Page 42 of Gray Hair Don't Care
“I got into a huge fight with Mom, and Lucius said this isn’t worth it, and we’re thinking we’ll just go to the airport to get on an earlier flight for our honeymoon. We can get married by a justice of the peace when we get back to the city.”
“Sweetheart, take a deep breath.” Donovan seemed remarkably calm given what was happening. “What was the fight about?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“Because it will hurt your feelings for no good reason.” Echo crossed her arms over her chest and kicked a rock from the driveway into the grass.
“Myfeelings? How did I become part of this?” Donovan asked.
“If I answer that, I have to tell you exactly what she said, and trust me, you do not want to know what she said.”
Donovan groaned and shook his head, walking several paces away from them. “I don’t want you to worry about me. We’re all here. You’ve been planning for months. How do we get this resolved?”
“We don’t. Mom is being a bitch and I’m mad.”
“There’s got to be something we can do.” Donovan looked to Lela. He seemed completely at odds with himself. Lela had seen him like this many times, overwhelmed by the darkest forces of his mind—his feelings. “What if you talk to Lela about it?”
Lela bugged her eyes at Donovan, silently reminding him that she was not a parent and not equipped to deal with this. Plus, Genevieve only barely tolerated her.
Echo shook her head. “Lela, I don’t want to bother you with our family bullshit. I like you too much.”
That was all Lela had to hear. She liked Echo too much tonotbe there for her. “If you want to talk to me, I’m here to listen and offer my two cents.”
“Really?” Echo asked.
“Really. Where do you want to talk?”
Echo looked at the house. “Not inside. Mom and Grams are in there.”
“Down by the pond?”
“Sure. I can throw things.” Echo started off.
Lela was about to follow, but Donovan’s words stopped her. “Lela. Thanks for doing this.”
“I haven’t done anything yet.”
“Something tells me you’ll have no problem sorting this out.”
“No promises, but I’ll try.” Lela turned on her heel and hurried across the grass to catch up to Echo. Echo’s long dark hair was pulled into a side ponytail, and she was wearing a swishy skirt and a T-shirt, adopting a far more casual look here than she did when they were in the city. “One quick question before we launch into any of this, are you wearing Lela B mascara?”
“I am.” She turned to Lela as they walked. Ahead, were the chairs arranged for the ceremony that was now suddenly in question as to whether or not it would happen. “Why?”
“It’s a little smudged, that’s all. I would really worry if that was the waterproof formula.”
Echo shook her head. “It’s the regular one. I love it. It makes my lashes thick, but still soft.”
Lela smiled as they skirted the chairs and approached the water’s edge. “Good. I’m glad to hear it.”
Echo bent over and picked up a fat twig, casting it into the water. “Hopefully we can sell a boatload of it.”
“I hope so, too.” Lela didn’t want to talk about work. Echo was in the middle of a crisis. “Do you want to tell me what your mom said?”
This time, Echo picked up a rock and launched it into the pond. “I was talking about how well things are going at work with dad and she got super mad. She said that I was acting like nothing ever happened. She said that he’s hurt me more than any person in my life and I shouldn’t let him back in so easily.”
Wow.Lela wasn’t really sure what to say to that. She could see it from both sides. “What did you say?”
