Chapter 5

CHAPTERFIVE

“How didI not know about this,” Lucy Tham demanded as she struggled with the cork on the Prosecco bottle. “I mean, this is big, London. I can’t believe you never told me.” She curled her lips in a pout.

Lucy’s husband, Mike, took the bottle from his wife. The pop of the cork and the fizz rising from the bottle were music to London’s ears. Mike poured a generous amount into a flute and passed it across the tasting bar. London gave him a chagrined smile before taking a healthy sip.

“I’m sorry,” London told her friend. “I guess I just thought it wasn’t a big deal.”

“Not a big deal?” Lucy’s voice rang out through the vacant liquor store. “Are you kidding me?”

This was exactly the reason London never told her best friend.

The two met during London’s internship at Westbrook when she’d stopped in at Lucy’s mother’s nail salon next door. It was only London’s second cold call soliciting business for the agency. Mrs. An was a lot harder sell than her daughter, but by the end of the summer, the nail salon had a PR strategy and London had a new best friend.

When Lucy married Mike, whose dad owned the dry cleaner in the same shopping center, London was their maid of honor. Two years later, when the couple opened a liquor store between the two shops, it was London who came up with the idea for the tasting bar and events. It was Lucy who kept London from hiding out in her apartment on weekends.

Lucy was generous, steadfast, fun-loving, and a social butterfly. She was also the drama queen to London’s pragmatic introvert. Mike shot London a look of commiseration while his wife grumbled on.

“Honey,” Mike said. “Just because you are friends, it doesn’t mean London has to tell you everything.”

Lucy stopped her rant and looked at her husband as if he’d told her there was no such thing as Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.

“Of course she does,” Lucy snapped. “I tell her everything.”

Mike stiffened behind the bar. “Not . . . everything?”

His wife arched both eyebrows at him and jerked her chin up and down once.

London avoided his flustered gaze. Lucy was guilty of over-sharing. There were many times when she wished her friend would keep the particulars to herself.

The tips of Mike’s ears grew red. He threw down the dishtowel he was using to wipe the counter. “I’m going next door to check the alarm at the drycleaners.”

As soon as he was out of earshot, Lucy sat back down next to London. “He’s gone. Now you can spill the tea. And don’t leave anything out.”

London sighed before taking another sip of her Prosecco for courage.

“You’ve heard the story before. Girl crushes on guy. Guy makes girl fall in love with him. And then guy . . .vanishes.”

“The dirtball,” Lucy hissed. “Mike has one of his jerseys in the closet. I’m going to burn it as soon as we get home tonight.”

London laughed at her friend’s bloodthirsty tone. “You’re the best, you know that? I wish I’d known you back then. You would have found a way to help me find the humor in the situation. My mom was preoccupied with her new marriage when it all went down.”

“You never told anyone?” Lucy reached over and gently tucked a strand of hair behind London’s ear. “That’s not healthy, girlfriend. It might make you feel better if you let it all out,” she urged. “I promise to listen silently. And I’d never judge.”

She refilled London’s glass and waited patiently, wearing London down.

“I met Trey the summer before college,” she began. “I was working as a mail jumper on Lake Geneva. Every day we would sort the mail in the morning, then climb aboard a boat filled with sixty or so tourists who watched while we jumped onto the docks and left the mail in the mailboxes of the seventy-five estates lining the lake. When we finished, we had to jump back onto the moving boat and chat up the passengers with info on the famous houses.”

“Wow.”

“I know. It’s the coolest summer job ever.” She grinned wistfully remembering. “I first spotted him in the boathouse of his grandfather’s estate. I didn’t know Lars was his grandfather, though. And Trey never mentioned that little tidbit.”

A sound of disgust escaped Lucy’s lips before she mimed zipping them up and throwing away the key.

“There he was. This golden god, lifting weights wearing nothing but a skimpy pair of shorts. He had the graceful, fluid movements of someone in tune with every fiber of his body. He was so intently focused on making every move precise that he was unaware of anything around him. I was so captivated by him I ended up messing up my timing and instead of landing on the stern, I landed in the lake. I’m embarrassed to admit it was the first and only time I ever missed a jump that summer.”

