Lime Tree Hill (A Reluctant Kiss #1)

43. The Scented Garden

43

THE SCENTED GARDEN

Tayla loved the scented garden. She’d taken Norman there once, on a rare day when he’d agreed to leave the house. They’d stayed just long enough for her to read a few chapters of Rebecca while he basked in the early summer sunshine. It was the last time Norman ever left the orchard.

She sat on the bench and checked her watch. Twelve twenty-five. Arriving early was a habit she’d mastered young after missing the school bus twice in one week. And as she watched full waves dump onto the shore, Tayla had no idea why she’d agreed to come.

However, the reason was obvious. The brown envelope and its contents. Tayla wanted answers and thought Prue might know something. She’d pored over those prints until she couldn’t bear to look at them anymore. Speculated. Rationalized. They lingered on her nightstand while she slept, and lay fanned out over the breakfast bar as she sipped her morning coffee. It seemed her husband had more than one way to teach her the final lesson.

“Hi.” Prue’s greeting startled her. “Thanks so much for coming. I thought you might say no after what happened when we met.”

Tayla glanced at her before turning her focus to the shoreline, a sudden breeze blowing wisps of hair across her face. “What’s on your mind?”

“Mitch.”

No shit.

“Also, I wanted to apologize for what happened at CeCe’s party. I was hammered, but that’s no excuse.”

Prue was right. Alcohol was no excuse, but Tayla had agreed to the meeting; the least she could do was allow Prue to speak her mind.

“You know I stayed with him while you were away?” Prue said.

Tayla inhaled a shaky breath and handed Prue a brown paper carry bag. The evidence. “Your jacket and underwear.”

She peeked into the bag. Frowned. “Um, these aren’t mine.”

Tayla scanned the Pacific once more, her hands clenched in her pockets, the brisk wind making her eyes water. “Oh? Maybe they’re CeCe’s.” She took the offered bag from Prue, the paper cold in her hands.

“Nothing happened between us. Honestly.”

Prue’s declaration sounded sincere. Tayla relaxed a little. But then, why hadn’t Mitch told her he’d invited his ex to stay?

“That night, at CeCe’s birthday, I knew Mitch and I had reached the end of the road as soon as I saw the way he looked at you. When you guys were dancing, he couldn’t keep his eyes off you. I was so jealous. I didn’t even care that he was married. How screwed up is that?”

Tayla frowned. What way?

“I said some nasty things to him as well, and he shot me down. More or less told me my narcissistic personality would ruin my life. When I said I still loved him, he blew me off.”

“Weren’t you with someone then?”

“Yes, Otis.” She smiled. “Solid, dependable Otis. He took me home and put me to bed, but I was so drunk, I puked all over the carpet. Anyways, the next day, I phoned Mitch to apologize. When he didn’t pick up, I locked myself in the bathroom, curled up on the floor and cried until I had nothing left. Otis was mad as hell when he found me, and we ended up having a massive fight. He wanted us to be exclusive, and as usual, I couldn’t commit. Turns out, self-sabotage is a mean bitch, one I know only too well.”

Tayla settled her gaze on the horizon again, her hands rubbing together for warmth. “You don’t have to tell me this.”

“Please, I want to. I didn’t stay with Mitch because I wanted him back. I needed to talk to him, to explain. Why I cheated, why I didn’t want kids, and why I ended up drowning my sorrows in booze every day.”

Prue reached down, picked up a shell and ran her thumb and forefinger over the smoothness. “I lost a baby…when I was just sixteen.” She threw the shell toward the waves, but it landed at her feet. “Fell pregnant to a boy from school. I thought we were going steady. Of course, he ghosted me after I told him. My little boy died inside of me at thirty-three weeks. I had to be induced. Turned out, he had a rare congenital deformity that affects the lungs.”

Swallowing hard, Tayla reached for Prue’s hand but didn’t speak, allowing Prue to finish her story.

“I can’t go through that again.” Prue stopped, closed her eyes briefly, and took a deep breath. “When you hold your dead baby, a part of you dies as well. And the loneliness, the grief… Nobody has your back, in your mind anyway. My family and friends carried on regardless, as if he’d never existed. People said it was for the best. It let everyone off the hook.”

“Except you,” Tayla murmured, still holding Prue’s hand.

