It's ya girl once again back at it with updating at gremlin hours! Currently very unhinged and hating life and this chapter! Please enjoy the food, lovelies. ~Shaymie

Luke

"Check it out," Angela murmured lowly, subtly nodding her head towards the kitchen.

Luke followed her gaze, chills slightly running down his spine at how pretty her husky voice sounded when it was quiet like that. She was self-conscious about it and said that she wished her voice was prettier like Molly's. He liked her voice a lot, especially when she'd whisper flirty things in his ear. It was definitely one of her favorite things to do.

He saw what she was pointing out. Chase was completely enamored with Molly's singing and piano playing, a small smile on his face. It was a smile he only saved for her. Before the sisters moved here, Luke's never seen Chase genuinely smile. He was convinced that the chef just hated the world for some reason.

"It looks like Mr. Grumpy's started to realize how pretty Molls is. But I can't tell if he actually likes her or if he's just infatuated with her looks." Angela took a sip of her drink, her eyes narrowing. "Because if he actually likes her then he's definitely not doing himself any fucking favors by bringing home random women. It's not going to make Molly jealous. All he'll end up doing is hurt her feelings."

She looked about ready to commit murder just thinking about it. Luke reached across the table and grabbed her hand. She visibly relaxed with a sigh and smiled, quietly apologizing for almost ruining their date. He shook his head and lifted her hand so he could kiss the back of it. It's only natural for her to worry about Molly. She was more sensitive than her sister, and something about her seemed to wake up everyone's protective instincts. Even Pops worried about her sometimes, telling Luke to make sure she was eating hearty meals because he thought she was small for a farmer.

"So, what's the big surprise you mentioned?" Angela asked, cheeks tinted just the slightest bit of pink. Luke straightened up with a grin. He's been working hard getting everything together, but it took a lot of help. Owen was setting things up at the beach right now with Bo, and Chase was heading over to cook once he took his break. Hayden was even in on it and agreed to let Chase take as long as he needed.

All it took was the mention of Molly's name and the chef was down to help. Maybe he's more whipped than Luke initially thought.

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told ya!"

"It's already not a surprise because you told me you were planning it! At this point it's just a secret. You don't want to keep secrets from me, do you?" Angela pouted prettily, batting her lashes, and it took all of Luke's self-control to not spill the beans right there. She always knew just what to do to get him right where she wanted him. Her beauty was a weapon that she definitely knew how to use to her advantage. How could she not see it for herself?

Then again, four years in a relationship with someone emotionally distant must have really had an effect on her. He hated seeing her cry when she asked him to stay with her the morning after the festival. It was like she expected him to just leave her when she was clearly upset. Did her ex do that to her a lot? She mentioned breaking up with him around the time that her father died but didn't say anything more. She didn't seem comfortable talking about that time in her life and he wasn't going to pressure her into talking about something she clearly didn't want to.

"I'll show you later, after our date."

She perked up at that, chocolate eyes twinkling like stars. He liked sexy, teasing Angela, but there was something even more beautiful about her when she got excited like this over sweet romantic gestures. He had a feeling she hadn't seen enough of them. She was ecstatic when he asked her out on a date tonight.

She luckily dropped the topic of the surprise and started talking about her plans for fall. With the money she saved on the room, she decided to buy another field. This one, she said, would be dedicated to Blue Mist flowers. She heard from Anissa that the flowers brought in a lot of money. Molly was going to be in charge of them for the most part since Angela didn't really have the patience to care for something as delicate as flowers.

"I'll make sure to plant a special patch of spinach just for you," Angela said, tucking a loose bit of hair behind her ear. She was wearing half of it up in a ponytail, which showed off her new undercut. Luke liked her hair like that, though he thought she'd look pretty no matter how she wore her hair. She said that she was thinking of piercing her ears and nose again and he was all for it. He liked looking at the old pictures of her sitting in an album on her shelf.

"She packed my bags last night, pre-flight..."

Molly flowed seamlessly from one song to the next, a serene expression on her face. She looked right at home in front of the piano. Angela said that everyone in their family could play an instrument, but their father couldn't afford lessons for all of them. Kasey took guitar lessons and then came home and taught Angela what he'd learned. When they moved away, he was the one who kept their shared guitar. Molly learned piano from her former best friend's father.