A melancholy feeling settled over her as the memories of that day flooded back.

The water was still chilly in June, but London barely noticed. Her body was warm with embarrassment. She surfaced to the cheers of the passengers. And a sexy guy with brown locks blowing in the summer breeze crouched on the dock. His arm was stretched out toward her.

“Here,” he said. “I’ve got you.”

She wasn’t in any danger of drowning. Years of swim team guaranteed that. Not to mention the life vest she wore. It was a good thing she had it on, too, because when he grinned at her, she lost all feeling in her body. The captain was circling theWalworth around to pick her up. London had no choice but to take his hand and climb onto the dock.

Before she knew it, he was draping a beach towel around her neck. The gesture was both natural and intimate at the same time. London shivered beneath his hands resting on her shoulders.

“Do you do that every day?” There was a touch of awe in his voice.

“Fall into the lake?”

His smile grew wider, revealing two perfect dimples that instantly stole her breath.

“No, silly. Do you jump to and from that boat delivering the mail?”

She nodded.

“Cool.”

“Uh, huh.” His smile had stolen her brain cells, too, apparently, because she couldn’t think of anything more impressive to say than that.

The captain honked the horn to indicate the Walworth was making its final turn to the dock. London tried to shrug out of the towel, but his hand stopped her.

“You’re still shivering. You can return it tomorrow with the mail.” He winked. “I’ll be here waiting.”

London’s stomach did a loop-di-loo. She sank her teeth into her bottom lip to keep her mouth from gaping open. Several wolf whistles coming from the passenger section of the boat startled her into action. With flaming cheeks, she leaped back on board, grateful she didn’t splat against one of the windows like a bug. When she looked back, he was still standing on the dock, hands on his hips, staring at the departing boat.

And her.

Lucy’s sighbrought London back to the present.

“I can’t believe he’s the same guy,” Lucy said. “He sounds so much less uptight and machine-like than how he comes off now.”

“Yeah. He was.” London took another sip of her Prosecco.

Except she’d seen behind that robot mask he wore earlier today. When he was making goo-goo eyes at a baby. That guy she’d met on the dock was still in there. Her heart ached wondering why he chose to hide him.

“So, was he there the next day?”

London smiled coyly. “And the day after that.”

The third day, he was waiting for her at the marina following the cruise. They’d spend the afternoons wandering around the lake talking about everything and about nothing. On the evenings she worked at Sandy’s ice cream parlor, he’d camp out at one of the tables in the back spearing her with smoldering looks in between watching sports on his tablet or reading.

He was smart. Going into his junior year at Stanford, of all places. But he never made himself out to be too sophisticated for her, a townie with limited world experience.

He claimed to be Trey Micheals. His excuse for being at the Van Horn estate was something involving setting up a new computer system for the mansion. He said he was dragging the job out for the month until he had to return to California for a mini-semester. London was too smitten not to believe a word out of his gorgeous mouth.

Especially when he said he was falling for her.

The physical part of their relationship progressed slowly. From holding hands to delicate kisses on the cheek at the end of the evening, to more heated make-out sessions by the shores of the lake late at night. Having never had a boyfriend before, she appreciated that Trey didn’t pressure her, despite the desire shining in his eyes.

Her aunt was chaperoning her while her mother was flying internationally for the month. Bringing Trey home to her place was out of the question. The boathouse at the Van Horn estate became their rendezvous spot.

Nearly three weeks into their relationship, she was officially head-over-heels in love. Stanford and UCLA weren’t that far apart that their relationship had to end, she reasoned with herself. She could use her mom’s buddy miles to fly back and forth. This didn’t have to be a summer romance. There wasn’t any reason they couldn’t take their relationship to the next level, she decided at the end of their third week together.

Earlier that morning, Trey had hitched a ride with the estate’s caretaker for an appointment in Chicago. She hated how much she missed his presence when he wasn’t around. Especially when she got a troubling prank phone call from a supposed reporter asking her about her mother’s recent marriage. She tried to shake it off. Her mother wasn’t married. But when she reached out to her mom, Kim had been all giggles telling London she had a surprise when she returned home the next day. Something was definitely up.

