Page 39 of An Unexpected Love

Despite everything, Jill started to laugh. Leave it to Ralph, ever practical, ever sensible, to brush off a broken engagement and ask about subletting her apartment.

* * *

The week that followed was one of the worst of Jill’s life. She awoke every morning feeling as though she hadn’t slept. She was depressed and lonely. Several times she found herself close to tears for no apparent reason. She’d be reading a prescription and the words would blur and misery would grip her heart with such intensity she’d be forced to swallow a sob.

“Jill,” her supervisor called early Friday afternoon, walking into the back room where she was taking her lunch break. “There’s someone out front who wants to talk to you.”

It was unusual for anyone to visit her at work. She immediately feared it was Jordan, but quickly dismissed that concern. She knew him too well. She was out of his life. The instant she’d told him she was engaged to Ralph, he’d cut her out, surgically removed all feeling for her. It was as if she no longer existed for him.

But as she’d been so often lately, Jill was wrong. Jordan stood there waiting for her. His gaze was as hard as flint. Something flickered briefly in the smoky-gray depths, but whatever emotion he felt at seeing her was too fleeting for Jill to identify.

She’d had far less practice at hiding her own feelings, and right now, they were wreaking havoc with her pulse. With great effort she managed to remain outwardly composed. “You wanted to speak to me?”

A nerve twitched in his jaw. “You might be more comfortable if we spoke elsewhere,” he said stiffly.

Jill glanced at her watch. She had only fifteen minutes of her lunch break left. Time enough, she was sure, for whatever Jordan intended. “All right.”

Wordlessly, he walked out of the drugstore, obviouslyexpecting her to follow, which she did. He paused beside his car, then turned to face her. A cool, disinterested smile slanted his mouth.

“Yes?” she said after an awkward moment. She folded her arms defensively around her middle.

“I need you to explain something.”

She nodded. “I’ll try.”

“Your friend Shelly Brady was in to see me this morning.”

Jill groaned. She hadn’t talked to Shelly since the morning she’d dropped off the wedding dress. Her friend had phoned several times and left messages, but Jill hadn’t had either the energy or the patience to return the calls.

“How she managed to get past security and my two assistants is beyond me.”

It was a nightmare come true. “What did she say?” As if Jill needed to know.

“She rambled on about how you were making the worst mistake of your life and how I’d be an even bigger fool if I let you. But, you know, if you prefer to marry Roger, then that’s your prerogative.”

“His name is Ralph,” she corrected.

“It doesn’t make any difference to me.”

“I didn’t think it would,” she said, keeping her gaze lowered to the black asphalt of the parking lot.

“Then she started telling me this ridiculous story about a legend behind a certain wedding dress.”

Jill’s eyes closed in frustration. “It’s a bunch of nonsense.”

“It certainly didn’t make too much sense, especially the part about the dress fitting her and her marrying Mark. But she insisted the dress also fits you.”

“Don’t take Shelly seriously. She seems to put a lot of credence in that dress. Personally, I think the whole thing’s a fluke. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“Thenshe told me an equally ridiculous tale about a vision she had of you in Hawaii and how happy you looked. It didn’t make any more sense than the rest.”

“Don’t worry,” she said again. “Shelly means well, but she doesn’t understand. The wedding dress is beautiful, but it isn’t meant for me. The whole thing is ridiculous—you said so yourself, and I agree with you.”

“That’s what I thought—at first. A magic wedding dress is about as believable as a talking rabbit. I don’t have any interest in that kind of fantasy.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Because I remembered something. You had a wedding dress with you in Hawaii. When I asked you about it, you said a friend had mailed it to you. Then, this morning, Shelly arrived and told me why she’d sent you the dress. She told me the story of her aunt Milly and how she’d met her husband. She also said Milly had mailed the dress to her and she’d fallen into Mark Brady’s arms.”

---