Chapter 4
Fifteen Years Earlier
Usually when I was at a nightclub, I was bubbly, fun, laughing as I clinked plastic cups with friends, but tonight I’d been
cornered by a known numbskull and my drink was just about empty.
An acquaintance, Brad from Business 250, had swept in beside me the moment I arrived at the sticky bar to place my order.
We were both juniors at the College of Charleston, or simply “the college” as the locals called it, working through spring
semester. Twenty minutes later I’d downed the vodka soda entirely too quickly, and Brad was detailing each maneuver he’d employ
to take over his daddy’s business one day. I stared at the beer stains across his pastel fishing shirt and considered how
I might ditch him without negatively impacting our midterm group project.
“I’ll have at least thirty guys—”
“Look, Brad—”
“—reporting to me right off the bat, probably more soon after that. Did I ever tell you about last summer when I worked there?
They honestly fired the guy who supervised me because I roasted him so bad.”
“ Brad! ” The music was loud with the bass thumping, but I knew he heard me.
“Dad says I was born to take over the business...”
Brad kept talking, but I stopped listening.
My best friend, Kendra, tugged on my elbow. “Come on,” she said. “Just walk away.”
I was stuck between the manners my mother had spent the better part of my life hammering into me and the fact that I actually
wanted to enjoy this evening. I didn’t want to make things difficult for myself—like I had a tendency to, according to Magnolia—with
the class project.
I reluctantly held up my pointer finger to Kendra.
“Suit yourself,” Kendra said as one of the other girls yanked her by the arm in the opposite direction.
I turned back to Brad. He was now providing an unrequested verbal tour of his family’s fishing boat. He didn’t seem to hear
my sigh over his monologue.
“I really should go catch up with the girls,” I said over the details of the boat’s engine.
Brad paused and flashed me a sloppy grin. “Wanna do a shot?”
I chewed on the tiny straw in my cup, wishing my escape was buried inside the sharp plastic edges, then opened my mouth to
reply. My eyeballs were burning, so manners be damned.
A wide hand pressed gently at my lower back. I stepped forward to let whoever it was pass behind me, but when I glanced up,
my gaze landed on a set of deep brown eyes.
“There you are, sweetheart,” the stranger said.
He was tall, standing slightly above the crowd with broad shoulders that weren’t bulky. His thick, dark waves fell just below
his ears in a shaggy arrangement. A slow smile spread across his face, the stubbly remains of a beard around it.
Brad stopped in his tracks, his eyes darting between the guy and me.
I was momentarily stunned but quickly found my footing. “Sorry.” I smiled at the stranger. “Was just catching up with a buddy from business class.”
The stranger smiled and offered his hand to Brad. “Lincoln Kelly. Nice to meet you, man.”
I leaned into this Lincoln Kelly and placed a tender palm on his chest. My fingers ran across a logo of a band I didn’t know,
the T-shirt soft, like it had been machine-washed for years. I looked up at him and smiled. “Brad was just telling me how
much he enjoys fishing, but I do owe you that dance.”
“The dance, yes. The anticipation’s just about killing me,” Lincoln said, a dimple folding at the corner of his mouth.
Flutters ran through me, and I couldn’t help but notice how the space at his side felt precisely my size. “Well, don’t keep
a girl waiting then.”
Brad shuffled a few feet down the bar, and I followed my new friend through the crowd. He took my hand and spun me onto the
dance floor.
“So did you sign up for the verbal fishing-guide ramble or does that come free for all the pretty girls?” he asked.
“Hardly,” I scoffed, feeling my cheeks turn pink in the darkness.
“So you’re the only pretty girl he tries to impress with big fish stories?” He twirled me into another spin.
“I meant I wouldn’t ever in my right mind sign up for that torture,” I said, then dropped into the crook of his arm. “And
I’m sure I’m far from the only one.”
He dipped me right on cue, as if we’d planned it.
I laughed from my reclined position. “And wouldn’t you know, seeing as you patrol this place looking for any damsel in distress
to save? Surely you’ve seen him at this before.”
This Lincoln character whipped me upright. “Well, that’s where you’re wrong. You’re my very first damsel—”
“Of the night?”
Lincoln gasped and raised a hand to his chest. “How dare you insinuate this is some sort of party trick.”
“Please accept my deepest apologies.” I patted his arm. “And for what it’s worth, you’re far better company than Brad.”
We stepped off the dance floor to the edge of the room and found a spot to lean against the wall. I glanced over and saw that
Brad seemed two winks away from falling asleep face-first onto the bar top.
I winced.
“There’s Sleepy himself,” Lincoln said. “Don’t see his six other friends though.”
“What other six?” I asked, scanning the area.
“Grumpy, Happy, Sneezy, Dopey, Frumpy, Lumpy, Bumpy...” A grin creeped across his face as the list grew.
I swatted at him, barking a laugh. “Make it stop.”
Lincoln raised his hands to acquiesce. “I’m always open to reworking my material. And for what it’s worth, I’m not picking
on the guy. I’m definitely the Frumpy dwarf.”
“Really? Because I’m getting strong Dopey vibes about you.”
“And I guess you’re our Snow White?”
I looked skyward. “ Please , I’m much more the witch with the poisoned apple than you might guess.”
“Now that is something I’d like to hear more about,” he said. “Maybe next time.”
“Next time, huh? We might be getting a little ahead of ourselves here. What did you say your name was—Lincoln Kelly?”
