I walked over to the bookshelf and picked up a magazine with a smiling bride on the cover. Of course! It was full of tips and tricks for picking the perfect wedding destination. Fun. I couldn’t help thinking what a big sham the wedding industry was, with planners and vendors blowing up prices for everything from dresses to cakes, for one damn day. I knew that this annoyance was because of my situation, but I try as I might, I just couldn’t get into a good mood.
The soft click-clack of heels on the floor alerted me and I turned around to look at the planner. I took a deep breath and put on a smile to seem friendly. After all, this poor woman had nothing to do with my miserable life, but hopefully she’ll understand what a pain wedding planning is and will sympathize with me.
The magazine slid out of my hands and landed on the floor with a loud whack. My jaw dropped and felt my eyes popping out of their sockets, just like in the cartoons.
The event planner stood in front of me, her hand outstretched, but the expression on her face also turning from happiness to that of shock. It was the face from my memories, the woman I’d dreamt about for years. The woman I’d loved and lost, the girl who still haunted me. I stared at her, standing in front of me in a body-hugging dress, her curves accentuated like a supermodel’s, the full breasts leaving a lot to be desired in my mind. Her thick, dark auburn hair was carefully pulled back away from her lightly freckled face, the light brown eyes twinkling in surprise and I could feel a flashback of a decade full of memories running through her mind.
Laura Loomis.
2
Laura
When he turned around, my whole body went numb. For nearly ten years I had done my best to put Cade Kirkpatrick out of my mind. And here he was now, standing in my office.
Memories from ten years ago flashed in my mind. He was the boy I’d fallen in love with, many summers ago, when we’d graduated from high school and spent the most magical time together at his lake house. That time with him had been perfection, there was nothing that could ever match up to it. As a naïve teenager, I’d fallen for him hard and fast, Cade being the first and only person I’d made love to. And oh, how wonderful it was! Who could imagine that a girl like me, growing up in a trailer park to a single mother, could have a fairy-tale romance with rich, hot, muscular Cade Kirkpatrick, the son of a famous actress and a senator!
That summer, I’d been so happy. Even to this day, when things got a bit overwhelming, I would cry in the shower, thinking about what I’d lost and what could have been had Cade been around in my life. But I didn’t tell anyone about these thoughts because I didn’t want anyone’s pity. I could imagine their voices—Oh honey, you really thought you’d get to be with him?
Yes. Yes, I had. I had been seventeen when we’d met, young and stupid, though my stupidity had had some severe consequences. Consequences I was happy about though, so that no one could judge me on my past.
Long ago, I had resigned to the fact that Cade was in D.C. with his holier-than-thou snobbish father and his airheaded, status-obsessed mother. He would never come back to the Park. What reason did he have to come back? The glitz, glamour and attention that his family craved was in places such as New York City, Los Angeles and D.C. The Park could not offer them any of these things.
And yet here he was, standing in my office, looking as handsome as the day I’d last seen him. I recognized him instantly, of course. Ten years had passed but he still looked as youthful as he did in high school. He was tall and had filled out more now, looking more muscular. I guess he was still working out, the fitting slacks and shirt being proof, but he’d left the collar unbuttoned and the sleeves rolled up, so that he seemed casual and approachable.
My eyes traced the veins on his exposed forearms, regaling at the fact that I still knew every inch of him. From his curling blond hair to his muscular calves to the emerald green eyes into which I had stared so many times that I could still easily find them in a crowd.
But I didn’t know his heart or his mind. I never had because I had been a stupid, foolish girl who had let him break her heart.
I swallowed. Don’t cry, I told myself. Not in front of him. He didn’t deserve my tears.
What was Cade doing in my office anyway? Why had he come back to the Park? Was it—could it possibly be—to right the wrong he did by leaving me?
Don’t be foolish, my brain retorted. I had believed in Cade once, but wasn’t stupid enough to do it again. I was an adult now, I had responsibilities, I had a successful business. I wasn’t going to get hung up on a man who didn’t deserve it.
Before I could say anything, Cade spoke. “I’m… Laura…”
“Yes, that’s me.”
Cade shook his head as if trying to clear his thoughts, “I’m….” He looked dumbfounded. “I’m sorry to blindside you like this, but I promise you, I’m just as surprised as you are.”
I was tempted to make a snide remark, but stopped myself. I could see that he was in as much of a shock as I was.
“My mother was the one who set up the appointment,” Cade went on to explain. “Or… one of her assistants did, I should say.”
“Of course, they did,” I answered, nodding. I remembered what Cade had told me about his
