an assistant's dilemma: a kendall roy & roman roy love triangle

chapter 6

"Thank you for the plane ticket. Enjoy your shit show of a family Thanksgiving. Can't wait to hear about it," Lucy texted Roman as she boarded her plane the next morning.

"Don't mention it. Enjoy being in a different state than Kendall," he replied almost immediately. She smiled, sending a laughing reaction to the text before turning her phone on airplane mode.

Lucy's parents were eager to see her when she arrived and hugged her tightly when they picked her up at the airport. They hadn't spent Thanksgiving with their youngest daughter since she moved to New York City for college.

"So you said your boss bought you the plane ticket?," her mom inquired on the ride home.

"No, his brother," Lucy corrected her, looking out the window at the beach town she had called home her entire life.

"Well that was nice," Lucy's dad piped in.

"Younger brother?," her mom asked.

"I don't see why it matters but yeah, younger brother. He's Paige's age," she explained. Paige was Lucy's older sister. By the time she was Lucy's age, she was already married with a toddler and a newborn.

"Is he cute? Single?," her mom added.

Lucy laughed. "Cute, sure yeah I guess so. I don't know. I haven't really thought about it," she lied. "Not single though."

"That's unfortunate. This was a very nice gesture," Lucy's mom said with a teasing smile.

•••

Both of Lucy's siblings were at her parents' house for Thanksgiving the next day, as they were every year. She felt slightly guilty that she was always absent for the holiday, but was grateful to be in their presence. It gave her a distraction from pondering on her bizarre sexual interaction with Kendall. 

Paige and her husband were there with their six and four year old sons, and Lucy's brother Max was there with his husband, their ten year old daughter and their eight year old son. Paige updated Lucy on the hometown gossip and Lucy's niece talked to her about school and her soccer team. Lucy's mom spent the whole day slaving away in the kitchen, refusing any help. They all sat down to eat around 2:00.

"I'm so glad you could join us Lucy," Max's husband Tanner told her with a smile.

"We're so glad to have our baby home," Lucy's mom said. "You all know Lucy's boss?"

"The Roy kid?," Max asked, scooping sweet potato casserole onto his plate. "I mean I haven't met him but I know who you're talking about."

"His brother bought Lucy the plane ticket," her mom informed them, looking around to see if the other guests were as impressed with this gesture as she was.

"Mom stop," Lucy insisted. "It was just friendly. I already told you he's not single."

"Well that's a very nice friendly gesture," Paige said. "You could marry into a billionaire family. Imagine, our little Lucy, a billionaire."

•••

When Kendall called later that afternoon, Lucy was sitting out on the beach with Paige, enjoying a glass of wine and watching the kids run through the sand on the crisp autumn day. She missed his call, and was surprised to find a voicemail waiting for her when she checked her phone several minutes later.

"Hold on Paige, my boss left me a voicemail. I should probably check this." Lucy told her sister.

"Working on a holiday?," Paige asked with a furrowed brow.

Lucy shrugged. "Business never stops for the Roys."

Lucy walked towards the sand dunes, far enough from the crashing waves that she could hear Kendall's voice.