The Unexpected Choice

by Stephanie Taylor

  Lana lowered her head in shame. Even thinking of it now made her sad. She’d once been the cheerleading captain of Chieftain High School. Valedictorian. Everything had been hers if she’d wanted it. But now her confidence was shot, and she didn’t know how to build it back up again.

  “Stop thinking about it,” Ally ordered.

  “I can’t help it sometimes. This just isn’t where I thought I’d be at almost thirty. Not to mention I never thought I’d miss watching you grow up. But I guess I should consider myself lucky that I missed the annoying phase.”

  Ally snorted. “I kept in touch over the years. Daddy and I came to see you!”

  “I know. But I still missed so much.”

  “Just stop thinking about it,” her sister ground out, her knuckles white on the steering wheel. “It’s over. It’s time for you to get crazy and enjoy life.”

  “You know I can’t do that. Not now.”

  “Maybe not, but I still think you can get a little crazy. You can still make the most of what time you have left.”

  Lana tried not to get her feathers ruffled over Ally’s careless words. It wasn’t like she had chosen for this to happen to her.

  As they pulled up to the Zeigler mansion, Lana noted the police car out front. It appeared as though someone had gotten crazy before she could.

  “Remember, we’re leaving at the stroke of midnight,” Lana warned, eyeing the police car.

  “Or what? We turn into a pumpkin?”

  “No, you walk home.”

  “I can get Michael to bring me home.”

  “If you want Michael to meet the business end of Daddy’s gun, sure. Otherwise, be at this car at twelve sharp.”

  “But I have the car keys!” She jingled them for emphasis.

  Lana held her hand out and cocked her eyebrow. She loved her sister dearly, but she was only seventeen.

  Ally humphed a little but finally handed them over. They walked in silence to the house, listening to all the ruckus and the clinking of glasses. Laughter filled every corner of the house and Lana couldn’t help but feel renewed. She couldn’t wait to find some old friends and catch up.

  Ally parted ways with her and walked around to the house as she tapped out a text on her phone to someone. No doubt, Michael was letting her know where he was. Young love. Lana rolled her eyes and stepped inside the house, looking around.

  Everything about it, including the picture of a young Mrs. Zeigler with her firstborn, all the way to the marbled black and white floor, was the same. Unsure of where to go or what to do, Lana searched desperately for a familiar face.

  “Lana Roche?” a southern belle voice rang out behind her, as if in answer to her prayers.

  Lana turned and smiled at the sight of Renee Applebaum, a fellow cheerleader and the class president from high school. They had served on the dance team together their senior year.

  “Look at you!” Lana exclaimed and pulled her into a hug. “You haven’t changed a bit!”

  Renee brushed off her compliment and searched her over.

  “You’re still just as beautiful as the day you graduated. It’s hardly fair!” She gave a petite stamp of her foot and Lana laughed.

  “How’s life?”

  “Wonderful! I just had my third baby six months ago. He’s growin’ like a weed! Been married for nine years now to Lex Hargrove. Livin’ up on the mountain close to my folks’ house. How ‘bout you?”

  Lana had rehearsed the answer to this in her mind. “Great,” she bit out with false enthusiasm. “I just moved back home after getting a divorce.”

  Renee’s face dropped. “I’m so sorry, hon. You and James always seemed so perfect for each other.”

  “Don’t be sorry, I’m certainly not!” For a moment, they stared at each other and then giggled.

  “What can you say? Sometimes it just doesn’t work out!” Taking her by the arm, Renee led her to the terrace out back. “Remember Jay? He’s back from a tour in Iraq. Made a career out of the military.”

  “I never thought he’d stick with it,” Lana mused, watching the man with short hair mill about with a champagne glass. “He was such a fickle guy. Worse than a woman.” She remembered the class clown way back when who was afraid of commitment. He’d broken a lot of hearts their senior year when he’d decided to join the Army.

  “And there’s Molly,” Renee pointed. “She just married a guy she met on the internet. Seems really nice. They’re about to move up north somewhere. You should say hi, she asks about you every once in a while.”

  Molly was the type everyone loved. Funny and friendly, she probably had never met a stranger.

  Lana listened to the lives of people she’d all but forgotten. Everyone seemed so happy. Some danced on the lighted patio, arm in arm. But it still didn’t keep the not so happy memories from rising to the surface. Her life had been so much different back then…

  She shook her head and tried to smile for no other reason than to cheer herself up. It was strange seeing the people she remembered with baby faces, much like her sister, all grown up now. Everyone looked the same, yet so much different.

  “I’ve got to go find Lex now, if you don’t mind. You’re welcome to join us.”

  With an apologetic smile, she declined.

  “I’ll catch up with you later then. Maybe we can have lunch sometime soon.”

