Finding Lily (Second Chances Book 2)

by Rachel Del

  As she followed Nathan down the hallway to the conference room she couldn’t help but blush. Ever since admitting to herself and Chrstina that she found him attractive, Lily found herself thinking about him far too often. And now, with the chance to study the back of his neck, his broad shoulders and impeccable rear end, she felt almost dizzy.

  Get your act together, she thought.

  She stopped at the doorway to the conference room, took a deep breath and stepped forward.

  “Tanner, so nice to see you again,” she crooned, shaking his hand. “I see you’ve met Jason.”

  “Tanner was just giving me a little taste of an idea he has for a new novel. I’ve got to say, it’s pretty damn edgy.” Jason responded, beaming. You could practically see the dollar signs in his eyes. “I hear that you and Nathan will be joining him in Santa Barbara in a few days.”

  “Maybe you can share your idea with us then,” Nathan said.

  “You’re going to love Santa Barbara,” Tanner said, ignoring Nathan and turning to Lily.

  “I’m sure I will.”

  “Shall we get down to it, then?” Jason asked, clearly anxious.

  “Ah, but that’s what the weekend is for,” Tanner responded. He motioned to Nathan and Lily. “I like to get to know the people I might be working with. I need to know you aren’t all business all the time.”

  Lily tensed up. She definitely knew she had a problem getting out of work mode.

  “So you came in today just to see our lovely faces?” Lily joked. Tanner rose to his feet and everyone followed suit.

  “I wanted to get a feel for the place,” he said. “Care to show me around?”

  For the next hour Lily carted him around from department to department. To her horror, a few junior editors stopped Tanner, asking for his autograph. Unlike the more experienced employees, they didn’t know better. Tanner was nice about it, though, appeasing them with a smile on his face. Wasn’t he supposed to be difficult?

  When they had officially explored every inch of the building and ended up back at the door to Lily’s office, Tanner surprised her by taking a seat across from her desk.

  “Tell me about your husband,” he said. It was so out of the blue that Lily had to withhold from shaking her head. She glanced down at the diamond on her left hand. What should she say?

  “Thomas. His name is Thomas.”

  “And what does Thomas do?”

  “He’s in commercial real estate,” she said.

  “I haven’t heard you mention him before.”

  “You haven’t asked,” she replied, smiling weakly.

  “I just did.”

  Lily said nothing.

  “Did I touch on a nerve or something?”

  “No, it’s nothing like that. I just try to keep my personal life separate from my professional life.”

  Tanner stood up, readying himself to leave. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re really closed off?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I get that a lot actually.”

  “I’m going to have to work on getting you to open up,” he said, stepping forward and shaking her hand. “I’ll see you in a few days.”

  __

  Lily folded her hands around the steaming cup of coffee. “Whomever it was that invented coffee should have been crowned a prince.”

  “That would be Kaldi. He was a 9th-century Ethiopian goatherder.”

  Lily looked up from her drink. “You know who invented coffee?” she asked incredulously.

  “Well, no, but he discovered it when he noticed how excited his goats became after eating the beans from a coffee plant.”

  “Oh, I see, you’re one of those people who are full of useless information.”

  “I reckon I’m just like you in that way, that’s why we get along so marvelously,” he said, teasing her right back.”

  “’Reckon’? Are you from Texas now?”

  “I’m a chameleon. I fit in everywhere… with everyone.”

  Lily couldn’t help but laugh, and for a moment her sisters’ words spun around in her head: Long days, late nights… You two are totally going to screw. She peeked at Nathan over the rim of her coffee cup as he scribbled notes on the thick legal pad in front of him.

  “I thought Nathan would be the kind of guy who shared everything online, but there is surprisingly little to be found. There’s nothing much beyond an abandoned Facebook page.”

  “You’re seriously cyber-stalking him right now?”

  “I figured anything we could find might help us out this weekend,” he replied, smiling widely.

  “Hmm, and here you told me you could fit in with anyone.”

  Chapter 6

  As Nathan pulled up outside of Lily’s house early Friday morning, he couldn’t help but be in awe. There had been little hints at the kind of life she led: the substantial diamond on her left hand being the most obvious, but her house made it official. His house could fit inside of hers.

  As he climbed out of the car and walked up her front steps, he realized he was nervous. Before she had told him about her divorce that night at the restaurant, she had been only a fantasy to him, something he knew could never happen. Now, with even a glimmer of possibility, he felt like a bumbling fool around her.

  And he was about to be holed up in a car with her for six long hours.

  The expansive front door opened before Nathan could press his finger to the doorbell, and Lily appeared. She looked like she hadn’t slept much the night before, but Nathan didn’t dare say anything. Before he could speak, Lily lifted her head to look at him.

  “I really need coffee,” she croaked. Instantly, Nathan felt himself relax.

  “That can most definitely be arranged,” he replied, and then reached out for her overnight bag.

  “Thank you.”

  “The door’s open,” he said, motioning towards the passenger door as he popped open the trunk. He watched her settled into the passenger seat and pull down the visor to check herself in the mirror. When he saw her grimace and reach for her purse, he pretended to be shuffling items around in trunk to give her time. When it became obvious that he couldn’t possibly still be messing around with the luggage, he retrieved his iPhone from his jeans pocket and shot out a few work emails.

