Page 59 of Under My Skin
“Well, well, well.” Simon’s voice comes from somewhere in the dimly lit apartment. “About time you showed up.” Leaning forward in the living room chair, he cranes his neck so he can see me as I set my keys down and step inside. “What have you two been doing?”
Lucy is awfully quiet behind me, but I don’t look at her to check for her reaction. Taking a seat on the couch, I shrug. “She had those ideas about the shop, and I wanted to get her take on things. Why? Did you miss us?”
“You’d know the answer to that if either of you assholes checked your phone.” He doesn’t sound angry, but there’s a slight edge to his voice. He looks at Lucy. “I thought you were going to stay at Mom and Dad’s or something when I didn’t hear back from you about needing a ride.”
Lucy pulls out her phone and plops down on the furthest end of the couch I’m on. “There’s no way I could stay at that house.” She looks up at both of us. “You know, it’s hard to be angry with them while I’m around them, but as soon as I leave, I’m fuming.” She winces as she taps on her phone screen. “I see your texts now.I’m sorry.” She turns the phone toward Simon, and on the glowing screen I see multiple missed messages from him on their text thread. “Sweet of you to offer the car, though.”
Simon frowns. “What are you still mad for? They told you what they’re doing. No more secrets.”
Lucy gapes at him. “But they didn’t tell me. I showed up, and they were forced to come clean. And their reasoning for it all? Do you actually buy any of it?”
He shrugs. “There’s nothing for me to buy. They’re splitting up, that’s it.”
Her eyes widen. “But for what reason? Thewhybehind it all is so important!”
Simon’s brows furrow. “No, it’s not. It’s not going to change anything. What do I care why they’re doing this? The point is that they are, and it sucks, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Lucy sucks in the side of her cheek, biting her tongue. I know there’s more she’s dying to say. She wants Simon to be enraged with her, but that’s not how Simon operates. She’s alone in this fight.
“So, what’s the plan for the shop?” Simon asks, closing the door on all talk of divorce.
Lucy is still staring at him like she might be holding back angry tears, so I answer instead. “Picked a paint color for the apartment that I think might look good downstairs in the shop, too. I pulled up some of the flooring in the back corner of the shop, and it looks like the hardwood is still under the laminate. So, Lucy’s vision is possible, but if we do it ourselves it’s going to be work.” My eyes jump to Lucy. “And it depends on how long she plans on staying.”
She blinks, her divorce induced rage dissipating. “You want me to stay?”
“Well, I’m not doing it alone,” I say with a laugh. I had planned on showing her what I found when she was there earlier tonight, but one thing led to another, and that didn’t happen. “I can ask the other artists, but they all have full schedules. We’d haveto wait a week to do it when the shop is closed. I don’t expect you to stay for the whole renovation, but we could use this week to clear everything out and come up with a plan I can follow. Do you think a week is enough time for a new logo?”
“A week,” she says to herself, her eyes widening. I know it’s longer than she planned on being here, but I wasn’t exactly planning on asking her to extend her stay either—not until she came up with an idea to give the shop a facelift. And after tonight, I don’t hate the thought of her staying a little longer.
Simon laughs and looks at Lucy. “Damn, a week? I don’t think you’ve been here that long since before you moved.” He stretches back against the chair. “That’s a lot of Copper Ridge for someone who got out.”
“You make being here sound like a sentencing,” I say with a breath of laughter.
“Isn’t it?” Simon asks with a grin.
“No,” I answer easily. “Copper Ridge has everything I could ever need.” I mean it. I love this town. It’s part of why I included it in the name of the business, but my eyes still jump to Lucy. She doesn’t react, but I can’t help wondering if my last statement is still true. Because as soon as she leaves, Denver might have something Copper Ridge doesn’t.
Chapter Thirty-Three
LUCY
“You’re stayinghow long?”
I groan as I fall back onto Everett’s bed with the phone pressed to my ear. Allison’s shock isn’t too far off from how I figured she’d react. Actually, it isn’t too far off from howIreacted when I decided to stay. “I know. I really think I could help with his tattoo shop, though.”
“Your brother’s hot friend?” she says it with a mouthful, and I already know she grabbed a breakfast sandwich from our favorite café in town. It’s one of the rituals we once shared but now have to do separately for the sake of different schedules, apartments,lives.
“Yeah.” The word comes out a little breathless, and I look around the room I’m in, wishing it were actually Everett’s and not just my brother’s guest room with a few of Everett’s things scattered throughout. His clothes are in the closet, there’s some mail on the dresser along with the box of his dad’s things, and his sheets still manage to smell a little like him even though he washed them before giving me his bed. “Hey, can I ask for a favor?”
“Anything, you know that.”
I hate asking her to do this when she thinks living with Jasminehas been nothing short of perfect. “Do you think you can stop by the apartment?”
“Sure,” she says easily. “Need me to mail you something?”
“No, no. I have everything I need. Just to . . . check on it?”
There’s a pause. “Isn’t Jasmine there?”
