Chapter Forty-Nine Lily
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Lily
O ver the next three weeks after the debate, I keep to myself outside of planned outings with Lorenzo. At first I was nervous, but pretty much every time we go out, Lorenzo is quickly pulled into some kind of conversation with a townsperson, which is a relief.
If I could find a permanent third wheel to follow us everywhere, I would.
Lorenzo seems very accommodating lately. He even offered to return my Corolla—in fully operational condition—to which I told him no. Truth is I love my new SUV, and the thought of driving my old car is becoming progressively more difficult the longer it stays sitting in Lorenzo’s garage.
After I asked him if he could find a new owner for the car, Lorenzo surprised me with a custom keychain using the Toyota car badge—a memento I wasn’t emotionally prepared for but am grateful to have dangling from my new key fob.
Whether Lorenzo’s good mood is due to the recent polls or him attending therapy, I’m not entirely sure, but I make the most of it and ask if he wants to meet with the Wisteria Weekly reporter.
He says yes, so Nicole is going to meet us at Lorenzo’s place in an hour for the interview.
I’m in the middle of getting ready for it when my sister walks into my room and shuts the door. She takes a seat on my bed, and I turn away from my vanity so I can get a good look at her.
“What’s up?” I put down my eyeshadow palette.
“Why isn’t Lorenzo coming to Sunday lunch tomorrow?”
“He’s busy.”
“Doing what?”
I shrug. “Campaign stuff.”
Her head tilts curiously. “He wasn’t able to make it last week either…or the week before that.”
“He’s had to focus on the campaign after everything with the debate. I’m sure his schedule will free up after the election in five weeks.”
She tilts her head. “Is everything okay?”
I don’t break eye contact, although it’s difficult to maintain my sister’s stare with how closely she is looking at me. “Sure. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because Rose & Thorn could be torn down and you’d have to restart somewhere else?”
“Right. Obviously I’m not okay about that,” I answer, suddenly feeling an onslaught of guilt for not thinking about my shop. With everything going on between Lorenzo and me, it didn’t feel like much of a priority.
“See! That’s the look right there.”
My brows rise. “What look?”
“Like someone kicked Daisy.”
The reminder of my dog sends another spike of heat through my chest.
“And that!”
I can no longer hold her gaze. “You’re the one who brought up Rose & Thorn.”
“Only because you forgot .”
My gaze snaps back to her face. “I didn’t forget.” I’ve been…distracted.
“Maybe not entirely, but I know you.” A line of worry forms between her brows. “I didn’t pay close enough attention to the signs before, but I’m wide awake now, and I won’t accept you telling me you’re fine when clearly you’re not.”
I’m overwhelmed by emotion, and I don’t do a good job hiding it.
She walks over to me and leans against my vanity. “What’s going on?”
My eyes water because how do I explain to my sister the mess I’ve made of my life?
“I can’t tell you.” My voice cracks. I want to—I really do, ever since the very first night when Lorenzo and I committed to the plan.
“Why not?”
“Because you’re going to get mad at me.” I fidget with a loose thread on my dress—a cute pink one that makes me feel confident even on the lowest of days.
“I won’t.”
“You say that now …”
“And I’ll say it again after you share whatever has been bothering you for the past few weeks.” She reaches for my hands and wills me to look at her. “I want to help you however I can because I don’t want to watch you fade away.” Her eyes flicker across my face. “Not again.”
My eyes water, not only for Lorenzo and what our relationship has become but for myself. Dahlia is right. I did fade away.
But not anymore.
“I appreciate the thought, but I don’t know if there is anything you can do to help me.” I grab a tissue and dab at the corners of my eyes because no, I refuse to ruin my eyeliner after spending ten minutes on it.
“Don’t count me or Julian out yet.”
“Are you volunteering Julian without asking him?”
“I think it’s better than Lorenzo extorting him, no?”
Her unwavering loyalty and support gives me the courage to share the truth about my situation, regardless of the outcome. If Lorenzo gets mad at me about it, so be it.
If he hadn’t hurt me first, then I wouldn’t even be in this position, so he’s to blame.
Dahlia is quiet as I explain why Lavender Lane was singled out by the Ludlows and my situationship with Richard. I then open up about my fake relationship with Lorenzo, who I used to know as Laurence.
The more I share about my situation, the messier it sounds, but Dahlia doesn’t judge me or vocalize her thoughts. She does hit me with an arched brow when I talk about how I naively thought I could get out of the engagement unscathed, though, and I guess I deserve that one.
I’m winded by the time I finish explaining everything up until now, minus Lorenzo’s confession as to why he needs to move away if he loses.
When another minute passes without my sister saying anything, I start to panic.
“So you are mad.”
She shakes her head. “This is…wow. I need a few minutes to process how you faked an entire relationship.” Her gaze drops to my hand. “And are engaged!”
I shut my eyes with a groan. “Don’t remind me.”
“What were you thinking when you agreed to all that?”
“I was desperate.”
“ Clearly . But now you’re saying that you genuinely have feelings for Lorenzo, so it’s not really a fake relationship, then?”
“Technically yes—or it was real, but now it isn’t again.” My nose wrinkles. “Ugh. It’s complicated, okay?”
“Was there ever a time it wasn’t?” she deadpans.
I force a laugh.
