Page 131 of Sharing Shane

“That’s all Jack,” Lucy said. “I hate working outside, and Glory has a black thumb.”

Veronica nodded. “Me, too. I tend to overwater or give them too much sun.”

“Uh-huh. Are you going to look at me, or mope at the daisies?” Lucy wanted to know, and Veronica raised miserable eyes to hers.

“Oh, honey.” Lucy’s face filled with sympathy as she drew Veronica inside. “Let’s go find something cold to drink and you can tell me what happened.”

Ten minutes later, she sat in Lucy’s living room, a bottle of beer going warm on the table next to her, pouring her heart out. “And that’s when I left,” she finished.

“Wow. He really hit you with both barrels, didn’t he?”

Veronica nodded, blinking back tears. She’d gone past angry to devastated, and she knew if she gave in, she’d just start bawling. “It just felt like it came out of nowhere, you know? I thought I was doing something nice for him, for them, and somehow, I screwed it up.”

“I don’t think you screwed it up, but I can see how you feel that way.” Lucy rocked in the glider across from her, a bottle of water in her hand. “Tell me again why you brought them dinner?”

Veronica shrugged. “When I was talking to Wyatt, he said he didn’t want to make Shane handle dinner since he was so tired from his trip. But Wyatt doesn’t cook, and the takeout he wanted was on the other side of town. I offered to pick it up.”

“You didn’t have any ulterior motive?” Lucy asked, her soft eyes steady on Veronica’s. “No secret wish for a quickie in the bathroom, no desire to wiggle your way into their evening?”

“No,” Veronica said, taken aback. “I mean, I thought it would be nice to see them both, maybe chat for a minute, but that’s it. Wyatt invited me to stick around and watch a movie with them, but I said no.”

“Why?”

“Because it was their date, not our date. I didn’t want to interrupt their time together.”

Lucy nodded thoughtfully. “Okay. Do you want my opinion?”

Veronica rolled her eyes. “No, I came over here to disrupt your maternity leave because I’m just that big of a bitch.”

Lucy waited a beat. “That was sarcasm, right?”

“Yes, it was sarcasm, and yes, I desperately want your opinion. I need to know if my instincts are right on this, or if I screwed up.”

“I don’t think you screwed up, at least not big,” Lucy said. “Maybe you stepped on Shane’s toes a little by not checking with him directly, but considering the circumstances, it’s completely reasonable for you to think checking with Wyatt was enough.”

Lucy took a sip of her water. “Wyatt also may have stepped on Shane’s toes a little, but again, considering the circumstances, I think he had every reason to expect that this would be fine with Shane.”

“So, I didn’t screw up, and Wyatt didn’t screw up.”

“Right. Which leaves Shane. And boy, did he screw up.”

Veronica sighed, feeling unbearably tired. “That’s what I thought, but I’m so new at this, and right now, I don’t know which end is up.”

“Look.” Lucy leaned forward. “He was entitled to get mad because you showed up unannounced. And he’s entitled to be mad that you and Wyatt had a conversation about him behind his back. Both of these reactions make him a bit of a jerk, in my opinion, but he’s entitled. What he wasn’t entitled to do was jump to conclusions, then not give you a chance to explain yourself.”

“That’s what I thought, but I then thought maybe I was missing something.”

“Nope. Big fat entitled jerk.”

Veronica sighed. “I’m so mad at him. How can I love somebody this much and still be so mad at him?”

“Just one of those things,” Lucy said cheerfully.

“What should I do, Lucy?”

“Well,” Lucy began, then turned at the sound of a faint cry.

“Sorry to interrupt.” A woman with warm brown skin, a round face, and sparkling eyes walked into the room with a squirming bundle in her arms. “But somebody woke up hungry.”

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