“But it was really all about Rachel.”
“Yes. I’ve fantasized about her. You see, that week when she was slipping out of the guesthouse, it was because we were lovers. We were so young and it was our first real...” He gave a shrug. “I wanted to see her again. I wondered if she’d feel the same way about me.” He paused. “In these many years, I’ve been married, and divorced. I also had a long-term girlfriend, but we broke up. But through it all, I’ve never loved anyone as much as I loved Rachel. Last night she looked at me as though she was glad to see me. It was quick, but it was enough. I thought...” He stopped.
“Maybe it was just old memories and she was saying goodbye.”
He gave her a sharp look. “You sound like you know something that I don’t. Is there someone else?”
Sara wasn’t about to mention Gil. “Doesn’t Rachel have a husband?”
“Did have. I did a search and found out that they divorced three years ago.”
“Really? Was he a rich guy in Connecticut?”
“You looked her up too!”
“No. It’s just something someone said.”
“You think she doesn’t want a poor guy like me?”
Sara smiled at him. “Why do I think you’re not poor? Hmm. Lots of garden work and no sight of a car.”
He smiled. “You are perceptive. What gave me away?”
“It’s the way you walk and move. You have great confidence in who and what you are.”
He laughed. “You sound like my grandmother.”
Sara groaned. “I’d rather have a ‘You remind me of my former girlfriend.’ So what broke you and Rachel apart?”
“Back then, Iwasbroke. And besides, I have my grandmother. Grans would have objected.” His voice rose and he imitated a Scottish accent. ‘She’s above you, boy. She’s a spoiled, horse-riding rich girl. You’re the help.’ And if that wasn’t enough, Grans would have made Rachel’s life hell. She’s always wanted me to marry a woman who can carry wood and handwash clothes in a river.”
“That’s not easy to find in this day and age.”
“It’s impossible. And I wouldn’t want her anyway. In any case, back then, during that infamous party, Rachel and I hid from everyone, even my sister, Greer.”
“She’d be jealous?”
“Worse. She would have told Grans. They were tight. Look at this.” He started to unbutton his shirt, then halted. “Do you mind?”
“You’re asking a romance writer if she objects to a young man revealing his chest?”
Reid laughed as he continued unbuttoning his shirt. “Okay, for that you get an upgrade. You’re like the aunt I never had.”
“Skipped a generation in a minute. I’m winning.”
Smiling, he slipped his shirt down his shoulder to show a tattoo of two Rs back-to-back. “Rachel and Reid,” Sara said.
He rebuttoned his shirt. “I’ve lied to every female in my life about what that means. I get the most sympathy when I say it has to do with my old grandmother.”
“And sympathetic women give sex. An adult aphrodisiac.”
He cocked an eyebrow at her. “You have any of your books that I can read?”
Sara smiled, then turned serious. “So, all these years, you’ve lived in a fantasy about Rachel.”
“You mean I’ve wasted my life. Maybe it was a love that didn’t actually exist. I know she married a tall blond guy who came from money. She didn’t want the boy who pulled weeds.”
“I did,” Sara said. “I wanted Cal, but he married a woman half as smart and half as pretty as me. It sure did crush my ego. But the truth is, that deep pain is what made me start writing. I needed a release. And a happy ending.”
