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  When he smiled, she felt at ease.

  “Oh, Evan, it’s so good to see you!” She wanted to embrace her old friend, but felt afraid of knocking him off balance.

  “My, my, the lovely Lynsey. Aren’t you an absolutely beautiful sight ? I have missed you, girl. Come on in.”

  He did a sort of one-legged hop out of the way to let her pass through into his impressive living room with its cool nickel-and-glass tables and black leather furniture. The main focus of the room, though, was the stone fireplace.

  She took a seat on a couch, and Evan flopped down beside her. “Would you like something to drink?” he offered.

  Lynsey was hesitant. She didn’t want to stress Evan. “Coffee would be nice.”

  “I’ll get it,” Nick offered.

  “I could get the coffee, but it would take me a half a day to get to the kitchen and then back again ,” Evan teased and leaned closer. “Maybe I should get the coffee; it will keep you here longer. You can stay forever, you know. Marry me, have my kids…”

  He was still the same quirky guy. “Oh, Evan.” She captured his face between her palms and looked into his unique sage-colored eyes. “I needed to see for myself that you are well. I’m so sorry for not coming sooner.”

  “You’re here now. Besides that, I have all your emails and your cards, not to mention the CDs you sent.”

  The mention of the CDs made an unwelcome memory of Quinn spring to mind. When Evan was first out of the hospital’s rehabilitation program, Quinn gave her several autographed CDs for Evan. Sometimes, when he wanted to, Quinn could be such a sweetheart.

  Nick returned to the living room with the coffee. “Listen, you two, I’ve got to make a phone call. Take your time catching up and enjoy your visit. I’ll be outside if you need me.”

  Nick was trying to give them some privacy, she knew. He wanted them to fall in love. The thought caused a pang in her heart. He was letting her go all over again.

  Lynsey’s gaze traveled back to Evan’s face. There was no sizzle or spark between them. No instant chemistry. They were just two old friends who cared for each other.

  ***

  Nick stood on Evan’s front lawn with his cell phone in one hand. There was no urgent phone call that needed to be made. He simply wanted to give Evan and Lynsey an opportunity to spend some time together and hopefully discover each other.

  As much as it would pain him to see Lynsey happily involved with his best friend, Evan was a far better choice for her, than sleazy Caleb Smith. He felt certain a marriage with Caleb would result in disaster.

  Except on a strictly professional level, Nick could not think of one time over the last two decades when he and Caleb got along or even exchanged a few friendly words.

  Caleb came to Unity nearly twenty years earlier when the police department was recruiting. Out of common courtesy, he and Kelly invited him to their wedding. That was where the ever-present tension between them began.

  When he was able to extract himself from his new bride’s possessive grip, he slipped off unnoticed for a few minutes away from the country club that heaved with two hundred wedding guests—most of whom he didn’t know.

  As he stood alone near the golf course, the sound of a giggling female caught his attention. Caleb Smith with his impossible-to-miss red hair loomed over a young woman. Her face and body were obstructed from his view by Caleb’s body. All Nick could make out was a bare arm with a mostly-consumed bottle of vodka dangling from the hand. But it was apparent that the couple kissed passionately.

  At least someone here is having a good time, he thought.

  Suddenly there was a crash and the sound of glass breaking followed by more peals of female laughter that he recognized: Lynsey with a man who was way too old for her. Caleb had to be at least twenty-four, and maybe even older.

  Without a second thought about his bride, who was probably frantically looking for him inside, he stormed over to where the couple were once again lip-locked, their hands pawing each other’s bodies. He unceremoniously yanked Lynsey by the arm out of Caleb’s grip.

  “Hey!” The couple yelled simultaneously.

  “She’s just a kid, Caleb! She’s only sixteen!” He blurted, holding Lynsey tightly by the arm.

  Caleb grinned, casually lit a cigarette, and handed it to Lynsey before lighting another for himself. “She might be sixteen, but she doesn’t look it and she sure doesn’t act it. Besides, sixteen isn’t statutory; it’s just right.”

  “Come on, Lynsey, I’m taking you inside,” Nick insisted, trying to pull her away from Caleb, but she shook off his grasp and latched onto Caleb’s arm.

  When she turned to him, her brown eyes smoldered with rage. “Go back to your little virgin wife, Nicky. She’s waiting for you.”

  Lynsey turned to Caleb. “I’ll meet you at your car in five minutes. But first, see if you can smuggle a bottle or two of vodka from the bar…and wedding cake. Lots of wedding cake.”

  He bent down and kissed her hard, and she wobbled in her high heels. “I’ll be waiting for you, princess.” He winked.

  It took every ounce of willpower, not to mention the fact that he was at his own wedding, to keep from punching Caleb in the jaw, knock the cigarette out of Lynsey’s hand and give her a good shake.

  When Caleb disappeared back into the wedding reception, Nick grabbed her squarely by the shoulders and looked down at her. “I need to know if there is any chance at all that you’re pregnant.”

