Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Lilly couldn’t sleep or think straight. The two problems might have been related, but she was too tired and her brain too slow to figure it out.
But it was okay; she was incredibly stressed anyway and the sleepless nights at least gave her time to prepare for the store opening party, which was to take place exactly one week after the worst fight of her life.
There was just one problem: There still wasn’t enough time.
That might have been because she spent a lot of time either crying, telling Del she was okay, or missing Austin.
In any case, on Saturday morning, three hours before the party was due to begin, she still hadn’t set up the stupid shelves for her glass art, and panic had a firm grip on her.
She kept repeating Oh God, the shelves! and How am I going to get this done in time?
She’d said it so often that Delfina had obviously incorporated it into her vocabulary and a teacher had called her Friday afternoon to ask if Del had bumped into a shelf or why she’d developed such an acute fear of the furniture.
That was what Lilly would have to deal with tomorrow.
Del was with her father – she found it easier to refer to Austin as her father because her heart ached whenever she thought of his name – and wouldn’t be back for the celebration for a few hours.
So, she didn’t really have any other obligations than finishing the showroom…
“This is IKEA, damn it,” she cursed, throwing the instructions angrily on the floor. “It should be easier to assemble these stupid shelves!”
“Okay,” Daisy said slowly, taking the screwdriver from her. “Maybe you shouldn’t have access to sharp objects for the next few days. You’re scaring me a little. Besides, Alec will be over soon to help.”
“There still won’t be enough time,” she whispered in a panic. “I had such high hopes. I’ve invested so much. Yet I still messed it up. I ruined it. I…I…
“Breathe, Lilly,” Daisy whispered, pulling her into a tight hug. “I don’t think you’re talking about the party in three hours.”
Lilly buried her face in Daisy’s shoulder and breathed a shaky breath. “God, I miss him so much. I’m so angry at him, but I still reach for him in my sleep. How messed up is that?”
“Pretty messed up.”
“Yes!”
Daisy sighed. “Lilly, are you sure you shouldn’t talk to him again? He keeps calling; he seems to need to talk.”
“He doesn’t trust me, Daisy!” She lifted her head with difficulty.
“How can I be with a man who doesn’t trust me?
A man who seriously thinks I’d be capable of deliberately keeping his child from him?
He claims he loves me, but…I told him I sent him the messages.
Shouldn’t he just believe the woman he loves? ”
Daisy looked at her hesitantly. “It’s not quite that simple, Lilly. It seems to me that Austin has been lied to about important things a lot. It makes sense that he’d be suspicious.”
“But he knows me…”
“He probably thought he knew his ex-wife too.”
Lilly knew Daisy was right. But the lawyer… “He didn’t tell the lawyer to stop digging for dirt on me. He just let him. He had a plan B…”
“No, he didn’t,” a voice said behind her.
Lilly spun around on her heels and opened her mouth in surprise. Hazel was standing in her doorway in a chic pantsuit and killer heels that would break other women’s legs. It seemed like ages ago that Austin’s agent had caught them having sex in a car.
“What?” she asked, perplexed.
“Okay, listen,” Hazel said, clearly uncomfortable, and looked away.
“I don’t want to be here, but Fox has helped me be happy so many times, so I owe it to him to at least try.
” She took a deep breath. “Yes, he hired the lawyer the very day he found out he had a daughter. He was so afraid of losing her again, Lilly, he wanted to be on the safe side. He didn’t know how you would react, he didn’t know you — and Christine destroyed him back then.
In every way. He was afraid you were a second Christine and would keep Delfina away from him.
But he hasn’t mentioned the lawyer in months, and he didn’t ask me about him; I believe he simply forgot.
” She closed her eyes for a second, and when she opened them again, there was a warm, soft look in them that Lilly wouldn’t have expected from her.
“He’s my best friend, he’s a good guy – no, the best!
– I thought it was a stupid idea of his to start something with you…
but I was wrong. You’re the best idea he’s ever had.
He hasn’t let a woman near him in years, and then you came along.
So don’t give up on him because of a decision he made months ago out of anger and fear.
He told the lawyer Saturday night he could forget about the case.
The last thing he wants is to take Delfina from you. ”
Lilly stared at her, her mouth gaping, her throat tightening with every labored breath.
She didn’t know what to think or even what to say in reply…
and she didn’t get the chance because the door opened again and eight hockey players streamed into her still very unfinished shop.