Even more unsettling, Trey wasn’t responding to her texts. She worried something had happened to him, too. Needing reassurance, and to feel his arms around her and his lips on hers, she huddled in the dark, counting down the minutes until he was supposed to meet her at the boathouse.

She ended up waiting all night.

“Oh, honey.”Lucy draped an arm over London’s shoulder before reaching out to wipe a tear off her friend’s cheek. “I’m such a beast for making you relive that. That jerk broke your heart.”

London leaned into her friend’s embrace. “Nah. My heart survived.” It was mostly true. But there was still a part of it she suspected was lost forever. She was convinced it was that missing piece that doomed every relationship ever since. “He was just one in a long line of guys who decided they wanted something better.”

Starting with my dad.

“Shame on them all. They’re jackasses who didn’t know a good thing when they had it.” Lucy slammed her palm down onto the counter. “You were too good for that boring insurance guy you dated, anyway. We put up with him for a year because we love you. But he always acted like he couldn’t wait to get out of here. And when you told me he slept with his socks on—" Her friend shivered. “Oh, and the frat boy you wasted three years on in college? The one who couldn’t keep his hands off every woman’s ass? I’ll bet he’s already got a pot belly.”

London snorted a laugh. Leave it to Lucy to put a positive spin on her train wreck of a love life.

“Don’t you dare give up on finding ‘the one’ just because of a few rotten eggs,” Lucy told her.

“I’m not giving up. I’m just taking a break from relationships for a while. I have a career I love and family and friends who keep my heart full.”

“Ohhh.” Lucy swiped at her own tears. “Now you’re making me cry. Still, I want to take Trey Van Horn out at the knees for deserting you like that.”

“He’s not worth the energy,” London announced. “Besides, the next day I found my mom had lost her mind and did actually marry someone: Trey’s dad. How awkward would that have been?”

“I read a book about that once. It was called Stepsiblings in Love. Very kinky.”

London rolled her eyes at her friend and finished off her drink.

“Too soon?” Lucy joked.

“Is it safe to return?” Mike asked from the doorway.

“Please do,” London said. “Your wife is being a freak.”

“Did you solve the problem of getting a spokesman for Gunther’s?” he asked.

“I still think the puppet is a winner. It’s adorable.” Lucy folded her fingers while making mooing noises. “Mooz-R-Ella says ‘buy my string cheese.’”

London sighed. “Bennie said Seth was being a bit petulant. He thinks there’s more to the story. Seth’s wife left him a few months ago. It’s almost as if she took Seth’s personality with her because he’s not been himself.”

“Bennie’s a very smart and intuitive man,” Mike said. “He’ll fix this.”

“I hope so. My only other option is Alek Bergeron. But at least he and I get along.”

“Oooo,” Lucy cooed. “He’s way into you. And he has a personality. Not to mention very sexy eyes. You should totally do him.”

Mike groaned and refilled London’s glass while pouring some for himself. He raised his flute up. “It’ll all work out, London. You’re going to kill this one.”

London laughed. “As long as it doesn’t kill me.”

As she took a sip from the glass, she noticed Lucy wasn’t drinking. “Hey, what’s going on with you? I’ve never known you to pass up a glass of sparkling wine.”

Her friend smiled demurely before exchanging a telling glance with her husband.

“Oh my gosh!! Are you⁠—?

“Preggers!” Lucy finished for her.

London threw her arms around her friend. “This is so awesome.”

Lucy and Mike had been trying to conceive for a while. Both came from large families, and they wanted the same. Their first two pregnancies resulted in early miscarriages, however.

“It’s good this time?” London whispered.

“Very. This one is going to stick. We just told our families. But as our child’s godmother, we wanted you to know right away.” Lucy squeezed tight. “Our baby will be so lucky growing up with you in his or her life.”

The words made London’s breath hitch. If this deal went through, she’d no longer be popping in for a glass of wine most nights. She’d be nearly two hours away. Or perhaps even farther if she was working on a film. She’d been trying to work up the courage to tell her friends for the past several weeks. Given the way things went today, though, she might not have to break the news to Lucy at all.