Chase left for his "break" halfway through the song, coincidentally at the same time Selena came into the bar. Angela raised an eyebrow when the dancer walked over to Molly, leaning against the piano with a flirtatious smile. Molly gasped, the music coming to a stop and her cheeks flushing as Selena greeted her. Luke caught a hint of an envious look in Chase's eyes before he fully left. The bar door slammed shut behind him.

"Chase...?" Molly looked at the door with a frown. Her attention was quickly grabbed by Selena joining her on the bench. Angela drank the rest of her cocktail and watched Selena ask Molly for dancing lessons, saying that she was curious about ballet and had looked Molly up in her free time. Luke was curious, too. Molly had apparently been some kind of prodigy back in the city. That had to mean that she was really good, right?

"You're very talented." The dancer's voice was practically a purr as she brushed a stray curl behind Molly's ear and cupped her deeply reddening cheek. She leaned in closer, until their lips were practically touching. Molly looked like she was going to pass out. "I think you'd be an excellent teacher. Maybe I could also teach you a thing or two."

"O-Oh... I don't think I could dance like you do."

"I wasn't talking about dancing."

Luke glanced at Angela. She was normally super protective of her sister but she seemed content to just let this play out, dark eyes gleaming in curiosity. Selena didn't stay for long. She left once she got Molly to agree to a handful of dance lessons at her house, shooting the poor flustered girl a wink over her shoulder. Angela whistled lowly and excused herself so she could check on her sister.

This... wasn't at all what Luke had expected to happen on their date.

"Welcome to the Summer Festival! Uh... sorta. We had to wing it a bit."

Angela and Molly were slowly looking around the beach in awe. Luke had to admit, Owen and Bo were definitely miracle workers. The beach looked magical with the lit tiki torches dotted around everywhere. Luke wanted to string fairy lights between them, but Owen said that would probably be too much. Maybe he'd give them to Molly so she could decorate her room after they finished the work on Angela's. There was a table set up near the grill for the food once Chase finished cooking. A cooler sat underneath the table, stocked with drinks.

"The Summer...? What?" Angela asked, her eyes settling on where Owen and Bo were unpacking a box of fireworks. Luke grinned and slung an arm around Angela's shoulder, eagerly explaining that he felt bad about the sisters missing the end of the Summer Festival so he decided to recreate it as best he could. He couldn't get the super fancy fireworks that Gill had specially ordered from Forget-Me-Not, but he managed to find some cool ones online. He ordered the torches online, too.

It was important to him that he kept everything a surprise even on the day of, which led to him asking Owen and Bo for help. He could have handled it himself but he wanted to spend some time with Angela and knew he wouldn't have time to do both. He couldn't stand the thought of lying about what he was doing even if it was for this. Angela silently chewed on her bottom lip as she looked around at everything.

"You said you wanted to do something for Angie," Molly murmured, tugging her sweater sleeves over her hands. It may still technically be summer, but they're at the tail end of it and nights are starting to get colder. Luke learned that she had an extensive collection of coats and sweaters. She owned a lot of clothes with pretty patterns that were nothing like what her sister would wear. It was cool how two sisters could be completely different. Molly tilted her head slightly. "I thought you were going to have a romantic date or something. Why am I here? Not that I'm ungrateful or anything, I just... don't get it. Aren't I being a third wheel?"

"Nope! And it wouldn't feel right putting in all this work for Ange and not letting you enjoy it! After all, you didn't get to see the fireworks either!"

He didn't say it out loud but he also wanted to thank her for helping him get the courage to ask Angela out. If he hadn't gone to her for advice, he would probably still just be friends with Angela. From the first day the sisters moved here, Luke thought that she was way out of his league. He was infatuated from the start. Owen assumed he was just attracted to Angela for her looks and while that was initially true—he's ashamed to admit that he spent a lot of time staring at her tits more than her face when they first met, but the t-shirt she was wearing then complimented them nicely—he's come to appreciate everything about her.

He loved how hard she worked. He loved the way she cared about her family. He loved the way she refused to take any bullshit from anyone. He loved the love she had for him. He'd do anything for her. Molly's also started to feel like the little sister he never had in the same way that Bo was the little brother he never had. Sometimes he wished that his parents got to have another kid before his mother passed.

"O-Oh... I guess it'll be nice to have a good memory of the Summer Festival." The apprehensive expression on her face was replaced with a smile as she met Luke's eyes. He hadn't even thought about that, trying to replace Molly's bad experience at the festival with a good one. Chelsea had no right sharing her business in front of everyone like that. The look of absolute fury on Angela's face when she talked about their mother would live in Luke's mind forever.

