What Makes Us Stronger (A Well Paired Novel Book 3)

by Marianne Rice

  “I’ll get you some more.” Lily stood and turned.

  “Nah. I’ll survive. I’m exhausted anyway. If I need to I can take some later.”

  “I’ll put them and a bottle of water next to your bed,” Hope said, picking up the prescription and opening the fridge.

  “You gals rock. Don’t tell my mom and dad, but I was pretty nervous when they left. I’m glad you guys came over. Don’t take this the wrong way, Lils, but your story did a hell of a job distracting me from the searing pain in my leg. I’m past it now and am ready to crash.”

  “I’ll help you up.” Lily held out her arm to steady Mia, and Hope came around to the other side.

  Ten minutes later, after Mia was tucked in with her cell phone charging at her side, Hope and Lily left.

  “I’m serious,” Hope said at the bottom of the stairs. “You need anything and I’m there. That includes giving Ty a swift kick in the ass. I can get Cameron to do it for a bigger effect.”

  Lily smiled. “I’ll let you know if I need to cash in on that.”

  “I won’t say anything to Cameron. I tell him everything, but this isn’t something he needs to know.”

  “It’s okay. I trust you and him. It’s a pretty big secret to keep to yourself. Besides, you have Delaney to worry about. That’s what killed me, thinking Mia’s accident was the work of Damian’s men. I thought it was a warning and feared they’d come after you or Delaney next.”

  “Why Mia? If anything I’d think they’d go after Ty.”

  Lily nodded. “That’s what I thought too, which is why Mia’s accident came as such a shock. My imagination went into overdrive. If you ever worry about your or Delaney’s safety, I’ll leave town. I could never live with myself if anything happened to you guys because of me.”

  “I appreciate the warning.”

  “Which is why I want you to tell Cameron. He can be on the lookout too.”

  “Are you worried for your safety, Lily?”

  “I wasn’t when I came here. I was cautious, but not worried. The past year I’ve been more and more comfortable. I hadn’t even thought about my past until I got close to Ty. I didn’t like keeping secrets from him.”

  “And now?”

  “Agent Thorne is extremely cautious. You could say he’s overboard with safety. If he says I’m safe, I believe it. I can’t live in fear for the rest of my life, but I don’t want anything to happen to—”

  “You can’t live in fear for our lives either.”

  “I know. Actually, this past winter when Delaney was kidnapped, I hadn’t even thought about there being a connection to me.”

  The whole town had been on high alert, and the police had pointed their finger at Cameron. What a nasty mess that was. His mother had taken Delaney, claiming she wanted to be part of her granddaughter’s life, even after disowning Cameron.

  Thankfully, the police had seen the craziness in her and Cameron’s family and exonerated him when he found Delaney.

  Even then she hadn’t thought her identity had been discovered, or Damian was involved.

  “But you thought Mia’s accident was connected? Why?”

  “Good question.”

  “I think you know the answer.” Hope hugged her. When she pulled back she had a knowing smile in her eyes. “You’re attached now. To the town. To your friends.” She opened the front door to the building and gestured for Lily to go first. “To Ty,” she said from behind Lily as they crossed the parking lot.

  Lily didn’t say anything until they reached their cars. “Maybe.”

  “The stakes are bigger now. There’s more to lose when you’ve opened your heart and let others in. From what I gather, you didn’t have many close relationships before you became Lily Novak.”

  Lily folded her bottom lip between her teeth and furrowed her brow. She’d told Hope everything about the night she’d witnessed the murder and her fear for her own safety, but never said anything about her relationship with her father. Or her lack of friends. Or a loving marriage. Obviously, if they’d been in a loving marriage, Damian wouldn’t be trying to kill her.

  The fluttering in her belly wasn’t from fear or nerves. Instead, a rush of something new and calming warmed her insides. This was friendship. This was family. When someone knew you so well you didn’t have to use words to express what you were feeling.

  If she could handpick a sister, Hope would be her. Her intuitiveness, her comforting words, her strength were all admirable qualities that Lily wished she had.

