Page 31 of The Grump I Loathe (The Lockhart Brothers #3)
CONNOR
“ G race told me she wants to go to Italy,” Finn said as we sat in Cora’s, a chain breakfast joint near the private airstrip we used. We’d moved our last weekly September lunch to breakfast in order to see Mom and X off to Italy in an hour.
“She just wants to go there to eat pizza and pasta,” I said.
“And there’s nothing wrong with that,” Finn said, working his way through a plate of breakfast tacos.
Liam had opted for a stack of pancakes the size of his head. “God, I have to bring Mia here,” he said. “Her cravings for French toast at odd hours of the morning have been out of control.”
“They’re open twenty-four seven,” I said.
“And this sweet and spicy maple butter…” He groaned in happiness.
“Gotta squeeze the fun in while you can,” Finn said. “Once the baby gets here, it’ll be no sleep and diapers and round-the-clock feedings. No more pancakes for you. Right?” he said, elbowing me in the arm. “Tell him. You remember those days. ”
“I don’t actually,” I muttered. “It’s all a sleep-deprived blur.” I didn’t want to think about those early days anyway, back when things were still good between me and Ali. Not perfect, but who actually expects to be perfectly happy? I thought we were happy enough in our little family bubble.
“What’s up with you?” Liam asked.
“What?”
“I don’t know. You’ve got your brooding face on. Either Sawyer and Ali have annoyed you or something else is going on. Is it Mom?”
“No.” I cracked my knuckles. “It’s nothing, I’m fine.”
“Oh,” Finn said, stealing a sausage off my plate. “You’re cracking your knuckles. Something is definitely on your mind. Spill.”
I looked at my hands, having no idea where to start.
With Eddie and the fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about her?
Couldn’t help wanting to gush about her the way my brothers did Mia and Sierra?
Or did I start with the fact my ex was getting married this weekend, making promises of forever she hadn’t been able to keep when she’d made them to me?
Not that I wanted Ali to be the one to love me forever, but it still made me feel like a failure to think of how it had all fallen apart.
“I guess I am just thinking about Mom and the trip,” I said, glossing over everything else. “Worried about whether she has everything she needs.”
“I tried to help with the itinerary,” Finn said, “but Mom wouldn’t let me do any more than schedule the plane. She said you helped with her travel documentation and her new work laptop. How’d you get around that?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t exactly ask.” After all these years, I was good at anticipating Mom’s needs. The paperwork to enter the country. Adding an international plan to her phone. Sorting out her tech to make sure she could work on her next writing project while in Italy.
“If I’d asked, she would have told me she had it under control, then she would have regretted it when she got there and it wasn’t sorted.
” I just wanted to make sure she enjoyed herself and that there weren’t any hiccups that might stress her out.
“I know X will be there, but he’ll be working.
He isn’t going to be around to help with everything. ”
Liam put his hand up for the check, glancing at the time on his phone. “Speaking of which, we should probably run. They’ll be arriving any moment.”
Liam paid, and we made our way over to the airport, meeting Mom and X in the tiny private lounge. Mom looked relaxed, clad in a breezy cream pantsuit, her hair pinned back with gold clips, and a latte in her hand.
“You made it!” she announced as we walked in.
“Of course we made it,” Liam said. “We promised to see you off.”
She hugged him first. “Yes, well, I know how busy you all are.” She pulled back, prodding his chest. “And you call me immediately if you think this baby is coming early. I’ll hop right on a plane and fly back.”
Liam nodded, assuring her everything would be fine. She hugged Finn next. “Thank Sierra for all her wardrobe recommendations. I’ll be the best-dressed lady in Italy.”
She grabbed me next. “Goodbye, sweetheart. Try not to fret over this weekend. Oh! And tell Grace to video me once she’s in her flower girl outfit. I’m sure she’s going to look lovely.”
“I will,” I said, once again trying not to think too hard about Ali’s wedding or the fact that since Mom wouldn’t be around, I was now responsible for figuring out Grace’s hair.
“Don’t forget that there’s a nine-hour time difference between here and Italy.
So leave your ringer on at night so we can get a hold of you if there are?—”
Mom squeezed my hand. “Please don’t worry. Everything will be lovely. And if there’s any trouble, X will be there.”
That didn’t make me feel any better. My gaze cut across to X, standing on the tarmac, talking to the co-pilot, travel bags in hand.
Mom tugged on my hand, giving me a serious look. “If you can trust me with Grace, then you can trust me with myself.”
