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“Linnea—”
She ended the call before he could say anything else. Just the tone of his voice as he said her name told her all she needed to know. He’d been lying to her for months, from the moment he met her. And she’d fallen for it, every last word.
She had no idea how much time passed as she sat on the bathroom floor, too stunned to move. Every minute she’d spent with Michael, every conversation they’d shared, every promise he’d made with loving words—she went back over all of it, searching for some clue that she was being duped. How could she have been so blind?
A gentle knock on the door was followed by Katrina poking her head in. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Linnea just stared at her friend, unable to form a response.
“Why don’t you go home?” Katrina said. “I’ll handle things here.”
Something about those words finally penetrated Linnea’s mind enough that she found the strength to push herself to her feet. “No, I’ll be out in a minute.”
Katrina looked as if she might argue, but instead she gave a small nod and left Linnea alone again.
Linnea brushed her teeth and rinsed out her mouth. She smoothed her hair and took a deep breath that did little to fortify her. Still, she wasn’t going to let Michael rob her of anything else, certainly not the joy she derived from her job.
But as she walked out into the showroom filled with stunning white gowns, ethereal veils and all manner of happily ever after, it all suddenly felt like a bigger lie than the ones Michael had told.
She placed her hand against the roiling in her stomach. “I think I will go home.” Needing to get away as fast as she could, she grabbed her purse and raced for her car.
Her phone rang as she crossed the parking lot. When she saw Michael’s name, she ignored the call. He called back almost immediately and again as she was driving home. To keep from tossing her phone out the window, she turned it off and shoved it deep into her purse.
When she pulled into the parking space in front of her condo, she couldn’t remember how she’d gotten there. Her bottom lip quivered, her fragile hold on her emotions threatening to disintegrate. Through some miracle of self-control, she made it inside before the fresh wave of tears would no longer be denied. On wobbly legs, she barely made it to the couch before the silent tears turned into heart-rending sobs.
* * *
LINNEA WOKE SLOWLY to realize she must have cried herself to sleep. The angle of the sun indicated it was sometime after noon. The throbbing in her head and the fact that her eyes were itchy with dried tears told her the horrible events of the morning hadn’t just been a nightmare.
She lay there staring at the dust motes floating in the beam of sunlight coming through the window. Part of her wanted to go back to sleep, but she knew it wouldn’t help her feel any better. It wasn’t going to make the truth go away. She pushed herself to a sitting position and wondered how she was going to break the news to her parents, her sisters, her friends. How did she tell all of them that her fairy tale was nothing but a cruel lie?
Anger welled up inside her, competing for space with the pain gnawing away at her. Why would Michael do this? Had he truly never cared about her? About his wife?
There was nothing she wanted more in that moment than to be done with all the hard conversations. Actually, what she wanted even more was to run away from her life. How could she go back to peddling the dream of wedded bliss when hers had been snatched away in the most awful way possible?
Knowing that breaking the news wasn’t going to get any easier if she waited longer, she dug her phone out of her purse and turned it on. The screen revealed she had a dozen missed calls. She listened to one from Katrina asking if she needed anything, but the ten calls from Michael she deleted without listening to them. Nothing he could say could make her forgive him for breaking her heart and making a complete fool out of her. The other call was from Chloe, her best friend since they’d roomed together in college, the woman who was supposed to be her matron of honor.
“Hey, Lin. Just calling to finalize some details.” In the midst of the call, Chloe suddenly laughed. She sounded as if she’d pulled the phone away from her mouth when she said, “Cut it out.” Next came a distinctively male chuckle, no doubt Chloe’s new husband, Wyatt. Linnea’s heart squeezed at the sound of her friend so happy and in love, even if she was scolding her husband. “Sorry about that,” Chloe continued. “Call me when you get a chance.”
Linnea deleted the message as if it would erase the sounds of marital bliss, as well. She was happy that Chloe had found a good man to love and be loved by, truly she was. At least she hoped Wyatt was everything he claimed to be, not like Michael and his web of lies.
She shook her head, not wanting to let what had happened turn her into someone who was suspicious of every man in the world. After all, she knew deep down there were lots of good guys like her father, like Chloe’s dad.
She scrolled to her parents’ number, but she couldn’t make herself hit the Call button. Her mother had been just as excited about the wedding as Linnea, if not more so. The news that Michael wasn’t who he’d seemed to be would break her mother’s heart, too.
Deciding to wait awhile longer to make that call, she instead forced herself to dial Chloe’s number. Better to test out her ability to share the news on her best friend instead of risking turning into a blubbering mess on the phone with her mother. Her mom would no doubt rush right over to wrap her baby in her arms when Linnea just wanted to be left alone. The last thing she wanted was to look into anyone else’s eyes and see the pity she’d detected in Katrina’s.
Her fingers shook as she hit Chloe’s number, and she bit her bottom lip to keep from crying again.