She starts to rub her temple. “I’m starting to get a migraine.”
“Same.” I sift through my purse and pull out a bottle of Advil. We both knock a couple back before resuming our conversation.
“All right. I’m ready for your judgment.” I bring it on with a flick of my fingers.
“I want to give you a hard time about this, but I’m pretty sure you’re doing an incredible job of that, so I’ll refrain from judging too harshly.”
“Thanks for your generosity,” I reply dryly.
“But…”
“I knew you were holding back.”
She chuckles. “An anonymous dating app? Seriously? You were practically begging to be catfished!”
If my bed wasn’t so far away, I’d grab a pillow and launch it at her head.
“Well, what happened was way worse!”
“Can I see the app? I’m curious how it looks.”
My cheeks flush as I redownload the app and log back in. With how Lorenzo and I left things, I don’t expect to see a new message notification in the corner from Laurence .
“Laurence! Like the note he left with the bracelet.” Dahlia clicks on the inbox because she’s a nosy brat.
“Hey!” I push her away before she can see the screen before me.
The last message has a time stamp from two days ago, but the ones before that… There are probably fifty unread messages in our chat, with the oldest one dating back to about a month ago.
Shocked doesn’t scratch the surface of how I feel.
Lorenzo has been using our old chat like a diary, and I almost feel like I’m in the wrong for reading the messages, even when I know he wrote them here on purpose.
Because I can’t help myself, I read the newest ones first, ignoring the way my sister does the same from over my shoulder.
LAURENCE
Doctor Martin had asked me to think about what Lake Wisteria means to me, and I finally figured out my answer three weeks later.
LAURENCE
At first Lake Wisteria was a place to escape to, but over time it became my home, and that is all because of you.
LAURENCE
If our situation was different, I’d want to spend forever in this town, and I want to spend forever with you .
Warmth spreads through my body, and I reread that sentence three times before Dahlia startles me.
“What does he mean by ‘if our situation was different’? Does he not plan on staying here?” she asks.
“Not if he loses.”
“What? Why?”
“I…I honestly don’t know.”
She stares at me, probably gauging how serious I am. “And you haven’t pushed for an answer to literally the most important question of your entire relationship?”
“No.” I stare down at my lap.
“Lily,” she groans. “You have to ask him why. If not for you both to overcome it, then for closure.”
“But what if it proves that I’m not good enough?”
“Did you read his messages? Because he might be a man with many issues, but none of them seem to be about you ,” she says right as the doorbell rings.
“Shit! What time is it?”
“Five.”
I look at my half-finished face of makeup. “I can’t go out there looking like this.”
Dahlia stands with a smile. “Oh, don’t worry. Lorenzo and I have a few things to catch up on.”
“Dahlia…”
“I’ll buy you ten minutes, so get to it.” She escapes my room, careful not to trip over the random obstacles in her way.
“Be nice to him!”
“I will be, right after I give him hell first.”
I almost feel bad for Lorenzo.
Emphasis on the almost.
I come out from my room ten minutes later, dressed and ready for our meeting with the reporter, fully expecting my sister and Lorenzo to be in the middle of a conversation.
Except I find Lorenzo sitting by himself in our living room, looking down at his phone.
“Where’s Dahlia?” I ask.
He looks up but doesn’t answer my question right away. Instead he takes his time checking me out. I’ve worn this dress twice in front of him already, but he stares at me like he’s never seen it—or me—before.
Butterflies break out in my stomach, a betrayal of the worst kind given our situation. Because regardless of how good he makes me feel, we are over.
Even if he won the campaign, I wouldn’t take him back. Not when he didn’t feel like he had a good enough reason to stay before the results.
“My sister?” I ask again while he checks out my heels.
He clears his throat. “She had to go. But before she left, she said to remind you to ask me why I insist on moving away if I lose.”
I wince. “Great.” Typical Dahlia, always inserting herself into situations that I can handle myself.
“So, you told her about us?”
“Yup.” I grab my purse off the hook by the front door.
“Why?”
“She knew something was wrong, so I couldn’t exactly hide it from her anymore.”
His frown reaches his eyes. Wanting to avoid looking into them, I open the door and wait for him to exit before I lock up behind him.
“And you told her I’d leave?”
I wait to answer him until we’re in his car—some black retro sedan I don’t recognize—and away from any pesky neighbors. “Not at first. She asked me to show her the Eros app, and then she saw the last couple of messages you sent—”
He snatches my phone straight from my hands. “You redownloaded the app?”
“Yes.”
“Interested in meeting someone else?” He types in the password, but it fails. He scowls as he tries another code and unlocks my phone.
Mother —
“Daisy’s gotcha day? Cute, but too obvious.”
“Give it back!” I reach for it, but he easily keeps my hands away while deleting the app.
“Lorenzo!” I shout.
“While I’m here…” He goes ahead and deletes the entire dating app folder I had.
“When you leave, I’ll redownload them, and you won’t be around to prevent it from happening.”
His gaze burns a path down my body. “What will the town think of you cheating on me?”
“It’s not cheating if you leave me.”
He ropes my ponytail around his hand and tugs. His mouth finds the hollow part of my throat, and he kisses it right before sucking at the skin.
I half groan, half moan.
“I’m not leaving you, and tonight I’ll prove it once and for all.”