“Excuse me?”
He started laughing. “A private dining room overlooking the slopes, Lily. Not a room in the lodge.”
My cheeks flamed, and I started laughing at the misunderstanding.
“God, I missed that laugh,” he said, flagging down the waiter.
His statement snapped me back to reality, but I barely heard Austin giving instructions to the waiter to transfer us upstairs. I glanced at him, fighting the urge to empty my soul out to him, ask for forgiveness, and pretend that everything was okay. That I never ran from him, that I never hurt him.
“Ready?” he asked.
I nodded, standing up from the table as the waiter grabbed both of our drinks.
Austin gestured for us to follow the waiter, and he gently placed his hand on my back, guiding me through the bar. His touch triggered a part of me that I’d hidden for so long, a vulnerability that I had worked hard at dismissing.
“You look even more beautiful than I remember,” he murmured, as we worked our way toward the stairs.
We walked up the steps, and I was speechless when we reached the small room. There was a table set for two, with a vase of lilies in the middle. A twinge in my chest surfaced as more memories flooded through me. Every single day from the moment we started dating, Austin brought me one lily stem. Some days, he would have it waiting in my locker, on my desk in class, on my doorstep…
Austin pulled out the chair, and I took a seat as the waiter placed my wine glass in front of me and Austin’s drink in front of him. He handed us both menus and left us to decide.
“The lilies are beautiful.”
“Thanks. I had our florist come up with something,” he said. “She thought it was clever with your name and all when she came up with the lilies.”
My heart sunk at his admission, or maybe it was over the fact that I was placing so much importance on these little things, clinging on to any kind of sign that our history was as important to him as it was to me.
“They’re lovely.” I pushed down the ridiculous lump that was forming, and I opened up the menu. “What do you suggest?”
I sat frozen, staring at the menu, while I allowed myself a moment to regain control and reason. And I had to patch up that nasty bit of vulnerability. It just didn’t work well with my personality.
“The filet mignon is the best in Utah and the pork chop with apple chutney is excellent,” he replied.
I closed my menu and glanced up at him to catch something I wasn’t expecting, something calculating and cold behind his expression. I took another sip of wine and wondered if we could order a bottle.
“So have you had any serious relationships?” he asked, his brow quirking up slightly.
I almost choked on my wine, but somehow managed to swallow it quickly and regain my composure. I wasn’t expecting this line of questioning quite so soon, especially paired with the expression that was still on his face.
I shook my head and set the glass down.
“Nothing in college?” Austin looked surprised.
“Nothing serious.”
I was never so relieved in my life to see a waiter as I was in this moment. Ordering a chopped salad and a filet, I handed my menu back to the waiter and wondered what Austin was searching for from me. What kind of answers he wanted to hear.
“I find it hard to believe you escaped college with not even one serious relationship to your name,” his voice lowered, and I felt extremely confused and uncomfortable.
“I dated plenty, but there was nothing I would consider serious.” I pressed my lips together and stared at him. His blue eyes darkened as his hands steepled on the table.
Deflect! Deflection was my specialty. If it had gotten me through with two nosey best friends, it could certainly serve me well now.
“Since my dating life seems of such interest, how about you? Did you have anything serious through college?”
He let out a sigh and my heart sank. His expression softened slightly as he looked at me. “No. You pretty much ruined me for other women.”
Wait. Like in a good way or a bad way? Or was there no good way with that statement?
“I didn’t expect you to be so charming, Lily,” he continued.
Me? Charming?
“I had it in my head to tear you to shreds, make you pay for—” he stopped himself. “But I just can’t do it.”
I let out a slow and steady breath at his admission.
“I understand. What I did was wrong and there hasn’t been one day that’s gone by that I don’t regret my decision.”
“You were my world, Lily,” his voice lowered. “I didn’t understand how you could just leave like that. I thought we had something deeper.”
I emptied my wine glass just as the waiter appeared with our salads.
“We’d like a bottle of the pinot noir,” Austin said, pointing at my glass.
“Absolutely,” the waiter replied.
“I don’t know how I could either. I don’t know if I thought you’d come running after me or if I really didn’t want to be found,” I replied.
“I knew you didn’t believe the rumors or you would have approached me about them, getting a girl pregnant.” There was something commanding in his voice, something that made me doubt my decision to be here tonight. “That’s how well I knew you, Lily.”
“You know me better than anyone ever has,” I confessed, my gaze connecting with his.
“No. I knew you better than anyone ever has. I don’t know you at all now.” His words stung, but I knew I deserved far worse.
“I want to know why you ran.”
“I ask myself that all the time,” I whispered.
“And what answer have you come up with?” his voice softened only slightly. “I know your parents hated me with a passion, but please don’t tell me they were the reason.”
I shook my head. “They weren’t the reason, Austin. I was afraid of losing you. After losing Jake, the thought of you leaving me consumed me. I didn’t want to go through that twice.”
“But you lost me by leaving.” He didn’t seem convinced.