No matter how much you don't like someone, that's taking it way too far.

A quiet sniffle from Angela brought his attention to her. She's... crying. Her eyes were filled with tears that she swiped at with a short huff.

"Sorry... I don't know why I'm crying," she sniffed. He gently wiped her tears away with his thumb. He knew why. She told him that she wasn't used to guys being nice to her. He was determined to fix that. He'd spoil her if he could afford it. He wanted to show her exactly how much he loved her and not leave any room for doubt. Not for her or Kasey, who seemed to just think that Luke just dated her to get her to sleep with him.

According to Molly, the twins argued a lot, but Kasey still really cared about Angela. Even she didn't know what would happen when he moved here. She's been talking to Kasey but he's already convinced himself that Luke is a bad guy. She thinks that if there was a contest in stubbornness, he would definitely win it because it's impossible to get him to change his mind once it's made.

Being stubborn was definitely a Parker family trait.

"You shouldn't apologize for crying, Angie." Molly stole the words right out of his mouth. Angela said she hated crying because it made her feel weak, but everyone cried. It would be weird if she didn't. And he'll be there for her whenever she does cry. He knew she would do the same for him. Who cares if their relationship moved faster than most? The only thing that matters is their feelings.

...But maybe he should care a little bit about making a good first impression on Kasey. Just to make things easier.

"It's stupid. Why the hell should I cry when I'm happy? That's just sending out mixed signals," Angela huffed. The pout on her face made her lips look so much more kissable. So he did kiss her, slower and gentler than he normally would. Sometimes he wished he could freeze time and spend as long as he wanted with her. He wanted her to understand that he really did love her and that she was worthy of his love.

He knew it would take time for her to get over what her stupid ex did. Her doubts wouldn't just go away overnight. There were some days where she'd seem fine and some days where she'd feel bad after they had sex, wondering if she'd pushed him to move too fast too soon. She said she felt greedy for always wanting to be with him. If she was greedy, then he had to be even greedier looking for any excuse to spend time with her before they started dating.

"Thank you for this," she whispered, nuzzling into his neck after she pulled back from the kiss. He hugged her and rubbed her back gently. She breathed in shakily. "And thank you for including Molly in it. It means a lot to me that you don't just brush her aside."

Why would he? Molly is Angela's sister. Not only is it impossible to ignore her, but it would just be rude. She's a little bit quiet but he's not just going to pretend like she isn't there. He always takes the time to greet her when he visits in the morning. Sometimes they talk for a bit if he comes by too early and has to wait for Angela to finish showering. The sisters had a schedule set in the morning that let Molly shower first, because her hair was thicker and took longer to dry.

Luke's not exactly the smartest person but he could tell sometimes that there were things on her mind that she was scared to talk about. He's spent enough time around her to learn her nervous tics. She had a habit of looking away or messing with her hair when she was nervous. Maybe she just didn't feel like they knew each other well enough for him to open up. Everything he knew about her was from Angela. She loved to talk about her little sister.

He held Angela until she stopped crying and looked away when she asked while she fixed up her makeup. Sometime during that, Molly had walked away and gone over to Chase, apparently offering her help at the grill. Very aggressively offering her help at the grill since she refused to take no for an answer and waggled the pair of tongs in what was certainly meant to be a threatening manner. Eventually Chase relented, but not before helping her tie up her hair. Molly's cheeks were bright pink as he pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

"I could have done it myself!" she sputtered. Luke couldn't hear it, but he saw Chase chuckle as he pulled a hair tie off of his wrist. Angela finished with her makeup and put the... eyelash thing away in her bag. He didn't know that that stuff that she put on her eyelashes was called but it made them look longer and prettier.

"If that's his way of flirting then he better come up with something else. I love Molls but she can be as dense as a brick sometimes." Angela caught Chase's eye and raised an eyebrow, laughing when he looked away with pink cheeks. She looped her arm with Luke's and started walking over to Owen and Bo. "I've been picking on him since he brought that cake over at like, the crack of dawn. He said he just couldn't sleep and made the cake to keep busy but no sane person brings a cake to someone's house at six in the morning. God, I wish you could have seen the look on his face. It's so fucking obvious he likes Molly but he's in denial about it like an idiot."

Molly liked Chase, but didn't realize it.

Chase liked Molly, but pretended not to.

This was starting to feel like some romance novel.