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“Mmm,” she moaned and tipped her head back, eyes closed in ecstasy after she dipped her first fry and popped it into her mouth.
Once she satisfied the initial craving, she cracked her eyes open and sent Trick a grateful smile, repeating, “Thank you. That hit the spot. You know the fastest way to my heart.”
A nervous smile flickered over Trick’s face before he murmured, “I was hoping you’d say that because…”
After drawing in a deep breath as if preparing for something big, he knelt in front of her…on one knee.
Lucy’s eyes grew huge, and she scrambled a step back away from him as she screeched an incredulous, “Trick! Oh my God. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m proposing,” he answered a bit too logically. I almost expected him to add a Duh to the end of his explanation.
“Uh…” I cleared my throat and began backing away with Ava. “We’ll just be down the—”
But Lucy cried, “No!” She sent me a hard look, letting me know she’d skin me alive if I left her alone with Trick. “I mean, there’s no reason for you to go anywhere,” she added a little more calmly. “Since Trick’s going to stop being ridiculous and stand his ass back up. Right now.” Using the hand that she was still clutching her french fry bag with, she attempted to hook her grip under his armpit and manually haul him back to his feet. But failed.
Stuck standing there and bearing witness to this moment, I looked down at the baby in my arms, hoping she’d cry or something to give me a reason to take her away because I had a very strong feeling Lucy would make me stay otherwise.
Duke would get such a kick out of this moment, especially my discomfort. I could already hear his laugh in my head whenever I told him—
Which I wasn’t going to do, because he was no longer around to tell anything.
Damn, I’d forgotten that for a moment.
Across the room, Trick huffed out a breath and finally stood back up at Lucy’s persistent prodding. “But, Luce,” he grumbled. “Be reasonable. Please.”
“I am!” she cried, gaping at him as if he’d lost his mind. “And I’ve gotta say, the only unreasonable person I see in this room right now is you. I mean, what in God’s name are you thinking, proposing freaking marriage to me? Holy shit, Trick.”
“I’m thinking you need help,” he ground out. “You should not be doing this alone.”
“I’m fine,” she muttered, setting her Wendy’s on a side table so she could face off with Trick free-handed. And those hands went straight to her hips. “I feel like I’m doing just fine, thank you very much.”
“I know you’re doing fine,” he allowed with an affectionate smile. “You’re doing great. But raising a child by yourself has got to be hard.”
“I can handle hard,” she shot back as if offended to think someone else didn’t believe in her.
“You can,” Trick agreed again, too quickly, which caused Lucy to frown. “But you’re one of my best friends on earth. I don’t want you to have to deal with hard if you don’t have to.”
“Oh, Trick.” Lucy sighed as if exhausted. Then she pushed a hand through her hair. “You stupid, lovable idiot. What am I going to do with you?”
“Marry me?” he suggested, opening his arms and offering her an encouraging smile.
She huffed out a short laugh. “I’m not going to marry you.”
His smile fell, but I also noted a hint of relief in his eyes. “And why not?”
“Because I don’t think anyone should get married just because of a child. They should get married because they want to spend the rest of their lives together, as a team. Because they freaking love each other.”
“Hey, I freaking love you just fine. Don’t you love me?”
“Yeah,” she sniffed in disgust. “Of course. But like a brother.”
“Really?” Trick seemed to brighten at that notion. “That’s sweet. And here, I always saw you as more of a cousin.”
Ava picked that moment to let out a healthy belch.
Trick and Lucy paused their discussion to look my way.
I backed away. “We’re just…going to be anywhere but here.” And I hightailed it out of the room, hurrying down the hall until I hit the nursery.
