Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Working with glass still made Lilly as happy as it had ten years ago.
When she'd found out she was pregnant, she’d seen all her dreams shatter before her eyes, but she’d been wrong.
It had just taken longer to achieve them — and she didn’t regret it for a second because without Del, her life would be empty.
But those mornings when she could create new things undisturbed, when she…
A bright bell rang. She’d installed it just last week to announce customers once the shop opened. But right now...
“We’re not officially open yet. Not for a few weeks!” she called out loudly.
The door slammed shut and she heard footfalls.
“Just a minute, please!” she cried out. “I’m busy right now and I have to be careful not to break anything, but I’ll come…”
“Funny, I remember you saying that,” a deep voice said.
She spun around…and dropped the pliers.
The freshly chilled glass shattered into a thousand pieces on the floor, flying in all directions. The sound rang in her ears as her heart dropped to her feet like a piece of lead.
It was as if time stood still. Or as if someone had turned it back ten years.
Lilly opened her mouth and stared at the man standing in her doorway.
She had imagined seeing him again thousands of times. She had dreamed about it for nights on end, imagined dozens of scenarios, and had hundreds of conversations in her head. She had imagined what she would say, how she would look at him completely unfazed, and how she would scream at him.
She had given imaginary speeches, slapped him, attacked him with a harpoon, and simply ignored him. She had considered every option countless times.
Now, as he stood before her, her mind was blank. Now, as he looked at her, arms crossed, leaning against the doorframe, his gaze fixed on her face as if afraid she might vanish if he looked away, her mouth was dry and every word she’d ever prepared was dust on her tongue.
He’d grown up. Everything about him was sharper, rougher, more defined: His features, his stubble, his shoulders, and his muscles. His dark brown hair was shorter, and his green eyes more intense.
He looked better than ever and she hated him for it.
She hated that his gaze burned her skin and hated that her lips tingled when he curled his into a cool, cynical smile.
She hated that his mere presence reminded her of why she’d given in so easily back then.
She hated that her body remembered his every touch, that her stomach fluttered, her fingertips twitched.
She hated every single muscle beneath his t-shirt that flexed and relaxed before her eyes, as if it cost Austin Fox, the man of her nightmares, quite a bit of control to stand there motionless.
Neither of them said a word. They stared at each other, not moving, while the fire crackled in the furnace beside her.
The shards of glass crunched under her feet as she shifted her weight.
Her hair was soaked with sweat, plastered to her neck, and she was glad for it because then he wouldn’t see how nervous she was.
How loudly her heart pounded in her ears.
How unnerved she was by his very presence.
What the hell was he doing here?
Austin’s gaze slid over her, calmly, as if he had all the time in the world.
It started at her worn-out white sneakers, lingered on the rip in her jeans, and then on her baggy pink t-shirt, the one Delfina had given her last Mother’s Day that said Careful, fragile!
A glass joke Del had found so funny that she’d laughed until she cried.
And when it reached her face, Lilly almost recoiled from it.
He seemed angry, in a raw, destructive way that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
“Hey,” she whispered because the silence roared in her ears, and she wasn’t going to let him stare at her any longer as if she had to prove something.
Austin didn’t answer. He just kept staring at her and she noticed his knuckles turning white from how hard he dug his fingers into his biceps.
“Um, maybe you don’t remember my name and you’re so embarrassed that you’d rather not say anything, but…”
“Lilly. Lilly Adams,” he whispered roughly.
Her diaphragm tightened and her tongue grew thick. His voice sounded darker than she remembered. Rougher. She swallowed. “Well, I guess you remember. But…how did you find me?”
Austin pushed off the doorframe and approached her. His stride was casual, as was the way he tilted his head, but there was a vein throbbing in his neck.
“It’s easy to find people if you want to find them,” he replied tonelessly. “Finding me, for example, would be a walk in the park. Going to see me and telling me that something fucking important had happened would be incredibly uncomplicated.”
She took a shaky breath. What did he mean? That she’d moved to L.A. was important? Did he expect her to tell him after ten years of radio silence that she was back in the same country as he was?
“I…I knew how to find you,” she replied calmly.
His eyes darkened further and he continued to stroll toward her. “Are you trying to make me angrier?”