  The strength she once possessed was only in the business sense, not in the quality of her character. Not in understanding feelings and needs in those around her, which was more important than knowing when to drop the right buzzwords to charm a client, or manipulate numbers in a contract to make a bigger profit.

  “Am I wrong?” Hope leaned against her car and crossed her arms against her chest. She had the big sister look down to a T.

  Tears surfaced, blurring Lily’s vision. Closing her eyes, she nodded. “I’m new at this,” she croaked, her throat tightening with emotion.

  “Oh, Lily.”

  Seconds later, Hope’s arms wrapped her in a tight embrace, and they cried on each other’s shoulders. “I’ve never,” Lily choked on her words, “had a girlfriend before.”

  “That makes me sad. And mad. But I get it. I didn’t have many either, but at least I had my parents. Ty. Delaney. You.” Hope squeezed her tighter. “You’ve been all alone your entire life, I assume. But never again. No matter what happens, we’re your family. Crystal Cove is your town. We’re your tribe.”

  Lily’s heart exploded with... love. She’d read about it, witnessed it between Hope and Cameron, Alexis and Ben, and seen it in their group of girlfriends, always supporting and encouraging each other.

  She’d like to believe what she felt with Ty was love as well and that the feeling was mutual, but there was nothing but distrust and scorn when she’d last seen him.

  Pushing those feelings aside and focusing on the love in front of her, Lily gathered her trembling breath and sniffed back the rest of her tears. From here on out she’d only focus on the good. The positive.

  “You okay?” Hope asked, wiping her tears away.

  “I don’t know what I’d do without you. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. The only one, really.”

  “Great.” Hope laughed. “Not much of a compliment then.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “I know. I’m only teasing. I’m honored to be your friend, Lily. Honored that you confided in me. I really admire you. I’m glad Ty has you in his life too.”

  “Let’s not go there.” Lily pulled her keys from her pocket. “I should let you get back to your family.”

  “Delaney’s hit puberty so rushing home isn’t high on my list right now. She’s giving Cameron and me a run for our money lately. We never know what mood she’ll be in.”

  “Your daughter is adorable.”

  “That, she is. And lately it’s gone to her head. Middle school years. Ugh. I’m having a harder time with this than Cameron. Thank god I have him. That Delaney has him. I don’t...” Hope clamped her mouth shut and clutched the hair on her scalp with both hands. “I’m so insensitive right now. I should be comforting you and, instead, I’m going off about my problems.”

  “Don’t apologize. It’s a great distraction. I don’t remember much about my pre-teen years. Boarding school and strict rules. I don’t wish that on anyone. I’m nowhere near ready to even start thinking about a family of my own. But, in the meantime, I’m soaking all of this in. Learning from the best. You’re an awesome mom and will figure it all out. And if not, I’ll have a bottle of wine and a tub of ice cream waiting for you in my apartment.”

  “I like the sound of that. Call me if you need anything. Anything.”

  “I will.”

  Her short drive home was much more pleasant than the drive to Mia’s. When Lily was settled into bed, she sent Mia a quick text offering t
o bring by breakfast in the morning before her first client, then sent Hope a meme about girlfriends and wine.

  Sleep didn’t come easy, but she had a full day ahead of her and a new life to come to terms with.

  There’d be changes. The balls and gumption Veronica Stewart had would come back, but other than that, she’d bury her past for good.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  SON OF A BITCH. He was a dickhead. Ty knew it, his sister had told him over and over again, and by the stoic expression on Hope’s face lately, she knew it too. Even Meatball treated him like yesterday’s trash.

  Ty pushed the lawnmower across the back lawn, stopping only to swipe the sweat from dripping into his eyes.

  Work had been a bitch, but he had no one to complain to. Even if he did, he wouldn’t. His father and mother switched off caring for Mia and bringing her to her doctor’s appointments, which made Ty shorthanded at times. He needed to get used to it if his dad was going to retire in the fall.

  Work slowed down in the fall and winter, or at least the projects got smaller. He wouldn’t need to hire more crew until the spring, unless Ty kept flubbing up like he’d done the past week. Measure twice, cut once wasn’t working. Measure four hundred ninety-eight times, maybe.

