Page 5 of Destined For Forever

“It must have been amazing to date someone famous when you’re…” The woman trailed off as if realising her mouth had run away with her. “Well, normal. I don’t mean that in a bad way.”

Normal.

Some people might have found the word insulting, but Lily couldn’t deny it was true. She knew she didn’t measure up to the high-gloss women who had graced Brock’s arm on the red carpet before—and since—her relationship with him. All the actresses, models, and social media influencers were all some form of the tanned, fit, pouty “look” the media had decided was ideal. Lily herself was pasty-white and refused to use fake tan because she hated the smell. Plus, she liked creamy pasta way too much to ever fit into a sample-size dress.

Seriously, what was the point of life without carbonara?

Add to that her natural awkwardness, and she really wasn’t sure what attracted Brock to her in the first place. He used to say it was that he found her funny and smart, and he liked that she wasn’t from “that world.” That she was real and honest and authentic.

Lies. All of it.

“Looks aren’t everything,” Lily replied with a tight smile.

“People say that, sure. But you can’t seriously tell me that you didn’t date him because of the way he looked.” The flight attendant raised a sceptical eyebrow.

Nobody ever believed her when she told them the truth—that she’d been swept away by how Brock made her feel. Yes, he had abs and a killer smile. And yes, you could probably bounce a coin on his backside. But Lily had always cared about the interior of a person—their heart and soul, their thoughts and opinions and their goodness—more than the way someone looked.

He’d struck her as kind and thoughtful. Humble.

But that was the danger of dating an actor. They lied for a living. And the more successful they were, the better they lied.

“I mean, I get it. I’ve been dumped too,” the flight attendant said. “It sucks. I can’t imagine having it happen with the entire country watching, when it was clear you thought he was about to propose.”

Heat crawled up into Lily’s cheeks. How could she have been so naive? The morning show had invited Lily and Brock to talk about making movies together. The usual questions were flung at her—like how she coped seeing him “fall in love” with other women on set, and Lily had given her standard answer of knowing the difference between real life and fiction.

Then he’d broken up with her in the middle of it all.

Later, he’d called her to say that it was all for publicity. An idea orchestrated by his agent, apparently. He didn’t really want to break up with her, but he’d been struggling to land any “real” movies—like the movies she wrote were just silly fluff pieces—and that he thought shedding his “romantic lead” image would help. He’d even had the gall to say he didn’t understand why she was so upset.

Needless to say, she’d hung up on him. He’d called incessantly for three more days before giving up and moving on to someone else. Jerk.

“Don’t worry, I won’t make that mistake ever again,” Lily said with conviction.

Love was going to be her job… not her life.

That’s when she saw Sean standing behind the flight attendant in the aisle, his brows furrowed. Oh boy. How did she not notice he was there before? Had he overheard that whole exchange? Had she heard him make the comment about Brock’s…? Ugh. Double karma.

This is why you need to keep your big mouth shut and take the high road.

The brief flash of satisfaction now was almost always never worth the consequences that followed.

The flight attendant moved on to help another passenger. Sean’s pale eyes sparkled with amusement and the delicious smirk that had taunted her throughout high school danced on his lips.

Please keep walking, please keep walking, please keep walking.

“Looks like we’re going to be neighbours,” he said with a roguish smile as he pointed to the empty seat next to her.

She nodded. “Of course we are.”

Because this, it seemed, was how her life was destined to go. Not one of her poor decisions would ever slip past people, unnoticed. Oh no. It looked like every single mistake she’d ever made was being shoved into her face over and over and over.

And falling in love with her best friend’s boyfriend back in high school had definitely been a mistake.

Lily didn’t look thrilled that they were going to be sitting together. But she’d always been like that—acting indifferent toward him. Frankly, if it wasn’t for finding a short story she’d written about him back in the last week of high school, he would never have known she harboured a crush on him.

The note had changed everything.

But barging in with questions wasn’t the way to approach a woman like Lily. One wrong word and she’d snap shut like a clamshell. He needed a delicate touch. A reason for her to trust him.

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