Page 44 of Lucy Loves Him Not
“Okay, okay.” I leaned toward the table. “Interrogation time is over.” I stood up, gathering empty plates and carrying them to the sink.
“I quite enjoyed it.” Adam leaned back in his chair, hands crossed behind his head.
“Oh, I’m sure you didn’t mind the attention, but I was getting bored,” I said, walking back to the table.
Mom and Olivia exchanged a loaded glance.
“As a community member, I wanted to know more about our city manager,” Olivia said primly.
“Well, I want to know more about all of you,” Adam said, looking around the table.
“What do you want to know?” Mom asked. It was dark out now and the dining room had a soft glow from the couple of lamps lit.
“I take it that you guys have always lived in Sweet River?” Adam cocked his head.
“We have since we were little.” I gestured between Olivia and I, still standing by the table instead of sitting at it. “But Mommoved here with the three of us when we were little. Olivia was seven, but Gracie was only months old.”
Mom nodded. “I needed a fresh start. I was on my own with my girls and a nursing degree I hadn’t used since I had graduated. I knew my mom was here. She’d gotten a job at this little bed and breakfast. I packed all of our things, grabbed the girls, and hoped for the best.”
“Wow.” Adam looked at my mom admiringly. “I see where Lucy gets some of that fierce strength of hers.”
“Oh, my girls got it in spades,” Mom said proudly. “My strength was there, but it often felt tiny, like a seed. But they were seeds I planted in my daughters and I’ve watched it bloom around me in awe.”
I sat down by Mom, tangling myself around her arm like I was still a little girl.
“Building our life here in Sweet River, our own little world, has been the best part of my life,” she said, so achingly honest. Olivia rested her head on my mom’s shoulder.
Adam watched the three of us tangled together with a look I hadn’t seen before. “That’s enviable. I’m happy you guys found that here.”
I felt his comments at the taco truck knotting up in my chest. How he’d felt like he was hanging on for the ride with his family, like his mom was waiting to have her life after him.
“It’s been happy, but dramatic,” I said jokingly, trying to somehow deflect.
“Oh, I think any drama was 50 percent Lucy, 45 percent Gracie, and then like five percent me,” Olivia clarified.
“How did I get five percent more than the baby of the family?” I demanded.
Mom shook her head at Adam. “How did Olivia only get five percent herself?”
“I’m the boring professor,” Olivia stated blandly.
“You’re the one who always dates the—” but then I stopped myself. Mom pressed her lips together.
“Thewhat?” Olivia’s voice went high on the last word.
“You know.” I winced.
“The players, the bad boys; name it and Olivia dated it in high school,” Mom finished my sentence for me.
Olivia’s eyebrows shot up so high I thought she might lose them. I slapped my hand over my mouth to hide my laughter.
“I’m now seeing the drama,” Adam stage whispered to me. “I would guess it’s an even 25 percent from each woman in the family.”
“Fair guess.” I nodded to him.
“I don’t think I deserve to be on equal footing to these twenty-somethings,” Mom protested.
“I stand by my estimate. We can revisit after I’ve done more research,” Adam said, then took a sip of water.
