Page 4 of Destined For Forever

Despite supporting his best mate’s marriage by agreeing to suit up like a penguin and play the role of best man, Sean knew that the closest he would get to true love was watching one of Lily’s movies.

2

Lily walked onto the plane, dragging her carry-on suitcase behind her. The whole way through the check-in process, she’d been waiting for someone else to recognise her. The words, “Hey, aren’t you…” had been burned into her brain in recent weeks, causing her to cringe before the speaker could even finish their sentence.

At no point had she ever wanted to be in the public eye. Weren’t most writers like that? The hermit creative archetype existed for a reason, right? She was a behind-the-scenes kinda gal. A quiet-room-and-the-scratch-of-pen-over-paper kinda gal. Close to deadline, she was a harsh-glow-of-a-laptop-screen-and-bottomless-coffee kinda gal.

Being on television had never been her goal.

In fact, writing for movies and living in Hollywood hadn’t been her goal, either. Not in the beginning, anyway. She’d harboured dreams of owning a secluded holiday home, penning the great Aussie novel amidst the peace and quiet of nature. But after winning a prestigious award for a short screenplay, the vast American movie industry had beckoned. Mostly, Lily enjoyed it. Going to premieres and having all the attention on the actors suited her perfectly, because hearing the happy sighs as the audience watched her characters kiss for the first time, was what fuelled her.

Not the recognition. Certainly not fame.

It was the creative process. The ability to dream an entire existence from nothing but the power of her brain. Watching the words appear across her screen almost as if of their own volition.

Only now, the words had dried up.

Every time she opened her laptop, the blinking cursor in her word processing program mocked her failure to produce. Apparently, finding out that your boyfriend was willing to humiliate you for career publicity was a major cause of writer’s block.

Lily glanced down at her boarding pass to confirm where she was supposed to sit. Thankfully, she had a window seat. The plan was to huddle against the wall and stick her nose in a book so that, hopefully, whoever sat next to her would leave her the heck alone for the next five and a half hours.

“Seven, eight… nine.” Lily stopped and reached up to open the overhead compartment.

“Ma’am, excuse me.” A flight attendant in a navy uniform came over, a silky red and blue scarf tied at her neck. Lily braced herself but sighed with relief when she saw the woman pointing to the overhead compartment. “Looks like we’re full here, but I can fit your bag in a little further back.”

“That would be great, thank you.” She smiled and allowed the woman to take her carry-on suitcase.

Sliding into her seat, she thought about keeping her cap on. But perhaps she was being paranoid. Sure, the older woman sitting next to her at the gate had been a little harsh. But maybe those teenage girls were taking a photo of someone else.

This was LAX after all. Loads of famous people came in and out of this airport.

Deciding not to feed her inner gremlins, she yanked her cap off and stuffed it into the pocket of the seat in front of her. Lily was categorically a nobody. If it wasn’t for the fact that she’d dated an actor, then she would be as anonymous as any other person on the street. It wasn’t like most people had a clue who wrote the movies or TV shows they watched. Unless you were Shonda Rhimes, of course.

Maybe she was making a mountain out of a molehill. It was probably all in her head. In fact, maybe—

“Hey, aren’t you the #breakupgate woman?” The flight attendant was back, and she leaned against the seat in the row ahead of Lily. “I swear, I thought there was something familiar about you. And then it hit me! You were dating Brock Silvers.”

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t all in her head. This time she didn’t even try to “y’all” her way out of the conversation. “Yes, that’s right.”

“Can I ask…” The woman leaned forward, eyes all but twinkling with delight. “What was he like? You know… in bed?”

Lily’s mouth popped open. What kind of question was that? Who in their right mind asked a complete stranger about their sex life? It was rude, insulting and…

She looked up at the woman and sighed. Didn’t everyone want to know if a Hollywood hunk had the same kind of magnetism in real life as they did on screen? Sure, most people would have the decency to wonder about it without actually asking. But what the heck did she owe Brock now?

A big fat nothing, that’s what.

“Not great,” Lily said, holding up her hand and wriggling her little finger. “If you know what I mean.”

Okay, it was definitely not her finest moment. Lily had been raised better than to be nasty about people behind their back, even if they totally and one hundred percent deserved it. She felt immediately guilty about the snide comment. But why wasn’t he having to deal with this kind of scrutiny? Apparently, he’d already started dating someone else. A model, no less.

It had only been a month.

Three whole years together and he’d moved on within a month. It stung.

“I don’t believe it.” The flight attendant shook her head. “I saw him in Wave of Love. You’re telling me that scene where he comes out of the water in those board-shorts was CGI? No way.”

Lily sighed. She should have kept her mouth shut. “I’m afraid I can’t say anything more than that. Confidentiality clauses, you know.”

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