Jack West walked ahead, carrying a toolbox.
“Hey,” he said, turning around. “We’re supposed to help you assemble shelves…oh, shit.” His eyes widened when he saw the numerous loose boards on the floor. “When’s the store supposed to open? Oh, never mind. Come on, guys, we don’t have much time.”
He picked up the instructions from the floor and started studying them. Daisy stared at the players, her mouth gaping, while Lilly’s heart pounded in her chest.
She blinked and shook her head. “What the hell is going on?”
“Fox sent us,” Devreaux muttered, hurrying past her to help Jack. “He said you need some muscle.”
“How…” Groaning, she put a hand to her forehead. “Del! Shit, Del told her dad I need help!”
“Well, you practically taught her the phrase, Oh my god, the shelves! didn’t you?” Daisy stated. “And good grief, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many muscles in such a small space.”
Lilly narrowed her eyes. “Okay, stop!” she exclaimed. “You don’t have to do this, really. I…”
“Yes, we do.” Blake Ford looked at her seriously. “If this is the only thing we can do to make Fox happy and help him, then we have to.”
She blinked, her heart fluttering nervously. “He said it would make him happy if you helped me?”
“He didn’t have to say it,” Ford noted with amusement. “It was obvious.”
Lilly licked her suddenly dry lips and wrapped her arms around herself.
It…it made him happy to help her?
“So,” Dax said suddenly, standing tall in front of her. “So you broke Fox’s heart.”
Perplexed, she widened her eyes. “I…well, I…” She looked to Hazel for help.
“I can’t argue with him,” she said apologetically. “Why do you think I’m here?”
“Never mind! Fox explicitly told us not to hold it against you. But…” He clicked his tongue. “He also said he wanted to apologize to you, but you won’t talk to him. That’s why we’ve been working on a solution.”
“What kind of solution?” she asked breathlessly, her fingers trembling. Her whole body was tense. All of this… It was too much.
“It’s quite simple,” Dax said smugly. “If you don’t want to talk to him, then talk to us. We can apologize to you on his behalf.”
She snorted and rolled her eyes. “You can’t…”
“Lilly, I have no idea what Fox did,” he interrupted solemnly.
“But damn it, he’s been a wreck ever since he started arguing with you.
He doesn’t bother us anymore about eating healthier.
He crashes into the boards without realizing it.
He stands in the shower for an hour until someone drags him out because we’re afraid his skin will peel off or he’ll accidentally drown.
He’s miserable. No matter how much you want to punish him, he’s successfully punishing himself.
” He nodded firmly and looked around. “So please, stop it, because if you don’t forgive him, we don’t stand a chance at the Stanley Cup. It’s bad. Really bad. Next!”
Charkov stepped forward. “He cried. On the ice. In front of everyone. It was traumatic,” he said firmly, stepping aside.
“He doesn’t have any Babybel left for me in his fridge,” Matt Payne said, looking somber. “For five years, he’s never forgotten to buy it for me, and because of you, he can’t think straight enough to feed me cheese.”
“Oh, stop with your fucking Babybel,” Leon responded angrily, pushing him aside.
He looked down at Lilly uncertainly before lowering his voice and whispering so quietly that no one else could hear, “You know he deserves another chance, Lilly. He made a mistake, which happens to him about once every five years, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s the best guy I know.
Please don’t tell him I said that, but…he’s the big brother I always wanted.
The guy loves you so desperately that he can’t tell a puck from a head right now.
Which really sucks for all of us. He sleeps until nine, Lilly!
Until nine. What more proof do you need? ”
He straightened up abruptly and hurried past her to join the others, as if he wished it had never come to this — being seen as nice and friendly in their presence.
Tears welled up in Lilly’s eyes as she watched him leave, his words penetrating her skin like sunlight, warming her from within. She was unable to speak and almost relieved when Moreau approached her.
“Hey,” he said darkly, his gaze boring into hers.
“Hey, Serial Killer,” she whispered.
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t make this harder than it already is.
I’m really uncomfortable, but Tabasco Hottie needs us, so…
” He sighed. “Lilly, I was unsure about liking you. It hurt Fox terribly to find out about Delfina nine years too late. But you know…I can’t help but like the woman who makes my best friend so happy. ”
Her lips trembled. “Do you really believe that? That he was genuinely happy?”