  He’d measure the trim for the new windows, measure again, then cut. And damn if he could get it right the first time. Or the second. Sometimes the third. His memory was shit. He’d write the dimensions with his carpenter pencil right on the wood, and somehow his brain couldn’t process fast enough to his fingers.

  Lily monopolized every other second of his thoughts, with a dash of Mia and his father thrown in as well. But it all came back to Lily. He wanted to know more. How the hell did she allow herself to marry an asshole criminal like the Gervais guy?

  And an heiress? Shit, if he hadn’t already lived through one rejection over money and status that might not have hurt so bad. He couldn’t wrap his brain around the story she had told him. It was all too... too surreal. Too unbelievable.

  People in Crystal Cove didn’t have backstories like hers. Sweet, innocent, beautiful Lily had a dark, dangerous past he couldn’t wrap his brain around.

  And so he treated her like shit, running away like a fool. By the time he’d woken up the following morning, he was back into his deep depression. He never made the call to his therapist; he forgot to take his medication, wouldn’t talk to anyone, and was a bear at work.

  People stayed away, except his friends and family who openly told him he was an ass. It had been five weeks since he’d seen Lily or talked to her. The morning Thorne dumped him back at his truck and he’d gone for the bike ride, Ty thought he was brave enough to beg for forgiveness at Lily’s feet.

  But then his mind went into overdrive imagining all the ways she’d reject him, turn him down, kick him to the curb. A place where he belonged.

  He wasn’t good enough for Veronica Stewart. He’d googled her and read about the millions. The silver spoon she was born with. The fancy schools. The famous men she’d been associated with. The billionaire husband.

  Then the scandal and her supposed death. The more he read the more inferior he felt. No matter how much she wanted to believe she was Lily Novak, she’d always be someone else as well. The first twenty-eight years of her life were lived in luxury beyond anyone’s imagination. She couldn’t just forget that and be happy with Ty’s small, unfinished house.

  With his middle-class standing. He’d invested well over the past decade, but even if he worked until he was seventy-five, his retirement wouldn’t be anywhere close to what the Stewart or Gervais families made in a day.

  He couldn’t give her any of that and the more he thought about it, the deeper he fell into his depression. It had only been the last week, after a verbal ass kicking from Hope and Mia, that he started taking his medication again and had even met with his therapist.

  When he’d gotten an invite to the Coastal Vines Labor Day event and realized the entire town would be there, including Lily, and he’d rather stay home and mope with Meatball, he knew he needed to get back on his meds.

  Ty whistled for Meatball, who lay in the shade by the woods, and pushed the mower toward the shed.

  “We’re going to the ocean to cool off. Don’t make me carry you.” Maybe watching Meatball play in the water would lift his spirits. Both of theirs.

  He couldn’t ignore everyone, including his family, because he felt sorry for himself. Ty was surprised Mia hadn’t come over and kicked his ass. She was hobbling around better now that her cast was off. Instead, she gave him the cold shoulder. That hurt almost more.

  Even Hope and Cameron were different. They reached out to him and invited him to dinner, which he declined every time. Hope would stop by his house and read him the riot act for blowing everyone off, and he did just that. Blew her off.

  There were no words to say. He didn’t argue with her or anyone else. Instead, he remained mute. Aloof. Distant. And he hated every damn minute of it. Solitude hadn’t bothered him before. But now that he had friends, had a brief glimpse at what being in a relationship could be like, he didn’t like being alone.

  He’d put himself in quite the conundrum. Not wanting to be alone yet keeping everyone at their distance. Thorne had asked him to keep an eye on Lily, and he couldn’t bring himself to do that either. He was a selfish bastard and not proud of it.

  After his appointment with his therapist last week, he’d called Thorne and admitted to his negligence. Thorne had once again assured him things were under control and even had the decency to thank him for the call. The agent’s manners and civility only made Ty feel like a bigger ass.

