Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Present Day
The first night of Lily’s trip to Los Angeles ended at a nightclub with all of Liam’s new best friends, the way she’d assumed it would.
As she bobbed and weaved through the crowd, her head thumping to the music, she tried not to notice how close Liam and Bex danced to one another.
She tried not to guess at the chemistry that pulsed between them and seemed to animate the rest of the room.
Liam’s co-stars seemed none the wiser, or they seemed unable to admit that they felt it too.
They continued to butter her up, reminding her that, apparently, Liam couldn’t shut up about her on set.
It sounded more and more like a lie, especially as the night wore on.
But the following morning, Lily woke up at Liam’s rental house and fell into yet another dream.
Liam had ordered a breakfast of eggs Benedict, champagne, hummus, fresh fruit, and plenty of hot sauce.
It was all laid out on the coffee table in front of his massive television, which was primed and ready to play The Wire, a television show they’d both promised to watch only with one another, when they had the time.
Lily burst into tears of happiness and wrapped her fiancé in a hug.
“Hey! It’s just television!” Liam said, laughing.
Lily couldn’t translate what was wrong, nor what was right.
She’d been so frightened it was over, that this sudden onslaught of kindness felt like too much.
She sat down, cleaned herself up, and told herself to enjoy every second of this.
Liam cuddled her close, kissed her, and demanded that she eat. “You’ll feel better,” he said.
And soon, Lily did.
In fact, Lily felt so much better on Sunday that she ended up extending her Los Angeles trip indefinitely.
When she pitched the idea to Liam, he squinted with thought, then broke into a smile.
“You should stay till the wrap party!” he cried.
“It’s at the beginning of November.” It was a few weeks away.
“Who wants to go back to that freezing-cold island in the Atlantic? You can do all your work from here. You can research wedding venues from here.”
“And you’re here,” Lily said.
“That’s right, baby,” Liam said. “Stay with me. We’re getting married. I don’t want to be apart.”
Lily threw herself into her new and temporary life in Los Angeles. While Liam was on set, she made phone calls to her clients, researched potential matches for them, networked, and researched wedding venues, wedding caterers, and all things Vance-Reynolds.
While speaking on the phone with her mother, Rebecca wondered if Lily was all right. There was worry in her voice. “It’s just you were only going to be gone a few days,” she said. “I miss you.”
“I know. I miss you too,” Lily said, feeling bright and confident again. “But the thing is, I want to be with Liam. I’m so proud of what he’s doing out here. I want to help him.”
Most nights, Liam came home exhausted from his work on set.
Sometimes he went out with the other cast members, but Lily was always invited.
She was becoming close with all of them, including Bex, who still thanked her profusely for the “big love” she’d shown her.
The skateboarder often came as well, his shoulders slumped, his eyes like a wild animal’s.
When he saw Lily in person for the first time, he saluted her and said, “Right on, man. The matchmaker.”
Two weeks into her brand-new life in Los Angeles, she finally had a call with Mick Hamilton. She was in the sunroom of Liam’s rental, wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts, watching the wind flutter through the tops of palm trees outside.
“Mick!” she said, happy to hear his voice. “What happened? I didn’t hear from you after your date.”
“Ugh.” Mick groaned into a burst of laughter. “I wasn’t sure how to tell you.”
Lily sat bolt upright. She’d allowed herself to think that maybe Mick and the redhead were so head over heels in love that they’d forgotten to contact Lily at all. “Tell me,” she urged.
“It’s not that she was awful,” Mick said delicately. “It’s more that we don’t see eye to eye about a number of things.”
“What things?” Lily asked. “I can mark them in your file and make sure the next match is stronger.”
“I don’t know. Like, for example, she thinks it’s bad to give money to the poor?” Mick said. “Even on Christmas. I think she said, especially on Christmas.”
“Oh.” Lily felt her heart drop into her stomach. “That bad?”
“Maybe she was making a joke? Or she’s the Grinch,” Mick suggested.
