“I’d better get going,” I said.
He nodded. “Take care, Lily.”
“You too.”
He stood next to my car as I climbed behind the wheel and backed out of the parking space. Waving as I drove away, I smiled to myself, hopeful that he would call soon. Of course I could call him, but I wanted him to call me. Just over an hour later I pulled into my driveway, and when my house came into view, my smile grew. It felt so good to be home.
“We’re here,” I said to Natalie as I lifted her from her car seat and carried her into the house. Greta met us at the door and I squatted next to her and let Natalie grab her fur. Her tail wagged hard, showing how happy she was to see us. “Were you a good girl for Trish?” I asked as I scratched her head.
She panted in reply, her doggie smile wide.
I put Natalie in her swing and set it gently swaying, then went out to the car and brought in all our things. By the time I’d carried the luggage upstairs, Natalie had fallen asleep in the swing. I put her in her crib and unpacked our things, enjoying the feeling of getting everything organized and back into place.
After Natalie awoke from her nap, I put her in her stroller and walked next door to Trish’s house.
“You’re back,” she said, a warm smile on her face.
“Yes. And thank you so much for taking care of Greta. It was so nice knowing she was in good hands.”
“Oh, we’re old friends now.”
I smiled. “Good.”
“Do you want to come in for a visit? I want to hear all about your trip.”
“Sure.”
We settled in the living room and she fixed us each a glass of cold lemonade.
“It’s kind of strange to be back in hot weather,” I said. “After being where it was cooler.”
“I’ll bet it was beautiful there.”
“It was gorgeous. So green. I guess that’s one advantage of the cooler, wetter weather.”
“What was your favorite part?”
I thought of meeting Cameron and smiled, but said, “The whale watching.”
“Oh, that does sound fun.” She sipped her lemonade. “How was the wedding?”
“Alyssa looked stunning and it was so fun to see her getting married. I really like her new husband.”
“Did you already know Alyssa’s family?”
“No. The only person I knew ahead of time was Alyssa, but her family and Ty’s family were really nice. Ty’s younger sister even babysat for me several times.”
“That must have been nice. What did you do on the ship?”
I pictured Cameron again and vividly recalled dancing with him, his arms wrapped around me, and smiled. Though I was in Marcus’s childhood home, my memory of Cameron was fresh as I’d only left him a few hours earlier. “There were some fun comedy shows, and we also went dancing.”
She must have seen something in my face, because she asked in a tone like she could already tell what my answer would be, “Did you meet anyone special?”
Heat rushed to my face. “Well, I did spend some time with Ty’s best man.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Oh? And what is his name?”
My smile grew. “Cameron.”
“Where does he live?”
“Just in Sacramento.”
“How nice.” She seemed genuinely happy for me. She hesitated. “So you hit it off?”
I nodded. “Yeah, he’s a great guy.”
“How lucky for you that he doesn’t live very far. Are you going to continue seeing him?”
“I think so.”
“That’s wonderful, Lily. I’m so glad you found someone.”
I thought about her son. The man who had popped into my mind when I’d been dancing with Cameron. The man who, only a couple of weeks before, I’d thought I was falling in love with. The man who’d I’d thought was my ‘someone’. Then I thought of him dating Chelsea and felt a stab of jealousy. Happiness at having Cameron in my life was marred by my feelings for Marcus. I pushed a smile on my face and nodded. “Yeah. So am I.”
We talked about the rest of my trip, then I headed home, stopping by my mailbox to pick up the bundle of mail I’d had the post office hold for me. I carried the bundle into the house and set it on the coffee table, then put Natalie on a blanket on the floor. She was beginning to push herself onto her hands and knees, getting ready to crawl, and I smiled as I watched her.
I sorted through the mail, putting bills in one pile and junk mail in another, then stopped when I found a letter from Trevor’s mom. Before the cruise I’d sent her a letter telling her we’d come for a visit soon, and now I would need to think about exactly when. I opened the envelope and pulled out the letter.
Dear Lily,
I’m so glad you’ve decided to come for a visit. Please let me know when you would like to come. I know I’m old-fashioned with sending letters in the mail, and I actually do have an email address, so if you’d prefer to email me, that would be fine.
Take care,
Marcy
She’d given me her email address, so I opened my laptop and went online, then started an email.
Marcy -
I decided to send you an email as it’s so much faster—and no stamps involved :)
Natalie and I can come for a visit in a week. Would that work for you?
Lily
I sent the email, then spent some time catching up on my other online activities, including taking care of some tasks for the websites I had created for Billi and the other small business owners who’d hired me. When I received a response from Marcy before I’d signed off, I was surprised—I didn’t know she spent much time online. She confirmed the date I’d set, so I called Trish to see if she could take care of Greta again. I felt guilty asking, but I didn’t know what else to do.
“I wouldn’t mind at all,” Trish said. “But I’ll be out of town then.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, thanks anyway.”
After we hung up, I considered what to do. Taking Greta with me was a non-starter, not after the comment Marcy had made about her family being upset that she had killed Trevor. I completely understood their reticence toward Greta, even though she’d only been protecting me. I got that they would never want to face her, but I didn’t want to change the date as Marcy had already confirmed it.