  “So, that’s what you’re worried about, Nicky.” She smiled wryly. “Well, rest assured that you didn’t get me pregnant. Even if you had, it doesn’t matter now. You’re married!”

  “If you’re pregnant, I’ll get out of the marriage. I’ll get an annulment.”

  “Nicky, just go to your wife and forget about me. We’re over. Now I’ve got a man waiting for me, and I guarantee that I’m going to have a much better night with him than you will with your fragile, frigid little virgin. I have to give you credit though, Nicky, two virgins within a span of two weeks. You’re quite the stud,” she said snidely.

  He looked down at the poor little drunken teenager with her pink lipstick smeared on her face by a man who was way too old and waiting to take advantage of her intoxicated state. Sadness consumed him. He had driven her to this excess.

  “Lynsey, let me find your mother so she can drive you home. Caleb is way too drunk to drive, and so are you.”

  “Go to hell, Nicky! That’s what you deserve, and I wish you nothing but the same unhappiness you’ve caused me. I won’t have to wish very hard, I’m sure.”

  With that, she turned, threw the cigarette to the ground, and staggered toward the parking lot where Caleb waited for her beside his red convertible.

  When Nick returned back to Unity after his two week honeymoon, Lynsey had accepted the scholarship in Lausanne, Switzerland and moved away.

  Over the year that followed, Suzy was terribly upset that her best friend abandoned her, but she continued to write faithfully to Lynsey. In return, Lynsey reported back that she had learned to ski, was nearly fluent in French, and had a new boyfriend who was an Olympic hockey player. She was deliriously happy and wouldn’t be returning home to Unity any time soon.

  That had been for the best. He was able to settle into married life with Kelly without the constant distraction of Lynsey. He took comfort in the fact that Lynsey was happy and content in her new life. She had probably all but forgotten their summer rendezvous.

  At the end of the school year, Suzy met Doug at a dance and fell madly in love with him. It took the sting out of losing Lynsey’s companionship, and she was soon planning a wedding of her own.

  Lynsey and his sister’s lives were settled. On the other hand, he was married to a woman he wasn’t sure he loved anymore.
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  Lynsey got her wish.

  Nick was so absorbed in his thoughts that he startled when Lynsey laid her hand on his forearm. The cell phone he held fell from his hand and bounced into the grass of Evan’s front yard.

  Lynsey bent down, picked it up, and rubbed away a few blades of grass.

  “Are you all finished with your visit?”

  “Yes, Evan’s tired. He needs to rest.”

  When he took the phone from her, he immediately sensed that she was troubled. “Are you okay, Lynsey? Did Evan get fresh with you? You know he doesn’t mean any harm. He’s just very friendly.”

  Lynsey managed a giggle, but tears started to roll down her cheeks. “No, he didn’t try to put any moves on me. It’s just that he…he is so pale, and he got so tired. And that…thing on his leg—it has screws that go right through his skin and into the bone, and there’s dried blood…” She stopped speaking and shuddered all over.

  She was so upset that he decided he would not tell her that if this latest surgery and the external fixation weren’t successful, there was a very real possibility that Evan would lose his leg below the knee.

  Instead, he pulled her into his arms and held her close. She smelled like heaven and he gently pressed a kiss against her hair. It was the absolute worst thing he could do, he knew, but he vainly tried to reassure himself that he was simply comforting a distraught friend.

  But she clung to him and he was powerless to stop the surge of arousal that consumed him.

  “He’s absolutely fine, Lynsey.” With much reluctance, he loosened his grip on her. “Now, stop crying in case he’s watching from the window. You know how emotional he is. If he sees you cry, he’ll cry, and I can’t handle both of you in floods of tears.”

  They drove toward the house in silence. When they stepped from the car, Lynsey casually remarked, “It’s such a beautiful day, it seems like a waste to sit around the house all day.”

  “We could pack up a cooler and hit the lake for the afternoon,” he offered.

  “Great! Let me get changed and we can go,” she said with a brilliant smile that flipped his heart.

  Now he had done it, he thought watching her practically bounce up the stairs. He was now going to be confined to a rowboat, just him and Lynsey all afternoon in the middle of a lake on a beautiful late summer day.

  ***

  “So, who does the boat belong to?” Lynsey asked as Nick helped her from the deck into the hull.

  “A while back, Evan and I both put out a few hundred dollars to buy it. I really don’t mind who uses it though, as long as they take care of it, and put it back when they’ve finished.”

  This was so nice. She slipped a pair of sunglasses over her eyes. She couldn’t remember the last time she was in a boat on the lake at the end of summer. Of course, this moment could have been so much nicer if she was with a man she loved and who loved her. Well, she did love Nick, and probably always would in some way. He was her first choice as a husband and the father of her children. But it hadn’t happened, so she would simply embrace what they had now.

  “Could you rub some sunscreen on my back and shoulders? I don’t want to get sunburned.”

  “Sure.” He took the tube from her.

  She knew as soon as she felt his hands on her bare shoulders that she should have risked the sunburn. Before she totally lost control, turned around and jumped on him right there in the itty-bitty rowboat built for two, she needed to do something quickly.