I nodded. “It was on my terms. When Jake died, it suddenly made loss seem real. But the truth of it was, I lost him months before. I was barely holding on when he left me until you made me laugh again. You helped me get through every single day.”
“I remember.”
Austin saved me and I thanked him by fleeing.
“Everything between us happened so fast after his death, and I knew that we were headed to different colleges, different states. When you offered me the promise ring, I didn’t want the heartache of falling deeper in love with you, only to lose you. Only to have you leave me once you fell in love with someone else at your new college. I know it makes no sense. I can see that now, but I wasn’t right in the head after Jake’s death. Nothing I did made sense. I’m not asking for you to excuse my behavior. There’s no excusing it, but I want you to know that I’m deeply sorry for what I did to you, what I did to us.”
Austin’s phone buzzed and he glanced at it. “Sorry. I wouldn’t normally grab it, but it’s my son.”
My jaw dropped as he answered his phone and began speaking quietly, telling his son good night before hanging up and glancing at me.
“So the rumors were true?” I asked.
His gaze steadied on mine.
“Partially.”
Chapter Twelve
Shock rolled through me as his admission settled in a place deep within my soul. My gaze fell to the table while I tried to sift through the many emotions drilling into me. Anger, confusion, and disgust were the top three that rattled me enough to keep me silent. For the last several years, I’d been carrying the burden that I ruined something perfect and close to my heart. I held Austin up as the ideal relationship model, which seemed completely unattainable, as I tried and tried again to recreate it. But apparently, the reason I could never find it was because it was unreachable, impossible. I reached for my glass of wine
and drank enough to numb the betrayal. I had wasted how many years searching for that kind of love when it didn’t even exist in the first place?
I chewed on my cheek nervously and felt the fury finally begin to make its way to the surface. “Ever since I left you, I’ve been suffocating from guilt and remorse. Instead of accepting what we had as special, I searched for it everywhere with men who did nothing for me. But apparently I was wrong. I was on a pursuit for something that was impossible. I was the fool. Every man that I dismissed over the years because they weren’t you…” I couldn’t even finish my statement and just shook my head, bringing my gaze to meet his.
I recognized the intensity in his eyes as he waited for my silence. The heat behind his expression made my words seem inconsequential, like he’d been waiting for me to confess my love for him this entire time. But it didn’t change anything between us. The facts were still what they were. I left him. And he got someone pregnant.
“Lily, I didn’t cheat on you. I never would’ve done that.” I saw the fierce loyalty that I’d come to love in high school reappear, but I wouldn’t fall for it this time. Those drama classes had paid off far more than I realized. The phone call was all the proof I needed.
“But you have a son,” I stated, raising a brow.
The waiter appeared, refilling my glass and taking our plates away.
Austin nodded.
“With her?”
“When you left, I was heartbroken. I didn’t think love could hurt like that. I didn’t think love was supposed to hurt like that, but it did. I never thought you’d believe the rumors,” his voice lowered.
“Apparently, they weren’t rumors,” I said sharply.
“They were rumors. I didn’t even know Christy before then. I mean why would I? She went to the other high school in our town.” Hearing her name roll off of his tongue so easily made me cringe. It implied a closeness I hadn’t expected even with the recent revelation.
“Your parents are very influential,” he continued.
“Why are you bringing my parents into this?” I snapped, never before feeling a need to protect the family that had valued position in society over love, loyalty, and family. I knew this about them already.
Austin’s brow arched and he ignored my question. “Like I said, I never even knew who this Christy chick was, and then all of a sudden, she’s the reason I lost the person I cared about, and as it turned out, so did Christy. Your parents made sure this rumor turned into more than just a rumor.”
“What did my parents do? Lock you two in a room together and throw away the key?” I scoffed.
But no matter how angry I was at Austin, I knew what he was implying. I’d seen it pan out many times before during campaigns. The dirt my father’s team was willing to dig up and fabricate against any other candidate always ensured my father’s victory. I just didn’t understand the connection between my boyfriend and some eighteen-year old at another high school. And then Austin continued and it all made perfect, maddening sense.
“Christy was the daughter of the candidate running against your father in the next election. My father and grandfather contributed a significant amount toward his campaign, not your father’s.”
“I had no idea,” I muttered, my heart crushing like it was going to implode. I wished beyond anything that I had more faith in my parents, but I didn’t. I believed Austin. I only wish I’d believed him when it counted.
“It got nasty, and we didn’t even realize the connection until it was too late. Christy’s summer was full of horrible Facebook posts and tweets. Kids in town jumped on it and tormented her. She did an amazing job of ignoring it, but unfortunately her boyfriend began to believe some of the things people were saying and posting. It was so bizarre to see it unfold the way it did.”
I tried to remember anything that my parents might have mentioned from that time, but they kept silent about it. My father had won the election, that much I could recall, but at what cost?
“Do you know how many nights I laid awake wondering what our lives could’ve been, if things went the natural course, without interference?” he asked, his eyes darkening a shade. “I loved you.”
