Shit.He had almost forgotten that text he sent to Charlie. “I’m sorry. You weren’t supposed to see that and—”
“You don’t have to apologize.” Her voice sounded tired, and there was an unconvincing smile now on her lips.
“Yes. I do.”
He wanted to say more, but before he could find the words, the valet pulled up with her truck and handed her the keys. She climbed into the driver’s seat. “Have a good night, Will. And if you see Charlie, tell him my sister says hi.”
Then she slammed the door shut.
She didn’t look at Will as she started the ignition, and it was too dark to see if she stole a glance in her rearview mirror as she disappeared down the long drive toward the road. But he still watched her go, staring into the darkness until the red glow of her taillights disappeared.
“Well, that was brutal,” George’s deep voice interrupted a moment later. Will turned just as his friend sauntered out the club’s front doors, his hands in his pockets. “Where’s your date?”
Will glowered at him. “She’s not my date.”
This detail didn’t seem to derail George’s line of inquiry; he simply waited for Will to answer.
Will sighed, then nodded to the long drive. “She just left.”
George nodded. “Birdie is inside chatting with some client she ran into, but said she’d be out soon.”
Will didn’t reply, just returned his gaze to where Lizzy’s car had faded into the darkness.
George walked forward and stopped at Will’s side. “So what do you want to do?”
Will knew what he meant. They had only planned to stay out here through today. A helicopter was already waiting at the airport to take them back to the city.
“Let me go talk to Birdie and we can head out,” Will finally said.
“You sure?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
George’s head cocked to the side, as if he was mulling something over. “Remember when I escaped to LA last year to spearhead the Wentworth deal?”
Will nodded.
“You told me I should go, but only if it was about the deal. If I was using it as an excuse to run away from my problems—”
“You mean Emma,” Will inserted.
George ignored the footnote as he continued, “—then work was only going to be a distraction. And you were right. I needed to admit my feelings for her and stop running away.”
“Your point?”
“No point. Just an observation,” George said with a self-satisfied sigh as he turned to stare at the same spot in the distance that had held Will’s attention a moment before.
Will glared at him. “I liked you better when you weren’t so smug.”
George laughed.
Another minute passed before Will cleared his throat. “You go ahead. I think I’m going to stick around for another day or two. Check on a couple of things out in Montauk.”
“Right. Makes sense,” George said as he pulled out the valet ticket from his pocket. “I guess I’ll see you back in the city, then.” Then he threw his friend another smile. “And tell Lizzy I said hello.”
CHAPTER 19
“Okay, tell me what you think of this one,” Kitty said, leaning across the bakery’s counter to hand Lizzy a small piece of oddly colored pastry.