“Oh, Mick. I’m sorry to hear that. Honestly. I knew she was wealthy, but she seemed so down-to-earth, so easy to talk to.”
“She’s easy to talk to, I guess,” Mick offered. “I mean, she talks and talks and talks, and makes you listen, but that’s fine. Right? I mean, maybe I’m being too sensitive. I’ve been a loner for a long time. Maybe I’ve forgotten how to hang out with people.”
“I think you’re listening to your instincts,” Lily said. “It’s healthy.”
“I don’t know.” Mick sounded downtrodden.
“Listen, two bad dates are nothing,” Lily assured. “I have a few other candidates. We’re going to find you someone perfect.”
“I might need a brief break,” Mick said.
Lily sighed. Never had she seen a matchmaking client give up as swiftly.
But she’d never encountered anyone as “difficult” as Mick Hamilton.
She tried to visualize the perfect match for him and struggled not to see him alone, covered with paint, baking cookies in his adorable house.
She resolved not to let Mick be her first failure.
“When I get back to Nantucket, we should meet and discuss this further,” she said. “I don’t want you to lose heart. There’s someone for everyone.”
“You’re still out of town?” Mick asked, perking up. It was as though he hadn’t had a personal conversation in a while.
“I am. I extended my trip to LA,” she explained. She went on to say that Liam’s career was flourishing, that she really liked his co-stars, and that she was getting into the LA swing of things.
“It sounds like a blast,” he said. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” Lily felt her pulse quicken in her throat. She knew she couldn’t stay on the phone much longer. She had other clients to call and other things to tend to. But she hated to leave Mick alone like this. She wished she could send someone over to his house to check on him.
“Have you ever been to the Sutton Book Club?” she asked suddenly.
“Once or twice,” Mick said. “It’s fantastic.”
“It’s my grandmother’s place,” Lily said. “Next time you go back there, you should say hello to her.”
“Esme’s your grandmother?” Mick asked. “She’s a fantastic lady. She cracks me up. I see where you got it from.”
Lily smiled. “That’s kind of you to say, but actually, I didn’t meet her till last year.”
Mick sounded intrigued. “There’s a story there, I guess.”
“Many,” Lily said.
“Well, I’ll pester you for them when you get back,” he said, sounding suddenly reticent, as though he sensed he was keeping her on the phone for too long. “Take care out there. Let me know when you find Hilary Swank.”
Lily cackled into her final goodbye, hung up the phone, and stared into space for a full five minutes. When she came to, she had to hurry to get ready to meet Liam and his co-stars. They were expecting her.
The second week of November, Liam’s television show wrapped, and absolutely every member of the staff and cast cried tears of sorrow and euphoria. Apparently, it was the most intense bonding experience of all. It was something none of them would ever forget.
Lily weaved her way through the cast party, searching for Liam and pausing every few people to congratulate them and clink her glass with theirs.
Lily was wearing a tight-fitting dress she’d bought in West Hollywood, and she felt far more “LA” than the New York woman she’d trained herself to be for four years at Columbia.
When she finally found Liam, he had his arms thrown around Tommy and Bex, and he was singing a song. Lily didn’t recognize it. She tried to smile, but couldn’t. Liam was so caught up in his own world, so caught up in his emotion, that she felt she couldn’t ride this wave.
“He’s drunk!” Tasha filled Lily in, laughing. She swayed from side to side on her heels, obviously tipsy as well. “We’ve been through a lot today. Don’t be mad at him.” She squeezed Lily’s shoulder.
“I won’t be!” Lily cried. She wondered whether Liam had said that Lily was often angry about things. In reality, they rarely fought, certainly never about anything “big.”
When Liam’s song ended, Bex reared up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. Liam threw his head back, then kissed the top of Tommy’s head, like a father to a child. “I love all of you,” he said. “I will carry this love forever! You all are my sisters and brothers!”
Lily’s heart pounded. After a round of celebratory hugs and friend-kisses, Liam finally realized that Lily was there, and he threw his arms around her, then picked her up drunkenly. For a moment, Lily was terrified he would drop her. “My love!” he called for all to hear. “Did you hear? It’s over!”