“Hey,” Chloe answered. “I was beginning to think you were ignoring me.”
Despite her best efforts, a tear broke free and ran down Linnea’s cheek. “No, I... It’s just been a bad day.” She sniffed against a fresh rush of tears.
“Lin, what’s wrong?”
“The wedding’s off,” she said, her voice shaking.
“Off? What happened?” The sound of a closing door came through the phone.
“Michael is...” She stopped to swallow against the large lump clogging her throat as if she’d swallowed a lemon whole. “He’s already married.”
She struggled to share everything that had happened that morning with Chloe. By the time she was finished, hot, salty tears were streaming down her face again, burning trails in her skin like lava flows.
“Lin, I don’t know what to say. ‘I’m sorry’ is not enough.”
Linnea swiped at another tear. “I feel so hollow inside, and I have no idea how I’m going to go back to work and pretend I’m happy. Nobody will buy a wedding gown from someone who is wearing a broken heart on her sleeve.”
“Come here.”
“What?”
“There’s a free bedroom at the ranch now since I moved out, and Dad, Garrett and Owen are away from the house most of the day. No one will bother you there. You won’t have to smile and pretend.”
This was why she loved Chloe so much. She understood her, often better than her own family did. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ve got so much to take care of here. Things to cancel, a business to run.”
“That’s why they make phones and computers and business partners.”
As much as she wanted to run away, she couldn’t. She had responsibilities, and she didn’t want Michael to know how badly he’d hurt her. She had to be strong, no matter how much it hurt.
Banging on the front door startled her.
“Linnea, let me explain,” Michael shouted through the door.
“Thanks for listening, Chloe, but I need to make some more calls.”
“It’s a standing invitation. You are welcome here anytime, for however long you need.”
Fresh tears popped into Linnea’s eyes, these because despite everything she was lucky to have the absolute best friend in the world.
Michael knocked again. “I’m not leaving until you talk to me.”
The last thing she wanted to do was look into his deceitful eyes and listen to more lies fall from his lips. So she ignored him and went up to her bedroom. For a long time, she feared he was going to live up to his promise that he wouldn’t leave until he talked to her. But after a little more than an hour, she watched as he drove away.
Chloe’s words echoed in her head as she made her way down to the kitchen and looked in her fridge for something to eat. But as she stood staring at the contents of her refrigerator, nothing looked appealing. Even though her body was hungry, she couldn’t imagine anything tasting good. So she closed the door and leaned back against it.
She wandered from room to room as if she might find peace and a release from the pain in one of them. When she found herself in her bedroom again, she sank onto the side of the bed and realized she couldn’t put off telling her family the news any longer. She didn’t want to risk her mom or one of her sisters stopping by the store and finding out something was wrong from Katrina.
After forcing herself to take several slow, deep breaths, she hit the number for her parents’ house.
“Hey, sweetie,” her mom answered. “I was just about to call you and see if you wanted to have lunch with Heather and me. We’re going shopping for the baby afterward, if you think you could pry yourself away from work for a while.”
Linnea’s lip trembled again at the idea of being around that much happiness when her world was falling apart. Not only had her older sister, Heather, been married to a great guy for two years, but they were expecting their first baby around Thanksgiving. A mere three months separated Linnea from becoming an aunt for the first time, but today the thought only made her want to cry. She’d dreamed of having a bundle of joy to call her own, as well, but now...
“I’m sorry, Mom. I’m not up for lunch today.”
“What’s wrong? I can hear something’s wrong in your voice.”
Linnea wanted to believe that the telling of what had happened would be easier the second time through, but she was wrong. It was so much worse.
“Oh, honey. I’ll be right over.”
“No, I’m fine.”
“You don’t have to pretend to be brave. You’re my daughter, and I intend to be there for you.”
Desperation filled Linnea to overflowing. She loved her mom dearly, was thankful she had caring parents who were always there for their children when they needed them. But for some reason, her mom had never grasped that when Linnea said she wanted to be alone, she actually meant it.
“I won’t be here. I’m going to visit Chloe for a few days.” She hadn’t meant to take Chloe up on her offer, but the words had flown out of her mouth before she’d even thought about them. But now that she’d committed, it felt right. She could give herself a few days to get over the shock, to make all the necessary calls to cancel her fantasy wedding, to prepare herself for going back to the work of encouraging customers to buy in to the dream of forever.
“Honey, are you sure?”
“Positive.” And she realized it was true.
When she finally promised her mother that she’d call if she needed her for anything, anything at all, and agreed to let her mother make some of the necessary cancellation calls, Linnea tossed a few items of clothing and toiletries in a bag, grabbed her laptop and hurried for her car. She didn’t think she breathed until she drove out of her neighborhood and away from the chance that either her mother or Michael might show up at her front door.
