And she knew her God would not give her two beautiful, kind, loving, loyal men who made her happy only to take both of them away.
She knew this.
She also knew that He expected you to work at earning the goodness in life.
Travis had been easy.
Hap was proving difficult.
She did not mind.
In the end, God was going to give her the opportunity to have the best of both worlds.
This would not come without pain and suffering.
But then, what in life mattered if it didn’t?
No?
She saw a sign go by as Hap drove.
“I’m hungry,” she declared.
“Babe, we ate two hours ago.”
“I saw a sign for Bojangles. There’s one off this next exit.”
“You want Bo’s?”
He sounded intrigued.
Yes, she very much loved this man.
“I’m uncertain I can make it to the beach without chicken and biscuits.”
“Yeah, I feel the same way.”
Luci looked at Hap again. “You want chicken and biscuits?”
He glanced at her before looking back to the road and hitting his turn signal.
“No, baby. What you said earlier. I feel the same way.”
She wasn’t certain what he was talking about.
“A woman who can down two waffles and four smoky links and two hours later need chicken and biscuits,” he muttered. “Yeah. I feel the same way.”
Luci was still confused.
Until she remembered.
And you would not be with me if you didn’t feel the same.
That was what she’d said earlier, after she’d told him she was falling in love with him.
It was like he sensed she understood this because he lifted her hand to his mouth and touched his lips to her knuckles before he dropped both their hands to his thigh.
And he kept hold all the while exiting. All the while navigating the roads to the drive-thru.
In fact, Hap didn’t let her go until he had to pull out his wallet to pay for their food.
And Luci was just fine with that.
He could hold her hand as long as he wanted.
Hap Cunningham could hold her hand forever.
And she hoped, symbolically, he would.
I Wish
Luci
“WHAT’S GOING ON?”
Luci was pacing Sam and Kia’s living room, their sweet, little dog, Memphis, trotting at her heels thinking it was a game, her eyes aimed out the windows to the deck where Hap and Sam were talking.
“Luci, honey, you both show, Hap barely says ‘hey’ before he asks Sam outside . . . what’s going on?”
Kia’s question came at her again, and Luci stopped pacing to look at her friend.
Memphis yapped.
Both women ignored her.
Kia was showing now, slightly, and like many women, she was even more beautiful carrying a child than when she was not.
Luci thought of this only briefly.
“Hap came to me last Saturday to work things out,” she announced.
“Yeah, I guessed that when you two showed here together,” Kia replied, watching her closely.
“He wished to find a way to take us back to where we were before we . . . you know.”
Kia nodded. “I know.”
“Instead, we made love and spent most of the rest of the weekend in bed.”
Kia’s eyes became huge.
“He drove out to come get me on Wednesday. I’ve been with him at his home until today. Now he will be with me at my home until he has to leave tomorrow,” Luci told her.
“You’re together?” Kia breathed.
Luci straightened her shoulders and wished she could smile, but she was too worried about what was happening on the deck, so she could not.
“Yes, cara, we’re together,” she confirmed.
Kia’s face grew bright with happiness, a smile growing wide on her mouth before her expression darkened and she turned her head to look out the window.
Luci looked out the window as well.
Body language was not good.
Both men seemed tense. Hap was talking. Sam’s face was made of stone.
Merda.
“Yes, Hap is very concerned how Sam will take it,” she muttered in answer to Kia’s unspoken comment.
“Maybe I should go out there,” Kia muttered in return.
“I do not think Hap would welcome that,” Luci told her.
“Honey,” Kia called, and Luci pried her eyes from the men on the deck to look at her friend. “Are things going well?”
She could not say they were going well.
She could say she thought she was getting somewhere.
“He’s an exceptional lover.”
Kia’s smile came back. It was hesitant this time, but it was there.
“Well, that’s good.”
“He has issues that are not mine to share, cara, but even though some of them have to do with Travis . . . and Sam, most of them are all Hap’s.”
“Oh man,” Kia mumbled.
“We’re working through them,” Luci stated, and even she heard the defiance in her voice. Then again, she felt the same in her heart. “But when we’re not, he’s lovely, Kia. You know how he is. He’s Hap. He’s funny and he’s sweet and he’s loving. He’s also honest and forthright and that’s so very refreshing. And he makes me dinner and tells me stories of growing up in Iowa.” She drew in breath and let it out, sharing, “Bellisima, he makes me happy.”
Kia studied her a moment and then replied, “Good.” Her head tilted a bit before she went on to ask, “But . . . I don’t get . . .” She shook her head and carried on, “It’s kind of new, so isn’t it kind of soon for Hap to be taking it there with Sam?”
“He thought, and I have to admit I agree, that if we let too much time pass with us as we are now without sharing with Sam, he would be even angrier, thinking we were keeping it from him.”
Kia sounded like she didn’t want to say her next. “I have to admit, I agree with that too, even if it isn’t right and you don’t owe that to Sam.”
“Hap feels he does, and since he does, I’m here to support him while he does what he feels he must do.”
Kia’s gaze was still sharp on her when she noted, “I can’t tell from what you’re giving me if I’m happy for you.”
Luci forced her face to soften. “You can be happy for me, my friend.” She tipped her head to indicate the deck. “I’m just worried about what’s happening out there.”
Kia’s words were now cautious. “If Hap allows Sam to—”
Before she could finish that, Luci butted in. “He won’t. He’ll find it difficult if Sam reacts badly, but he cares deeply for me. He’ll be upset but he’ll move past it. No.” She shook her head. “It’s not that. It’s how I will feel if Sam hurts Hap, and in doing that, hurts me by hurting Hap and standing in the way of our happiness.”
“Yeah,” Kia murmured, her eyes drifting back to the window. “I won’t be too happy if my man pulls that crap either.”
“It’ll be all right,” Luci assured, and Kia looked again to her.
“That’s my line.”
It was at that, Luci finally smiled.
Her smile didn’t last long before she tensed and looked to the windows.
At what Luci saw, she instantly moved to the door.
She was just arriving there when it was opened by Hap, his angry eyes searing into her and his voice was gravel when he declared, “Babe, we’re going.”