by Holly Jacobs
But in that small gesture, Sebastian said she could rely on him. She could count on him and Hank.
Lily felt as if she let go of something she’d been holding on to. Resentment? Fear? She wasn’t sure she could name it, but it had been broken, and if asked years from now, she’d say it was this morning, at this breakfast, that it had started to truly heal.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“LILY, YOUR MOM’LL be fine. Let’s enjoy the night. The Stag and Drag will be fun. You deserve a little fun.” Sebastian went to touch her, and she pulled away, giving him the look that said, No one’s supposed to know about us.
He felt an old, familiar burst of anger, but he dismissed it. The past few weeks had taught him that and a lot more.
“It’s a party, remember?” he prompted.
She raked her hand through her wild hair, setting her jumble of bracelets to clinking. “You’re right. Of course, you’re right.”
“Red said he’d see to it they both got home after he closed the diner.” Sebastian felt much more comfortable leaving his grandfather alone for the evening knowing Vera was in the house. She’d promised to check in on him.
Lily had found her mother a support group in nearby North East. Vera had gone to a meeting, though afterward, all she’d said was she would go again next week. Lily believed it was another big step.
The wedding party, along with a few other friends, gathered at the library and waited for their ride. Sebastian grinned as the party bus pulled into the parking lot.
“First stop, The Anchor Bar,” announced Finn, who seemed to have taken on the role of cruise director.
The hour-plus trip to Buffalo sped by, filled with stories of the latest happenings around Valley Ridge and a lot of good-natured teasing of the bride and groom.
“The Anchor Bar,” Finn called out, in case they’d missed that the bus had stopped in front of a giant neon anchor sign. They filed into the place and were shown to a large table at the back of the bar.
Sebastian reveled in an evening with old friends. Ray and Rich, Mattie’s younger brothers, were both there. Dylan, in a very un-sherifflike capacity, was there. And Maeve Buchanan, who didn’t look all that bookish.
He’d gone to sit by Lily, but she’d been dragged away by Mattie and Sophie. Instead, he sat next to Maeve. “So how are things with Valley Ridge’s resident bad girl?”
“Probably about the same as with Valley Ridge’s resident bad boy,” she countered. “Changed.”
“I thought maybe I’d see you at the diner.”
She shook her head. “Most days I meet myself coming and going. I work all day in Ripley and spend most of my evenings at the library. A few book clubs are up and running. I’m too busy to eat most of the time, much less go out to eat.”
“Yeah, I heard about the library. I know you always liked reading, but how did that happen?”
She laughed. “You know that I’m living at Mrs. Anderson’s house?”
He hadn’t. “The old librarian’s place?”
She nodded again. “I looked across that empty parking lot at the quiet library, and really, there’s nothing sadder than a library that’s not being used. I talked to Ray and he gave me permission to try to reopen it, and here we are.”
The waitress came out with pitchers of beer and took their food orders.
When she left, he asked, “You volunteer your time, right? I mean, you’ve raised money but you’ve put it into books and stuff.”
“Yes. Are you thinking about making a donation?”
“I might be. But you should be paid.”
“I’ve got a job that pays well. Mrs. Anderson sold me the house at a ridiculously low price. I’m not rich, but I’m comfortable. If there’s ever enough money to hire a librarian, then you bet, I’ll apply. Until then, we’ll get along with me volunteering. I’m thinking about asking the high school if there’s a way we can have the older kids donate time for credit. A library-sciences elective or something, or maybe just for service hours. And computers. I’d like to have some available and...”
He smiled as he listened to Maeve wax enthusiastic over her hopes and plans for the library. If he accepted Ray’s invitation and ran for town council, and if he won, he’d be in a position to help the library. He wasn’t sure how. Maybe a grant?
“...the heart of a town should be its library,” Maeve said. “Libraries are the great equalizer. They give everyone, rich or poor, the same opportunities. I can’t stand to think of Valley Ridge without the library.”
“If I can do anything, you’ll let me know?” he asked.
