Lizzy darted through the crowd inside the Lodge and stepped out through the Irish Goodbye Door to find the line of luxury cars still stretched bumper-to-bumper along Montauk Highway. She followed the sidewalk as it snaked its way toward downtown, barely looking up from her Converse. She had done this walk somany times, she could probably do it blindfolded. Something she thought was a novelty, but right now felt like a life sentence.
At the Old Hook Windmill she turned left, passing the line of boutiques on her way down Main Street. She didn’t want to go home right now and deal with her mother bemoaning another summer wasted on a failed business, or Lydia complaining about her follower count. Or Jane not complaining at all. So she headed to work.
“Hey.”
The deep voice startled her and she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. Tristan was in front of her, his tall frame leaning to one side, perfectly framed by a navy polo shirt and khakis. His hair was longer than it had been the last time she saw him, and he had it slicked back.
“What a coincidence,” he purred. “I was just thinking about you.”
The words were low and suggestive, but sounded hollow somehow. Like someone had turned on the lights in a dark room that had flaws in each corner.
She met his gaze. “Then you should have texted.”
He manufactured a wince. “I know. I’ve just been so crazy with work. Hounding the right people about these permits, making sure we reach out to the right contacts…”
He let the words fade, as if anticipating Lizzy’s acquiescence. She only stared back.
“Anyway,” he finally continued, “I’ve been busy.”
“Is that why you’re here?” she asked. “Because of work?”
He nodded. “That, and there were a few events over the weekend. Have you ever been to the White Party?”
“Nope,” she replied flatly.
“Well, it’s incredible. You should definitely grab an invite next year.” Then he cleared his throat. “I’m heading back into the citytoday but, if you’re around, I’m having a big party in a couple of weeks.”
Yeah, I know, she wanted to say.Lydia won’t stop talking about it. But instead she feigned ignorance. “Really?”
He nodded. “You should come.”
“I wish I could,” Lizzy said, her voice flat. “But I’ll be out of town with my sister. Girls’ trip.”
“Ah, that’s too bad,” he replied, as if it wasn’t really that bad at all. “Well, we should still grab a drink sometime.”
His head cocked to the side as a small smile ticked up the corners of his mouth. She knew that look. It was so obvious, she was embarrassed she hadn’t seen it before. It was the look of a man trying to appear charming and vulnerable even though it went against his very nature. A wolf in sheep’s clothing.
She offered her own sharp smile in return. “Have a safe trip back to the city, Tristan.”
Then she started down the street again, waiting until she walked into the bakery to take her phone out and block his number.
Her shift at the bakery the next day drifted by in a haze. Muscle memory was the only thing getting her through, while her mind tried to dissect this feeling monopolizing her thoughts, a feeling altogether foreign and unwelcome.
It wasn’t until just before closing, as she leaned over the counter finishing the last chapter of her latest book,The City of Shadow and Smoke, that she was shaken from her malaise. The main character, Lady Sonia Willowdean, learns that the king wasn’t really her enemy; he had been in love with her all along. Suddenly, he slides a ring on her finger and whisks her away from her solitary life to join him in his castle hidden within a chain of caves.
Then her phone pinged from her back pocket.
She pulled it out to see a text waiting from Jane.
JANE
Hey! Don’t kill me but I don’t think I’m going to be able to make that trip out east in a couple of weeks.
They just scheduled Back to School night for that Monday so I can’t take it off.
Lizzy dropped her phone back on the counter. She probably should have felt some sort of disappointment. Anger, annoyance,something. But all that flashed through Lizzy’s mind was surrender. Jane was moving on with her life. Piper was gone, too. EvenThe City of Shadow and Smoke’s Lady Sonia was moving on to bigger and better things. Everyone was growing up and out and away. Everyone except her.
Was there a name for the feeling of anticipating loneliness? It wasn’t here yet, but she could see it there on the horizon, approaching steadily every day. What had begun as a plan to stay home for a few months to help save the bakery was now becoming her entire future. Soon her sisters would move on with their lives, her mom with another multilevel marketing scheme. And Lizzy would still be here, sneaking chapters of romance novels between batches of sour cherry muffins.