  As desperate as Lana had been initially to be with someone she knew, now she felt the need to be alone. Seeing the people that used to be such an integral part of her life filled her soul with purpose. If they could do it, so could she.

  Lana stood there, inhaling the cool night air. A gentle breeze lifted her hair from her neck and whispered against her skin. A waiter offered her a glass of champagne, but she shook her head. Aside from the lights in the courtyard, it was completely dark.

  While she watched everyone living their lives, a dark figure brushed past her and came to stand a few feet away, leaning over the railing with his glass. She could only see his silhouette, but it was enough to make her nervous.

  Lana wasn’t sure how long she stood there staring at those massive hands, but the soft clearing of a man’s throat brought her attention upward.

  The first thing Lana noticed was that there was something familiar about his eyes. They were kind, understanding eyes a shade of blue she’d seen before. The second thing that entered her mind was that if this had been any other time or place with different circumstances she would have been attracted to him. His jaw sported a five o’clock shadow and the blond of his hair contradicted the darkness of his skin. His lips were full and perfectly shaped but marred by the down-turned edges as he frowned at her.

  She looked down at his hand still holding the glass and realized with nauseating disgust that she was attracted to him, even despite his obvious strength.

  “I…I didn’t mean to stare, I’m sorry,” she mumbled, looking away.

  He didn’t say anything, but she felt his eyes on her.

  “Lana?” he finally asked.

  The sharp turn of her head caused her vision to blur, and she grasped the railing for support. His hand reached out for her, but before he ever touched her, she regained control of her balance and his hand fell away.

  “Welcome back,” he said. But his tone was anything but welcoming. He sounded angry with her.

  “Do I know you?” Lana squinted against the dim light, trying to figure out if she went to school with him. But nothing about him stirred any memories…except those eyes.

  He fell silent for a long time, his jaw pulsing.

  She noticed then that he wore a police uniform. She squinted again and read the name on his badge. Lucky. That was an odd name for a man of his stature.

  “Do I know you?” she asked again.

  “I heard you were back in town,” he said in his southern drawl. “Can’t say I’d come back here if I had the choice.”

  “My father lives here.”

  A derisive snort escaped his lips. “Don’t remin
d me.”

  “I’m sorry. I think I’m missing something. Did we go to school together?”

  Again, those piercing blue eyes studied her. “I’m Lucky.”

  “Lana Stevens.”

  “I heard from some folks in town that the beauty queen came home. A lot of people are looking forward to seeing you again at the reunion this fall.”

  “I’m not going,” she said quickly. No way, no how would she be around all those jocks again, listening to their crude comments and smelling their foul, alcoholic breath. So far, she hadn’t seen any at the party, but if she did, she would avoid them like the plague. By the reunion though, she would have to stay indoors anyway because of her condition.

  “Pity.”

  Lana frowned and looked back over the party, trying to figure out why this man wouldn’t tell her who he was. Her lungs felt like they were on fire and nausea coiled like an angry snake in her stomach.

  No. Not now. Recognizing the signs immediately, she exhaled a deep, slow breath. She couldn’t be having a panic attack!

  Forcing another breath in, she swallowed down the disgusting lump in her throat and cleared it.

  “Sheriff, huh? Where are you from?”

  Talk to me. Distract me.

  “From around here. I made sheriff about three years ago.”

  “Sheriff Meyer finally decided to retire?” Inhale, exhale. It was a simple concept but one her brain couldn’t quite grasp.

  He nodded once but kept his gaze averted.

  She was out of questions. What now? Now the panic attack was about to get the best of her and the last thing she wanted to do was make a scene.

  “Excuse me,” she mumbled and rushed past him.

  His arm snaked out and grabbed her wrist.

  “You okay, Lana?”

  She stared at his large hand consuming hers, as sweat beaded on her brow. Then her eyes trailed up carefully to meet his. The sudden contrast from angry to concern stopped her heart momentarily. The panic attack faded for a second, and she tried to remember where she’d seen those eyes. They had such a magnificent color.

  “I’ll be fine. I just need to get to a restroom,” she whispered.

  “You’re white as a sheet. Are you sick?”

  That was one way of putting it. “Actually,” she licked her lips. “I am.”

  His grip loosened and her wrist slipped free. “What’s wrong?”

  Lana shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about it, and she certainly didn’t want his pity. She didn’t even know the man.

  As panic overwhelmed her again, she thought about the restrained strength in his touch and the muscular frame underneath the uniform. He could twitch a finger and she’d be across the room. Just like it had been with James.

  The bathroom had a line, and she couldn’t wait. Her control was slipping fast and her heart slammed against her chest. Whipping back around to the outside, she pushed past the crowd and finally found a haven in a darkened back corner where no one stood. She sat on her knees facing the bushes, her chest heaving and her heart racing.

  After ten years, she was finally free of James.

  Only to realize that freedom came with a price.