“I do trust you,” I said, which was the truth. It was just that I didn’t trust the unpredictability of the rest of the world. I kissed her cheek. “Have a great time. We’ll see you when you get back.”
She chuckled excitedly, setting off to meet X on the tarmac. I stood and waved after her with my brothers.
“Don’t look so stressed,” Liam said, clapping me on the shoulder. “Mom’ll be fine.”
“I know.” But if everything fell apart, she’d be on the other side of the world.
Even with the jet, it would take half a day to reach her.
I couldn’t think about that though, because my focus needed to be on surviving this weekend.
I sucked in a deep breath, longing for an Eddie-shaped distraction and one of her signature mischievous grins.
“Why don’t we call Grandma and ask her what dress she likes better?” I suggested as Grace threw herself down on the bed, face-first, wrinkling one of her rehearsal dinner dress options.
“Because it’s like the middle of the night in Italy!” she huffed, rubbing her head against the comforter and messing up her hair .
“How’d you know that?” I asked, picking up the hairbrush, preparing to fix the frizzy monstrosity I was about to be greeted with.
“I Googled,” she muttered, annoyed. I’d been helping her get ready for the wedding rehearsal for the better part of an hour now.
A curt text from Ali informed me I was only invited to the dinner portion, not to the rehearsal itself, and that Grace was to be waiting in the hotel lobby at six.
But at this rate, neither of us was going to be on time because she couldn’t decide between two perfectly nice dresses, and every time I made a suggestion, she glared at me hard enough to burn a hole in my forehead.
Grace stood up, looked at herself in the mirror again, then flopped her arms at her sides. “I hate this one!” She whirled around, stomping back across the room before I caught her around the middle, forcing her to sit next to me on one of the beds. “Let me go!”
“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
“Nothing,” she said, screwing up her face to stop her lip from trembling. It didn’t work.
“ Grace ,” I said softly, leaving the conversation open.
She sucked in a sharp breath, her little nostrils flaring. “I don’t want Mom to marry Sawyer, okay ?” She nose-dived into my chest the moment she said it.
“Why not?” I asked. “I thought you said he was… chill ?”
“Yeah, for a grownup. But not for a stepdad. He doesn’t even want to hang out with us when I’m around. And every time she canceled on me, it was to go do something with Sawyer instead. What if I start to see Mom even less once they’re married? I barely see her now!”
I swallowed hard, fury bubbling inside my chest. This was what I was worried about. Ali’s constant flaking was going to rub off on Grace, and I never wanted her to feel unwanted . “That’s not going to happen.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’m going to make sure you always see your mom, okay? I bet after the wedding and the honeymoon are out of the way, things will go back to normal, and you’ll have a more regular schedule together.” I’d do whatever it took to make sure of it.
Grace smiled a bit. “You’re right. All this stuff is almost over.”
“Exactly.” I swept her bangs out of her eyes. “Now c’mon. Let’s stick with the blue dress and get down there before I get in trouble with Mom.”
Grace bounded to her feet. “ Daaaad , it’s teal,” she said, quick to correct me. “Like Eddie’s new hair.”
That got a smile out of me as I adjusted the pins in her hair. Eddie had recently re-dyed the colored streaks in her hair, and it had been all Grace could talk about for a fortnight. “All right, looking good.”
Grace nodded at her reflection. “You’re getting better.”
“All those YouTube tutorials.”
She gave me a fist bump, then stuffed her feet into her shoes, and I escorted her down to the hotel ballroom, passing her off to Ali and parking myself in the lobby while I waited for the rehearsal part to finish. My phone vibrated as I leaned against a pillar—a text from Eddie.
I like the suit. It’s very James Bond.
I huffed a laugh. I was going for Goldeneye.
My eyes flicked up, though I tried not to make it too obvious as I spied her on the other side of the lobby, newly arrived in a crowd with Noah, Leigh, and a bunch of the LockMill staff.
She looked over her shoulder and winked in my direction quickly.
She’d called it our secret spy signal, and I fought the smile that tugged at my lips.
“Why didn’t you just invite Eddie as your plus-one if you’re gonna give her goo-goo eyes all weekend?”
I almost jumped out of my suit, whirling around to find Max standing there, an overnight bag tossed over his shoulder. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I texted and told you the office was doing a spur-of-the-moment weekend hang.”
“I thought you meant back in San Francisco,” I said, frowning.