She blinked and pulled her goggles off her face. “Angry? I…I don’t want anything,” she said, perplexed. “Except maybe to know why you’re here?”
“Why?” His voice was a dangerous whisper, like the tip of a dagger sliding down her throat and pausing just above her sternum.
“Yes, why? How did you know I was here? How…”
“I had a fascinating visitor an hour ago. A girl who was eager to meet me,” he whispered darkly.
Coldness filled her stomach, and she closed her eyes.
“Oh, Delfina,” she whispered, her heart sinking as she wiped her damp hands on her shirt.
She shouldn’t have waited so long! She shouldn’t have put it off.
She should have known that her curious, impatient, wonderful daughter wouldn’t accept her excuses forever.
Shit. She felt the need to call her immediately.
God, if Austin had behaved in this manner in front of her…
Slowly, she opened her eyes, the cold inside giving way to pure heat.
“If you hurt her... If you snapped at her because you were angry that she wanted to meet you,” she replied tonelessly, clenching her hands, “I swear I’ll make your life hell!
So if you saw her and it obviously bothers you — why are you here? ”
“Why?” he thundered and she flinched. “Why am I here? Maybe to get some fucking reassurance? Maybe because I don’t understand what the hell is going on!
Maybe because, out of nowhere, a girl appeared in front of me, wanting to know if we looked alike.
So, Lilly, help me out. Were you trying to play some stupid prank that you’ll regret for the rest of your life — or are you telling me she’s my kid and you just forgot to introduce us?
Fuck, Lilly, neither option will end well for you! ”
His volume increased with each word until his voice echoed off the ceiling and walls, its deep bass enveloping Lilly in his crackling rage.
She blinked and shook her head. Was he going to tell her he’d never contacted her because he didn’t believe her?
Oh, she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to let him yell at her in her own house!
“Lower your voice,” she replied coldly. “You can’t break into my house and yell at me and expect me to remain quiet.”
“I can do whatever I want,” he replied abruptly and the next step he took thudded loudly off the floor. “And the last thing I want is for you to stay quiet! I want you to open your damn mouth and answer my question!”
“I think it’s ridiculous that I have to,” she said tonelessly. “It makes me angry that you’re even questioning it. Obviously, she’s your daughter! Have you even looked at her?”
She heard his teeth grinding and his jaw cracked loudly. “Obviously?” he blurted out.
“What? Did you doubt it?” she asked belligerently, putting her hands on her hips. “Is that why you’re so shocked now? Have you been telling yourself all these years that I was lying? Did the thought that she couldn’t possibly be your child ease your conscience?”
“My conscience?” he snapped. “What the hell are you talking about? Shit, I think you’ve been lying to me for nine and a half years, which is a feat considering you haven’t exchanged a single word with me!”
Acid rose in her throat and burned her tongue.
What the hell was he doing? He had no right to yell at her.
He had no right to accuse her. “I didn’t realize you had so much to say, Austin,” she stated coolly.
“I got the impression back then, after our one-night stand, that you preferred to sweep some things under the rug. You not telling me you were married, for instance, and then leaving my bed without a word. That really showed me that communication is important to you.”
He laughed bitterly. “Is that why you didn’t get on a damn plane when you found out you were pregnant?”
“You were married, Austin!” she lashed out.
“You publicly proclaimed your love for your wife, whom you never told me about — and you expected me to throw away my dream, take out a loan to pay for the flight back to L.A., and tell you in person that I was pregnant with your child? You expected me to make a scene, destroy your marriage in front of all of America – because, shit, the press followed you all over town – and give up my life hoping that the asshole I stupidly slept with was a good guy who’d take care of his daughter?
Shit, no!” Her toes tapped his. She hadn’t even noticed that she’d gotten closer to him, but it suited her just fine because she wanted him to know he didn’t intimidate her, even if he towered over her by more than a foot.
“You were married, Austin! You had sex with me, then felt like shit the next day and went back to your wife, who you probably didn’t tell shit about your one-night stand!
So no, I didn’t immediately fly back to dance to your tune and destroy your marriage, my dream, and probably my child’s life when I found out I was pregnant! ”