Page 104 of Kiss and Tell

Lucy let Mila’s words sink in, uncertain how to feel about them. To the little girl who’d always aspired to be just like her mother, they hurt. To the bitter girl who’d been abandoned by her hero, they freed her.

Lucy had cried herself to sleep every night since Joey and Miles left. To be honest, she wouldn’t have thought she had any more left to shed.

Her sisters found a new well. Lucy had spent most of her life trying to convince herself she was happy here, that living here, working here, was enough. It was one of the reasons she never took a vacation. She’d always suspected that if she ever left for parts unknown, she wouldn’t want to come back and she’d been right.

But perhaps more than that, she was afraid that leaving would prove she was just like her mother, and Lucy’s heart couldn’t make up its fucking mind if that was a good or bad thing.

“You were just a kid too when she left, you know?” Nora pointed out. “I know you tried to protect us, tried to shelter us from their fights.”

“You were so young.” Lucy always hoped Nora and Remi didn’t remember much about that time. Especially Nora.

“I remember it all,” Nora confessed quietly. The two of them held each other’s gazes, too many painful memories flowing between them, as Lucy recalled her sister’s face the night their parents died, the vacant look in her eyes, the way Lucy had climbed into bed and slept with her every night for the next month, not because Nora needed that but becauseLucyhad.

“But that’s my baggage to carry. Not yours.” Nora crawled across the mattress, sitting down next to Lucy, placing her arm around her shoulders. “You have to stop fighting against your true nature. Because Millie is right. You’re your own person with your own dreams and ambitions, all of which you should follow without worrying about what anyone else thinks.”

Nora was right. They all had baggage. The difference was, Lucy wasn’t just lugging hers around; she was holding it in front of her like some kind of shield.

Mila squeezed her hand. “You don’t have to stay on the farm out of a sense of obligation, or some misplaced guilt, or because you’re afraid leaving will hurt us. We want you to be happy…wherever that is.”

Lucy sniffled, swiping at her eyes. “Thank you.”

“And whoever it’s with,” Remi said, a wicked twinkle in her eye.

Lucy wasn’t getting out of this room without answering the question of which man had captured her heart, and now that her sisters had given her the green light to follow her dreams—as well as a fuck ton of shit to think about, like finding a therapist—she felt brave enough to tell them.

“So…” Nora prodded.

“Ididfall in love, with…” Lucy drew in a breath. Her sisters loved her, and she was ninety-nine-point-nine percent sure nothing she was about to say would change that, but what if they didn’t understand? Or worse, approve?

“With?” Mila asked.

“Both of them,” Lucy confessed.

Her sisters were silent for a moment—then all three of them spoke up at the same time.

“Did you tell them?” Mila asked.

“Did they fight over you?” Remi looked way too excited by that prospect.

Nora frowned. “Were they upset you couldn’t choose? Is that why you’re home?”

Lucy looked from sister to sister as she answered their questions in turn. “No. No. No. No.”

Mila tilted her head, clearly confused. “They knew you were into both of them, and they were okay with that?”

Lucy nodded. “The three of us…” Heat licked Lucy’s cheeks, and she knew if she looked in a mirror, her face would be bloodred.

“Shut the front door!” Remi shouted, rising from the bed. She was the sister Lucy had been least worried about telling because Remi was a wild child from the word go. God help the man who fell in love with her.

“You slept with both of them?” Lucy couldn’t tell if Nora was impressed or horrified. Part of her thought it might be the first.

Mila studied Lucy’s face hard. “At the same time?”

Lucy bit her lower lip, then lifted her shoulders slowly. “Yes.”

“Holy.Fuck!I won the pool! All by myself!” Remi started doing the Running Man dance, laughing with glee.

“What are you talking about?” Lucy was shocked, yet she couldn’t help laughing. “You bet I’d fallen for both of them?”

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