She pointed her car toward Blue Falls, the small town in the Hill Country that Chloe called home. It might not be Linnea’s home, but right now the familiar was the last thing she needed. If she had only one wish, it would be that Blue Falls held some magical way of making her forget Michael Benson and the giant hole he’d left where her heart should be.
Chapter Two (#ulink_dc8351e9-7ced-5f34-a76a-bc0509b18d9b)
“Come on back to my place,” Tiffany Clark whispered into Owen Brody’s ear as she clung to him like a barnacle. “You know you want to.”
Part of him was tempted by her curvy figure and her warm lips nibbling on his ear. Plenty of times he would have taken her up on it. But tonight he was just dog tired after a day of working on the ranch with his brother and dad and then a couple of hours devoted to training the horse he hoped would make a good roping horse. And then he’d gotten the bright idea to come into town for a couple of beers and to scope out the female landscape at the dance hall. Halfway into his first beer, he wished he’d stayed home and gone to bed.
Now, if that wasn’t a sad statement about his life. It wasn’t as if he was an old codger, but for some reason his normal routine of working hard followed by playing hard just wasn’t doing it for him tonight.
He gently pushed Tiffany away from him. “Not tonight, Tiff. I’d be falling in my plate if I had a plate.”
His rebuff earned him a pout from Tiffany, and for a moment he reconsidered passing on the pleasure she was offering. But he had the oddest feeling that his being tired wasn’t the only reason he wasn’t dragging Tiffany and her tasty curves to the nearest bed. Hell, the nearest horizontal surface. But damned if he knew why she didn’t look quite as appealing as she once had.
Owen slipped off the bar stool where he was sitting and tossed a couple of bills on the bar.
“Calling it a night so soon?” asked James Turner, who was tending bar tonight.
“Yeah, just hit the wall.”
James shot him a crooked grin. “I think hell just froze over.”
“Be careful or I’ll take my tip back.”
James just laughed and moved to fill another drink order.
Owen stepped out of Tiffany’s reach before she could attach herself to him again and made for the door. He stifled a yawn as he headed out the door and across the parking lot to his truck. A stiff breeze sent a paper cup tumbling across the parking lot, and thunder rumbled in the distance, promising some good sleeping weather.
As he drove toward home, a few sprinkles of rain began to fall. Just as he passed Crider Road, he noticed emergency flashers blinking on a car up ahead. As he got closer, he spotted a small silver car pulled halfway off the road. A woman wearing a skirt and high heels stood beside the car and then proceeded to kick the flat rear tire. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the image she made even though she was obviously upset.
He pulled in behind her and parked, leaving his headlights on to illuminate her and the car as he slipped out of the truck.
“I don’t think that’s going to help,” he said as he approached her.
When she looked toward him, he hesitated for a moment as recognition hit. “Linnea? What are you doing out here?”
She took a step back as she shaded her eyes against the bright light. He realized she must have figured out she wasn’t in the safest position, broken down alone on the side of a rural road at night.
“It’s Owen Brody. Are you headed to the ranch?”
She seemed to deflate more than relax. “That was the plan, but my tire had a different idea.” She sounded even more drained than he felt.
He walked the rest of the distance to the rear of her car. “Don’t worry. I’ll get this changed for you.”
“Thank you.” Her voice sounded so small that he met her eyes and saw a sadness there that he’d never seen before in his sister’s best friend.
“You okay?”
“Been a rough day.”
He wasn’t a “share your feelings” sort of guy, but for some reason he wanted to ask her what was wrong. Instead, he asked her to pop the car’s trunk so he could get the spare before the approaching storm reached them.
She moved to comply and had to catch herself against the side of the car when she twisted her ankle off the edge of the pavement. The curse that came from her shocked Owen, it being so at odds with the classy lady he’d always known her to be.
“Did you hurt yourself?”
“I’m fine.”
She sounded anything but fine, but he wasn’t going to push. He knew better than to wave the proverbial red flag in front of a woman already in a foul mood.
When the trunk latch disengaged, he opened the lid and found the spare tire, one of those little donut deals. “Hate to tell you this, but your spare is as flat as a pancake, too.”
“Of course it is.” Linnea bit her lip and lifted her gaze to the darkened sky just as the raindrops picked up their pace.
He closed the trunk. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride to Chloe’s. We’ll get your tires fixed in the morning.”
“I...I was actually going to your house.”
He looked at her, growing more confused by the moment.
“I’m sorry,” she said as she shook her head. “I should have called her back. She offered me the extra room for a few days, but I see she didn’t tell you all about it. If you could give me a ride into town, I’ll get a room at the inn.”
When had his house become his sister’s bed-and-breakfast? Although he had to admit Linnea was a lot nicer to look at than the last guest they’d had. Not that Wyatt wasn’t a decent-enough-looking guy, but he was a guy. They already had enough testosterone and stinky socks around without adding more.
