Seagulls called out. Sandpipers made mad dashes along the shoreline while waves crashed against the sand. It was low tide. The moon was bright in the sky, a white crescent against an endless dark sky dripping with stars and the occasional meteorite.
“Did you ever go back to Chile? To the orphanage?” Lily asked as they walked down the beach.
“I did.” The country of his birth. He and his twin brother Logan had grown up in an orphanage located in the second oldest city, La Serena. The nuns who ran The Children’s Village of La Serena had loved them the best they could, but there were too many children and not enough adults.
His adopted parents had come to La Serena in order to volunteer after an earthquake had hit the area. According to his mom and dad, they’d taken one look at the two little boys and fallen in love. Two years and numerous visits in between later, he and his brother had finally been able to leave with them.
“What was it like?” she asked.
“It was… familiar yet completely alien to me.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I knew the language, but the meaning wasn’t the same. I’m too Americanized. Too much Spanglish.” It had been overwhelming. The sights, the sounds, the smells…all should’ve welcomed him. Should have made him feel like he was putting on clothes he’d kept in the back of his closet, but he’d felt awkward, like he was playing a character with no lines or direction.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up,” she said.
“Don’t apologize. You’re the only one, besides my brother, I’ve told about the trip. No one else would understand.”
“It’s hard when you can’t go back.”
“Do you ever visit The Home in Oxford?”
“A couple of time. Now I make donations. It’s easier that way.”
Easier to send money and ease a conscience that neither of them deserved to have the burden of carrying. Like him, Lily had been abandoned at birth and raised at the mercy of others. Unlike her, he and his brother had been adopted while she stayed at the orphanage until running away at sixteen.
“No one wanted a crack baby,” she whispered to him in the middle of the night.
“I want you,” he vowed. “I’ll want you forever.”
“Isn’t there an old saying about letting sleeping dogs lie?” he joked.
“The past has a funny way of ignoring that.” She walked ahead of him, wrapping her arms around her middle.
He watched her go, but he didn’t let her leave his sight. In fact, he followed her back to the parking lot.
“I had a nice time,” he said once she was visible in the glow of the parking lot lights.
“Thank you for dinner,” she said and opened her door.
“Will you let me take you out again?” he asked, afraid this was his last chance. “I promise not to bring up the past. We can talk jobs, boring medical cases… town gossip. Whatever you want.”
Letting go of the door, she walked to him and stood so close that he could smell the light scent of her perfume. “What is it that you really want? Absolution? A friend…what?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
That seemed to be what she wanted to hear, though he wasn’t playing that sort of game. He wasn’t playing a game at all.
“Then yes, I’ll go out with you again.” She rose up on her feet, lightly grabbing his arm and kissing his cheek before striding back to her car.
He couldn’t move. That one chaste kiss had rocked his body to the core. The passion between them was missing? Yeah, right.
“I’ll call you,” he said.
“Next Friday evening. Pick me up at 6:30,” was her reply.
A grin spread across his face. “I’ll be there.”
Chapter Two
‡
The next morning, Lily threw herself into her morning boot camp session at the park. Being with Luke brought back memories and feelings she had long since buried, not just ones about him, but her time growing up at The Home.
She hadn’t been abused there, but she hadn’t been loved either. The kindest thing anyone ever did for her was make it so she could take dance lessons. An anonymous donor—a former resident of The Home—had provided the funds, starting when Lily was four.
Out of all the children taking the classes, some to just to get out of the old brick buildings with stark walls—she had been the only one to keep at it. The only one with a natural talent for dance, according to the woman who had owned the school.
And even though no one came to watch her dance, no one even came to the end-of-year recitals, she still took classes—as many as the funds allowed. She loved the dance school, had loved everything… until the new director had taken over The Home, declared the dance funds a waste of money, and proceeded to spend it on new beds for more children so that the state would send more money.
“Always about the money,” she growled during the tire-flip portion. She kicked the tire as it hit the ground, and then squatted to lift it up again.
So she had dropped out of school in Vanceford and ran away to Holland Springs, only to enroll in high school with a fake last name, and audition for a teacher’s assistant job at Dance to the Beat.
Honestly, it wasn’t that hard. The Internet was a virtual treasure trove of how to hide in plain sight. Although, she could never figure out why the authorities never came after her for leaving, but in Lily’s mind, the new director had probably taken the money and never bothered to report Lily missing.
Once Tempe Yoder, the owner of Dance to the Beat, had discovered the reality of Lily’s living situation, she’d rented the apartment above the dance studio to her for dirt cheap and had claimed Lily was a distant relative whenever the school had asked.
Two years later, she met Luke and fell so hard she got stars in her eyes every time they were together.
“Grab your sack and run, people,” Denise, the instructor, shouted.
Lily turned to Willow. “Ready?”
Willow put on her game face, which wasn’t unlike her this-is-going-to-kill-me face. “Ready.”
“You got this, Vaughn,” Lily said. “We got this.”
