Page 96 of In Good Company

“I know where you get your stubbornness from,” Charlotte quips. “I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting your dad in person yet, but it’s obvious that you’re set in your ways just like he is.”

Through FaceTime, she and my father have struck up a friendship. I’ve never heard my dad belly laugh, but that all changed the other day when Charlotte and I were video chatting. She was catching me up on what was going on in her life—leaving out details about Cal—when she made some kind of joke that my dad overheard. After that, he’sasked every day when I was going to talk to my funny friend. He’ll be upset I talked to her tonight without him being able to say hi.

“Hi, Luce!” Jude calls, his face appearing on the screen next to Charlotte.

I smile, feeling sad that I’m not there with them. Jude and Charlotte seem to be spending a lot of time together recently, and I miss them both terribly. I didn’t expect them to become close friends, and I’m a little jealous that Jude’s getting to spend so much time with Charlotte. I miss my best friend.

“Jude,” I call, giving him a wave. “What are you doing with Charlotte?”

“Annoying me like always,” Charlotte pipes up, rolling her eyes as Jude grabs at his chest dramatically.

“Not surprising,” I respond, trying to keep a smile on my face despite the sadness washing over me. I’m glad I’m here with my parents. I need to know they’re taken care of and things are running smoothly. My place is here, but it doesn’t mean I don’t miss the life I had in the Hamptons. I hadn’t realized how happy I was there until it was taken from me.

“So, how’s the store going? Are you getting the hang of things?”

I groan, thinking of the mess I made today. “No.” I let out a pathetic laugh as I push away all my intrusive thoughts about how I’m not cut out for this. “I’m terrible at selling things, Char. I almost messed up three sales today. We would’ve lost them if it wasn’t for Alec coming in to save the day.”

Charlotte purses her lips as her eyes soften. I love that even through the phone screen, I can read every single one of her emotions. “You’re still figuring it out,” she begins, keeping her voice reassuring. “You’ll learn the ropes.”

I shake my head. “I don’t know, Char. I’m trying, but I just suck. I was tasked with ordering some pieces from a new distributor, and I kept messing up the count. I keep track ofsupply numbers all the time when preparing meals for parties of people. I don’t know why I suck at it when it comes to furniture.”

“You’re learning a lot at once. I promise you’ll get better at it.” Charlotte holds the phone closer to her face and gives me a comforting smile. “Love you, Lucy. Take a deep breath. You’re doing the best you can.”

My eyes sting with the threat of looming tears. “I really needed to hear that,” I respond, talking through the lump in my throat.

It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask about Cal. I want to know how he’s doing. Has he already moved on from me? Does he talk about me? Is he doing okay?

The questions are at the forefront of my mind, but I keep them to myself. Today’s already been a long, hard day. I don’t know if I’m ready for the answers to those questions.

“We miss you here,” Jude says, grabbing the phone from Charlotte and saving me from asking things I shouldn’t.

“Hey, that’smybest friend, not yours!” Charlotte scolds. I can see her try to grab the phone in the background, but Jude holds it out of her reach.

“It’s my turn to talk to Luce,” he declares, using his free hand to keep Charlotte from grabbing the phone.

“I miss you guys too,” I respond with a smile. Even Jude became someone I grew attached to, something I hadn’t realized until I was back here in Virginia.

“When are you coming back?” Jude presses, not paying any attention to Charlotte’s protests about giving her the phone back.

I let out a sad sigh. Most of my belongings are still in the Hamptons. I need to figure out if I should just hire movers to pack it all up or if I can make it down there for a couple of days just to get everything packed up and sorted out.

“I don’t know if I’ll be coming back,” I answer honestly. “I’m still trying to get things running smoothly without my dad here at the store. And then I don’t know if I can leave my mom to handle things on her own.”

Jude nods, giving me his normal grin. “You just let me know how to help. I want to be there for you, Luce. We all do.”

Emotion overtakes me again. Now that I’m away, it’s obvious how I’d built my own little family there. Charlotte, Jude, Mr. Fred, Dolores, Margo, Winnie, Emma, Camille…and most importantly, Cal. I don’t know when it happened, but all of them became my second family.

And I miss them like crazy.

But I can’t do anything about it because my own family needs me here.

“He misses you, you know,” Jude chimes in, keeping his voice soft.

“Jude!” Charlotte yells from out of view of the phone screen.

He looks at her with wide eyes. “What?” he asks innocently. “It’s true. I have to talk him into getting out of bed most mornings. He’s lost without Lucy, and I think Lucy should know that.”

“Give me my phone,” Charlotte demands. Her hand appears in view as she tries to wrestle the phone from his grip.

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