Chapter 27
CHAPTER 27
R ockwell
Someone behind her gives her a gentle nudge. “Excuse me, miss. I think that angry-looking man taking up the doorway is yelling at you.”
“What?” she blinks, looking around.
My heart bangs against my chest as she finally finds my eyes.
“Oh, my god. What’s he doing here?” she asks the woman behind her. “What did he say?”
The woman replies, “He said not to get married.”
“What?” Lily’s gaze goes from my face to the women behind her. “What is he talking about?”
The stranger gives Lily a gentle push. “I think you’d better go talk to him.”
Lily moves slowly, as if in a daze, walking toward me. I stand in the doorway, my sister still on the street behind me. Claudia pushes me forward, letting the door close between us.
Lily reaches me. “Rockwell. What are you doing here?”
A pleading tone I’ve never heard myself use comes over my voice. “I’m here for you. To stop you from marrying him.”
“Him who?” Her gaze narrows in confusion.
“Whoever you were trying the wedding dress on for.”
“You’re just not making any sense.” She shakes her head. “What do you mean?”
“I was there, at Bronson’s Place, across from Daughtry’s. I saw you with a girl, a bridesmaid, seeing how your dresses looked in the sunlight.”
“I wish you would have just come over and said hi,” she says softly.
“How could I?” I ask. “You were getting married.”
“I wasn’t. I’m not. We had an issue with the sprinkler systems. We ran outside to keep the dresses dry. And the bridesmaid was Kate, a woman who works there. She convinced me to try on a wedding gown. To cheer me up.” She gives me a critical look. “To cheer me up over my breakup.”
Her explanation sinks in.
“I thought you were going to break up with me. So I broke up with you first.”
She just stares up at me, pain in her eyes. Pain I’ve caused her.
Saying my reasons for the breakup out loud makes me feel like a middle school boy. I’ve been so immature; my pride is under my shoe right now. “God. I’m so sorry. I’m such an idiot.” I shake my head. “What I put you through…”
“I just had something on my mind. I’m sorry if I was distant but…” Her words trail off.
Will she forgive me?
“I’m so sorry. I never should have done that to you. I never should have broken things off. I should have asked you what was wrong. Not just assumed the same thing was happening all over again. I should never have put you through that…” My words also trail off, the shame of my actions too much to bear.
“You put us through it,” she says with care. “The both of us. I know I was hurting but I see those circles under your eyes.”
“Do I really look that bad?”
She shakes her head slowly. “No. You look perfect.”
“You look perfect.”
“You look perfect,” she smiles.
“No,” I say. “You do.”
I want to grab both of her hands in mine, but she’s got one shoved in her pocket. I grab the other one. “Can you ever forgive me?”
“If anyone understands the fear of being broken up with, it’s me,” she says.
“That’s very gracious of you.”
But her understanding isn’t enough. She pulls her hand away from mine. “I’m sorry,” she says. “I’ve got to go.”
“No.” I go to grab her hand again to stop her and miss. “Please don’t.”
But she walks away, back to her place in line.
“I love you, Lily Watkins. I think I have for quite a while now. But now I know it for sure.”
Slowly, she glances up at me.
“I love you!” I shout into the bodega.
Whispers start up, surrounding us. All eyes are on Lily, to see how she will react.
Finally, she whispers back the words my world-weary soul needs to hear. “I love you, too.”
She crosses the store, returning to me.
The bodega cheers.
I take her into my arms.
She stares up at me, her smile warming me like the sun.
I ask, “Will you please come back to live with me? Be with me? Be my one and only.”
“Yes. I’d love that.” She glances back at the line. “I just need to do one thing first.”
“What is it?” I ask.
She locks eyes with me. “I just need to break off the engagement with my fiancé.”
“ What? ”
“You know. The one I was trying the dress on for?” she giggles.
“God.” An exhale of breath whooshes from my lungs. “Don’t even joke like that or I’ll have you over my knee so fast?—”
“Shh!” She glances around, her face blushing. “Not here. It’s not like the kinky Village. It’s a regular people store. Let them buy their snacks without corrupting them, please.”
“What are you here for anyway?”
Her face drains of color. She gives me that look I know so well. The one she gave me in my house, making me break things off. I steel my nerves and take my sister’s advice not to let the pain from the past rule my thoughts.
Instead, I focus on her, wrapping a protective arm around her trembling shoulders. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“It’s nothing.” She holds her item behind her back where I can’t see. “Wait for me outside with Claudia. Tell her what happened between us. Catch her up on everything and I’ll be right out.”
“Okay, but I have to do one thing first.” And I take her in my arms, kissing her. Staking my claim for everyone in this little store to see. A few whoops and hollers echo through the small store, egging me on into a deeper kiss.
She pulls away, fully flushed now. “Go!” she laughs. “I’ll be right there.”
The woman lets Lily slip back into her place in line.
After treating her so poorly, I go against every instinct I have and instead of investigating, I respect her privacy and don’t pry into what she’s buying.
Instead, we wait on the sidewalk for her and afterwards, Claudia takes us out for ice cream to celebrate our reunion. Over a towering cone of fudge ripple, I keep stealing glances at Lily, wondering what the secret is that she’s hiding from me.
A secret that almost broke us.