“How did the date with Hot Doc go?” Willow asked as they huffed down the greenway while carrying a mock sack of potatoes.
Lily glanced at the petite wedding planner. Since joining six weeks ago, the two of them had grown close, but not so close that Lily shared everything.
“Gossip travels fast,” she panted.
Willow dropped the sack and sat down, beginning the last round of sit-ups. “Met with a client at Bluebelle last night.”
“Oh.” Lily grabbed Willow’s feet as soon as the other woman started to struggle. “C’mon, ten more. You can do it.”
“I love losing weight,” Willow growled. “No more junk in my trunk.”
“You want to be healthy,” Lily pointed out. “Your junk is adorable.”
“Not for men who like tall, skinny women.” Willow collapsed, sweat dripping from her nose. “I swear, Denise had to have been a drill sergeant in a previous life.”
“Try five years ago.” Lily grinned and began her round.
Willow’s eyes went round. “Perky, chipper at five a.m., and works at your dance studio Denise was in the military?”
“Yeah. She busted balls like nobody’s business.” Lily grinned before the burn in her abs made her grimace. “She said that was her angry phase, now she wants to make people happy.”
“Move your ass, maggot!” Denise screamed at Joe, a fellow boot camp buddy, from across the way. “You need to look good for your man next month. Derek doesn’t cry when I make him do burpees.”
Lily sat up. “Okay, so maybe she’s still feeling angry.”
“I hope to God she never shouts at me like that,” Willow said.
“No one would ever shout at you like that. You’re too—”
Willow made a face. “Don’t say sweet.”
“Organized?”
Willow snorted. “That’s one I’ve never heard bef
ore.”
They stood and hobbled to their bags, each pulling out a thermos of water and drinking greedily. Lily grabbed a towel and wiped down her body while Willow did the same.
“Who’s the guy you’re trying to impress?” she asked Willow.
“Why are you going out with your ex-husband?”
Lily guessed Willow had a point. If she was going to share something so personal, then maybe she should do the same. “Because he asked me and I was curious if I still had feelings for him.”
“Do you?”
“Planning my remarriage, are you?”
Willow’s bright red cheeks grew redder. “Not really.”
Yeah, right. “Girl, you are such an open book, but it’s why people trust you.”
“Thanks?”
Lily laughed. “So tell me about the guy.”
Somehow, Willow managed to turn so red that Lily began to worry for her. “Are you okay?”
“It’s…he’s with someone else, so I can’t act on my feelings.”
“That’s the worst,” Lily said, sympathy rising. “Maybe you should focus on someone else?”
“I’m a wallflower in this town. Most people don’t know about me until they come looking for my services. Otherwise, I’m invisible.”
Lily stared at her for a moment. “You know, in romance novels, the wallflower always gets her man.”
“And couples always get a second chance at love.” Willow’s blue eyes gleamed. “But I can’t go after a man who’s in love with another woman. It’s not right.”
“You’re a good person.”
“Not really,” Willow said, “Because every day, I wish Corinne would fall off the face of the earth—painfully. Like burn-to-a-crisp-on-reentry painful.”
Lily’s heart went out to her friend. Logan was completely blind to Corinne’s faults. “I don’t know. I think a lot of people would like for that to happen for very different reasons.”
“Then why would Logan be with her?” Willow asked.
“People see what they want to see in the person they love, and they excuse a lot, too.”
Willow gave her a sad smile. “Guess that’s why I’m still mooning over him, huh?”
“Probably.”
“Will you go out with Luke again?” she asked.
Lily nodded slowly. “He asked, and I said yes.”
“I’m glad. Hopefully, the two of you will need my services very, very soon.” Willow exhaled. “I need to crawl home and get a shower, then meet with Joe and Derek to go over the final details for their upcoming wedding. See you Wednesday?”
“I’ll be here.” Three days a week, they killed themselves for Denise.
“You know,” Willow began, “if Heath and Haven can manage to get married after all the years they didn’t really like each other…then I think there’s hope for you and Luke.”
“You really want my business, don’t you?”
Willow laughed, then sobered. “I really want everyone to have a happily ever after. It’s why I do what I do.”
Lily watched the younger woman walk away. “Happily ever after,” she said with a huff.
She’d already had one of those with Luke, but it hadn’t lasted, and she wasn’t sure why this time would be any different.
*
“Why are we the only ones doing this?” Logan complained as they hauled the last two boxes of Christmas decorations down from the attic.
“Because we love our mother and Heath’s on a honeymoon or some shit, so we get to be her favorite and eat all the food,” Luke reminded his twin, but that wasn’t enough for him.
“What about Carter?”
“Daddy duty—Melanie had to go on an assignment.”
“Two other son-in-laws, you know,” Logan said as he set yet another box of Santa Claus figurines in different poses on the table in the dining room.
“One out of the country. One living clear across the country.”
Logan made a face. “I should have pulled War Card.”
“Would you shut up about War Card?”
“You’re just jealous.”
Well, he sort of was, but to actually have to go to war to be able to use it—not so much. “No, I’m tired of you saying it every five seconds.”
