Chapter Twenty-Nine
As Kayla marched across the sand, her skirt fluttered in a sudden breeze.
She whipped her head around to check the candles on the table beside her.
The flames danced in the wind but didn’t go out.
She let out a tiny fraction of her held breath and continued pacing.
A ring of tiki torches jammed into the sand marked out a little patch of beach that had been reserved just for her and Mack.
When she’d arrived a half hour before, the sand had been neat as a pin.
Now it was marred and pock-marked with her footprints.
Fortunately, the table was still immaculate.
A white tablecloth reached nearly to the sand.
Two place settings of stacked plates, perfectly aligned silverware, and a positive army of wine glasses sat close together, the chairs facing the waves.
The view from those chairs was stunning.
The sun was setting across the ocean, setting the rippled water ablaze like a field of gems, sparkling in a million shades of pink, red, and orange.
A waiter in a crisp white suit jacket and pristine gloves stood poised by a serving tray just out of earshot.
It was perfect. More romantic than anything Kayla had ever seen.
Exactly the way she’d want to celebrate her wedding if she’d actually had one.
The aching beauty of it all made her loneliness nearly unbearable.
Where was Mack? Would she show? She hadn’t come to the site of their sham wedding ceremony, but Kayla hadn’t exactly expected that.
She had only stopped by to make sure the staff wasn’t worried and to tell them the wedding was off.
It had been awkward, but not nearly so awkward as spending the whole day without Mack.
God, where was she? Had Amy and Skye succeeded where Kayla had failed?
Or would this exciting, immaculate thing between them die on the vine?
Kayla pushed down those questions but couldn’t stop herself from looking back at the stone beach access stairs and the sidewalk above it. She couldn’t keep herself from praying for the hundredth time that Mack would show up there and smile down at her.
The waiter cleared his throat behind her. “Will the other lady be joining you?”
Kayla twisted her fingers together until they felt like they’d snap. “I don’t know. I sent some friends to get her.”
He checked his watch ostentatiously. She couldn’t blame him.
He’d probably heard that the wedding had been canceled and assumed he’d have a night off.
Instead, he was here, waiting well past their prearranged dinner time for what he assumed was a runaway bride.
They should probably be tucking into their entrées by now.
No doubt the kitchen staff was just as annoyed as he was at this delay.
Kayla pulled a few bills from her bra and held them out to him. “Please, just wait a little bit longer?”
Based on the way his eyebrow lifted, she must have given him quite a lot of money.
She hadn’t been keeping track, but it was just about all she had left.
Of course, he might have been turned off by the fact that she’d been keeping the money in her underwear, but it wasn’t her fault that skirts so rarely came with pockets.
He didn’t say anything but took the latest addition to his lavish tip back to his spot near the stairs.
If she was lucky, that would keep him around for another ten minutes or so.
If Mack hadn’t shown by then, Kayla might have to admit that she wasn’t coming.
She didn’t want to think about that, so she went back to pacing.
Less than a minute later, she finally heard the sound she’d been desperate for all day.
The low rumble of Mack’s voice carried down to her over the sound of the waves.
Kayla came to an abrupt halt, her heart racing as though she’d just finished a beep test. The light was rapidly fading and the torches didn’t quite reach up to the sidewalk, but there was no mistaking that incredible jaw line, highlighted by the low-angle light of the setting sun.
Tears sprang to Kayla’s eyes. She fought to keep them back, but it was a losing battle.
Mack hadn’t looked down or seen her yet, so Kayla took the opportunity to look at her—to really look at her.
Kayla’s whole life flashed before her eyes as she traced the graceful lines of Mack’s body with her eyes.
Mack leaning over her, stretching her calf while she writhed on the ground from those stupid shin splints back in freshman year.
Lunches of rectangular pizza and candy that would make her adult stomach heave.
Tears spilling down Mack’s cheeks as she stood, homeless and rejected, with a single duffel bag on Kayla’s stoop.
Mack cheering in the stands at her first Youth National Team game.
