Chapter 1: Boy Meets Girl

“Don’t look now, but there’s a man staring at us,” Katie Kelly said to the deli table where Heather, her older sister, and her fiancé sat waiting for their order. “He’s good looking. He looks like ... what’s that actor’s name?”

Katie was playing. She knew damn well who that man was and she was encouraging him.

“I know. Don’t pay any attention to him, and maybe he’ll go away,” Heather Kelly responded without looking at the man. But knowing who he was, she was afraid that he wouldn’t.

“Where?” said Smith Layton, lifting his head and turning it this way and that like a prairie dog popping out of a hole.

“Do you know him?” Katie asked teasingly like she didn’t already know the answer. “He looks familiar.” This act of Katie’s was clearly to fuck with her in front of her fiancé.

This was exactly what Heather was afraid of in taking her sister to her college orientation, running into that asshole. But what were the odds that he’d show up at the place where they’d eat lunch?

“It doesn’t matter,” Heather said. “Listen, you two. Focus! We are here for one very specific reason — to get a quick lunch before the last part of orientation. That’s it. Then we can get out of this damn town. So, we don’t need to pay attention to anyone who isn’t involved in that activity.”

Heather had not been back here since she graduated from grad school. Six years of study here had been long enough. She took her doctorate and a bunch of bad memories and never looked back.

Well, she had to admit, that wasn’t entirely true. There were good memories, too, and she often thought about them, stupid idiot that she was. She’d been running from them for three years, at least in her mind.

However, Katie had to go to school where her big sister went, and no one could talk her out of it. And who else was going to take her to her damn orientation, papa? He’d have to put a bottle down first, and she hadn’t seen him without one of those ... well maybe ever.

It wasn’t just the drink that stopped Kieran Kelly from helping his daughters. He’d always hated the fact that all he’d ever been able to produce were girls. He made two smart little girls who wanted more from life than to be someone’s wife and mother, which was all Kieran thought girls were good for.

He certainly never paid a penny toward their education. Nor did he pay either of his daughters much attention, or his wives, for that matter. Which is why they both bolted the first chance they got.

Heather sat in that deli looking at her sweet little blonde sister and remembering doing all this on her own. She also remembered how hard it had been all those years ago. She couldn’t let Katie go through what she’d gone through. Heather Kelly had had to learn and do everything the hard way.

However, it had all been worth it. Today, she was an engineering product director at a major Silicon Valley company with a great salary and a handsome fiancé. She was on the fast track to success, and no one was going to stop her, certainly not Lyle Fucking Dupre. She just wished the asshole would go away. He’d caused her enough pain already.

Smith Layton looked at Heather and knew right away that something was wrong. The one thing that had struck him about his fiancé was just how composed she always seemed. But not today. She knew who this man was, and it had rattled her.

In the two years he had known his beautiful, brilliant and confident fiancé, Smith had not seen her like this. She’d never spoken highly of her college days or this town, but he’d never seen this side of her. She’d been a different person since their airplane touched down last night. She was jumpy now, and she was never jumpy.

This older man was smiling and staring at Heather like he knew something, and Heather was doing everything she could not to notice him. Of course, her avoidance just seemed to amuse the man more.

It was a bit unnerving to see these two people — one he knew and one he didn’t — performing this weird dance. Should he ignore the man like Heather commanded?

Should he confront the guy? But before he could work that one out, the man started toward them.

Lyle felt like quoting Humphrey Bogart for a moment. How did she walk back into his life? Gone for years now without a trace, and boom, there she was.

God, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Perfect in every possible way. The auburn hair was different, but it was her all right. No doubt about it. Heather Kelly was back, and he was not just going to walk away. Losing her once had been bad enough.

“Why hello, my dear,” Lyle said as he stopped short at their table. “You are as breathtaking as ever.”

“Go away,” Heather said through clenched teeth. “Leave us alone.”

Katie stood up and hugged him. “Hi, Lyle. I’ve missed you. It’s been too long.”

The older man took Heather’s sister by the shoulders and looked at the blonde carbon copy of her sister. “It can’t be little Katie. You grew up well, didn’t you?”