Lily tried to laugh and say something to him, but before she could, Liam spun around for another glass of champagne and another song with his co-stars.
Lily watched him, her chest thrumming with confusion and abandonment.
She hung back and chatted to a sound guy for a little while, who asked her what department she’d been working on.
“I don’t work for the show,” she confessed. “I’m Liam’s girlfriend, actually. No. Wait. I’m his fiancée.” She showed the ring and saw how foreign it looked on her finger.
“Oh! I didn’t realize he was engaged,” the sound guy said. “You guys are pretty young for a commitment like that.”
Lily’s eyes were slits. “How old are you?”
“I’m twenty-nine,” the sound guy said, eager to talk about himself. “I was engaged when I was, like, twenty-two. But things fell apart a year or so into it.”
“What happened?” Lily asked.
“She cheated on me.” He shrugged, as though that sort of thing happened all the time.
Lily’s heart dropped. “I’m sorry. That’s awful.”
“Honestly? I’m glad she did it,” the sound guy said. “I think she sensed what I was too cowardly to say out loud. We weren’t ready to get married. We had to learn more about ourselves before we could make such a commitment.”
Anger returned to Lily’s chest with full force. “Not everyone is like that,” she said, raising her chin. “Some people can learn and grow together. I mean, plenty of people get married young and spend sixty-plus years together. It’s romantic.”
“It is! Or it can be,” the sound guy said. “But I worry when kids like you try to jump into something too soon. Especially in a city like LA.”
“We don’t live in LA,” Lily said. “We’re Nantucketers.”
But the sound guy seemed unable to hear her or unfocused.
Lily followed his gaze out onto the dance floor, where Liam jumped up and down with Tasha, Bex, and Tommy.
The skateboarder was off to the side, looking at his phone, a bored expression lit up by the ghoulish light of his screen.
Everything about Lily’s life felt half baked and off.
She was tired of pushing herself to fit into a life that was never meant for her.
Suddenly, she felt itchy. She pushed through the crowd and left the venue and stood outside the door, shivering in the dark.
A part of her—a youthful part—ached for Liam to find her.
But she knew that this “youthful” part of her was exactly what the sound guy had been referring to.
If she still wanted to test Liam’s allegiance, if she still wanted to pout outside and wait for him to come, maybe she wasn’t fully ready to get married.
She pushed herself to choose either to call a cab and go back to Liam’s or go back inside and have a good time. But she waited too long. All at once, Liam thrust open the door and blinked through the dark at her. His voice broke. “What are you doing out here?”
Lily felt captured. She shoved her phone into her shoulder bag and said, “I’m just, um. I got stressed out in there.” But she knew she sounded like she was lying.
Liam let the door fall behind him and leaned against the wall. His eyes swam with champagne. “You’re mad,” he said. “You’re mad because this party’s all about me.”
Lily was struck dumb. What a stupid thing to say, she thought, glaring at him. But what she said instead was, “You shouldn’t have invited me if you didn’t want me to come.”
It was a foolish and youthful thing to say. Her stomach thrashed. For weeks, they’d been getting along beautifully. Well, sort of beautifully. She’d spend a lot of time alone. But this LA time was all for Liam, for his career. She’d made her peace with that. Hadn’t she?
“You don’t see me for what I am,” Liam shot back. “I’m important out here. I’m going to be a star. And you’re jealous of that. Admit it.”
It sounded so ridiculous that Lily snorted.
The fight didn’t last long. Very soon, both Liam and Lily burst into tears and hugged it out.
Lily apologized and said she loved him. Liam said he was “just drunk.” They ended up going inside, drinking water, sobering up, and getting a cab an hour and a half later.
They held hands all the way back to his rental home.
Lily’s eyes were on the stars outside the cab window, twinkling so far away.
She couldn’t wait to bring Liam back to Nantucket with her.
She couldn’t wait till he was wholly and entirely hers—and not Hollywood’s or Bex’s.