  “How about that coffee?”

  Nathan looked up from his phone to see Lily’s head poking out of the window. Whatever she had done had definitely helped: she looked like herself again… only different somehow.

  Nathan shut the trunk and slid into the drivers seat. He started the ignition and after sneaking a quick peek at Lily, put the car in drive and pulled away from her house.

  “We’ve worked together for what, two years? And this is the first time I’ve ever seen you in jeans,” he said. “Casual suits you.”

  “If you think so, you would love what I wear when I’m cleaning the house.”

  Nathan smiled but kept his eyes on the road.

  “Anyways,” she said. “It’s a long drive. Comfort first, right?”

  “Definitely.”

  Lily allowed herself to glance over at Nathan. Dressed in a deep blue V-neck shirt, dark, stylish jeans and brown Birkenstocks, it was evident that casual suited him as well. Plus, there was something about men in sandals that always did it for her. He was what you would call conventionally handsome, as though he were modeled after a brunette Ken doll with the improved features of better hair, a better body and a fun personality. He was, in all meanings of the word, gorgeous, and the fact that he didn’t know it made him that much more appealing. How was it that he was even single?

  “Now, about that coffee,” Nathan said, and made a quick right turn into Starbucks. Twenty minutes later, with their venti blonde roasts already halfway consumed, they merged onto the I-15 headed for California.

  “You sure you aren’t going to get sick of me this weekend?” Nathan joked.

  The fact was that Lily was glad not to be alone in that house… again, and she and Nate had been working
together so much more lately that she almost considered them friends.

  “I’ll let you know if I do.”

  “Perfect.”

  Lily felt almost embarrassed by how nervous she was feeling. She wanted to start a conversation, but couldn’t form the words. What if they had absolutely nothing to say to each other and sat in awkward silence for six hours? She shook the thought from her mind. This is Nate; you’ve been working with him for two years. He’s not a stranger, there’s nothing to be nervous about. Still, the thoughts didn’t stop her from pulling a novel from her purse, desperate for an escape.

  __

  Lily placed her bookmark in her book and set it down on her lap, prompting Nathan to look over at her.

  “Tired of reading?” he asked.

  “Yeah, it’s starting to hurt my eyes.”

  “Does this mean you’ll finally have to talk to me?”

  “That depends on how much longer we have ahead of us,” Lily retorted, but she couldn’t help but blush. The truth was that she had spent the majority of the time simply staring at the words on the page because she couldn’t focus on anything… not while they were in such close proximity.

  “We just hit Ventura, so I’d say about forty minutes to an hour. Think you can hold a conversation with me for that long?”

  “I’ll have you know that I am an excellent conversationalist when I want to be.”

  “So the antisocial behavior for the past few hours was just for my benefit, then?” Nathan joked.

  “Fine,” Lily said, shifting in her seat so she was facing him. “You have my undivided attention now. What would you like to talk about?”

  “You’re the ‘excellent conversationalist’, so you start us off.”

  “Okay. Tell me about your childhood.”

  Nathan laughed out loud. “You’re really diving right in, huh?”

  “You bet.”

  “Okay,” he began, blowing air from between his lips. “Pretty normal, really. My parents both worked outside of the home. My dad worked as a mechanic and my mom, who liked to rattle on about the importance of work-life balance and parents having a life outside of their children, worked in a library. I’ve got two older sisters who were crazy and drove me nuts as a kid, but are now the only people whose advice I actually take to heart. They’re both married with families now.”

  “Are your parents still together?”

  “They are. Pretty crazy these days, right? It seems like everyone’s getting a div—“

  Nathan caught himself mid-sentence. “Damn, sorry. I didn’t mean to sound insensitive.”

  “It’s fine, really. Most days I’ve wrapped my head around it.” The lie felt foreign in her mouth.

  A heavy silence filled the car.

  “So your mom worked in a library. Is it safe to assume that she passed on her love of books to you?”

  “I’m going to sound like a total sap for admitting this, but that’s one of the things I loved about my mom growing up. If she wasn’t cooking, cleaning or driving the three of us around, she was reading. Even now, when I think of her, I always picture her with her nose in a paperback. My parents never made a lot of money, and so there wasn’t much in the way of family vacations. I would listen to my friends rattle off stories of their recent trips to Disneyland or something like that, and then run off to my mom and complain. You know what she used to say? She’d quote something she’d read once: ‘Reading gives us some place to go, when we have to stay where we are.’”

  “I kind of think I love her already,” Lily responded wistfully. She swallowed down a knot in her throat.

  “Anyways, I definitely caught her love of books. I pretty much grew up knowing I wanted to end up in publishing.”

  “What about high school?” Lily asked.

  “Again, pretty normal. I wasn’t popular, but I wasn’t an outcast either; I kind of found a nice little niche somewhere in between the two and drifted through.”

  “You’re lucky,” she muttered under her breath.

