Page 11 of Destined For Forever

“Hey, aren’t you…” The woman stacking the magazines looked at Lily, then at the copy of US Weekly and then back at Lily.

She didn’t give the woman a chance to finish her question. With angry tears blurring her eyes, Lily headed back into the crowd, hoping that nobody would notice that she was about to cry. Or scream her lungs out in frustration. Or both.

That. Freaking. Bastard.

Immediately, Lily’s phone pinged with a text.

MUM: Hey Lil, we touched down in Fort Worth. Aunty Patricia and Uncle John are with us. We’ll be in Boston around dinner time. I can’t wait to see my little girl. I miss you so much!

Lily swallowed, the tears threatening even more strongly. “I miss you too, Mum,” she whispered.

MUM: I saw the magazine with Brock and his new fiancée. I’m so sorry.

“Miss?” The customer service guy from the car rental company was waving to get her attention. Swallowing down the swirling emotions inside her, Lily walked over and tried to remain hopeful. “Good news, we can get a car in from another depot.”

Finally, something was going her way. “Fantastic.”

“The bad news is it’s going to take at least two hours, possibly more. It’s snowing pretty heavily outside and the roads are backed up.”

Over two hours? Her shoulders sagged.

Then Lily saw a familiar figure walking through the crowd. Sean had a pair of chunky headphones on his head and a bag slung over one shoulder, with the world’s smallest suitcase being dragged behind him. Seriously, what was that? A suitcase for ants? How did he even fit a tuxedo in there?

The thing that caught her attention most of all was the set of keys dangling from his hand.

Bingo! All she had to do was swallow her pride and ask Sean for his help after he’d already given it to her once today. No biggie.

“Just give me one minute,” she said to the customer service guy.

Lily raced after Sean. Trying to catch his easy, long-legged strides with her own was no small feat. Her dad used to joke that she had “duck’s disease,” meaning her bum was too close to the ground. Hustling through the crowd, flinging “excuse me” left and right, Lily finally made it to him. She waved, trying to catch his attention.

“Hey.” He yanked his headphones off. “You disappeared out of that plane so fast I thought I’d said something wrong.”

“It’s nothing to do with you,” she lied, feeling her cheeks growing warm. “So, uh, it turns out my rental car was involved in an accident and apparently there’s some huge event going on around Boston. So, there aren’t too many cars to go around and the guy at the front desk really tried to find one for me…”

You’re babbling.

Sean raised an eyebrow like he was trying to catch up with her breathless sentences.

“I noticed you have a set of car keys. I mean, I definitely wasn’t watching out for you or anything. Not at all.” Did she sound like she was creeping on him? Ugh, stop it! “I mean, it’s just that you’re easy to spot, being so tall.”

Not better.

She dropped her gaze to the ground, wishing it would open up and swallow her whole. Whatever confidence she’d built up over the years, it felt like the last month had shattered it all like fragile glass. And just now, seeing that magazine cover… Was this rock bottom? It sure felt like it.

“Uh…”

Smooth, Lily. Like a baby giraffe straight out of the womb.

“Do you need a ride?” he asked, his deep voice like soft caramel—decadent and delicious.

“Yes, please.” She looked back up at him, not missing the amusement sparkling in his eyes. “That would be great.”

“All you have to do is ask. I don’t need War and Peace as justification.” He smiled. “Are you ready to go?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

Her stomach was still churning from the day’s developments.

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