Page 53 of Lucky in Love
“So, how did you two meet?” Blossom asked. “You seem like such an unlikely match.” Even simple questions had to be laced with backhanded insults.
“I pulled up to rent a cabin,” Brody piped up to answer. “And there she was, pretty as a picture, sweet as honey, just as nice as could be.”
Alex burst out laughing. “I mistook him for the handyman and yelled at him for being late,” she corrected.
“After that, though,” Brody said diplomatically.
“After that, I thought you were a murderer, broke into your cabin, and called the police on you.”
Blossom’s mouth fell open, and Pops suppressed a laugh.
“Fine, but afterthat,” Brody said. “It was love at first sight.”
The warmth of the smile he gave her shot straight to her stomach. Dang, he was good.
The waitress came to take their order, and Blossom clucked when Alex ordered pancakes. “Sure you want all those carbs, honey?”
Alex never ordered pancakes. It was always an egg-white frittata and fruit. But today, she craved comfort food—probably had something to do with the judgy, bleach blonde sitting across from her. She was also feeling somewhat sassy and knew the request would get a rise out of her mother.
“You’re right.” Alex turned back to the waitress. “Double the pancakes please, and bring me extra syrup?”
She felt Brody chuckle next to her.
Once the server left, Blossom started in on Brody, giving him the third degree. How long was he staying? Where did he work? How much did he make? Where had he moved from?
Brody took the inquisition with good humor, peppering the lies with just enough truth to be believable and skirting around the fact that he was technically unemployed.
He wassogood, Alex decided to just let him do the talking slash lying. He embellished way more than she would have and was so convincing, even Alex started to think they were truly in love.
At one point, Brody put a hand on her cheek, leaned in, and kissed her again. Right there in the middle of the restaurant! Alex tamped down the shock and tried to act cool. Why did he keep doing that? Pops caught her eye, waggled his eyebrows, and smiled.
When the drinks came, Alex leaned over to Brody. “Ease up,” she whispered. “You’re laying it on too thick. And stop kissing me.”
Brody laughed extra loud as if they’d shared some private joke. “You’re so funny, babe. You make me laugh all the time.”
“Really? Alex?” Blossom said, unable to fathom it.
With every compliment Brody paid Alex, Blossom’s face reddened. It didn’t take long before she steered the conversation to herself.
She did her best to convince them how great her life was outside Green Valley Falls. How she met Wesley. How he proposed in the most elaborate, romantic way. How they’d moved in together.
“Wesley has a fantastic new business idea that’s going to be super successful once it takes off,” Blossom said. “We have tons of friends and go into the city almost every weekend for a showor dinner.” She’d moved to upstate New York, and by “the city” she meant Albany. Alex found it ironic that, for all the talk of getting out of GVF, she really hadn’t landed all that far away.
Wesley didn’t say a word, but several times during the monologue, his eyes would widen in surprise as if some of the things she said were news to him.
If Alex knew her mother, she was lying just as badly as Alex was with the whole I’m-dating-Brody thing. Honesty was not the basis of their relationship.
After the plates were cleared—and Alex had shoved down every last bite of pancake despite being full after one—Blossom got down to her real motive for coming home.
“So, Dad,” she started. “There’s a reason we came to town. The wedding costs are starting to add up, and we were hoping to buy a house soon. I—”
“Before you finish that,” Pops interrupted. “I have some big news I’ve been waiting to share. I sold Whispering Pines.”
Blossom’s mouth opened and closed three times before she finally clamped it shut. Clearly, she hadn’t seen that coming.
“You what?” she said, finding her voice. “Sold the cabins? But I thought…”
“It’s pretty recent,” Pops said. “Sale was final just a few weeks ago. I planned to tell you the next time we spoke.”