I sighed, knowing the only other option was to ask Marcus to take care of her. With some reluctance, I called his cell phone.
“Hey, Lily. You’re back,” he answered.
For a moment I was caught off-guard, until I realized he would know it was me since my number was probably programmed into his phone. Then I focused on the sound of his voice and felt a strong tremor of longing flow through me, making me wistful that he was dating Chelsea and not me. “Hi, Marcus.”
“It’s good to hear your voice.”
“Your’s too.” I silently added, I thought about you when I was in another man’s arms.
“Did you have a good time? How did it go with Natalie? How did she do on the ship?”
I smiled. Of course he would ask about Natalie. “She did great.”
“Hey, we should have lunch. Would you be able to stop by my office tomorrow?”
The thought of seeing him made my heart pound in anticipation, but would it just feel like torture to see him and know we could only ever be friends? “Sure,” I said, responding before I had a chance to think it through.
“Great! I should be available by twelve-thirty.”
We hung up a moment later and I leaned back against the couch and looked at Natalie, who was playing with one of her toys. “We’re going to see Marcus tomorrow, baby girl,” I said, and realized I was beaming.
The next afternoon Natalie and I pulled into a parking spot, and I took her out of her car seat and carried her inside.
“May I help you?” a girl a little older than me asked from behind the reception desk.
“Yes. I’m here to see Marcus Oliver.”
“Please have a seat. I’ll le
t him know you’re here.”
I sat in a nearby chair and held Natalie on my lap. As I waited, several groups of people came and went, which wasn’t surprising as it was lunch time. Without being too obvious, I took special notice of the women, wondering if any of them could be Chelsea. What would she think of her boyfriend going to lunch with me? What would Cameron think?
“Lily,” Marcus said as he entered the reception area.
My gaze went to him and I felt myself drawn to him, and all thoughts of Cameron fled. He was dressed in business casual and it suited him. As he walked toward me with a warm smile, I gazed at his incredible green eyes and knew it was hopeless—he was the one I wanted. He was the one who should be my someone.
I stood, and with Natalie in my arms, I smiled at him, but tried to keep my feelings under control, tried to keep my emotions on a friends-only level. “Hey, it’s great to see you,” I said.
Marcus stopped next to us and held out his arms to Natalie, who eagerly went into them. As I watched the two of them interact, I felt my heart breaking. This was what I wanted for myself and Natalie. A man who loved her. But he would also have to love me, and that’s where the problem lay. Loving me as a friend was not enough to build a relationship on, not the kind of long-term relationship I was looking for. And I didn’t think Marcus would be willing to make that kind of commitment to me anyway. Not with Chelsea in the picture. And if I was honest with myself, even if she wasn’t in the picture, Marcus had made it all too clear that we were destined to be friends only.
“I’m glad she didn’t forget me,” he said.
As if, I thought. “It’s only been a few weeks since we saw you.”
“I know. But you never know with babies, right?”
I laughed, pushing aside my sorrow. “She’s known you her whole life. I don’t think she’ll forget you that easily.”
He held her in front of him, gazing into her face. “That’s good.” Then he nuzzled her neck, making her giggle. He smiled at me. “I love that sound.”
I smiled back. “Me, too.”
He held her securely against his side. “Ready to get something to eat?”
I watched the natural way he held her, and could picture him being a father to her, but as quickly as the thought came to mind, my heart reminded me that that would never happen. It didn’t matter how much I wanted it. It wasn’t like with Cameron, where he told me he wanted more, but was willing to let me set the pace. I’d told Marcus that I really liked him—who was I kidding? I loved him—but he’d shot me down, cleanly and clearly.
I nodded in answer to Marcus’s question and held the smile on my face, but inside I felt my heart crumbling. “Where do you want to go?” I asked, proud that I’d kept my voice steady.
“There’s an Applebee’s nearby.”
“Sounds good.”
We walked out of the building together and toward my car. “Do you mind if we take your car?” he asked. “With the car seat and everything…”
“No, that makes the most sense.” I unlocked the door and Marcus fastened Natalie into her car seat, then he climbed into the passenger seat. I got behind the wheel, thinking how wonderful it was to have someone else to help out, but quashed the thought the moment it came to mind. Stop it, Lily. It’s not going to happen. You’re just torturing yourself.
We drove to the restaurant and sat in the waiting area for our party to be called. Marcus held Natalie on his lap, and she played with his watch.
“So,” he said. “Tell me about the cruise.”
Cameron’s face flashed into my mind, and I thought about how integral he was to my experience, but I wasn’t about to tell Marcus about him. “It was wonderful to see my friend get married. Maybe you’ll meet her one day.”
He smiled. “I’d like that.”
“Her husband’s a great guy, and we all had fun.”
“What did you do while you were in Alaska?”
“A lot of walking around the towns we visited.” I reached into my purse and pulled out the totem pole I’d bought for him, then held it out to him. “I got this for you.”
He took it from me and examined the intricate carving. “Thank you. This is cool.” He smiled at me. “You’re so thoughtful, Lily.”
