Lily stared at the floor. “Okay.” What else could she say? C
hoose me, Logan!
She’d already told him that she loved him twice and neither time did he say it back.
He tipped her chin up with his finger and gazed into her eyes. “I just need a little time.”
She wanted to trust what she saw in his eyes but was afraid to. Logan bent low as if to kiss her but stopped just a fraction away from her lips. He closed his eyes as if in pain then pulled back. “I should go.”
When he walked away and out the door, Lily knew she needed to leave this place immediately. There was no way she could stay in this hotel knowing he was trying to make the decision of being with either her or Bree.
*****
Lily didn’t have many clothes, but the few items the Tremont family was gracious enough to buy were packed and ready to go. The front desk had recently called to let her know the car was ready and waiting to take her to the airport. She would wear the hat and glasses again in an attempt to leave as discreetly as possible.
When Lily opened her hotel room door to leave, she discovered Bree standing on the other side of it.
She seemed nervous, and her balled up fist was frozen in the air. “I was just about to knock, but I didn’t have the nerve.” She attempted a smile, but it didn’t reach her glittering green eyes. “I’ve been standing out here for who knows how long debating whether I should. May I come in?”
Lily was equally nervous. “I . . . I have a car waiting to take me to the airport.” She’d never been a coward before, but this was a conversation she wished she could avoid.
“I promise I will only be a minute.” Bree waited until Lily agreed.
Lily was hesitant but finally nodded yes. Before she lost her nerve, Bree walked into the room. “I know you might think this is strange for me to come here, but I just thought we should meet and talk. Logan told me how close you two were on the island.”
Lily didn’t know what to say or where this conversation was going. She chose to stay silent.
“Logan is an amazing man. I’ve known him for a long time. Did he tell you we met in college? Granted over the years our relationship was on and off while we grew up. It was only recently we decided we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.” Her green eyes were glassy.
Lily couldn’t seem to swallow the lump in her throat. Her response was barely inaudible. “Yes. He told me about the meeting in college part. I know you’re very important to him.”
Bree’s eyes flitted around the room. “He was the first real boyfriend I ever had.” She rushed her words. “I love him and want to be with him forever, but if he chooses you, I just wanted to see for myself that you really love him.”
Lily didn’t respond at first. This wasn’t a conversation she ever thought she would have with Bree.
Bree twisted her fingers together. “I don’t want him falling in love with someone who doesn’t realize how special he is.” She looked through Lily as if she could analyze her soul. “Do you? I mean, love him?”
Lily’s chest was tight. She swallowed deeply before responding. She couldn’t maintain eye contact with Bree and lowered her eyes to the floor. “Yes. I love him with everything in me. I’ve loved him probably from the moment we met.”
Bree sighed. “I suspected as much.”
Lily raised her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean . . .” She abruptly stopped talking. This was torture. Lily had been able to imagine Bree as some kind of awful person. Now that she was standing face to face with her, she wasn’t. As a matter of fact, it was evident that Bree loved Logan just as much as she did. No matter what happened someone was going to get hurt. It was her guilt for falling in love with this woman’s fiancé that had her rushing her words. “Logan was adamant about coming home to you. He never—we never—would have gotten involved if we thought for a second that we weren’t going to spend the rest of our lives on that island.”
Bree stared at Lily as if she were trying to gauge her honesty. She was slow to speak and didn’t until it seemed she’d found what she was looking for and was satisfied. “I don’t know how this is all going to work, but no matter how it turns out, I’m glad he’s home, and he’s safe. I’m glad you’re home and safe too.” Bree cleared her throat. “I didn’t mean to keep you especially since you have a plane to catch.”
*****
On the ride to the airport, Lily replayed her conversation with Bree in her head over and over. She hated herself for wanting to hate Bree but she couldn’t. She wasn’t some spoiled, entitled, rich woman. Bree was not only beautiful but seemed, to be honest, sweet, and kind. It was evident why Logan would fall in love with her. She loved him and had shown compassion to her as well.
Lily stepped onto the plane for home feeling worse than she already had. This situation wasn’t easy for anyone. Somebody was going to get hurt, she knew that, but now, after meeting Bree it all seemed worse.
Logan spent a restless night alone in his hotel room. He lay with his hands clasped behind his head staring aimlessly up at the ceiling. What was he going to do? No matter what decision he made, someone was going to get hurt.
Hell, who am I kidding I had already hurt both Bree and Lily.
It was a small consolation that Bree was surrounded by his family who offered comfort and support, unlike Lily. She looked so alone when he’d seen her last night. Logan couldn’t shake the pained image on her face, and it almost killed him. He’d never intended for any of this to happen.
Logan had gone to her room last night with the intent of making sure she was settled in. He thought if maybe he could just hear her voice know that she was okay, it would ease his mind. All he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and take the pain in her eyes away. He squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose as he remembered the hurt on her face when she asked if he would stay with her. It almost broke him.
Damn
. Right or wrong, he sat up and threw his legs over the side of the bed then picked up the phone to call her. It rang several times. After it was clear that she wasn’t going to pick up. Logan called the front desk.
“Hi, this Logan Tremont. Can you leave a message for Lily Huntington to call me when she receives this message?”
The person who answered the phone responded. “I’m sorry Mr. Tremont, Ms. Huntington is no longer staying with us. She checked out.”
Surprised, Logan frowned. “What? When?”
“Yes. Let me just look into that for you. Okay, here it is. She checked out a couple of hours ago.”
