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Simone
On Sunday afternoon, I place a glass of pink lemonade in front of John McTyre, one of Grams’s neighbors. “I’m just going for a short bike ride,” I tell Grams and her friends, who look up at me from behind hands full of cards. “Is there anything else you need before I go?”
“Are you meeting up with that handsome fiancé of yours?” Grams’s tone is all smiles and sunshine. It’s been that way ever since Lucas proposed to me in front of her two days ago.
“No, it’s just me.” I owe Avery a phone call, and I’d rather talk to her where no one else can overhear me. “Good luck with bridge.” I wave good-bye to them and head to the garage to retrieve my old bike.
I inflate the tires, then pedal toward the lake. The late May sun is warm, but the mountain air is a cool kiss against my bare arms.
I’m getting married.
I’ve repeated that to myself numerous times during the past nine days, when Lucas first suggested we get married. The idea of it still doesn’t feel real.
Maybe it’ll feel more real once I ask Avery to be my maid of honor.
The main beach isn’t as busy as it will be in another month, but it’s busy enough for me to keep pedaling past it. I stop at the rocky inlet farther along the path, at a spot where Aiden and Lucas used to fish when we were kids. I remove my shoes, sit on a boulder, and dangle my bare feet in the cold water.
The only sounds surrounding me are the occasional rustle of leaves and the caw of a crow. I pull up Avery’s contact information. It’s hard to believe that ten days ago I was waiting to find out if I got the promotion Irene ended up giving to Craig.
Ten days ago when I quit my job and decided to come back to Maple Ridge while Grams recovered from the hit-and-run—and then found myself engaged.
Avery answers her phone on the third ring. “Hey, I was just thinking about you. How’s your grandmother doing?”
I get her up to date on the latest when it comes to Grams. This isn’t the first time I’ve spoken or texted Avery since arriving in Maple Ridge. But I always skip over one major detail.
“Remember how you told me a lot of women who have successful small businesses post pictures of themselves with their loving spouse and adorable kids?”
“Yes?” Her reply is drawn out and a faint question mark lingers at the end. “I said your Instagram feed is impersonal. But you don’t have a husband or a boyfriend.”
“That’s right. I didn’t.”
There’s a momentary pause. Then a gasp from Avery’s end. “Are you telling me you have a boyfriend? Already? You’ve only been in Maple Ridge for, what, ten days? And you already have a boyfriend? Wow.” She truly does sound stunned. And impressed. “Wow. I never thought this day would—”
“I don’t have a boyfriend. I’m engaged.”
A clock-ticking silence reaches out from the other end of the phone line.
Followed by, “What the freaking Fudgsicle? Is this some kind of joke?” She laughs. “Phew, you had me worried for a second, Si. Because we both know having a fake fiancé or a fake husband is not how you grow a loyal subscriber fanbase.”
“You’re right. It isn’t. But Lucas isn’t my fake fiancé. He’s my real fiancé. And he’ll be my real husband.”
“Lucas? As in the father of…your…” The voice on the other end of the line sounds like it came from someone who just sat down hard on her couch.
“Yes, as in Lily’s father.”
“Does he know?”
I shake my head even though she can’t see me. Saying the words out loud hurts too much.
“I’ll take your silence to mean no, you haven’t told him about her. What about the hysterectomy? Does he know about that?”
“No.” The word comes out softer than the breeze.
“Doesn’t he deserve to know about that and about Lily?” Avery’s tone is free of judgment and full of the compassion I know her for.
I close my eyes against the pain of hearing my daughter’s name. “It might not make a difference. The hysterectomy, I mean.” I tell her everything that has happened in the last ten days. About the arrest. About the Wakefields’ land and what Lucas and his brothers want to use it for.
“I’m hoping you’ll be my maid of honor.” I need her by my side, to be there for me. She’s the only person who knows about the pregnancy and the accident and the hysterectomy. She’s the only person who knows that I was once in love with Lucas. She was there for me during my darkest days. She was the light that got me through it.