The waitress placed a huge plate of wings in front of them, and Maeve picked one up, obviously not the least put off by the sauce that trickled down her hand. “I will,” she replied, taking a large bite.
“After all those years of hanging out with you in the principal’s office, I never really got you.”
“How so?” she asked.
“I can’t think of one bit of mischief that was ever attributed to you. You didn’t hang with a bad crowd—”
“Neither did you. I mean, Finn and Colton were never really bad.”
He chuckled. “No. I was dumb and got caught doing dumb stuff. The only thing I ever remember you doing was reading. And even though you occasionally got caught reading for pleasure rather than class work, that’s not an offense you’d have to see the principal about.”
“I am nothing if not a woman of mystery.” She said it with a singsongy, bad-accented voice, and they both burst out laughing as Sebastian reached for a wing.
* * *
LILY SPIED SEBASTIAN laughing with Maeve Buchanan. She didn’t know the town’s volunteer librarian well, but she couldn’t deny that she was attractive. Watching Maeve with Sebastian was unsettling. Why? He and Lily were both free agents. Just two people spending time with each other until he left. He was only a tryst.
Of course, she’d broken her own rule and spent nights in his bed. All night. She couldn’t seem to help herself. She excused it away every time by reminding herself that he’d be gone soon.
“I guess I should stop trying to impress you, since it’s obvious you’re off the market.”
“Huh?” Lily tore her gaze away from Sebastian and Maeve Buchanan and focused on Valley Ridge’s law-enforcement officer, Dylan Long. “I’m sorry?”
“So am I,” Dylan said with a dramatic sigh that didn’t quite match up to his huge grin. “I should have made a move before our local marine came home.”
She realized what he was saying. “Sebastian and I aren’t an item.”
He laughed. “Yeah, you can maybe sell that to a lot of people, but I’m a cop, remember? I was hired because of my keen insight, and I’m trained to look deeper than the surface. You are head over heels for him, and if the glares he’s been shooting at me are any indication, he feels the same.”
She glanced across the table at Sebastian and Maeve, and he wasn’t looking in Dylan’s direction. He was all googly-eyed about something Maeve was saying. “You’re nuts. He’s out of Valley Ridge as soon as the wedding’s over.”
“I don’t buy it. He came and talked to me about Hank’s condition.” Dylan shook his head. “He’s not the kind of guy who’d leave his grandfather.”
Caught off guard, Lily blurted, “Absolutely, he is. He told me as much.” She wasn’t sure who she wanted to persuade, Dylan or herself.
Dylan went from affable flirt to cop in a split second. “Just when did he tell you he was leaving?”
“When he arrived in town. He talked about needing to find out who he was. He wasn’t the Seb who left Valley Ridge to join up and he wasn’t Lieutenant Bennington anymore, either.”
“I suspect, since Hank’s diagnosis, that he’ll be figuring himself out here in Valley Ridge. Sebastian Bennington is a man of honor. He wouldn’t walk away and leave his grandfather alone.”
“Hank isn’t alone,” she protested. “He has me.”
“And he’ll have Sebastian, too.” D
ylan took a long sip of his beer and eyed her.
The minute Dylan said the words, she knew he was right. How had she missed that? How had she let herself think that Sebastian would walk away from his grandfather when it was obvious that Hank was going to need him?
“This could be a good thing,” Dylan said quietly. “It’s obvious you both have feelings for each other.”
“Which only makes it worse.” If Mr. Insight was right about Sebastian staying—and she knew he was—then maybe he was right about her having feelings for him. More than friendly, trystlike feelings.
Lily felt a sense of panic and wanted to confront Sebastian this very second and tell him they were over.
She’d thought she would have until the wedding. She thought it would be easy. He’d leave town, and by the time he came back to visit, they’d both have put their brief affair behind them.
“Lily—” Dylan started to say, but Mattie and Sophie came and swept her up again. The guys had a big wing-off, seeing who could eat the most wings in three minutes.