Logan moved to the kitchen, and Luke followed. His younger brother—by ten minutes—began to rummage through the fridge.
“Lemonade, tea, or beer?”
“Beer.” His one day off during the week and he’d gotten roped into helping bring down half the stuff in the attic. “She doesn’t even use all of this.”
“But she might,” Logan reminded him. “And she wanted to mix themes this year—whatever that means.”
“Obviously, it meant more work for us.” He jerked his thumb at the living room. “Exhibit A-Z.”
Logan tossed the bottle of beer to him before grabbing his own. “Fair enough.”
They went out to the screened-in back porch. The November air was biting but to Luke, it felt amazing.
“Will you and Corinne be home for Thanksgiving?” Luke asked as he propped up his feet on the coffee table.
“I’d like to, but she keeps hedging and I’m not sure why.” Logan took a drink. “I think she’s getting antsy about settling down.”
Yeah, she was, and she had been working all that anxiousness out by cheating on his brother. But Logan would never believe him. “Maybe she doesn’t want to settle down.”
Logan sliced his gaze to him. “Don’t start that shit with me. I know you don’t like her, but you don’t like anyone.”
“I like Haven, and her friend, Willow,” Luke said before rattling off a bunch of other names.
“Willow—she’s the one I walked down the aisle with at Heath’s wedding, right? Light brown hair, light eyes, and looks like a pixie or something.” He frowned. “She’s tiny.”
She’s the one who looks at you like you hung the moon, you dumbass. Like Corinne should look at you. “She has a big heart.”
“I really didn’t talk to her much, but she seemed nice enough.”
“Maybe your ugly face scared her.”
Logan pointed at himself. “This face is gorgeous, like made for reality t.v. gorgeous.”
Rolling his eyes, Luke braced for his brother’s usual onslaught of insults and jokes.
“I’m going to propose to Corinne—right after Thanksgiving. I want it to be a surprise.” Logan leaned forward in his chair, staring off into the distance. “I know you don’t see her how I do, but she’s a…she’s always…she’s still with me.”
Luke didn’t say a word, though he wanted to shout at his brother for being so stupid as to settle for a self-centered woman like her. Corinne didn’t even have the decency to show up to his homecoming party a few days ago. She always had an excuse not to come back.
“I’d like for you to be happy for me,” Logan said tightly.
“Then I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks.”
“Anytime.” How in the hell would he ever convince Logan to reconsider?
“Fuck you.” Logan stood up, his dark brows drawn tight. His mouth was a thin line. “I know what you really think of her, and of me, but she stayed—even while I was deployed, time and time again, she stayed. A lot of women wouldn’t have.”
“Actually, a lot of women would have,” Luke pointed out. “She’s not the only one.”
“There are a lot of women around here, yet you’re sniffing around your ex-wife.”
“That’s different.”
Logan gave him a skeptical look. “It’s different because it’s you.”
Luke shook his head. “No, it’s different, because we were young and stupid, and I made a lot of mistakes. You and Corinne don’t have that excuse. Open your eyes, brother. Open them and really see the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with before it’s too late.”
“Too late for what?”
“I don’t want to go down that road,” Luke said, rising to his feet. �
��Just trust me, as your brother…if she were the one for you, then I’d be the one paying for the wedding.”
“And if Lily were the one for you, then you’d still be married to her.” Logan stalked to the back door and slammed his way out.
Chapter Three
‡
The next day, during his lunch break, he ordered takeout from Lily’s favorite café and headed to Dance to the Beat, intent upon surprising her.
Entering the older building and unsure of protocol for a visitor, he checked in with the front desk to inquire about Lily.
“She’s almost done with the four-year-olds,” the perky receptionist said with a toothy smile. “You can watch on the monitors.”
“Thanks.” He took a seat in the waiting area and did just that, his breath catching when Lily came into view.
Her beautiful hair was up in the perfect dancer’s bun, something she had told him once she had done so many times that she could style it in her sleep if she had to. And that body of hers… perfection in a black leotard and pink tights. But that wasn’t what made him stare at her in wonder.
As always, it was the way she moved, the way she held her head—slightly to one side—her back straight, and her arms curved just so as she taught the tiny ballerinas how to cool down using the different dance positions.
When they were dating and he would get out of class early, he would run to the bus stop and take it clear across town just to catch a glimpse of her dancing. When they first moved to New York, he’d done the same, except he took the subway.
The door opened and tiny ballerinas spilled into the hallway, talking and giggling as they headed straight to their mothers. Lily was last to appear, checking the interior of the studio before she closed the door and fielded questions from a couple of the parents.
He caught her gaze, and she smiled a little, then turned her attention back to the parent in front of her. After a few more minutes, everyone was gone but her, the receptionist, and him.
“Denise, I’ll be in my office for lunch, so if you’d like to take yours now, be my guest.”
“Rad.” Denise shoved the chair back and stood, grabbing her things.
The Forgotten Bride Page 2