“That’s it. But you haven’t told me your name yet.”
“Mack Bishop,” I said. “And in all seriousness, thanks for getting me out of there.”
He reached out and gave my forearm a squeeze. “You’ve already made my night, so I’ll count myself the lucky one.”
My cheeks flushed with heat. If the lights had been on, he’d see them furiously pink.
The music shifted, and a slow song started.
“One last dance for the road?” he asked.
I had rules about this. Specifically, the one dance rule. Something happened after accepting a second dance. It opened the
doors to wistful romance and all kinds of idealism that wouldn’t ever fit me. I wouldn’t let any young man assume I was his
next best thing—whether he was after a single night or a lifetime of Costco runs. Especially when Grady was still in the picture,
even if he was firmly on the sideline—right where I wanted him.
“One more. Then I’ll let you go on your way to save the next lady in need.” I followed him onto the dance floor and hung my
arms around his neck.
“I’ve already told you,” he whispered quietly beside my ear, “you’re the only damsel.”
Despite my knowing better, that it would never work, not for me, I stayed there. Because even if it wouldn’t last, even if
it wouldn’t fit in the light of morning, under the cloud of noise and the fuzziness of the night, maybe I could enjoy the
thrill of being with him for a little while.
“Mack!” Kendra called.
My girlfriends stood at the edge of the dance floor, smirking through a gap in the crowd. Alexis crossed her arms and waggled
her eyebrows at me when she caught my eye. Hannah held up a single finger as if to say, Just one? Kendra pumped her fists.
I shooed them away with the wave of a single hand. They could tease me about it for as long as they wished, and maybe I’d
regret it when he suggested a couples nature hike for the morning, but I couldn’t pull myself away.
We talked easily and about everything from doughnuts to bad dates, cats versus dogs (apparently he lived firmly in the chinchilla only camp as a child), hopes, dreams, and some of the other things it doesn’t feel so bad to admit to someone you’re not sure
you’ll ever see again.
When the lights came on, I was still in Lincoln’s arms. I looked around and spotted my girls waiting for me at the door.
“I should get going,” I said. “My friends are waiting on me.”
Lincoln pulled his phone from his pocket. “Can I get your number?”
“Oh,” I said, eyeing the phone like it might bite.
His face dropped, and I felt terrible. “It’s just... It’s just I’m not really in the market for a boyfriend or anything
like that. Honestly, I’m saving you from all kinds of hurt. Say, for example, we were to date and you fell in love with me,
and then you had to meet my mother. She’s my only family and a complete train wreck—emotionally, I mean—you wouldn’t know
it by looking at her.”
“Whoa.” He grinned. “Who’s the one getting ahead of ourselves now? No one said anything about falling in love.”
I cringed on the inside. “I just want you to be warned.”
“It’ll take more than that to scare me off.”
“All right, Romeo.” I took his phone, typed in my contact information, and hit Save. “No worries if you change your mind.”
Lincoln reached out and took the phone. “I’d say the chances of that are slim to none.”
With that I jogged over to my girlfriends, who were growing impatient at the door. We stepped out onto the uneven streets and started for home. Even in the dark, Charleston shone like a gem, the gaslights highlighting every perfect cranny, the rustling leaves of palmetto trees lining the streets.
It’d only been three years since I moved to Charleston after high school, but still it felt more like home than any other
place in the world. Back in Beaufort, Mama always had me under her thumb, exactly where she wanted me. Exactly where she wanted most things. Moving out had felt like throwing open heavy drapes and letting in the sun.
I’d tried my best to please my mother back home, for the sake of keeping the peace. I’d studied; I’d joined a list of clubs
an arm long; and I’d done my best to win over the community with my service projects. Any and all of my efforts to forge my
own way (or find my long-lost father) were kept well under wraps. Well, aside from the one time I let Braxton Jackson and
his regrettably rhythmic name take me four-wheeling in the mud, and I fell off and sprained my wrist. Even that was barely
a transgression, and in the grand scheme of things, Mama had it easy with me as her only child.
Still, Mama barely seemed to notice. She was focused on being a lady of society and inhabiting her spot atop the social ladder—right
beside her lifelong best friend, Delta Suffolk. And of all the things in the world, a Suffolk for a spouse was the number
one thing Mama wanted for me.
Grady Suffolk was my high school boyfriend, and I’m not sure my mama was ever so proud. He recently became my ex, which quickly recategorized me to persona non grata. Sure, I loved Grady at one point, but now that high school was done, I had to think about the rest of my life. And the country clubs, the buttoned-up philanthropy projects, the overbearing feeling that I was expected to perform like an animatronic doll—it wasn’t what I wanted. Just the thought of my fingers grazing the embossed letters of an invitation to the next fancy affair felt like a pair of jeans two sizes too small.
Kendra and I arrived at our apartment, and she unlocked the door. I closed it behind me and turned the lock with a clunk . As I walked through the shared living space turning off lights, I chose to leave the pre-party cups sprinkled across the
apartment. Back home I’d never get away with that, but this was our place.
I thought about Lincoln Kelly and wondered if he’d call. Probably he wouldn’t—I hadn’t held back about my situation. But perhaps
more of me than I was willing to admit hoped he might. I dropped onto my bed, turned off the lamp, and let my world spin.
Reality began to fade in and out as I swirled into sleep, and for a moment I let myself smile—just one more time—remembering
the magic on that dance floor.