Sebastian won. Seeing him there surrounded by friends, his barbecue-sauce-covered face grinning, she knew she’d been beyond stupid. Obviously he was staying. Not only for Hank—though she was sure that was the significant part—but for this. For his friends.
He’d come home damaged. It was more than physical; she knew that early on. He’d said he wasn’t the Seb who’d left Valley Ridge. And he wasn’t. He’d thought he’d need to go away to discover who he was now, but in truth, she didn’t think he’d find himself anyplace other than his hometown.
“Lily, are you paying attention?” Sophie asked.
Lily forced a smile. “Sorry. I was lost in the moment. Have I mentioned before that I’m so happy for you?”
“There she is!” Mattie exclaimed. “Our little Miss Romance. The woman who insists that showers are pastel. And that traditions like ‘Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue’ be adhered to.”
“With a couple as perfect as Sophie and Colton, who’d want to mess with traditions?” Lily joked.
She glanced across the room at Sebastian, who was staring at her, questions in his eyes.
She did her best to smile and quickly took a mouthful of her beer.
She’d break up with him tomorrow, then worry about how to make that work. Great. She could add that to all her other worries. Her mom. Hank. Her booming business.
Still, she’d broken up with men before and managed to stay friendly.
She could do it again.
* * *
SEBASTIAN KNEW THAT something was wrong. After Lily had talked to Dylan, she’d started staring at him. Every time he caught her at it, she’d smile at him. But her smile didn’t reach her eyes. Those now-familiar wrinkles didn’t crinkle in the correct pattern. Sebastian could see it even from across the room. He doubted he’d get any answers from Lily, so he approached Dylan Long. “What were you and Lily talking about?” Sebastian asked as casually as he could manage.
“Just this and that,” said Valley Ridge’s cop.
“This and that my ass. I didn’t need to be part of the conversation to know that my name was mentioned and now something’s wrong with Lily. So do me a favor and give me a specific this or that.”
“Maybe I said something about the two of you being a couple, and maybe she tried to make out that you weren’t, and maybe she said something about you leaving, and maybe I said I didn’t see that happening. You’re not the sort of guy who’d let Hank deal with stuff on his own.”
It was worse than he’d thought. “Maybe if you weren’t a cop, I’d deck you right now.”
“I knew the minute I said it that I shouldn’t have. But honestly, how could she think you’d leave Hank?” Dylan looked well and truly perplexed.
“She needs to believe I’m going. It made me safe. But now that I’m not...” She was going to break up with him. Hell, he’d known it would happen the minute he’d seen her studying him like that. “I planned to let her figure it out for herself.”
“I met her mom at the restaurant last week. She seems nice, but skittish. There’s a shadow there. Jerry got a bit boisterous, goofing around with Eric and Mike from the pharmacy, and she looked ready to run. She didn’t move exactly, but I saw it. It was a reflex—it was fear. Lily and her mom both had it bad, didn’t they?”
Sebastian didn’t feel as if he could betray Lily’s confidence, even if Dylan had correctly guessed Vera’s situation, so he said nothing.
That was all the confirmation Dylan needed. He nodded. “I don’t need you to reveal anything confidential, but is there a chance Vera’s husband will show up?”
“I don’t think so, but yeah, I guess he could.”
“If you see him, call me. I’ll make sure he understands that we don’t want him here. We take care of our own here. And they’re both ours now.”
Sebastian smacked the cop on the shoulder. “Thanks.”
“And, Sebastian, really, I’m sorry. Like I said before, I don’t know how she could think you’d leave Hank, but in actuality, I don’t know how she could think you’d leave her. God, you, Colton and Finn. You’ve all got it bad this year.”
“Finn?” Sebastian asked.
“You haven’t noticed that he’s in love with Mattie?”
“No. He’s been around because of the kids....” The last word faded as he spotted his friend and Mattie. “Oh, hell.”
“Yeah. With the three of you off the market, my life is going to suck. Single men in Valley Ridge are becoming more rare with each passing day. Me, Ray, Rich...” Dylan continued to rattle off more names, but Sebastian wasn’t listening.
