AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I think so, but that is just my opinion. I did mess up pretty royally in the beginning. On more than one occasion.”
West hadn’t even told Abby who he was when they first met and had their vacation fling. But once they were back home, he had planned to tell her.
It was just Abby found out first and that started the first of many little arguments and insecurities between the two.
“That’s why I’m learning from your mistakes,” he said, laughing.
“I’m here,” Laken said, running in the door. “Sorry, I overslept and that isn’t like me.”
“You should have been off this weekend,” Braylon said to his sister.
“There is no such thing as being off. You know that. But if you got a few days off, good for you.”
He sighed. “I didn’t do much more than check email on Wednesday and Thursday. I took care of a few things Friday morning, then Lily showed me around Lake Placid.”
“Lily?” Laken asked. “When did you start calling her that?”
“When her family greeted her that way. Guess she’s always gone by it and when she moved here she wanted to be more professional.”
“Oh,” Laken said. “I can see that. You guys don’t know what it’s like being a woman and trying to work your way up.”
They’d heard this more than once. “Nope, we have different body parts,” he said. “But Lily said later that those that she is closest to, those she loves and love her, call her Lily.”
“Are you in loooooooove?” Laken asked.
“I am. I told her. I’m not holding anything back. As I said to West before you ran in here, I learned from his mistakes and am not making any of my own.”
“Please,” Laken said. “You aren’t as perfect as you think you are.”
“Mom tells me I am,” he said.
“Speaking of Mom,” West said, “she understood why you weren’t there for Thanksgiving, but she brought up Christmas a few times.”
“I’ll be there with Lily. I’m going to call her soon and tell her.”
“Good,” Laken said. “Or not good because the more of you that start falling, the more Mom is looking at the rest of us.”
“Maybe if you showed this side of yourself to men they wouldn’t run for the hills so fast.”
“Hey,” Laken said. “If they aren’t strong enough to stand up to me or stick around, then they aren’t good enough for me.”
“Laken will never let any man walk all over her,” West said. “And we taught her that.”
“I know,” he said. “But sometimes you’ve got to bend. You know that now, West.”
His big brother only grinned. “I do. I got the woman in the end. I’ll talk to Abby and see if Trevor wants to fly with us for Christmas. I know Mom wants to meet him. They will have wedding plans to talk about. Trevor isn’t paying for a thing, but I know he is going to want to.”
“That’s low,” Laken said. “Using Mom to sweet talk the guy into letting you do it and tell him how wonderful of a person you are.”
“You do what you have to,” West said. “And I am a wonderful person. Trevor knows that now. He gave me his blessing for the engagement. Even told me what ring to get.”
He’d seen the picture of the ring. Not nearly as big as he expected his brother to do, but Trevor would have told West that Abby would never wear anything bigger. If he knew his brother, the band would be equally as big to make up for it.
Which just reminded him of the fake two-carat diamond that Lily had worn before. He’d never get anything that small.
But she was like Abby too and might not want anything bigger.
Then he wondered why he was thinking those things when he’d known her less than three months, been dating about two.