Prue sniffed back a tear. “Yeah, except me.”

“I’m so sorry. That must have been devastating for you.”

“I’d never told Mitch, not until that day when I stayed at Lime Tree.” Prue pulled a tissue from her pocket and blew her nose. “At first, I didn’t think he’d let me stay. But you know what he’s like…such a softy underneath. He talked about you. A lot. Said you read books together. That made me sad. I wish he’d read to me. ”

Tayla viewed Prue with newfound compassion. She loved it when Mitch read to her before bed and had sometimes wondered if he’d done so with his other girlfriends. Obviously not.

When Tayla met Prue at CeCe’s party, she’d been quick to make assumptions about her, unfounded assumptions possibly. As Mitch had said, maybe Prue wasn’t a bad person underneath.

“Mitch is a wonderful man,” Prue continued. “He’s a hopeless communicator at times, takes things for granted, but when he’s in your corner, he’ll be there through thick and thin. He loves you, just like Otis loves me. But we have to allow it. Have to let them in—you know what I mean?”

Tayla nodded. Prue was right, but now, the point was moot.

“We can’t let our fears hold us back,” Prue said. “Otherwise, what will we have in the end? Dissatisfaction? The certainty that we never did enough? Someone once told me I should dare to succeed. And that’s my new focus.”

Tayla blinked to stop a wayward tear from falling. “Thank you. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to bare your soul to a stranger.”

“I don’t see you as a stranger. You have a kind soul, or you wouldn’t be here. And I don’t want your man—not anymore. I wasn’t enough for him. I wish I could say I let him go a long time ago, but…well, it’s only been a blink.”

They sat in silence while a couple and their dog walked past.

“Otis asked me to marry him the other day.”

Tayla shot her a sideways glance. “Did you say yes?”

“No. I’m not ready yet. Maybe one day. I’m still struggling to fit into my own skin. Do you understand?”

“Totally.”

“He’s pretty rough around the edges compared to Mitch, but he’s loving and kind. He hates confrontation. That’s hard for me. The need to fight overwhelms me sometimes. I get anxious and lash out until I calm down. Mitch couldn’t handle that.”

Prue stood and slipped her hands into her jacket pockets. “ Anyways, I should go. Thanks for coming. Part of my recovery is making amends with people I’ve hurt. It’s been hard, but I’m getting there.”

“Before you go, can I show you something?” Tayla asked.

Prue sat back down. “Sure.”

Tayla took the envelope from her bag and handed it to Prue.

She pulled the contents free, glanced at the photographs, then back at Tayla. “Where did you get these?”

“Someone left them at the farm gate store, addressed to me. I thought you might have sent them.”

Prue shook her head and frowned. “That’s not my style. And you don’t know the woman?”

Tayla recalled the day she’d seen Mitch having lunch with the blonde at Fig Leaf. “No.”

“She looks kind of familiar.” Prue pulled a pair of reading glasses from her bag and put them on to study the top photograph more closely. “That’s Ella Stone. They’ve been friends for years, although they dated back in the day. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation. Mitch isn’t a cheater.”

“Yes.” Tayla wondered if that was true. “I’m sure there is.”

“But look.” Prue passed the photo to Tayla. “She’s carrying that jacket, the one in the bag.”

Squinting against the sun, Tayla looked more closely at the jacket in the photo. It wasn’t CeCe’s. It was Ella Stone’s.

“Give him a chance to explain. Mitch is a straight-up guy but can be preoccupied at times. Ask him a direct question, and he’ll usually give you a direct answer.” Prue returned the envelope to Tayla and stood again. “Right. I have a client meeting, so…” She picked up her bag.

“What do you do?”

“Sales, for a power tool company. It involves a lot of traveling, which suits me fine. But I’d be lying if I said it keeps me out of trouble. Hot guys everywhere.” Prue laughed for the first time. “I’m glad you came. I really do wish you and Mitch well. ”

“Thank you.”

Prue hunched her shoulders against the wind and walked along the boardwalk until she ducked behind the information center and disappeared from view. Tayla sat a little longer, and despite the unseasonably cool day, longed to strip naked and dive under the waves; to test her newfound freedom in the water. And as she watched beady-eyed seagulls squawking over the remains of a discarded lunch, a single thought prevailed.

Ella Stone. Chris Stone’s wife?