Sebastian was looking at Lily and wondering how he was going to handle things now. He thought he’d ease her into the idea of his staying.
And after that, he’d ease her into the idea that he loved her.
And if he was really lucky, after that, he could convince her that she loved him, too. His cell phone buzzed in his pocket, and when he went to send it to voice mail, he saw it was the diner. “Gotta take this, Dylan. Be right back.”
He moved outside where he’d be able to hear. “Hey, Hank. What’s up?”
“Sebastian, it’s me, Vera. Hank’s missing.”
Sebastian froze. Not sure what to say, what to do. Lily’s mother continued, “I don’t know where to look. I don’t know the town well enough. One minute he was here with me, Megan and Red, the next, he was gone. He knew that we were supposed to walk home together. Megan ran over to the house to see if he was there, but he’s not. She’s going to wait there in case he comes home, and I’m here at the diner. Megan said his car is missing. Red’s calling in the rest of the employees and they’ll start looking. I’m sure we’ll find him. There must be a logical explanation. But Lily filled me in on his problems, and even though I’ve only been here a short time, I’ve noticed. I hate to cry wolf, but I’d hate even more not to do anything and then...”
She didn’t voice exactly what “and then” was, but they both knew it wasn’t good.
“I’ll be home as soon as I can. Keep me posted.”
“Do you need someone to come get you? I know you all drove down together.”
“No. I’ll hire a cab. It’ll be faster. I’ll call when I’m on my way.”
Calm. Logic. Step by step, he told himself. First step was to get home. Sebastian went back into the bar and found Colton. “I hate to bail on you, but I’ve got to go.”
“What happened?” the groom asked.
“It’s Hank. He’s missing. He must be around, and someone will find him in a minute and call me, but in case he’s not...”
Colton nodded.
“I’ll get a cab and call you when I find him.”
“Like hell you will.” Colton gave a shrill whistle he’d developed when they were kids, and the entire Stag and Drag party went silent and stared at him. “Hank’s missing. Get on the party bus—we’re heading home to look for him.”
&nbs
p; Pandemonium broke out. Finn found the server, paid the bill, and everyone else dashed back to the party bus.
“What happened?” Lily asked as she came up to him.
“Your mom called. Red was cooking, and she and Megan were serving customers. And they turned around and he was gone. Megan ran back to the house, but he wasn’t there and neither was the car. Damn it, I should have taken away his keys.”
“He never drives, Sebastian. Never. I don’t think that car’s moved from the garage since I moved in. There was no need.”
“Obviously there was a need, or he wouldn’t be gone now,” he snapped. The frustration and anger that had until recently been his constant companions came back in a flash.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. We’ll find him.”
The earlier happy mood had died an instant death.
We’ll find him. That was what everybody told him on the party bus. Yet it only seemed to make him more nervous. As the driver sped back to Valley Ridge, they began to make plans. Colton drew out a grid of the town and assigned each of them a section.
Dylan called not only neighboring towns, in case Hank drove there, but also the New York and Pennsylvania State Police forces and gave them a heads-up, as well.
“I feel so helpless,” Sebastian heard Dylan say to Colton.
He wanted to jump up and scream, You think you feel helpless? But he didn’t. Partly because he’d been working at restraining his over-the-top responses, but mainly because Lily was sitting next to him, holding his hand, and she’d tightened hers at his friend’s words, as if she knew what Sebastian was thinking.
“We’ll find him,” she whispered. “It sounds like half the town’s out looking for him already. I’m sure someone will spot him soon.”
Mattie came over and said that even though her mom was babysitting the kids, her father was going to drive up and down every street in town, looking for Hank’s car.
“Don’t forget the creek,” Sebastian said as another in a long chain of horrible possibilities occurred to him. “The bridge over Park Street...there are pull offs on either side. He could have crashed into the water. Even flipped the car...” He let the sentence fade as the image of his grandfather drowning embedded itself in his mind.