Into the Storm (Signal Bend #3)(89)

Major creepy factor.”

“Thanks, Lilli.” Lori smiled. “Hi, Show. How are you?”

“I’m good, Lori. You look good.” Her smile widened. She wasn’t much of a looker—straight, limp hair of no particular color, really skinny on top, a little too much junk in her trunk. But she was one of those people who was always smiling. No matter how bad shit got, she found the upside. Sometimes that bright attitude was hard to take, but usually it made her almost pretty, that light that shone from her eyes. She was a genuinely good person. Probably why she’d always gotten free auto care.

She also had a well known taste for murder mysteries and really macabre and violent stories. The bloodier and gorier the better. If it had zombies, or vampires or werewolves, or serial killers, or just hardcore ass-whooping, she was in.

“I don’t guess you have the new Stephen King?”

Lilli sighed and shook her head. “Nope. New is what we’re still struggling with, I’m sorry to say. If it’s not out in paperback, we can’t really afford it yet. Working on that, though.”

Once Lori had her books checked out, she waved and went on her way. When they were alone again, Lilli returned to sit next to Show.

“Okay. So what’d you do?”

“Asked her to marry me.”

“Well, yeah. Like three weeks ago. Did she change her mind?”

Shannon had answered yes right away, and Show had felt a warm kind of wonder. He’d never proposed like that, just because he wanted to. When he and Holly decided to get married, that had been a whole different deal. That had been about stepping up and doing what was right. Asking Shannon had been about being in love, getting what he wanted. And she hadn’t hesitated.

“No. I don’t think so, anyway. But she’s pissed, and I don’t get it. I usually do okay, figuring women out. But I’m lost this time.”

“So why’s she pissed?”

“I’m trying to get her to plan the wedding she wants, but she won’t do it. Every time I bring it up, the damn thing gets smaller. I keep telling her I can afford whatever she wants to do, but she keeps saying stupid sh—stuff like barbecue, and getting married in the woods.”

“Maybe that’s what she wants.”

He shook his head. “Can’t be. She’s been making other people’s perfect days for years. I want her to have a better day than any of those.”

“Show. You’ve got a blind spot with Shannon. I haven’t talked to her about any of this, but maybe she wants something small because planning weddings is what she does for work. Maybe her perfect day is getting married in the woods and a barbecue after. Something relaxing and quiet.”

“It doesn’t make any damn sense. Everything about her is perfect. She’s the most put-together woman I’ve ever known. She matches her underwear to her outfits. She has six different curling iron things for her hair. She has a whole drawer just for scarves. A whole shelf of nail polish. A woman like that wants a wedding with lace and roses and violins.”

“And yet she loves a biker. She doesn’t seem so superficial to me.”

“She’s not superficial. That’s not what I meant. At all. I just don’t want her to think she can’t have the wedding she wants because of me.”

Lilli didn’t respond. She just sat there, staring at him, one eyebrow up. Gia came over, chanting “Unca, Unca, Unca,” again, and he picked her up and sat her on his knee. Lilli was still staring.

“What? I asked for advice. Staring at me like I’m a moron isn’t it.”

“Sounds to me like she’s telling you what she wants, and you’re telling her no.”

With Gia lazing back on his chest, her thumb in her mouth, one of her chubby legs swinging where it dangled off his lap, Show took a mental step back and thought about what Lilli had said.

He wanted her to have the wedding she deserved. After so many years of making other women’s weddings beautiful, she should have a day that put all those to shame. It’s what he wanted for her. But she kept deflecting him, telling him she didn’t need all that. He’d been sure it was because of him. Who he was, how he looked. This morning, tangled together in bed after sex, he’d told her that he loved her enough to wear a tux for her. He’d thought it was a sweet thing to say. It was also true.

But she’d practically growled and thrown the covers back, pushing him off her. Standing naked at the side of their bed, she’d said, “Fuck you, Show. Have the wedding you want. I’ll see if I’m free that day.”

Then she’d stormed into the bathroom and hadn’t come out. Perplexed and pissed himself, he’d gotten dressed, gone to the door and said he’d see her tonight, and he’d left. He’d showered at the clubhouse.

She really wanted a small wedding. He didn’t know why he’d gotten so bound up in the idea that she had to have a fancy one—he hated all that kind of crap. He’d just gotten it in his head that she deserved a wedding bigger and better than any one she’d planned…

But she’d have to plan her own, too. Shit. Something relaxing and quiet, Lilli had said. Something she didn’t have to stress out over. Something she could enjoy.

“Yeah, I am a moron.”

Lilli laughed and leaned over to rub his knee. She lingered, wrapping her hand around her daughter’s leg and giving it an affectionate shake. A sleepy Gia sat up and reached toward her, and Lilli gathered her up and tucked her on her shoulder. “No, you’re not. You’re in the middle of your own stuff. Hard to see from the middle. I think it’s sweet that you want to give her a fancy wedding. But, speaking as a woman who had a quickie wedding in a Reno hotel and thought it was perfect, fancy weddings aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. I can’t think who’d know that better than Shannon.”