  “I take it you didn’t quite have the same experience…”

  “It was kind of hell. I was teased… a lot.”

  “I just can’t imagine that,” Nathan responded, shaking his head. “You’re hot.”

  Lily laughed. “Maybe now I’m a little easier on the eyes, but I was certainly nothing special back then. Thanks, though, for the compliment. I’m kind of embarrassed to say that it’s one of the nicest things anyone has said to me lately.”

  “I don’t know who you’re spending your time with Gardner…”

  “Just one guy in particular, really.”

  Nathan felt his heart beat faster in his chest. “Oh?”

  “Ben. He’s pretty spectacular, actually.”

  When Nathan didn’t respond, Lily smacked his forearm playfully. “My son.”

  Nathan laughed, hoping that it hid his relief. “Right! Do you want to tell me about him or would you prefer I ask about your childhood too?”

  Lily smiled towards her lap. “He’s sweet, like, incredibly sweet, but also hard-headed and fiercely independent. And he’s sharp. So sharp.”

  “He sounds an awful lot like you,” Nathan responded. “He’s lucky to have you.”

  Lily looked over at Nathan and studied him for a moment. She couldn’t help but feel like she had missed out the past two years, not knowing him better.

  “How come no one has taken you off the market?” she asked.

  “Ah. That’s a complicated question.”

  Lily looked down at her watch. “You have thirty-five minutes,” she said, smirking.

  “I’m kind of shy when it comes to women.”

  Lily scoffed. “Now that I don’t believe.”

  “I’m an outgoing guy in most situations, but when I really like someone, well… I’m not very smooth. It’s so easy for women. Do you know how awesome it is when a girl approaches you and asks you out? But women are so used to getting hit on that by the time you’ve even built up the nerve to approach her, she’s already looking for a way to get away from you.”

  Lily nodded knowingly. “Yeah, I can see that, but it’s all in the approach really. Most men don’t know how to talk to women. If you come up to us and immediately try to use some lame pickup line, yeah, we’re going to look for the nearest exit. But if you talk to us like we’re human, and try to connect on a real level, we’ll pick up on that real quickly.”

  “So that’s the secret, huh?”

  “Pretty much.”

  Lily slipped off her sandals and pulled her legs up until they were tucked against her chest. “Seriously though, you’ve got this confidence to you that women must be attracted to…”

  “Well thank you.”

  “And you’re not bad to look at either.”

  Nathan stared at the road straight-ahead, blushing and then stole a sideways glance at Lily. “You’re pretty easy on the eyes too, but we established that about five minutes ago.”

  __

  “So you have been in love before…”

  Nathan shot her a look before turning his attention back to the road. They were due to pull up to Tanner’s house any minute. “Do I seem like someone who hasn’t?”

  Lily thought for a moment before answering. “I’m undecided about you. I used to think that I was pretty good at reading people, but you’re tricky. I do think that you can put on a good show when necessary, though.”

  “I’m not sure how to take that.”

  Lily took a deep breath, not knowing if she should continue. “I think that you pretend to be more experienced than you are because you believe it makes you more attractive… or something. And I think you’re not used to asking for what you want, which is what everyone wants deep down: someone to settle down with.”

  Nathan was silent, pretending to be focused on where he was going, but he could feel something beginning to bubble in his chest.

  “I get the feeling that you were hurt before… badly, and that as a result you go after wom
en who are unavailable so that you can’t get your heart broken again.” Like her. “I think you pretend to be a lot stronger than you really are.”

  Nathan felt something burst deep inside him and before he could think better of it, blurted out a reply. “And I think you’re full of it.”

  Lily felt like she had been slapped across the face. She turned away from Nathan and sank back into her seat. Had she gone too far?

  They sat in silence, neither of them knowing what to say. Five minutes passed in what felt like an hour until finally, Nathan signaled and pulled into the driveway of what Lily could only describe as the most beautiful house she had ever seen.

  Tanner was already outside, ready to greet them.

  Chapter 7

  It was a beautiful day in California, and Lily was feeling incredibly lucky to be in Santa Barbara.

  “I hope you like Lobster,” Tanner said, motioning to Lily. He hadn’t seemed to take much notice of Nathan since they had arrived the day before. No, his attention had been focused solely on Lily.

  “You know how to prepare Lobster?” she asked, impressed. “Is there anything you can’t do?”

  Nathan rolled his eyes; this was getting ridiculous. He and Lily had barely said more than a few sentences to each other since the car ride up, and Tanner’s interest in Lily meant he had spent the last twenty-four hours feeling like the third wheel on a bad date.

  Nathan hated what he had said to her in the car and wished more than anything that he could take it back. The truth was that she was right… and apparently it had brought out the worst in him.

  It was killing him that he hadn’t been able to carve out a chance to apologize to her. After dinner he would have to just pull her aside and explain himself.

  “Here, let me help,” Nathan said, rising from his seat and moving towards Tanner.

  Lily took a sip of her Chardonnay and shifted in her seat. It turned out that watching two attractive men prepare dinner was a complete turn on.

  “So,” Tanner said. “You’ve been here a whole day and I still don’t know anything new about you.”