Chapter Twenty
“I’m too tired to dress up,” Emma complained as she lay across her sister’s bed eleven days later and watched as Lily carefully put on her makeup.
“No, you’re not. You had a nap this afternoon and we did nothing all day but drive home and rest. Come on, get up and get dressed. Wear something of mine. If we had been thinking, we could have bought look-alike dresses.”
“Great, so we look like the Doublemint twins? And I ought to wear my own clothes. Wearing your clothes is what got me in trouble in the first place.”
“Nonsense. Pick out a wild dress. This is the first time Dad has taken both his grown-up daughters out to dinner. And then we’re going to that party in Beverly Hills. Do not embarrass me by looking like a country cousin.”
Emma nodded, smiling at her sister’s teasing. If her heart wasn’t in it, she hoped Lily wouldn’t notice.
Her twin had done so much over the last week and a half to cheer her up.
It wasn’t Lily’s fault she was not cheer-up-able.
Ruthlessly resisting the urge to glance out the window at Logan’s house, she walked into the huge closet and began to sort through her twin’s clothes.
Bright and bold and daring, that’s the image she wanted to portray today. Carefree and fun-loving.
She had her whole life before her—to grieve for her lost love. The worst part was, it was all her fault. If she could turn back the clock and change things, she’d do so in a red-hot second.
It was her own insecurities that got her in this fix. Logan might have liked her for herself. If she truly had any hopes of making a life together, she’d cheated them both by not letting them find out if the spark between them was because she was Emma Carter, not her sister.
She had chastised herself a dozen times every day—while riding the jungle boats in Disneyland, on the cable cars in San Francisco, as they sped along beside acres and acres of vineyards in Napa.
She’d wanted to share her delight in the beauty of Lake Tahoe with Logan.
Had wished he’d been the one to order champagne when she’d won the jackpot on the nickel slots.
Each night she’d lay awake long after her sister had fallen asleep, wondering when she could have changed the course of destiny, berating herself for allowing the fantasy masquerade to go on too long.
“Wear the hot pink,” Lily called.
Emma stared at the clothes as if she’d never seen them. Sighing, she shoved a couple of dresses along the rod until she came to the hot pink one. Might as well wear it, if it made Lily happy.
She wondered if she’d ever be truly happy again.
“Okay, let’s go wow them.” Lily said a little later, standing beside Emma in front of the mirrored wall.
Two peas in a pod. The words echoed in her mind as she gazed at herself and her twin. Her father had called them that many times when they’d all lived together. It was still true.
Lily had insisted she use her makeup, brush her hair in a similar style. While the dresses didn’t match, one electric blue and one hot pink, the two women who wore them were as alike as two peas in a pod. Would their father make the same remark?
“I hope Dad’s not mad that I pretended to be you,” Emma said as they walked down the stairs together.
“Are you kidding, he laughed for five minutes when I told him on the phone this afternoon. He loves things like that. Why not? That’s what he does for a living, after all, pretend to be other people.
And he sees the joke on himself, not recognizing his own daughter.
Of course to hear him tell it now, he suspected something was different.
But I think he’s proud as punch that you pulled it off.
He worried you would turn out too retiring, like Mom ”
“Mom? She not retiring. Good grief, she runs half the charities in town. Is active in P.T.A. and the church. And she doesn’t put up with any guff from anyone, rambunctious brothers included.”
“Maybe she couldn’t share the limelight with Dad,” Lily said, switching on the light in the living room.
The sun was setting and bathed the room in its golden rays. The lamp filled the corners of the room with light.
“Want something to drink before he gets here?”
“No.”
Emma sat on the edge of the sofa, keeping her eyes resolutely away from the window. She was getting over Logan Beckett. She refused to act like some teenager and moon around the windows waiting to catch a glimpse of him.
She’d enjoy the evening with their father, and then begin packing. She planned to return home the day after tomorrow. Her vacation was almost over, and the last couple of days she’d spend with her family.
Logan pulled into his driveway and stopped. Looking at Lily Rambeau’s home from habit, he was surprised to see lights in the living room. They were home.
He didn’t move for a long moment, curiously numb. For eleven days he’d wondered where they’d gone. Not that he expected to see them, but it was odd that Lily left and didn’t let her neighbor know to watch out for her house. She’d always done so when leaving for France or on a filming somewhere.
