Then There Was You

by Miranda Liasson

  “I bought it at Tiffany’s,” Malcolm said. In case they had any doubt it wasn’t the best.

  While everyone was oohing and aahing over the ring, Malcolm’s phone went off. “Excuse me. I have to move my Tesla. I’ll be right back.”

  As soon as he left, Evie, never one to stay silent, spoke. “Gabby, six weeks? That’s not very much time.”

  “It’s not like we just met,” Gabby countered. “Really, Evie, can’t you just be happy for me for once?”

  “We are happy for you, Gabs,” Sara said quickly. “We just don’t want you to rush into anything, you know?”

  “I’m not rushing. I love Malcolm. And I’m old enough to know this time. I wish you all would have faith in me.” He’s not perfect, but maybe he’s as close as I’m going to come. Gabby’s words from the attic echoed in Sara’s brain. Her stomach churned sickly.

  “We do,” Rachel said, ever the peacemaker. “Now, we want to hear all about the proposal, right, girls?”

  Malcolm returned, and talk turned to his proposal on the observation deck of the Empire State Building with a violin quartet nearby. “Because Gabby loves Sleepless in Seattle,” Malcolm said.

  That seemed very thoughtful. Maybe he had changed. Maybe he did love her sister. That thought, and the fact that everyone in the entire restaurant seemed to be paired up over candlelit tables on this beautiful summer evening, made Sara feel a little weepy. A picture invaded her brain of Colton on such a night, sitting across from her at a candlelit table. Laughing, casually taking her hand and bringing it slowly to his lips, where he would plant a tiny lingering kiss, promises of many more to come, while looking sexy as sin.

  Wait, what was she doing? How had she made that leap from annoying and awful to a decent man, and then suddenly to this? The Revolver didn’t do candlelit dinners or monogamy. Maybe he was a decent guy, but he was not boyfriend material, as even her own father had noted.

  After the main course was finished, Sara headed to the ladies’ room. Under the bright fluorescent lights, the stain down the front of her brand-new romper looked hideous, like she’d spilled an entire bottle of pinot noir instead of a small sip. In a stall she had to unzip one zipper on the back and another on the side and shimmy out of the entire garment. She usually didn’t wear such complicated clothing, but the romper had a crocheted neckline and was summery and cute.

  She was feeling a little weepy, and she wasn’t sure exactly why. She was happy for Gabby…but also worried. Was she a little jealous? Definitely not of the Tesla. Or the ring…Well, on second thought, maybe a snow globe wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

  But still Sara couldn’t help but reflect upon her own situation. She’d chosen unwisely, and look where she was now, back in a town where everyone knew everyone’s business, and where there were no eligible men for miles. Except for Colton, and he didn’t count.

  With that she stood and shimmied the romper back up, then threaded her arms through the arm holes. The back zipper went up just fine, but the side zipper got stuck halfway up. She yanked and pulled in vain. Sara left the stall and went out into the main part of the bathroom where there was more light and tried to tug the zipper down and then back up. No luck.

  Exposed to the air conditioning was a good hunk of pale white flesh over her left hip and—horrors—more than a little of her granny panties. Why had she worn the comfortable undies today? On second thought, maybe she should be grateful that she had extra material to stretch upward to cover her exposed skin.

  A stall door opened. “Oh, hi, Sara,” came a voice from behind her.

  Sara stopped wrestling with her zipper and turned. There, striking and beautiful, her lips coated with a bold sheen of red lipstick, was Valerie Blake, aka Cake Girl. Tagg’s girlfriend. She wore a flowing, sleeveless black maxi dress and jeweled black sandals. No jelly roll around her waist to get skirt zippers stuck in, no sirree.

  Sara yanked up on the zipper so hard she heard a rip. Oh God. One glance down told her the fabric had separated from the zipper. That was strike three for the poor romper. She covered the gaping hole with her hand. “Valerie! Hi! How are you?”

