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“Do you still love him?”
Lori nodded. “I never stopped loving him.”
“And does he feel the same?”
“He said he does, yes.”
Her father, still wearing the same dumbfounded expression, gave her a hard stare. “Does he know?”
Dad didn’t need to expand on his question for Lori to catch on to his meaning. She shook her head. “Not yet. That’s why I’m here. I’m not sure when to tell him.”
Dad pinned her with his wise gaze. “Don’t leave it too long, Lori. If there’s a chance of you two rekindling what you had all those years ago, then Zane deserves to know the full, unabridged truth.”
“I know,” she replied softly. “And I will. I just… I want a bit of time to live the fairytale, Dad.”
Tears welled up in her eyes, and her father stood and came over to her. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head, while Mom squeezed her hand that little bit harder.
“We’re here for you, Lori. As we’ve always been, and always will be.”
Right there was the simple fact that, despite her health challenges, she was the luckiest daughter in the world.
CHAPTER 12
Zane glanced up from his laptop at a rap on his office door. “Come in.”
Calum poked his head inside. “Got a sec?”
“Sure.” Zane gestured for him to enter. “Have a seat.”
Calum flopped into the chair opposite Zane’s desk then set his iPad down and affixed his green eyes to Zane’s. “Right, buddy. Fess-up time.”
Zane frowned. “Fess up to what?”
“Who you were with last night when I called to invite you over to Jax’s place.”
Jax, Calum’s brother, owned a boutique hotel on the east side of Manhattan. Most weekends, the family gathered in the living quarters in the basement for dinner.
“Who said I was with anyone?”
Calum jabbed a finger in his direction. “That guilty sheepish expression gives you away, buddy. So, come on, gimme the skinny. Was it Brie? Are you guys getting back together?”
Awkward.
“No. I’ve only seen Brie once since we split when she came to pick up the stuff she’d left at mine.”
“Ah, so there’s a new woman on the scene. You’re a fast worker.”
“It was Lori,” Zane admitted. No point dragging it out. Calum would dig until he received a satisfactory explanation.
His best friend scratched the stubble on his chin. “Who’s Lori?”
“Lori James. My childhood sweetheart, remember.”
A pulse beat in his cheek. “Oh, that Lori,” he replied, tone hard.
“Don’t say it like that.” Calum had witnessed Zane’s utter devastation firsthand after Lori dumped him, and even though the two had never met, that experience had formed his opinion.
“I thought she was in India.”
