“Cindy.”
“That’s the one.”
“Are you serious?”
He was serious about a future with her. Which meant getting to know the family of the woman he loved. “Maybe they could come watch a game.”
“Rhett would totally be okay with that.”
“Then let’s make it so.”
CHAPTER 25
This was such a bad idea. Bailey touched up her lipstick in Luc’s ensuite bathroom and eyed her reflection. Tonight was supposed to be a chance for her family to get to know him better, but instead it had been a debacle. She’d thought the game starting at three on a Saturday would be perfect for her parents who didn’t like to stay up too late. But here they were, at eight PM, and her father had barely looked at Luc all night, let alone thanked him for the tickets, or tonight’s meal. And Cindy was being Catwoman tonight, snarky about everything from the food served at the game to the meal Luc had arranged tonight. She wouldn’t blame Luc if he left Bailey because he thought her family just too hard.
“Bailey?”
Speaking of the she-devil.
“Oh. Here you are.” Cindy’s gaze met her in the mirror. “Right next to his bedroom. What a surprise.”
What? “Um, I’m here because you were in the other bathroom, and I…” Her words faltered as Cindy pried open the mirrored cabinet. “What are you doing?”
“Just looking.” She closed it, shrugging. “It’d be helpful to know if the man is on drugs, don’t you think?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Well, you don’t want someone marrying into the family who is on drugs, now do you?”
Was Cindy on drugs herself? This seemed surreal. “He’s not on drugs.”
“He must be on something. Everyone’s talking about how different he is this season. Unless, he’s on…” She turned and eyed Bailey, and arched a brow.
Words drained away, her confidence, already wavering during the game, sinking to a new low. She turned then plowed into a big chest.
Luc steadied her, but didn’t move. “If you mean to suggest that we’re involved sexually, you’re wrong.”
“Okay.” Cindy flipped her hair behind her shoulder.
“And,” Luc’s voice could turn flowers into stones, “you owe Bailey an apology for insinuating such a thing.”
“Did I insinuate? Or did you just hear what everyone else is thinking?”
Bailey’s breath hitched, and she felt how Luc stiffened as Cindy smiled and sauntered out. Clearly he was as shocked by her sister-in-law’s behavior as she was, but as host he didn’t want to kick her out. “I’m so sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize, Bails.”
She still felt like she did.
“She doesn’t like you, does she?” he murmured.
“I don’t know what I ever did to make her hate me so much.”
“Can I kick her out?” he asked hopefully.
But that wasn’t the way to build bridges. “Maybe we can pray her out,” she said instead.
“Like ask God for an emergency phone call?”
“Something like that.”
But it didn’t take an emergency phone call, just a couple of her father’s barely hidden yawns before he said stiffly that they needed to leave soon because they had an early church service to get to tomorrow.
She caught the relief on Luc’s face, which twisted her heart, before he hid it with a polite nod of understanding. Her heart grew sore. Perhaps this was impossible, and they’d never bridge the divide. At least Luc had tried.
“Before we go,” her father eyed Luc, “I wanted to ask how old you are.”
“Dad.”
“No, it’s only reasonable that the man should tell us. If Luc wishes to be in a relationship with my daughter then I have a right to know.”
“I’ll be thirty-one next year,” Luc said evenly. “We had this conversation already, Wayne.”
They had?
“Thirty-one?” Cindy nudged Rhett. “He’s even older than you.”
