Page 48 of The Last Thing You Said

“Two and a half. And you’ll be with Ben all weekend.” His words were lined with jealousy.

I furrowed my brows. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

“I hope not,” he said with a lift of one eyebrow.

Hope you’re having a good time, Simon’s text reads. Call me later.

I’m about to reply when I look up, and Ben’s standing at my chair, his hand held out. I suck in a breath.

Emily hops on one foot next to him. “Ben wants to dance with you, Lucy.” She bounces to the other foot.

For a moment, I am unable to move. I don’t know if I can be that close to him.

I need to be close to him.

I tremble as he leads me out to the dance floor. The music is slow and romantic and he takes me in his arms and it’s like a dream. He places his hands on either side of my waist, and I slip my arms up around his neck, Simon’s messages and kisses forgotten.

In this moment, it’s almost as if last summer hasn’t changed us. I close my eyes and imagine what this day would have been like if Trixie hadn’t died. Maybe Ben wouldn’t have pushed me away. Maybe we would have been together since that afternoon on the float, when he’d tugged on my ponytail and started to say something, something important, I’m sure of it. Maybe I would have been invited to this wedding not as Emily’s nanny but as Ben’s girlfriend. I would have been included in the family photograph, Ben’s arm around my waist, instead of standing off to the side, out of the shot.

His fingers move, tighten against the fabric of my dress, press into me, and a strong current moves up my back. I shiver and wish that he could hold me like this forever.

The song ends, too soon, and Ben says nothing. He offers me his arm and we walk back to the table.

Our moment is over, but I can still feel his hands on me—on my waist, my arm, everywhere he touched me and didn’t. We haven’t said a word to each other.

Emily still hops. “Ben, will you dance with me again?”

“Emily,” I say, “do you need to powder your nose?”

She nods.

“I’ll take her,” Tami says.

I shake my head. “I’ll go.” I need a minute, a chance to catch my breath and come back to reality. I reach for my small beaded purse, but my hand shakes and it falls. Everything inside spills onto the floor—my lip gloss, a few coins, a tin of mints, the agate.

Oh no.

The agate.

I kneel down quickly to retrieve it, but Ben does, too, and we bump heads.

“I’m so sorry.” I reach for the agate, but he gets to it first.

He picks it up, holds it in his palm. With the index finger of his other hand, he traces the L.

“Why is this in your purse?” he asks. His voice is tight.

“Because I don’t have a pocket in this dress,” I say, and I realize how ridiculous that sounds.

“I mean, why do you have it with you?” he says, softer.

“I always have it with me. Always,” I whisper. I scoop the rest of my things into the purse and stand up, glad for a reason to get away from him. But Emily and Tami are already gone, walking hand-in-hand out of the reception hall.

“Oh,” I say in a rush of breath. I feel dizzy from standing too quickly, and Ben reaches out to steady me as I sway. His fingers on my arm send a jolt right to my empty, aching, broken heart.

Now Ben knows about the agate, that I still love him, even though I’ve tried not to. I need air. I need to be able to breathe again. I wrench my arm out of his grasp as I turn and run out past the lobby to the patio.

It’s cool here behind the hotel, right on the lake. I head toward an empty bench but don’t make it that far before I hear him.