  “Let’s go. I don’t have all day.” He did, actually. Ty would have finished up the Cummings remodel today if it wasn’t Sunday and they weren’t having a family birthday party at the house.

  Surprisingly, Meatball followed at a distance, and he waited at the truck with the door open. He normally wasn’t one to go into the ocean, but he needed to cool off. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too crowded at seven at night, even if it was the last weekend in August.

  He lifted Meatball into the cab and rolled down the windows, letting the breeze dry the sweat from his body. “You and I are a miserable lot. But we’ll get through this.” He backed out of his driveway and continued talking to his dog, even though he’d gone immediately to sleep.

  “We’re going to act like normal, civilized people.” Ty glanced at his snoring pug. “Or dog. We’ll smile and make small talk if people come up to us. You can wag your tail instead. We’re going to stop feeling sorry for ourselves, understood? Once we clean up our act, we’ll figure out a way to get Lily back in our lives.”

  At the sound of her name, Meatball picked his head up. Ty’s stomach did that clenching thing. Yeah, they both had it bad for the woman. She made them better people. Well, better person and dog.

  It would be hard, but it would be worth every ounce of mental energy he had to work through his issues and give him and Lily another chance. If she’d have him. He’d made more appointments with his therapist. Weekly appointments. He was determined as hell now to get his life back.

  Truth was, he missed people. He missed being happy.

  Ty parked the truck and opened the door, realizing he forgot to bring a towel or swim shorts. That was him lately, distracted.

  “The truck needs a good cleaning anyway. We’ll clean it out tomorrow after work,” he said to Meatball as he lifted him out of the truck. It wasn’t fit for Lily... Nope. Ty shook that thought away. He had to separate Veronica Stewart’s wealth from Lily Novak or he’d never make headway.

  He’d clean his truck because it looked more like a bachelor pad with wrappers in his cup holders, dirt from construction sites on the bench and floor, and a layer of dust and spring’s pollen covering his dash. He needed to clean his truck to make it presentable to a lady, be it Lily or Hope, or even his mother.

  There. He’d done it. Redirected his thoughts before he let the depres
sion skew his thinking. Feeling proud, he closed the door behind him and looked down at his feet to tell Meatball about his newest accomplishment, only his dog had trotted off ahead of him toward the beach.

  “Well that’s a first,” he muttered to himself.

  Quickly scanning the small beach area, he spotted a woman to the left sitting in a beach chair reading a book, an elderly couple packing up a cooler, and a family with two small children building sand castles closer to the shore.

  Meatball headed straight toward the woman. “Another first.” Ty chuckled to himself. Those short, stubby legs of his dog’s had never moved so fast. Maybe Ty wasn’t the only lonely one in the house.

  When Meatball neared the chair, the woman turned her head toward him and Ty felt a punch in the gut.

  Lily. Her lips turned into a smile as she reached out and rubbed Meatball’s ears and neck as he licked her face. Her laughter carried across the beach and filled his ears and heart with chills. Good chills. Warming, emotional tingles.

  She must have sensed him nearing. Her smile wavered, and she spoke soft and low so only Meatball could hear. He plopped himself in the sand next to her and rested his head on her bare thighs.

  “Hi,” he finally said, tucking his hands deep in his pockets so he wouldn’t be tempted to reach out to touch her. God, she was beautiful. Her face free from any makeup and her hair pulled up into one of those messy bun things, like the last time he saw her. She’d opened the door to the FBI agent’s lake house looking the same, only then she’d been wearing his clothes.

  Not because they were lovers, Ty reminded himself. Not because she had done anything wrong. Because she feared for her life.

  Ty swallowed and took in a deep breath through his nose and let it out his mouth. Calming breaths, giving himself time to refocus. He watched as her blue eyes dipped, hiding now behind lowered lashes as she ran her hands across Meatball’s back.

  Tonight she wore her a teal tank top and dark running shorts. The same outfit she’d worn one Sunday afternoon when they’d gone for a hike and stopped for ice cream afterward. They’d talked and laughed while hiking and swapped ice cream cones so they could taste each other’s.