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“I-I tried to pretend it didn’t bother me. I thought that by l-letting her plan the wedding, she would f-finally really see me again. That we could bond and get back to the way things were…before.”
“I overheard some of this from her, Lu.” She lifted her head, a frown wrinkling her brow as she wiped at her wet eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“Lana was tearing into her about how she’s been treating you. Something I didn’t even know about, by the way. But your sister was making sure Layla knew she had seen it and wasn’t going to stand for it anymore. Then the others started in on her too. Your mom… She didn’t do it because she’s mad at you, but at herself.”
“Then why is she taking it out on me?” she breathed, her face so pale her lips were bloodless. “Why is she punishing me if she’s mad at herself?”
I pressed my lips to her cheek. “I don’t know, Lu. I wish I did, but I don’t.”
“It hurts, Harris,” she clenched her eyes shut and dropped her head onto my shoulder. “It hurts so much.”
Tears stung my eyes at the pain I heard in her voice. I touched my lips to the top of her h
ead. “I’m sorry, sweetness.”
We sat there for a long while. I held her while she cried, kissed away her tears when they began to drown her, and whispered how much I loved her until the tears slowed and she grew sleepy. Shifting her on my lap, I wiped the last of the tears from her cheeks.
“I’m sorry I let you down, Lu.”
The wrinkled brow returned. “You haven’t.”
I brushed a soft kiss over her lips, but I shook my head as I lifted it. “Yeah, I have. I let the moms push me out of helping with all these plans. I let things get out of control when I should have been helping you from day one. I’m mad as fuck at Nat right now, but I’m to blame for all this craziness too.”
“I-I just thought you didn’t want to help…”
“I’m sorry I let you believe that. The truth is, I was a little hurt you didn’t want me to be a part of the planning,” I confessed.
“But that’s not true!”
I kissed her again, this time a little deeper. “I realize that now. Actually, I feel really stupid and selfish that I haven’t realized how miserable you’ve been lately. I’m so sorry, sweetness. Can you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive you for. I’m the one who should be apologizing. I’m sorry for not talking to you about all of this, babe. My communication skills have seriously sucked lately. But I’ll try to do better.”
“We’ll both do better.” I stretched us out on the couch. She lay back, and I stayed on my side so I could look down at her. Her eyes were heavy. Unloading everything had been exhausting, but she was already less tense than she had been. I traced my fingertips over her brow. “You know, we could just say fuck all this and get hitched in Vegas. Both your parents and mine went that route.”
A genuine smile teased at her lips. “That’s what Drake was saying earlier. And I’ll admit, the idea has crossed my mind a handful of times over the last few weeks.”
“But?”
“But I want a real wedding. With the people we love there to witness us exchanging vows. And I really want my dad to walk me down the aisle.”
I kissed the tip of her nose. “I can make both of those things happen. Tell me what you want, sweetness. You want the moon? I’ll find a way to give it to you.”
Her laugh warmed me to my soul, wiping away the last of the fear from earlier. “Tempting, but no thanks, babe. I don’t need the moon when you’re my sun.”
I brushed my lips over hers, but before I could deepen the kiss, my phone started making angry noises. Groaning, I lifted my head until our eyes met. “Bet that’s Nat.”
“Probably,” she grumbled. “Let’s ignore it, though.”
Her phone went off before mine could even stop. “If we don’t answer, you know they’ll just show up here.”
“I really don’t want to deal with any of them right now,” she muttered, turning her head away.
I hated seeing that look on her face. Pissed off at both our moms, I dropped another kiss on her lips. “Go pack a bag.”
“What? Why?”