Of course she probably took Emma’s side of the matter and thought he was being unreasonable and irrational. Hard-nosed and unforgiving. Those were only some of the words Phil had used when he’d heard the entire story.
Or as much as Logan had relayed. Phil had laughed and thought it funny. Couldn’t understand why Logan took it so badly.
Logan hadn’t told him how betrayed he felt. How he’d just begun to relax the stringent controls he’d placed on his heart when around Emma. How for a few days he’d begun to hope he could make a life with her, share his work, enjoy her company.
No use thinking along those lines. He’d told her goodbye.
Not that saying the words had changed anything.
Even after eleven days without seeing her, he wanted to be with her.
Wanted to tell her about Phil’s latest assignment, and hear her ask questions that showed she cared.
Wanted to talk to her about the new project they’d bid on and received.
Share walks along the beach. He wanted to touch her, and feel her warmth and delight envelope him.
He wanted to see that innocence beaming up at him in honesty.
The real woman had been there all along. Why hadn’t he spotted it? Why had he insisted on thinking she was Lily and not called her on some of the inconsistencies? If she’d confessed earlier, if he’d discovered the pretense immediately, would it have made a difference?
Crashing a fist against the steering wheel, he gave up. He was stronger than that. He’d gotten over Crystal, he’d get over Emma Carter.
But when he climbed from the car, instead of heading inside, he walked across the lawn to Lily’s house.
Knocking on the door, he waited impatiently. He hadn’t a clue what he’d say, but he wasn’t leaving until he’d seen her.
The door opened and Lily stood in the frame looking at him. Her gaze was cool, distant. She was dressed in some bright blue dress, diamonds sparkled at her throat and ears. Saying nothing, she just stood there and looked at him, waiting for him to say the first word.
Logan felt like an idiot. He looked beyond her into the house, but couldn’t see into the living room from the door. Was Emma still here? Or had she returned to Virginia?
The silence stretched out.
“I see you’re home,” he said at last.
“We got back today.”
We. So Emma hadn’t left yet.
“And going out already?”
Lily always liked to party, that much he knew about his neighbor. He should have seen the difference in Emma immediately. She’d been content when it was just the two of them.
“Yes.”
Gone was the lighthearted banter that they had exchanged over the past two years. Only a chilled reception waited.
Her eyes narrowed.
“Did you want to see Emma?” she asked at last.
It was like touching an aching tooth. He did and he didn’t. He shrugged.
“Actually, I’m out of coffee, thought I could borrow some. Save me a trip back out to the store.”
Hadn’t that been the reason he’d come over to Lily’s house that day he’d returned from Italy? Had it only been three weeks? His entire life seemed altered.
Lily opened the door all the way and gestured toward the living room.
When Logan reached the archway, he saw her. She looked exactly like her sister. If he hadn’t known better, he’d be unable to tell them apart. The pink dress covered her like a glove, outlining her curves and valleys. Her hair swirled around her face, framing it like her sister’s.
Even the coolness and distance in her gaze matched Lily’s. If they had dressed alike, would he be able to tell them apart?
He thought so. There was a primal pull of physical attraction between Emma and him, missing with her sister.
“Hello, Logan,” she said, cool as a cucumber.
“Emma.”
He turned to Lily, still watching Emma from the corner of his eye.
“Where did you go?”
“Emma’s on vacation, so we went sightseeing, of course. I’ll get that coffee.”
Lily’s smug smile did nothing to endear her to him. So what if she saw through his excuse? Had Emma?
The silence stretched out. Emma sat back on the edge of the sofa, her gaze on the carpet.
“What did you see?” Logan asked, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his pants.
“We drove to San Francisco, then up to the wine country and on to Lake Tahoe. Lily says I should come in winter and try skiing.”
She could have been a stranger for all the inflection in her voice.
The doorbell rang before Logan could respond.
“Excuse me.”
Emma circled around him, heading for the door.
“Hello sweetheart.”
Damien Carter’s booming voice filled the room. In seconds he walked in, his arm around Emma’s shoulders.
“Do you know Lily’s neighbor, Logan Beckett?” Emma asked her father politely.
“We met once before, I believe.” The older man nodded to Logan. “Are you joining us tonight?”
“No,” Emma. said quickly. “It’s just you, me and Lily.”
He laughed.