  “Are you dating anyone special?” she asked.

  “No,” he answered, his hands massaging the sunscreen onto her back. “I’m not really interested in getting involved with anyone anytime soon. I was married for a long time; I think I just want to be by myself for a while, maybe forever.”

  She glanced back at him. “Don’t you want children?”

  “I did at one time. Now I’m too old, and too settled. I don’t see fatherhood in my future.”

  That was exactly what she needed—a stark dose of reality. A not-so-subtle reminder that Nick was now her friend and that was all he would ever be.

  Still, she found herself saying, “You’re not too old, Nicky. Just because you never had children in your first marriage doesn’t mean it has to stay that way.”

  “I have my nephews and nieces; they’re enough to keep me happy.”

  Now she turned her entire body back to face him. “Are you really going to be happy year after year, as the bachelor brother and uncle who sits in the corner every Sunday and holiday?” She regretted the words as soon as she said them. She shuddered all over and dropped her chin. “I’m sorry, it’s not my business. I’m a fine example of someone who will die old and alone with nothing but cats and scented candles around me.”

  “I seriously doubt that, Lynsey. You were smart to concentrate on your education and career and not get married young. How did it go with Evan? I know that he would love to be a husband and a father. I think the two of you would make a great couple.”

  Nick was desperate for her to be happily involved with his best friend. Somehow that pained her heart. “I think that Evan is a very lovely man.” She chose her words carefully. “But, in the long run, I don’t see us ever becoming a couple. There was no instant chemistry, no spark, no sizzle.”

  “Sometimes love takes time. Perhaps if the two of you spend time together, something will bloom.”

  “Someday, Evan will be a wonderful husband, just not mine.” She used her thumbs to paint a stripe of sunscreen beneath his eyes.

  “I have to admit, we all thought you were going to marry the rock star.”

  We? She hated the idea of being fodder for the town gossips. “So, I was the talk of the town, so to speak?” she asked dryly.

  “Well, dating an international rock star tends to put you in the news, whether you want to be or not.”

  Quinn was still a touchy subject. Just how much did Nick know about her relationship with him? Did he know that Quinn was married when she was involved with him? An uncomfortable blush heated her chest and rose up to her face and settled on her cheeks.

  “Still, it was just a relationship that didn’t work out. I had a lot of good times with Quinn, but it’s over now. His being in the public eye made the relationship seem like it was more important than it really was,” she explained.

  “Was he into drugs or what?”

  Why did he insist or pressing her on the subject? Maybe he was just curious. A lot of people wondered what it was like to date a celebrity. “No, Quinn isn’t a drug user. He’s brilliant, and sometimes intense…volatile. I didn’t like his constant travel, and I didn’t know if he would ever be able to settle down into some kind of normalcy. At this point in my life I want stability, Nicky. I want a husband and children.”

  Hopefully that answered all his questions, and every word was the truth.

  ***

  As soon as Lynsey walked into the house she was greeted by the ringing telephone.

  “Hello?”

  “Is this Lynsey Reznor?”

  “Yes, it is, can I help you?”

  “Lynsey, this is Caleb. Caleb Smith.”

  “I know which Caleb it is,” she said with a trace of laughter in her voice.

  “Of course you do. Anyway, I’m calling to invite you to a little get-together at my house this Saturday night to celebrate my promotion. It will be a good opportunity for you to meet some new people, and spend some time with the old ones who really want to get to know you again.”

  “Like you?” She wound the phone cord through her fingers.

  “Desperately,” he admitted.

  She smiled. “I’ll be there.” She grabbed a pen and wrote down his address. As she hung up the telephone, Nick walked in the door.

&nb
sp; “Do you want to go to a party with me this Saturday night?”

  “Whose?”

  “Caleb Smith.”

  His response was swift. “No thank you. Besides, I’m working all weekend. Even if I weren’t, my answer would still be the same.”

  “What have you got against Caleb?”

  “He’s a sleazy whore,” he answered easily. “But you go, and have a good time.” He turned abruptly and went back outside. The door slammed closed behind him.

  Whether the tension between the two men had happened recently or Nick still held a grudge after twenty years, it was his own demon to deal with. When Nick had chosen another over her, she had compensated with Caleb, and would make no apologies for it, just as he had made no apologies for breaking her heart.

  Chapter Four

  On Saturday morning, Lynsey slipped out of the house early to make the hour-long drive to the supermall in the city of Mount Pleasant. She wanted to pick up a congratulatory gift to celebrate Caleb’s promotion, as well as an outfit to wear at his party that would knock the socks off any of Unity’s most eligible bachelors who might be in attendance. Lynsey Reznor was a woman who was determined to be a wife by the end of the year.

  She found the dress at a small designer boutique, a grape-colored silk sheath that looked deceptively plain on its hanger, but once on, looked to be expertly cut exactly for her figure. She paired it with matching silk shoes. The outfit was pricey, but she wanted to make a first impression that would last beyond the night.

  For Caleb, she chose a gold pen and had his initials engraved onto it while she waited.