Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Athena
Opening the small heart-shaped gold locket in my hands, I squint at the faded pictures of an older man and woman. I’ve been doing the same thing every week or two since I was ten-years-old.
I should be ashamed of myself.
The locket doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to a man my mom had a one-night stand with twenty-four years ago.
He took her home after they met at a bar. When she woke, he was still asleep, so she filled her pockets with whatever she could fit in them and took off.
Nine months later, I was born.
She never told the man she slept with that he had a daughter. She didn’t tell the other two men she had one-night stands with that she was carrying their sons.
My two younger brothers have no idea who their fathers are either.
Every few years after we were all born, my mom would get married in an attempt to give us a father figure.
It wasn’t until her third marriage that everything changed. She married Jeremy’s dad, and we finally had a family, including an older brother.
Now, my mom and my stepfather, Craig Weston, are in prison.
I still have a family, but there are questions too. Questions about the man my mom took this locket from.
Ending her call, Audrey finally turns back to me with a bright smile. “That took forever, didn’t it?”
Fourteen minutes, but it felt like forever.
Audrey’s been at Wild Lilac for more than an hour waiting on her matron-of-honor to show up, but from what I just overheard, the woman is miles away from Manhattan.
“It looks like I’m going to do this on my own.” Slapping her hands together, she braces her designer heels a few inches apart as if she’s readying for a battle. “I think I know exactly what I want.”
If she does, I’ll be surprised.
She spent the first twenty minutes here trying to find a rose that matches her suit jacket. It’s an odd mix of pink and orange.
When I was able to get her back on track, she waffled between an all-white theme for the ceremony flowers or a brightly colored mishmash of whatever caught her eye in the store.
“Do you think I’m elegant?” She spins in a circle.
I don’t want to offend her, so I smile and nod. “Very.”
“I think all white with splashes of pink is the way to go.” She pats the arm of her jacket. “Can you show me some samples?”
I move toward my laptop. “I have an online gallery. I can show you the photos of a wedding I did three months ago. I think that might be what you have in mind.”
Her phone chimes behind me. “Oh, it’s Wren!”
I lose a half a step on my way, but I keep my shoulders back and avoid falling into the trap of thinking about Liam’s ex-girlfriend.
Tapping my fingers on my laptop keyboard, I catch Audrey doing the same on her phone.
“I’m going to sit her right beside Wolf at the wedding,” she announces in a giddy tone. “I still think they belong together.”
He belongs with me.
I chant that silently to myself over and over again wishing it were true, even though I know that he’s only looking for something fleeting and fun.
After a busy morning designing and creating four large arrangements for a new office opening on Park Avenue, I sneak out of the shop to grab something to eat. Leanna can handle things until I get back. I need fresh air, food, and time to myself.
Ever since Audrey mentioned Wren to me last night, I’ve been thinking about what’s going to happen when Liam sits down next to her at the wedding.
I don’t know if old sparks will reignite.
Maybe he’ll find another seat at a table across the room from her.
The wedding isn’t for another few weeks, so I might not even be a part of his life at that point.
I want to be.
Weaving through the midday pedestrian traffic, I spot the broad shoulders and messy hair of the man I can’t get out of my mind.
Liam is headed right toward me.
I raise a hand to try and grab his attention, but his eyes are buried in his phone.
He’s brave.
I keep my eyes on the people around me whenever I set out down the sidewalk in this city.
Trusting people to look out for you is hard when those you trust most in the world let you down.
“Athena.” My name leaves his lips the moment he looks up and spots me.
I skip around two people walking hand-in-hand, and a woman who has her fingers wound tight around the leash of a very friendly dog.
I pat it on the head before I stalk toward Liam.
“I was coming to see you,” he says as he pockets his phone. “I have something for you.”
My gaze drops to a white paper bag in his hand. “What is it?”
“Toasted sourdough bread, cream cheese, and a container of mixed berries. I threw in a candy bar just like the one you had in your bag, and a bottle of water.”
Wow.
No one, other than Linny or Jeremy, has gone to this much trouble for me. I try to find the right words. “I’m grateful…thank you…you’re kind.”
“I’m selfish.” He shoves the bag into my hand.
Looking down, I ask the obvious question. “Selfish? Why would you say that?”
“I was hoping that bringing you lunch might end with a kiss for me.”
I look up into his beautiful eyes. Memories of what we did two nights ago flash in front of me.
Rising to my tiptoes, I rest a hand on his shoulder and smile. “It deserves more than a kiss.”
“I’ll collect on Friday night,” he says before he presses his lips to mine in a lingering, soft, delicious kiss.
When he pulls back, my knees wobble. I step forward, my boot landing on the toe of his. “That was nice.”
With a brush of a finger over my cheek, he drops his voice to a low tone. “I’m going to count every fucking hour until I see you on Friday, lilac.”
“Me too,” I admit on a sigh.
“I have to get back to work.” He looks up at the sky. “Damn this earning a living thing.”
I let out a laugh. “Thank you again for lunch, Liam.”
“My pleasure.” He tilts his head. “I’m going to sear the memory of what you look like right now into my mind until I see you again.”
I look like I’ve been working my ass off. I’m wearing a wrinkled Wild Lilac T-shirt and ripped black jeans.
With a glance down at his watch, he lets out a muted curse. “I need to run. Promise me you’ll eat every last bite.”
“Every last bite,” I repeat back before he glides his lips over my forehead and takes off at a slow jog down the sidewalk.