I dipped my gaze, shaking my head. Loved, past tense.
“Once my parents realized what was going on, they attempted to expose everything because I was being portrayed as such a creep, but I didn’t even care about what I looked like. I never paid attention to that stuff. I didn’t even have a Facebook account.”
My heart sank as my mind swirled around all of the components—the mess I’d left Austin in—all because he had cared about me, but I couldn’t understand how he had a son. How did that fit into the equation?
“But anything I thought I faced was nothing compared to what Christy went through.” His jaw tensed and he took a sip of wine. “You can imagine what kinds of things were said about her. What kinds of things your father said about his opponent and his family. I didn’t even know the girl in the beginning, but I was concerned about her. She shut down her Facebook page, Twitter account, all of it. But that didn’t stop the pages that were still actively going about the topic. It even continued after the election. She had a somewhat positive outlook about it and could joke about all the fourteen year olds who trolled her, but I knew she was hurt.”
My stomach tightened as I nodded my head slightly. I knew exactly what my father’s team was capable of. He had a lot of money thanks to real estate, and he enjoyed throwing it toward buying elections.
“When you left, you took a piece of me with you, a big piece. I wanted someone to fill that void, Lily. I wanted to be close to someone again.”
My eyes locked on his, understanding that same endless search. Austin’s expression hardened as he ran his hands through his hair.
“Christy wasn’t even pregnant. But her boyfriend didn’t care. He left her.”
I recognized the same Austin I knew so many years ago as his voice filled with compassion talking about the events that forever changed his life and mine. It wasn’t my time to speak. It was my time to listen to the pain I caused; the problems I created all because of a choice I made, the choice to run away from love and life, my life.
“Christy and I got close, Lily,” he said softly. “I’m not going to lie and candy-coat it. I was there for her when she needed it most, and she was there for me when I needed that void to be filled. What I didn’t understand was that it couldn’t be filled.”
A lump formed in the back of my throat that I fought with all my might to force back down. He deserved to find that someone. I shouldn’t mourn something I so freely tossed aside. I lost that right many years ago.
“It was our first year at college when she got pregnant.” A smile spread across his lips and I had to look away.
“I’m so…”
“Lily,” he interrupted. “My son is the greatest gift I could ask for. I wouldn’t take anything back. Nothing.” His eyes held me in place as the words landed firmly in place. “Carter showed me what is important in life, what love truly means. Christy and I weren’t meant to be together. I didn’t love her like a man should love his partner and she didn’t love me, not like that. We both came into each other’s life for a reason and that reason was to bring Carter into this world.”
“I don’t even know what to say,” I uttered.
“You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted to tell you my truth. You haven’t been the only one searching all these years. I wanted to see it in Christy, that kind of love you and I had. I wanted to believe that she would fill the void you left, but she didn’t. She couldn’t. All of those letters you sent, I kept every single one of them. She actually found some tucked in a drawer, which didn’t sit well for obvious reasons.”
“Please, forgive me,” I whispered.
“I forgave you the moment you left, but I couldn’t forget you no matter how hard I tried.” He slid his hand across the table, and his fingers ran across my hand, sending a warm and familiar sensation through
me. “I’m sorry for being an ass.”
“You weren’t,” I murmured. “I’m the one who should be apologizing.”
I felt his gaze on me and looked up to meet the heat in his eyes.
“Where do we go from here?” I asked.
He shook his head and smiled. “I honestly don’t know.”
He released his hand and leaned back in the chair just as our dinners were placed in front of us.
“So you and Christy?” I glanced down at my plate, trying to make my question sound casual.
“We parted ways before Carter was even born. She knew I hadn’t gotten over you, and I couldn’t pretend any more. Christy deserved better and she found it. We take co-parenting seriously. I was in the room when he was born, and I’ve been there ever since. And it will always be like that.”
My heart warmed with his acknowledgment of responsibility and love. And it represented growth so much deeper than what I had demanded out of my own life. It was literally like I was stagnant, a buoy bouncing up and down in the same spot, waiting to be set free. But what would it take?
“I’ve felt stuck in life, and I’ve never done anything to change that,” I confessed. “Hearing everything you’ve done and been through makes me feel foolish.”
“Don’t do that,” Austin said softly.
“What?”
“Put yourself down. You did that after Jake’s death and it killed me. That wasn’t your fault, just like this isn’t your fault. Everything happens for a reason.”
His words chilled me to the bone. What was it with this message pounding me from every angle, especially when my life was built on one mistake after another? I obviously wasn’t getting the point, whatever the point was.
“I don’t know what the future holds, but I’m really happy to have you sitting in front of me now. It feels right.”
I nodded and reached for his hand. “It does feel right.”
“And you’re even more gorgeous than I remembered, and I can tell you my memory of you was pretty damn hot,” he laughed.
I didn’t know how he did it, but that one little statement put me at complete ease as the Austin I knew finally began to show himself to me, the carefree guy I had fallen in love with so many years before.
Spring Fling Trio- Beyond Love Starter Set Page 58