  Frankly, she didn’t care how Valerie was. She just did not want Tagg to see her like this. She was certain he was out there somewhere, looking like his usual handsome self, while she was literally falling apart at the seams.

  Why did she always think of really bad jokes at the worst times?

  “Oh, I’m great. Tagg and I just got back from Greece.” Val smiled a blinding white smile and flipped back her long, silky hair. “You can probably tell from my tan.”

  She did look beautiful. In fact, she looked like a Grecian goddess, wearing that beautiful black dress with beads that sparkled from the fringe at the hem. She had some kind of smoky eye thing going on, and dangly earrings, and her neckline was low and showcased her perfect boobs. She was hot, she was sexy, and Tagg loved her.

  And that thought made tears burn behind Sara’s eyes.

  “Tagg and I are so happy,” Val said. “It was like it was meant to be. I wanted you to know that—that it’s not some quick thing with us. It’s forever.”

  Sara forced a smile, but words seemed to get caught in the sudden clog that had lodged in her throat. Forever. With Tagg, her boyfriend of ten-plus years, whom Sara’d thought she’d known inside and out. True love initiated by a sudden pitch face forward into a cake, while she’d been oblivious at home, carefully laying out her wedding clothes and dreaming of her future. Maybe Colton was right. Maybe she needed to start placing blame where blame was due. “Is Tagg—here?” Please God, say no. Please please please. Not tonight. Not when she was bursting out of her clothing and looked like a sad drunk on a binge.

  “He’s meeting me here in a little bit. We’ll come find you, OK?” Val at long last made her way to the door, while Sara kept smiling her frozen smile and tried to keep herself covered. “I’m sure he’d love to say hi.” Did this woman have no clue at all that Sara might possibly be affected by the fact that Valerie had stolen her fiancé? Did she really believe that they could all visit like civilized people when Sara hadn’t seen or spoken to Tagg since last summer?

  Sara lurched out of the bathroom like she had a bad hip, because keeping both hands plastered over her wardrobe malfunction took work. Finally she made it outside to the table. “Family, I love you, but I’ve got a migraine coming on and I think I’m going to say goodbye.” She kissed Gabby, hugged her new future brother-in-law awkwardly with one arm, and blew kisses to everyone else.

  “Sara, what’s wrong?” Rachel asked, trailing behind her to the door.

  Rachel looked so concerned, she decided to tell her the truth. “I ran into Val in the bathroom. My zipper got stuck and when I tried to fix it, it ripped.” She flashed Rachel a bit of skin, as well as more than a little of her granny panties. “And Tagg’s here somewhere and I really don’t want to run into him like this.”

  “How about I drive you home?” she offered. “You’ve had a long day.”

  “Rachel, they need you at dinner. I feel awful leaving, but…God, Rachel, what is Gabby thinking? Or am I just a bitter old hag, jealous of my sister’s happiness?”

  Rachel shook her head. “I think you’re more of a good sister with legitimate concerns. But Gabby’s grown up a lot since college. We can give him a chance, for her sake.”

  “Right.” Sara thought about her dad’s philosophy about people, having watched most of the town grow up as they came and went through his office. Personality was part of who you were, and most people didn’t change much over time. Fatalistic, perhaps, as Rafe would say, but true? She wasn’t sure.

  Sara kissed Rachel goodbye and hobbled out to her car. She’d had enough of this day. She couldn’t wait to get home and go to bed and let it end.

  Chapter 10

  Hannah, you can’t go out to the lake now with a bunch of idiots. It’s too late.” Colton glanced at his watch, which was lit up by his dashboard. Ten p.m. on a Friday night, and he
’d been driving around for hours, Champ snoozing in the back seat of his cruiser. He’d even helped Mrs. Jennings get her cat out of a tree, which Champ hadn’t exactly appreciated. Not the usual way he’d spend an evening off. But he couldn’t relax. Couldn’t get thoughts of Sara out of his mind. And now he was back to dealing with Hannah and walking on thin ice to try not to mess up, but he was going to fall through anyway.

