Page 75 of Lucky Haven

Chapter Twenty-Two

Haven

When I get back to the library, my cheeks are so rosy, it feels like I’m wearing a placard that says, I just lost my virginity to a tattooed mechanic.

But every other part of me is carefully back in place. Cash even steamed the wrinkles out of my dress while I was fixing my hair.

I float through the rest of the day on a nothing-can-pop-this-happiness-bubble cloud.

And that night, we do it again.

Quietly. Slowly. In a bed, this time.

It’s beautiful.

I love sex.

I wish I’d known earlier how great it feels to take someone into my body, but I’m glad that I’ve only known this pleasure with Cash.

He’s incredible.

And for thirty-six hours, I think I’m the only person who knows this secret.

The next day is a day off for me, but Cash has to work, so he goes into town, and I spend the day with his mother and Hope.

They’re both giddy with excitement about the wedding. Luna has been making garlands to hang between trees for the wedding service. Mercy comes by in the late afternoon with a bag of thrifted satin and silk and lace that Luna might like to use.

For someone who was so grumpy when Ridge showed up to tell her about the wedding, Mercy seems all in now.

And as Hope and Luna carry the bag of things she brought ahead of us into the kitchen, Mercy glances sideways at me and must read some variation of that thought right on my face.

“What?” she asks.

“Nothing,” I stammer. “Sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry. You look concerned.”

“I’m not.”

“You sure?”

No, I’m not sure of anything. I spent twenty-nine years thinking that premarital sex was a mistake, for example. I take a deep breath. “I don’t want to gossip.”

Mercy looks amused. “About me?”

“About anyone! But definitely not about you, specifically. Or anyone nice. Hope, Zane. Ridge.”

I stammer over Cash’s older brother’s name.

Mercy sighs. “Let me guess. You want to know about what you saw at the diner.”

“It’s none of my business.”

“It happened right in front of you. You’re a good friend to not ask, but… You can ask.”

I lower my voice. “It just sounded like you didn’t want to come?”

“And here I am?” Mercy gives me a soft smile. “I love Ridge. More than he will ever be able to love himself. And I adore his family. Separately from that, I care about Hope, and I would want to attend her wedding, no matter what. I just don’t want to give Ridge an inch when he refuses to give me⁠—”