“Heather tried to stop me, but she couldn’t.” They laughed, but Heather didn’t. She was seething.

“There’s nothing our Heather can’t do. If she didn’t stop you, it was only because she didn’t want to.”

Lyle turned to the other occupant of the table. “I’m Heather’s ex, Lyle Dupre. At least, I believe we’re exes since she never even said goodbye. And you sir, are...” he asked Smith.

“Smith Layton, Heather’s fiancé.”

“Fiancé? Well, that’s an interesting turn of events. I finally find my long-lost girlfriend only to discover she’s betrothed to another man.”

Heather had heard enough focusing her attention on Smith. “Don’t listen to this man, dear. He’s a pathological liar. I was never lost,” Heather hissed, then turned to Lyle. “I left because he’s an asshole, and I wanted nothing more to do with him. Come on, let’s go.” She started to get up, but Katie cut her off.

“No thank you. I want to catch up with your interesting ex-boyfriend who I always wanted to know better.”

“Aaaaaahhh,” he smiled that big toothy fucking grin of his at Heather’s little sister. “And I want to talk to you, too.” His eyes lingered on Katie too damn long.

Heather grabbed Lyle’s arm and whisper-shouted in his ear. “Stop that right now. That’s my sister! Don’t be all ... fucking charming with my sister.”

“It’s so nice that you still find me charming.”

“It’s an act. You’re the least charming person I know.”

“I also want to know all about what my big sister was like in grad school,” Katie jumped back in. “You know my dad wanted her to marry you.”

“You can’t marry someone who’s already married,” Heather said with emphasis on the last word.

“I never understood how you two met?” her little sister said.

“And he was never my damn boyfriend!”

“Oh, it’s a delightful story...”

“ ... Which you will not tell my little sister, Lyle!” But her warning didn’t stop him. He just took off on the tale while looking right into her eyes.

“I remember that rainy day when this pink-haired girl in shapeless clothing slammed her piece-of-junk Toyota into me down on Beltline Road.” A less observant guy wouldn’t have seen what she was hiding that day, but Lyle was a connoisseur of women, and he couldn’t be fooled.

“She looked so pathetic, all dripping wet and crying about how mad her father was going to be. Apparently, it had been your dad’s piece-of-shit car and his insurance.”

“I remember that car,” Katie squealed. “It was a piece of shit. And the pink college hair, I remember that, too!”

“And what a great story that was. I’m glad it’s over,” said Heather, trying to cut him off. “Ok, we need to leave, so we’re not late.”

“We haven’t even eaten yet, Heather,” Katie stated.

“Anyway, a young man came from the passenger side yelling up a storm at her for being so stupid and careless as to ram into a Bentley,” Lyle said, looking at Smith now. “He was pretty nondescript, this boy — short and thin, with long brown hair and glasses. Always angry, that boy. He was not someone that deserved this girl, certainly, in my opinion.”

“That was Tristan,” Katie said. “I never liked him.”

It was not lost on Lyle that young Smith was infinitely better looking and well dressed. He looked like he came from money, probably Ivy League-type money.

“Well, no one cares about your opinion, so let’s end the damn story right there,” Heather said.

“Well, once we’d shared our insurance and license information, I invited the young people to step into my car out of the rain while they waited to have the car towed. This girl was shy and scared and still crying. I remember taking her cold hands in mine and telling her it would all be OK.”

“Yes, a regular knight in fucking shining armor,” Heather said sarcastically. “Let’s go.” But no one moved.

“See, apparently, this was her first accident, and she was sure her daddy was going to kill her.”

“And he would, too,” Katie added. “So what happened?”

“Nothing much,” Lyle said. “I fixed everything, and later, we started dating.”

“We never dated,” Heather said with pretend indifference.

Flashing lights and alarm bells were coming on in Smith’s brain. He’d always wondered how a girl from a trailer park had no debts despite having earned an expensive doctorate. He looked at her now so well dressed and mannered, a long way from Lyle’s description of the pink-haired girl.