  “I knew I shouldn’t have even told you what I was doing,” she said, the familiar tone of irritation evident in her voice.

  “I’m glad you did, but you still can’t go.” Be calm, Colt’s inner voice said. Be reasonable. Both things he was not feeling.

  “I’m going to be in college in less than a month, doing whatever I want.” He winced. “You can’t boss me. You’re not our mom or dad.”

  Colton bent his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. No, he certainly was not. He was just a guy who’d had a long workweek who wanted some peace and quiet. Except he kept seeing visions of a certain redhead in front of him. One who’d always assumed the worst about him and still did, despite his efforts to prove her wrong. And that irritated the hell out of him.

  “Colton. Colton, did you just hear me?”

  “Sorry, what did you say?”

  “I said I promise to be back by midnight. It’s just the lake. All my friends are going.”

  “Hannah, the lake on a Friday night this late means nothing but trouble.” Kids smoking weed, drinking, doing God knows what else. She was not. Going. “Don’t you have to work in the morning?”

  “Yeah, but I told you, I won’t stay long. It’s summer, Colton. My friends and I don’t have much time to be together before we all leave and go off in separate directions. Don’t you trust me?”

  Of course he didn’t, because he was a teenager once himself. Plus what if she was sneaking around with Aiden? But he didn’t even get a chance to formulate a response.

  “I don’t have to listen to you. You’re just my brother.” The line went dead. Colton tossed his cell onto the passenger seat and stared at it until the lights went out like it was a living thing. What was it with women in his life steamrollering him before he could even get his thoughts across? Wait. Since when was Sara a “woman in his life”? Jesus.

  She thought he was an arrogant ass and a know-it-all. He’d encouraged her to believe the worst about him. He wanted to believe she was ultra type A, Dr. High Achiever, hell-bent on changing the world, but the thing was, she was so much more than that. She adored her grandmother. She was hardworking. She had a vulnerable side. His sister loved her. She had amazing legs.

  When she’d grabbed his arm that night in Lou’s and told him, You don’t always have to be insulting, she’d been right. He had been insulting through much of their teenage years, yes, but that was because he’d been an idiot. Now he knew better.

  How much of his teasing now was because he hated that she’d accomplished so much and he was stuck here, leading a small-town life? A life he hadn’t really chosen? She was destined for bigger things. Why did that rankle him so much? Why did he use the teasing to push her away, keep her at arm’s length? And why was all of this bothering him so much?

  He should have spoken to her, not about the bachelor party but about them. What it was that made him act like an idiot. About how he didn’t want it to be like that anymore between them.

  A Honda Civic with a taillight out passed him and pulled him out of his thoughts. His heart rate accelerated a little. Because Sara had a Civic, and Evan had stopped her a few days ago about the light. Without having a clue what he was about to do, he started his car and pulled out onto the road.

  * * *

  Sara left the restaurant in her old but reliable Honda Civic and had just reached the Angel Falls town limits when she saw a flash of red and blue lights in her rearview mirror. A glance at her dash showed she was going thirty-five in a thirty-five zone. There were no other cars on the deserted road that wound through a dark stretch of wooded park.

  The police vehicle accelerated until it was directly behind her. No question it was on her tail. She had no choice but to pull over. Being on the border of Angel Falls and Richardson, she had no idea which police department was responding. It brought her a sense of relief to know it wouldn’t be Colton, who’d definitely be off duty by now.

  The relief was short lived. Her heart tripped as she considered she was alone in the middle of the woods. What if she was about to be maimed and beaten by a cop poser? It was pitch-black, and the opportunities to stow a body would be endless.

  Footsteps fell on gravel, and a bright light shone in her face. “Your taillight is out, ma’am,” said a too-familiar voice.

  Colton. What was worse—a cop-posing killer or him?

  Lord, would this day never end? Hadn’t she had enough of him for one day?

  She held her hands in front of her face to shield her eyes. “I thought you were off tonight,” she said.

  “Technically, I am,” he said.

  “So you’re out in your car during your time off cruising around, looking for trouble?”