I smiled in return, pleased. “I’m glad you like it.”
Natalie tried to grab it from him, but he held it out of her reach. “This is from your Mommy. I don’t want you to play with it.” He glanced at me with a grin on his face.
I blushed, but not wanting to make a big deal about my gift, I said, “My favorite thing on the trip was the whale watching. It was really cool to see them as they surfaced.”
“That would be awesome. Maybe I’ll have to take an Alaskan cruise one day.”
“I could show you around,” I said without thinking, then my face flamed red. “I mean, if I happened to be on the same cruise.”
He laughed. “That would be fun. Maybe we could get a group together and go one day.”
A group, I thought. That made his intentions perfectly clear. “Yeah,” I nodded. “I would like that.” The lie tasted bitter on my tongue, but I knew going as a group was better than not going at all.
Our table was ready and we followed the server to a booth. They brought a high chair for Natalie, and Marcus placed her in the seat.
“So what’s new with you?” I asked, picking up the menu.
“Not much. Just working a lot.”
I thought about Chelsea, and frowned before I could stop myself.
“It’s okay,” he said, obviously thinking I was frowning about him working a lot. “I really like my job.”
“That’s great then.” I wondered if working with his girlfriend played a part in that.
“How did my mom do with Greta?”
“It’s funny. At first your mom was really hesitant to watch her, but now she says they’re old friends.”
He laughed. “I knew it would work out.”
I set my menu down. “That’s one reason I called you. I’m going to Las Vegas to spend some time with Trevor’s parents, and your mom will be out of town. I hate to ask you because it’s a bit of a drive for you, but I don’t know who else to ask. Would you be able to take care of Greta for a few days?”
“Sure. You know I’m happy to do it.”
“If you want to stay at the house while you’re taking care of her, that’s fine with me.” I wondered how that would go over with Chelsea. “But whatever works for you.”
“I’ll think about it,” he said. “When are you going?”
I told him the dates and he nodded. We ordered our meals and they arrived a short time later. We talked about this and that, and I managed to stay away from any romantic subjects. After we finished, I dropped him off at work, and he promised to stop by for my key before I left.
Chapter Twenty
The night before Natalie and I were to leave for Las Vegas, Marcus dropped by to pick up the key. We sat on the couch, and he scratched Greta behind her ears. Natalie had already gone to bed for the night.
“What did you decide about staying here?” I asked.
“I think it would be better if I just stopped by once a day to feed her, rather than stay at your house.”
Chelsea didn’t like the idea, huh? I wanted to say, but instead I nodded. “Okay. I’m sorry about the drive.”
“It’s only about ten minutes. Not a big deal.”
“Well, I really appreciate it.”
He smiled warmly. “You know I’m here for you, don’t you, Lily?”
I felt my heart lurch. What was he saying? I nodded. “Yes, and it’s comforting to know I can count on you.” As much as I wanted to say more, I had to let him lead the way.
He nodded slightly. “That’s what friends are for, right?”
I almost groaned. Why did he have to keep saying that? Was he trying to make a point? Could he tell how I felt and he wanted to put me in my place? “Right.”
He left a short time later, and af
ter I closed the door behind him, I felt my shoulders slump, and tears filled my eyes. My hopes of our relationship moving past friendship seemed to be dimming. I trudged up the stairs and got ready for bed, focusing on the visit I was about to embark on.
The next morning as Natalie and I drove to Las Vegas, I thought about Marcus taking care of Greta. Would he bring Chelsea along when he came? I didn’t like the idea of her in my house, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
When we arrived at John and Marcy’s house that evening, Natalie was cranky from the long drive. I carried her to the front door, but Marcy opened it before I had a chance to knock.
“Lily,” she said, pulling me into a hug. “It’s so good to see you and Natalie.”
The warmth of her embrace made me feel welcome, and I was glad I came. “Hi, Marcy,” I said as she released me.
She held the door wide. “Please come in.”
I followed her inside.
“Can I get you something cold to drink?” she asked.
“That would be wonderful. It’s so hot here in Vegas.”
“Yes, I suppose it is, but I’ve gotten used to it.”
I followed her into the kitchen and remembered the last time I’d been there. Trevor’s older brother Chris had made it clear that he didn’t want me around, and I’d left early, mortified.
Marcy handed me an ice-filled glass of raspberry lemonade. “May I hold Natalie?” she asked.
I smiled. “She’s a little grumpy from our drive, but you can give it a try.”
Marcy took her from me and Natalie didn’t object. “Hi there, sweetheart,” Marcy murmured to her.
It warmed me to see my daughter with her only living grandmother, and I was glad that Trevor’s parents were so accepting of me after all that had happened. I knew they could have resented me and things could have been very different.
“Have you been keeping busy this summer?” Marcy asked as we sat on a pair of comfortable chairs.
“Yes, actually. A good friend of mine just got married, so Natalie and I went to her wedding.”
“Oh, that’s nice. Where did she get married?”
I smiled. “In Alaska.”
Marcy’s eyebrows rose. “Alaska? That’s a ways to go.”
Love At Last (Lily's Story, Book 3) Page 15