Page 42 of Honeymoon Phase
Plus, if word ever got back to my dad that Luke was sleeping around on me, he wouldn’t just come for Luke. He’d burn down Fletcher Mountain just to dance on its ashes.
I frown as the idea of Luke with another woman needles something deep inside me. Thinking of him with other girls never bothered me before, but now, it definitely does. I guess that sheet of paper we paid thirty dollars for does something to my mental disposition. Hopefully in a year, that won’t be a thing, and we can go back to being just regular old Luke and Addison and forget about that time we had to kiss in front of a clerk at the county courthouse.
Either way, I have to live with him to make this seem real to everyone. And I need to show my dad that I’m really doing this or he’ll use it as an excuse to sell the yard out from under me. That old man of mine doesn’t seem to have any faith that I can do it on my own, which just makes me want to prove him wrong even more.
Luke drives past the red barn and my head jerks when I see his sister-in-law Trista standing outside filling a bucket out of a spicket. She waves and then frowns as her eyes move to the back of the truck.
“Have you still not told your family about us yet?”
Luke makes a noise in his throat.
“Luke!”
“What?”
“What are you waiting for?”
He grumbles and yanks his hat off, running a frustrated hand through his shaggy hair. “I just don’t want to hear it from them.”
“Hear what?”
“Just... everything.” He cuts me a grave look. “You’re going to learn real quick that my family is never short of opinions. I’ll tell them, I swear. Obviously they’re going to notice you moving in today so it’ll come out today. Probably.”
I frown, puzzled over his resistance to sharing the news after he was the one so adamant about us getting married in the first place. I found it better to rip it off like a Band-Aid with my dad, though him making me plan a damn formal wedding feels like he’s inflicting a punishment on me for figuring out how to get around this stupid business trust. But he’s the one who forced this on me. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
We drive past Wyatt’s and Calder’s cabins, and as Luke backs his truck up to the front door of his cute cedar-sided house that I’ve only been in a couple times, I see an SUV barreling toward us at a terrifying speed.
Luke jumps out of the car, concern etched all over his face as he makes his way over while the vehicle skids to a stop, kicking up gravel and dust all over him.
“Lucas William Fletcher!” a voice screams and I move to the front of the truck to see Luke’s mom standing there.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” Luke asks, his voice full of fear.
“Tell me it isn’t true.”
“What?”
“Tell me it’s some sort of sick prank.”
“What’s a sick prank?”
“Did you getmarriedand not tell me?” she screeches so loud, it echoes off the mountainside.
My jaw drops and I fight the urge to run and hide as I watch Luke stand before her, all six foot two of him, hunched with head hanging low as his five-foot-nothing mom tears him a new asshole.
“I couldn’t believe my ears when John Monroe called me on the phone this morning to discuss the particulars of this big wedding.”
“John called you?” Luke asks and cuts me a wary look as my hands form fists at my side. Of course my dad called her. He’s going to do everything in his power to make this as painful as possible for the two of us.
Movement draws my eyes down the hill and I spot Calder and Dakota standing out on their front porch watching the show. Trista is making her way up the lane from the barn as well and, sure enough, Wyatt emerges from his cabin, baby in tow.
News sure travels fast on Fletcher Mountain.
“You bet your ass John called me and it should have beenyou!” She jabs her finger into Luke’s chest, her short blond bob falling into her face with the aggressive movement. Johanna is small, but has some weight to her, so you know she’s capable of wielding that finger with purpose. “I raised you better than this, Lucas. To elope and not even tell me is unforgivable. I’m heartbroken. If your father were here right now, I would make him kick your sorry ass!”
My heart lurches at the stricken look on Luke’s face at the mention of his dad and before I know it, my feet are moving toward both of them, my heart pounding in my chest. “I’m sorry, Johanna. I’m afraid this is all my fault,” I say, tucking my hair behind my ears to try to take some of the rage off of Luke and put it on me.
Johanna’s stormy eyes turn to me and soften instantly. “Honey, this isn’t about you. You are positively lovely. I could tell that from our time with you in Mexico.”