  “And it looks like I’ve found her.”

  He put his hands on the car window and bent over close enough that she could smell the zingy scent of that woodsy cologne he wore. And feel his body heat—and the intensity of his gaze as it swept over her. She shivered a little—but it was just from the evening air. Surely.

  “So. The taillight,” he said, pulling out his tablet to write her up.

  With everything else going on this week, she’d forgotten all about it. Surely he wasn’t really going to write her up, was he? Well, it was Colton, so anything was possible. “I’ll get it fixed this weekend, OK?”

  “This is your second warning,” he said. “Evan told me he stopped you a couple days ago.”

  “You must be really bored tonight if you’re lying in wait in the woods for people on your night off. Why don’t you go pull some cats out of trees or something?”

  “The law’s the law. And actually, I just spent an hour doing just that.”

  “Well, I’m sure you have to go write up a report about it. So how about letting me go home?”

  He inhaled deeply. His mouth twitched. “Have you been drinking?”

  He shone his beam into the car. His gaze flickered from her bare legs to her wine-stained cleavage. Suddenly remembering the gaping patch of flesh on her side, she slid her hand down to cover it.

  “I had one glass of wine, and most of it’s on my top.”

  “Are you sure you didn’t have more than one glass and that’s why you spilled it? With your rough first couple of weeks and all, I wouldn’t want you drinking and driving.”

  “I’m a doctor. I don’t drink and drive.” What was with this guy?

  “Calm down, I believe you. Hey, I need to ask you something. Will you come sit in my car for a minute?”

  “Because you’re going to write me up for a ticket? Your grandma would be ashamed. Absolutely ashamed.”

  “I’m not going to write you up for a ticket.” He leaned over the driver’s window, his arm muscles taut, and stared directly at her. “Champ’s in my back seat and he’s getting all worked up. But the real reason is I just need to talk with you. Please.”

  Oh. Just like that, her anger deflated. The fact that Champ was there would’ve probably gotten her to move, but the please definitely did it. “OK, I’ll come,” she said, then opened her car door. Because maybe it was finally time to stop assuming the worst about Colton Walker.

  * * *

  Colton knew he should stop this and allow her to go on her way and go back to his calm, quiet life. But he couldn’t. Because it seemed to him that since she’d come back, calm and quiet had fled on foot screaming. Plus he had things to say that were sitting there festering, especially since their conversation earlier. Things he couldn’t stop thinking about.

  He opened the passenger door of his cruiser and waited for her to get in. His gaze flicked quickly up and down
her. Her hair was down, and her outfit and heels showcased her pretty legs. She stirred him, as always, against his will.

  “Why are you walking like that?” he asked.

  “Like what?” she asked. She held both hands over her left hip and lurched a little in her heels. “Not used to the heels,” she mumbled.

  She sat down in the seat. Champ stuck his nose through the bars. She rubbed his snuff with her index finger, which made him push against the bars even more and bark. Even the dog wanted more of her attention.

  Sara looked nervous, glancing up and down the street for traffic. “No one can see us talking,” Colton said, “if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “Colton, you’ve lived in this town a long time, just like I have. When has anyone not seen everything?”

  “That time I kissed you,” he said quietly. “No one saw that.”

  That quieted her fast. He could hardly believe he’d said it himself. The silence hung over them, palpable as a heartbeat.

  Sara leaned closer, close enough that he could see the little golden flecks in her green eyes. Her eyes had always fascinated him, but he’d never given in to the temptation to look for too long, first because of Tagg and now…well, she’d mostly been too angry at him for any civilized discussion.

  “No, no one saw, except Mrs. Mulligan.” She shifted her weight. “But even that turned out to be a big joke to you. Like everything else.”

  He tightened his hands on the steering wheel. “Let’s get one thing straight. That kiss wasn’t a joke.”

  “Oh yes, it was.” She pointed a finger at him accusingly. “You never even showed for our date the next week.”

  He shook his head adamantly. “You don’t even remember that you’re the one who stood me up.”