Page 67 of Insta-Family (Forbidden Descendants 3)

This time, Ava sent me a censorious glance, and I groaned. “I’m working on it, I swear.”

Not ready to give up there, I rang Trick’s sister Chloe since she’d mentioned on the group chat that she’d head over to help with things too.

“Luce!” she answered cheerfully. “You pick out your godparents for that precious little baby yet?”

I rolled my eyes and grinned. Chloe had made a point of claiming the title of godmother to as many babies in the family as she could gather. So far, she had scored three.

“No. Not yet,” I murmured and picked Ava up so I could sit her on my knees and play with her feet, clapping them together and making her grin. “Hey, are you at Vaughn’s place yet? You said you were going to go over and help today, right?”

“Yes, and let me just say… Oh my good God, honey. That is one fine man. I mean, yowzah.”

“You’ve seen Vaughn, then? Great. Can you put him on the phone for me please?”

“Ooh, sorry. He looks pretty busy right now. Gray’s appointed himself as Vaughn’s real estate agent, so they’re working out all the kinks and details of putting this place on the market.”

“So he hadn’t planned on selling his house until today? No! That means Beau somehow talked him into it. You need to get Vaughn on this phone with me, right now, Chloe. I need to stop him from making a colossal mistake.”

“Look, I don’t know the whys or whatevers about what he’s doing. But Beau is nowhere to be seen right now, and no one is putting a gun to your man’s head, forcing him to move out.”

“He’s not my man,” I muttered, gritting my teeth.

But Chloe wasn’t listening to me. “He’s a big boy; I think he can make a monumental decision like this for himself. And when I say big, I mean, seriously, what is he? Like, six-three? Six-four? Whatever his height, this girl right here is impressed.”

“Hey, watch it,” I warned her with a laugh. “Isn’t that new guy you’re seeing the super jealous type?”

She sniffed. “You mean, the guy I’m no longer seeing?”

“Uh-oh.” I cringed, sensing a story behind her bitter tone. “Trouble in paradise?”

“Yeah… You could say that. There were just too many red flags for my taste,” she explained with a weary sigh. “Not only did he get all huffy about me being too friendly with a waiter, like that scene I told you about at the restaurant, but he surprised me at work this week and made some comment about how provocative my clothes were, so I told him I didn’t want to go out anymore.”

“Sounds smart. But at least this guy made it to, what, five dates before you ended it. I’d say that’s progress.”

“Trust me, he only made it that far because he was so frigging hot.” She moaned out a sad whimper. “It just goes to show you: good looks don’t mean shit. I’m thinking it should actually be a mark against a person because it can blind everyone to their true nature for too long.”

“Wow, this guy has really got you bitter,” I said, lifting my eyebrows.

“Maybe,” she mourned. “Or maybe I was just pinning too much hope on him. He’s certainly not my other half, though. Not at all. And I’m just… I don’t even know. Depressed, I guess, that I have to start all over again and keep looking. I’m getting tired of looking.”

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” I said, hugging Ava close and feeling lucky that I at least had my baby.

In the past month, I’d somehow made peace with the idea that I’d probably never date again. It just didn’t even seem appealing anymore, and I was okay with that. My little girl was all I needed.

Chloe didn’t have an Ava Grace though.

“One sour attempt shouldn’t stop you from trying again if you really want—”

“Wait a sec,” Chloe cut in abruptly before mutedly calling, “What?” as if she was talking to someone else on her end of the line. Then she added, “Yes, it’s Lucy. Why? You want to talk to her?” Another pause ensued until she spoke to me again. “Uh, yeah, I just got busted. Beau says we’re not supposed to be talking to you, I guess. So gotta go, sorry. Bye, love you.”

“What!?” I cried just as she hung up on me. “You’re actually listening to Beau?” That was new.

And strange.

But also really inconvenient for me.

Glancing down at Ava, I sniffed. “See if she becomes your godmama now.”

I texted my brother, calling him an ass. He replied with a single emoji that blew me a kiss.

---