Mack’s proud blush from under her college graduation cap.
Mack awkwardly sleeping at her bedside while Kayla fought out of anesthesia from yet another surgery.
Mack rescuing her from the apartment floor two days after Skye left.
The glimmer in her eye after they shared their first kiss on their balcony just a few days ago.
They wove in and out of the fabric of each other’s lives in all the important and unimportant places.
No, that wasn’t right. They were the fabric of each other’s lives.
How had it taken this many years for Kayla to understand why Mack was so precious to her?
How had she overlooked the most important person in her life for so many years?
Especially considering the way all the many parts of her body came alive when she saw Mack now.
Had that always been there and she’d missed it, or had she purposefully ignored it?
Well, it didn’t matter now. Kayla was done looking backward.
From now on, she was fully focused forward.
As Mack approached the wall separating the sidewalk from the drop down to the beach, Amy came into view.
She was walking right beside Mack, locked in conversation with her.
Kayla couldn’t hear the words, but they were clearly debating something.
Mack seemed receptive but guarded. Amy, God love her, was pleading her case like a lawyer rather than a doctor.
It was inspiring to see her fighting so hard for Kayla, despite their strained history.
Skye trailed behind them both, her arms crossed and a scowl cut deep into her features.
Well, Kayla couldn’t exactly blame her for being less than enthusiastic about the job.
The last rays of the setting sun made Mack’s face glow golden like a precious statue.
Mack turned toward the light, but instead of landing on the setting sun, her gaze caught on Kayla.
Both their bodies froze as their eyes locked.
Kayla’s lungs refused to expand. Her heart lurched painfully in her chest. Mack was a vision.
Strong, solid, and finally right there in front of her.
Kayla forced a smile to her lips even though her body was so tense she hadn’t thought it was possible to move a muscle.
She prayed to every god that had ever existed that Mack would return that smile.
That her face would light up like it usually did when she saw Kayla.
The gods weren’t listening, however. Mack’s jaw was set, and her lips formed a thin, straight line. She glared at Kayla for a long moment, then turned to march off back the way she’d come.
The breath Kayla had been holding evaporated in her chest. Her heart screamed in agony, though she couldn’t give voice to the sound.
Everything in her wanted to give up and crumble into nothing.
Just like she had when Skye had walked away.
Just like she had when she lost her clients’ fortunes and with them her career in finance.
Just like she had when she missed the penalty kick that would have taken her team to the College Cup finals.
Her body was betraying her again, but this wasn’t the same Kayla who had given up without Skye or vanished in the loss of her playing career. She forced herself to remember what Dr. Frost had said. She forced herself to keep fighting.
This was a new Kayla. One who had been forged in the angry fires of the world, yes, but also in the caring hands of that woman on the sidewalk above her. Mack had always thought she was worth fighting for. Now it was time to prove her right.
Kayla bent her knees and propelled herself across the sand.
She was far away, and Mack had a head start, but she wasn’t getting away this time.
Not again. Damn her stupid pacing for putting her on the other side of the table.
Kayla had to take her eyes off Mack to navigate the table, chairs, and torches on the darkening beach.
When she looked back up, she saw something she hadn’t expected.
Mack had stopped. Or rather, she had been stopped by the last person Kayla would have expected to intervene.
Skye had stepped into her path and grabbed her by the shoulders.
Now she was talking to her, gesturing between herself and Mack and Kayla.
Her eyebrows weren’t a bundle of annoyance like they normally were when she talked to Mack.
They were tilted at a concerned angle. A kind angle.
And she was…smiling? It was a bittersweet smile, but it was a smile.
Kayla finally made it around the table and to the foot of the stairs just in time to see Mack sigh, let her shoulders slump, and nod.
Hope leaped back into Kayla’s chest. That was a good sign, right?
It almost looked like Skye had convinced her to hear Kayla out.
Could it be possible? It must’ve been, because Skye reached her hand out.
Mack stared at it for a moment, then took it and shook.