Page 12 of Stuck With the Billionaire Grump

“I like it this way.”

“You like massive, tangled knots?”

I stare at her sternly, hoping my glare is cold enough that it deters her from saying another word to me.

Unfortunately, Little Miss Sunshine is undeterred. She brushes a strand of brunette hair off her shoulder and leans forward, eyes twinkling with some endless source of inner light. Even though it’s rainy and cold today, I suddenly feel the urge to put on sunglasses.

“You should pick brighter colors,” Lucy tells me. “It’ll help you see the individual threads better.”

“I like these colors.”

She purses her lips. “They’re kind of… boring.”

I look down at the thread colors I chose. Various shades of blue and gray. I thought it was a sensible, masculine choice. It’s not like I want to carry around a frilly pink keychain for the entire summer.

“Well, then it’s a good thing that this is going to bemylanyard, not yours,” I quip.

Lucy snorts. “It’s not going to be anything at all if you don’t let me help you.”

Again, I note that her tone isn’t mean, just practical. In fact, I think she honestly believes that she’s being helpful right now with all this gentle criticism.

I toss aside the knotted tangle of strings. “Whatever. I don’t want a stupid keychain anyway.”

She purses her lips. “You shouldn’t give up on something just because you’re not immediately good at it.”

I stand up from the table, vaguely aware that Katrina has returned with the lemonade and is glancing warily between me and Lucy. Both girls have to lift their faces considerably to look up at me, thanks to my freakish height. It’s been two years since the growth spurt that stretched me over six feet tall and I’m still getting used to it.

Fixing Lucy with the chilliest glare I can muster without alerting any of the staff members to the conflict, I shrug my shoulders as if her so-called advice is beneath me.

“I really don’t care,” I tell her.

Her brow furrows, almost like she’s confused about why I’m not scraping and bowing at her feet. I roll my eyes at her reaction and turn on my heel. I don’t care what Dr. Sans says. I’m not in the mood for playing nice with anyone right now, and especially not Princess Lucy. I just want to be alone.

I’m vaguely aware of the girls whispering to each other as soon as my back is turned, but I don’t bother trying to hear what they have to say about me.

Unlike Lucy, I don’t give a damn about being liked.

Chapter Five: Lucy

Even though I tell Eric that I don’t have time to grab a coffee with him, he insists on escorting me to the inland residential streets where the Lee household is located. Gigi just confirmed via text that I could stop by and see with my own eyes that she’s got everything in order for the wedding. She’s a lot more understanding about my control-freak tendencies than Mrs. Whitten, thankfully. As a former professional chef and current catering genius, she’s also a big fan of double- and triple-checking things.

Take that, Mrs. Whitten.

“I remember these streets,” Eric muses as he walks alongside me. He points south. “Isn’t your house down that way?”

We’ve just taken a shortcut behind the Siren & Sword that allows us to bypass most of the chaos of Main Street. Still, even with the brightness and noise behind us, I feel like I’m stuck in a time loop where I keep running into Theo Danvers over and over again. My mind refuses to stop replaying the memory, intent on driving me insane.

I blink fast, forcing my brain to focus on the current conversation.

“No, it’s actually in the opposite direction,” I inform Eric.

He chuckles easily. “Ah. Well, anyway, I feel like this town hasn’t changed at all since I was last here.”

“Honestly, it really hasn’t,” I admit fondly. I like that Mermaid Shores hardly ever changes. Sure, certain things modernize and the occasional new business pops up every once in a while, but everything else is stable and dependable. It’s comforting.

“Have you been living here this whole time? I mean, since you graduated from BU?” Eric asks.

“Yep. And where have you been?” We lost touch before Eric finished at Dartmouth, so I never really paid attention to where he ended up after the fact.

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