Kenzi raised her head and her eyebrows shot to her hairline.
He smiled and gave her a brief kiss on the lips. “But then, if you survive the wedding planning, it’s all good.”
With a playful elbow nudge, Kenzi said, “You wait. You’ll pay for that one.”
The couple was momentarily lost in each other’s eyes. Lance and everyone else looked away. Lance circled back to his problem. “I screwed up. She was about to tell me she loved me, and I bolted. Then I didn’t call her. Now she’s not answering my calls.”
“Oh, Lance,” Kenzi said. “No wonder she’s been avoiding me.”
Emily added, “She’s been working on a sculpture at my museum every night. You should see it. It’s incredible.”
“Have you thought about hiring her to cover for you when you’re on maternity leave?” Dax asked.
Sophie tipped her head in question. “She’s not working at your office?”
Lance found it amusing to watch Dax weigh being honest with pleasing his future mother-in-law. “She’s an artist at heart. She’d be happier in a museum setting.”
“Good save,” Ian interjected softly.
Lance turned and erased the board then picked up the marker again. Dax’s suggestion had given him an idea. “Proposing is the next logical step. And the way I see it, there are only a couple of viable places I should ask her. But first I have to get her there. While you’re all here . . .”
There were a few groans from around the room, but no one moved to leave. He started listing places he knew Willa loved and adding pros and cons next to each. He also added the idea of showing her in some concrete fashion how important she was to him.
Reminiscent of how his family was when they played Pictionary together, everyone started calling out suggestions. Lance paused before writing down each idea and looked around at those gathered for the single purpose of helping him. My family. This is what my friends imagine I have when I tell them I’m from a large family. Asher bringing Emily home changed us, woke us up. Maybe things won’t go back to how they were before. Maybe good things really can last. It gave him hope, not only within his family, but within himself.
And with Willa.
He knew that one day soon he’d have to discuss what he’d discovered in Aruba, but he wanted Willa at his side when he did. His father wanted them to do things better than he had. Lance wanted to share his life with Willa—the best and the worst of whatever was to come. Together, they could weather any storm.
Family and love.
It had taken him a long time, but he finally believed in both, and with his family’s help, he’d convince Willa to do the same.
Chapter Eighteen
A few days later after the museum was closed, Willa and Lexi walked into the Harris Tactile Museum. After checking in with a staff member, Willa asked Lexi to don a blindfold. Her sculpture was finished and on display in the main hallway. Willa wanted her sister to experience it first through touch.
Lexi laughed, put the blindfold on, then held her arm out for her sister to take. “Lead away. When you said you were embracing your artistic side, I had no idea how serious you were. I can’t wait to see—I mean feel what you made. It must be good if Emily is letting you showcase it.”
Emily’s reaction had been incredible. Yes, she cried, but . . . she was very pregnant. She cried easily. Her words, though, would ring within Willa forever. “Stunning, Willa. It’s breathtaking,” Willa had nearly fallen in shock.
Willa led her sister by the arm. “I hope you like it as much as she did. Having it included among Emily’s pieces and her mother’s makes my decision to work here that much more exciting. When I’m in this building I feel like I’m an artist.”
“You are one. You always have been.”
Willa hugged her sister’s arm. “In my heart, maybe, but I didn’t have the confidence to create anything. Don’t expect the sculpture to feel perfectly formed. It has some rough spots where I struggled to get it right, but it’s a piece of me, and Emily says that’s what makes it beautiful.”
Stopping within inches of her sculpture, Willa placed Lexi’s hands on one of the figures. Lexi explored it then said, “Is it you? I love it.”
Willa’s heart pounded joyfully as her sister seemed to genuinely appreciate the work. “Touch what she’s looking at.”
Lexi ran her hand down the surface across from her and traced the raised image on it. “Is it a mirror?”
“Yes. I tried to raise the outline of it so it would be three dimensional. What do you feel?”
“It’s you, but it’s different. So this is how you see yourself?” She felt the scar and followed it down the front of the image then moved back up to the expression on the woman’s face. “Yes, that’s perfect. You should be proud of who you are. You’re beautiful, scars and all.”