He ran his hand through his hair and the other held the phone. “Do you know where she went? Did she go to another hotel?”
“Our driver dropped her off at the airport. It appears she left the island. I’m sorry, but I don’t have any other information available.”
“No. I understand. Thank you.”
Logan disconnected the call. He lie back on the bed feeling as if a hole had been blown through his chest. A raging headache was starting to form. He closed his eyes trying to ease the pain. His mind kept telling him that maybe a clean break was for the best, but his heart didn’t seem to be on the same page.
*****
Lily had been back in Chicago for a couple of days. She was lucky that the landlord hadn’t rented her apartment and that she still had her job.
Getting her life back to how it used to be before being shipwrecked with Logan was proving more challenging than she’d expected. The press had figured out where she lived. They had been camped outside of her apartment waiting to get an exclusive on everything that happened between him and her on the island. There were so many of them that it was like she was a prisoner in her own home.
Lily had been able to get her landline and cell phone turned back on but kept the ringer turned off on both of them. The second she turned either of them on, her phone began to ring off the hook with reporters. She also kept her blinds pulled down hoping the madness would soon go away and that some other juicy story would come along to replace this one. So far, the press had been relentless.
Other than getting used to them hounding her every waking moment; there were so many other things that she had to get used to again, like not seeing Logan’s face every day. Thoughts of him continued to run through her head. Even with everything going on around her, putting him out of her mind was the hardest obstacle to overcome. Lily knew she took the wimpy way out by leaving and not saying goodbye, but it was all just too overwhelming. This way was better. Now he and Bree could have their happily ever after.
Megan had been a godsend since she’d been back. With her laptop, Lily kept in contact with Megan using a code they developed. When either of them needed to talk, they would send a private message or e-mail letting the other know they were about to call.
The day Lily returned, Megan came over and spent the night with her. Lily cried a river of tears on Megan’s shoulders. Lily was grateful to have someone to confide in since her parents were gone. Megan attempted to inject a bit of hope into this hopeless situation, just as her parents would have.
Megan smoothed Lily’s hair back off of her face as Lily lay her head on her shoulder. She attempted to soothe her friend. “You know it’s possible, Logan could choose you.”
Lily sighed. “Anything is possible, but I doubt it. He made no secret of how much he loved Bree. Circumstances brought us together. Now that we are not in the same mess, why would he be with me when he can be with the woman he planned to marry?”
Megan shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you are an incredible and beautiful person even if you lack confidence. And, I’m almost positive that Bree woman can’t be as incredible as you.”
Lily smirked then sniffed while wiping away a tear. “Actually, she’s pretty amazing. I met her. She’s so beautiful she could be a model. What’s worse, she’s actually nice. I wanted her to be a skank so that I could hate her but she’s not and I couldn’t. It was pretty obvious that she loves him as much as I do.”
Megan needed to give Lily a distraction. She needed to give her something else to think about. “Lily so much happened that night that I’m sure you are probably are not aware of.”
Lily sat up. “Like what?”
“You know my uncle had suspicions that something was off from his last audit. That was why he’d asked if I could discreetly look over his records. Of course, my experience isn’t as vast as yours, so that’s why I suggested you. After you told me that you needed to recheck your numbers because they were off and that you hoped the pattern you saw was your imagination, I called him and told him. He was supposed to be on the cruise with us but couldn’t because of some work emergency.”
Lily’s eyes went wide. “What? Are you kidding me?”
“No. I wish I were.”
“All I wanted was a little vacation and some time to deal with my parents . . .” Her voice trailed off.
“You’ve suffered a lot of loss over the past few months that’s why it’s time for the universe to give you a bit of happiness. On the positive side, everyone on the boat made it back in one piece.”
In Lily’s mind, that was debatable. Her heart was shattered. “Yes. I am so thankful for that. I didn’t know what happened to you guys. How long did it take for you to be rescued?”
“As you know our boat was full. Initially, we didn’t know there was another lifeboat until one of the crew members yelled at Anthony to go to the other one on the other side of the yacht. That’s when we found out you and Logan were over there. Anthony left and then there was another explosion.”
Lily nodded. “Yes. We saw him. He was about to get in our raft, but the explosion knocked him back and loosened our boat; it dropped into the water. I was terrified. I hit my head on something and passed out.”
“Well, Anthony managed to make his way back over to our boat. His head was bleeding, and I think he ended up with a concussion, but shockingly that was the worst of the injuries anyone suffered. We weren’t out on the water too long…maybe a couple of days or so before we were picked up by the rescue squad. We searched everywhere for you guys.”
“We got caught in a couple of storms, and I guess we weren’t where you guys were looking.”
Megan laughed. “I seriously doubt that. Mr. Tremont had people looking everywhere. He was going to find Logan and you even if he spent his last billion doing it.”
Lily could see that same dogged determination in Mr. Tremont and Logan’s faces. “Yeah. You’re right. He is really a wonderful man. Both his parents are. They could have been indifferent to me, but they were both warm and comforting.”
“Good. I’m glad.” Megan could see the exhaustion in Lily’s face. “When was the last time you slept?”
She yawned but tried to hide it. “I don’t know.” Lily didn’t want Megan to leave because she didn’t want to be alone.
“How about you finish your tea and go to sleep. I promise I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
Lily responded. “Megan, I’m glad you’re here. Thank you.”
*****
Lily stood in the kitchen making a cup of tea when the buzzer to her apartment went off. Lily was slow to go to the door because it was probably another reporter. She went over to it and pressed the button. “I’m not giving interviews.”