I couldn’t speak.
My heart thundered in my ears as I grabbed for the back of the chair, desperate for the support. My legs had gone soft beneath me, and I wasn’t sure they’d hold me up anymore.
The woman I’d been aching for all week—my whole life—wasright thereat the door. She took off her coat. She headed for my table. My brain registered Hollyoak behind her, his bronzed hand on her shoulder, but I didn’t even grit my teeth with thoughts of yanking it off because I was mesmerised by the pretty twist of Lola’s lips.
That smile.
Suddenly, it wasn’t the crowd of the bar sucking the air from my lungs. I drowned in memories of every time I’d been lucky enough to be with Lola. The ill-fated days in her cottage. Wandering around the grocery store. The night in the bar when I’d become the kind of man I’d vowed never to be. The storm. The two of us in the alley.
Every memory. Good. Bad. But she was always the same. My sweet, perfect Lola, with her wood-chip freckles and the enormous gold-rimmed glasses that slid down her nose.
Ruth’s prediction was almost correct. It wasn’t Lola who fell. It was me. One look at Lola and—bam!—I was head over heels.
Madly. Completely. Utterly hopelessly.
And no matter how many times I reminded myself not to get my hopes up because I had no right to, I finally admitted to myself that I was in love with Lola Hughes.
I had been all along.
24
She Saw a New Beginning
Lola
Ruth sniffed my lavendera week ago.
Since then, I’d discovered she adored horses, was ruthless in her pursuit of winning a game of Scrabble, and was deeply suspicious of any guy sporting a man bun. Something about hipster irony. She wasn’t a fan. She was also no criminal mastermind. Her dreams of Aiden and me eloping into the sunset had been twinkling in her eyes since the day we’d met.
So, when I walked into the bar behind Brooke, and my eyes landed on that big brute of a man tugging uncomfortably at the collar of a shirt I was certain Ruth chose for him, I wasn’t surprised. I knew he’d be there.
He was more than a bit surprised to see me, though. He bolted up taller, straighter, his eyes wide. The slightly awkward smile I offered him across the crowded room didn’t help. Caught offguard, he gripped the chair in front of him with his big hands, and his eyes dropped to his feet and stayed there.
Brooke snatched my arm. “There’s your man, Lolly.”
I pierced her with an icy glare. “He’s not my man,” I hissed. “And will you please keep your voice down? I’m pretty sure they heard your wishful thinking in Canada.”
Brooke’s stride in her high heels was impressive. She charged ahead, not bothered by my rare outburst in the slightest. “You gonna put that grumpy old bastard out of his misery?” She grinned over her shoulder. “Admit how much you missed him?”
“I didn’t miss him.” I spluttered everywhere. “I certainly haven’t forgiven him!”
“Is that so?” Brooke said.
Ryan’s chuckle died into a fit of pretend coughs when my dark look speared him next. “Want to know a secret to put you out ofyourmisery, Doc?” he asked. “He missed you even more.”
My cheeks flamed.
All the rehearsals in front of Brooke’s mirror had been for nothing. I was supposed to charge into the bar, all guns blazing, and give Aiden a piece of my mind. If he thought he could waltz around town playing the vigilante hero, he was in for a rude shock. But all my perfectly practiced words fluttered away to leave me with nothing but nerves.
Would anyone notice if I snuck out? My palms stayed clammy even after I rubbed them down the front of my dress. My symptoms could be passed off as an illness. Yeah, that was it. I had the plague…or…something.
I bit down on my lip, eyes on the doors.
My escape route disappeared behind a wall of red. “Don’t you eventhinkabout it, Lolly.” Brooke’s hands landed on her hips.
“But I’m feeling”—cough—“sosick.”
“We practiced this! You are strong. You are fearless.” When I refused to speak, she tapped her foot impatiently. “Like we practiced. Go.”
