Page 11 of If We Never Met

"I was, but then Mark called. He said he'd pick me up and we could have some wine here at the inn. I just thought how lovely that would be. I haven't been here in so long. How are you, Lizzie?" Her mom gave Lizzie a warm smile.

"I'm good, Mrs. Blake."

"Oh, please call me Ruth."

"What kind of wine would you like?" Lizzie asked.

"What do you have open?"

"I have a nice pinot."

"That's perfect."

"That will be fine for me, too," Mark said. "And Lizzie, I'm happy to pay you for the bottle. I just thought we could talk better here than in a bar with all the young people."

"Sometimes it's hard for me to concentrate when there is a lot of noise," Ruth said.

"I hope you'll both join us," Mark added.

She wanted to join them, because she did not like anything that was going on. This Mark Langley seemed to be rather aggressive in his desire to get to know her mother again, and she didn't know what to think about that. In fact, the idea of her mother even having a drink with a man seemed completely foreign. Even before her accident, she'd rarely gone out on a date. She'd always said she was happy with her business, her friends, and her daughter.

But lately her mom had seemed at loose ends. She was well enough to feel bored, to want to do more than she'd been capable of doing even a year ago. That was a good thing. But Mark Langley didn't seem like a good thing. He seemed like a man with an agenda, and she needed to find out what that agenda was.

Chapter Three

Dante madehis way back to the Firefly Inn around nine o'clock, having successfully evaded the photographer chasing him. He knew he'd stunned Keira by his sudden departure, but he hadn't had time to explain. Nor had he wanted her to get caught by the camera. Her image would have been splashed across multiple sites, and she'd be pegged as his mystery woman. That wouldn't be good for either of them.

It also wouldn't be good for Nikki. She would have to answer questions about a mythical affair between Keira and him. He knew how fast an innocent moment could blow up into something ridiculous and crazy and yet still be believed by hundreds of thousands of people.

Avoiding that problem had been the best decision he'd made tonight.

The worst decision had been talking to Keira for as long as he had and then buying her fish tacos and rescuing her from her date. Although, he still wished they could have taken a walk down to the lake and gotten to know each other better, because he'd enjoyed talking to her. But that would have been stupid. It wasn't just that he was seeing someone; it was also because what he'd enjoyed most in their short conversation was that she hadn't had any idea who he was, and they'd been able to talk without the shadow of his big life hanging over them. She'd probably figured out who he was by now.

It was just as well. He'd come to Whisper Lake to rehab his shoulder and get his life back. Nothing could get in the way of that goal.

As he neared the inn, he saw lights on throughout the building and several cars in the lot. While he appreciated the charming, homey feeling of the inn, he probably should have stayed in a hotel where he didn't have to greet whoever was at reception or say hello to the other guests. But it was too late now.

When he walked into the lobby, there was no one at reception, but there were voices in the living room, and one of those spun his head around. Keira was sitting on a couch next to Lizzie Cole, the manager of the inn. Across from them was an older couple.

Had Keira come to the inn to track him down?Maybe she'd always intended to come to the inn after her date, but it seemed somewhat coincidental. On the other hand, this wouldn't be the first time a woman had showed up at his hotel. It had happened more times than he could count.

"Dante," Lizzie called, as she saw him standing there.

He silently cursed himself for not having immediately gone upstairs.

Lizzie got to her feet and walked into the foyer to greet him. "Would you like some wine? I also have cookies if you haven't had dessert."

"No, thanks. I don't want to interrupt. I'm just going to go to my room."

"You wouldn't be interrupting, and in case you're wondering, I didn't tell Keira anything about you."

"Did she ask?"

Lizzie met his questioning gaze. "Yes. She told me about the mix-up at Micky's. I told her that I would respect your privacy. But she does know your name now, so…"

"So she'll figure it out."

"At some point."

---