Page 85 of The Stand-In

I don’t like that she felt uneasy or insecure about where she stands with me, even for a second. It won’t ever happen again.

I’m surprised that Lucy isn’t at her desk when I arrive at London’s office, but London’s door is open, and I can hear voices inside.

I knock on the door frame, and London smiles when she looks over at me.

“Sorry to interrupt.”

“You’re not. Come on in. Lucy and I were just going over a couple of things.”

“You might want to keep an eye out,” Lucy warns me, looking over my shoulder and toward the door behind me. “Uncle Will is on the warpath.”

I wince as I shove my hands into my pockets. “I take it Erin finally called him and Aunt Meg?”

“Yep, and from what I hear, it didn’t go over well.”

“Great.” I rock back on my heels and sigh. “What are you two ladies up to this afternoon?”

“I’m buried in work.” Lucy wiggles her eyebrows and does a little shimmy. “It’s fabulous. I’ll get those emails sent out right away, London.”

“Thanks, Lucy. Feel free to take off early today if you want. I’m leaving in about an hour to get Caleb from school.”

Lucy nods and moves to walk out of the office but stops short and frowns. I turn to follow her gaze and see my uncle, looking good and pissed, stomping our way.

“Shit,” Lucy whispers.

“Hi, Uncle Will.”

“What in the actualfuck?” Will demands, propping his hands on his hips. “You left my kid inMontana,of all places.”

“Well, I—”

“And no one bothered to call and tell me. To give me a heads-up. No, it wasn’t until this morning that Erin called us to tell us that she stayed.”

“Listen, we—”

“Now, she’s alone in a town that none of us knows, and I don’t have even one fucking contact there that she can call if she needs help. So, I’m going to need you to explain to me why in the hell you thought that was a good idea.”

“Whoa.” I hold my hands up in surrender. “Slow down. First of all, she’s an adult.”

Will’s eyes narrow into slits, and if I’m not mistaken, hegrowls.

“Like it or not, she is. Secondly, this wasn’t a shock to me. She’d told me a while ago that she wasn’t happy in Seattle and that she wanted something smaller, something slower paced.”

“Then she should have come to me and talked to me so I could help her make an informed decision.”

“No,” Lucy says, shaking her head. “Uncle Will, she’s not a baby. She’s not even a teenager. She’s a grown woman, and she knows what she wants. You should have seen her face in Bitterroot Valley. She smiledall the time.She didn’t even go skiing with us because she wanted to soak in the town. She couldn’t get enough of it. By the time we left, she knew every inch of that place like the back of her hand.”

“It’s true,” London offers, her voice gentle. “She issohappy there, Will.”

“She won’t take any money,” he says, pushing his hands through his hair as he paces London’s office. “I looked at real estate there. How in thehellis she supposed to be able to afford to live there if she won’t let me help her?”

“She said she has some money saved,” I reply, trying to sound reasonable. “She’ll get a job, and she’ll work for a living like the rest of us. She’s a smart woman. And she knows that if she decides that she made the wrong choice, she can always come home.”

“All that money, and she won’t fucking touch it,” he mutters, clearly disgusted. “She’s too much like her mother, that’s for sure. I had the same problem with her when I first married her. Too damn stubborn to take any help.”

“I’m pretty sure, according to family lore, you bullied her into letting you help her.”

Will turns to me and glares.

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