlucky one he chose to help him mark it off the list.
"He didn't."
"I was there, Luce," I say sadly. "He did."
"Oliver says he didn't." She hesitates and then huffs out a breath. "I'll probably get in trouble for this because I promised I wouldn't get involved, but…that's not what happened."
"Yeah, it is. I was there."
