Page 66 of Reckless Temptation

She looked back at me, almost startled, as if I’d snapped her out of a deep trance.

“I couldn’t help but notice you standing over here for quite a while,” I said gently. “Are you all right?”

It wasn’t a crime to stand on a public beach. She was probably just enjoying the sunshine and some peace and quiet in nature. But if she wasn’t, and she needed a friend… I’d reach out every time a stranger needed help.

“I want to be all right.”

Uh-oh.

As I stepped up closer, her hair blew back in the breeze. That was all it took for me to recognize her. She was at the party when I was catering.

Mrs. Lorsen.Her long, black hair had blown back when she walked past a fan at the conservatory, and I recalled how the raven locks flew from her face then.

She stood with George Lorsen all night, and it was obvious she had to be his wife.

She’s Nick’s mom.

But no mutual recognition showed on her face. I didn’t expect her to realize that I had been at that fundraiser. I was only there as a member of the catering staff, and no guests ever paid attention to us. As employees there to serve the rich, we blended into the background. When Tiffany tripped me and I cut my hand, I was so nervous that guests would pay attention to me, but the only one who had was Nick.

As if realizing the seriousness of her words, she smirked as she acknowledged me standing next to her. “Don’t worry. I’m not suicidal or anything. Not this time.”

Oh, no.I couldn’t help but glance at the high pier nearby, the one with multiple signs posted to urge people not to consider suicide with its height over the water. “But, um. You have before?”

She nodded, apparently unafraid to talk to a stranger about such a thing. “Years ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

She sighed heavily. “Me too. For so, so many things.” With a glance, she seemed to consider me, perhaps weighing whether she’d elaborate. “Have you ever been in love?”

I blinked, taken aback by her blunt question out of the blue. I supposed my asking her if she’d ever been suicidal was just as uncensored of a question as hers was.

“I…” I cleared my throat, finding a thrilling sense of freedom to speak the truth I was learning with this stranger. She wasn’t a stranger to me. I knew who she was. She was the mother of the man I was falling for. “I think I am.”

“You think?” A smile almost changed her face.

I nodded. “For the first time.” I shrugged. “I mean, how am I supposed to really know how to define it?”

“You’ll know. You’ll know because you will think about that person and be certain you can’t imagine your life without them.”

Okay, then… check.I nodded. “That sounds about right.”

“You see that bench over there?” She pointed at one near the pier. Being seated there would give a wonderful view of the sunset.

“Yeah.”

“That’s where my first love proposed to me. Many, many years ago.” She exhaled a long breath again, sagging her shoulders. Hugging herself, she stared at the bench. “My first and last love.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Me too,” she admitted. “I’m so sorry that David had to suffer. So sorry that fate had to screw him over in the end.” She gave me another glance, as if checking I was still here and she wasn’t talking to herself so depressed and sad like this. “He fought cancer for years. Years and years. Two months after they declared him in remission and cancer-free—for good, they said—some teenager had to text and drive and crash into him.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry for your loss… ma’am.” I fought the urge to hug her.

“It was so cruel to lose him after fighting death for so long. And in all that time, I kept thinking that he had to make it. He had to survive because I couldn’t imagine my life without him.”

“It must be hard.”

She nodded. “It is. It really is. I’ve been trying to cope and move on. I’ve been trying to let love or happiness into my life again, but that feels like giving up and throwing away the love I had for David.”

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