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“It is. I trusted her… fell in love with her when you told me to stay away. If I would’ve just listened to you…” He shrugged. “I could have avoided this mess.”
“What is with the negative energy in this room?” Martha asked as she breezed in, not caring that she was interrupting. “You know what you two need? Lavender.”
“Martha, this isn’t a good time,” Joe said.
She waved her hand at him to shush. “When is it ever a good time?” She came over to the desk and sat on the edge.
“Heard you got yourself in a little tizzy with one of the Moretti brothers,” she said, turning her green eyes onto Lucas.
“I don’t know if I’d call it a tizzy. He punched me.”
“They are fiercely protective of each other. So, tell me, doll, what’d you do to provoke him?”
Lucas didn’t want to have this conversation, but he figured the faster he aired his business to Martha the faster she’d leave, and he and Joe could go back to figuring out their next steps.
“Ella and I got in a fight, and she walked away crying.”
Martha snapped her head to the side, looking at his with displeasure. “Don’t you tell me you made that girl cry? She is as sweet as pie.”
“She’s also a liar.”
“Ella?” Martha laughed. “No child, she is not. You’re mixing her up with someone else.”
“Martha, this is not the time,” Joe said, but Martha ignored him.
“She did lie,” Lucas said. “She’s the only person I told about this.” He picked up the flyer then slammed it back down. “And she came up with the fundraiser idea.”
“Oh dear,” Martha said.
“So yes, she lied to me. I asked her to promise to keep it between us, and she went out plastering it all over the damn town anyway. I don’t know what her motive was, but it doesn’t matter. She betrayed me.”
“You got it all wrong.” Martha said.
“No, I’m pretty sure I got it all right,” Lucas said, the tension in his neck tightening with each word.
“I made the flyers,” Martha said, and Lucas’ head snapped to her, trying to process what she was saying.
“Excuse me?”
Martha stood from the desk and swept her gaze to both of them. “The other day when I brought the salt lamp I overheard your conversation. I wanted to help. Joe’s done so much for me and the community. I honestly thought I was helping.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” Lucas said, reclining in his seat. Ella hadn’t lied to him. She’d been telling the truth the entire time. Relief rushed through him like cold water on a hot summer day, but it quickly turned uncomfortable, drowning him in regret. If she was telling the truth then he accused her of being a liar.
Oh god, he messed up.
“You made these?” Joe asked, grabbing the flyer off the desk and holding it up to Martha. His blue eyes narrowed, anger evident in the set of his shoulders.
She, as usual, was undeterred. “Someone had to do it. Your ass is too damn stubborn to admit you need help.”
“Why do you think I called my grandson? To help me!”
“Oh please, that was just an excuse to get him here. You weren’t going to take any of his suggestions into consideration.”
“You are insufferable!” Joe yelled.
“And you’re an ass!”
Lucas ignored the two of them as he tried to figure out how the hell he was going to fix things with Ella. He finally found someone he could see himself spending the rest of his life with and he screwed it all up. He needed to not only fix what he broke, but he also needed to find a way to fix this stupid feud. Until the Prescotts and Morettis could end the decades old rivalry, he and Ella could never have their happily ever after.
