His brows rose even farther. "The wedding? You know Mallory? Wait...you're Liz, her maid of honor? I don't understand. She said Liz was a pottery artist."
And Mallory had never mentioned Noah by name. But that was a completely different discussion.
"I am a pottery artist. I am also lost." She needed to get out of this situation. Pronto. Where was Mallory? Was she in the house? "Mallory told me to take the left fork and I'd find her house. Is she here?"
I'm not prepared for this. I need to get my shit together.
"This isn't Carter and Mallory's home. They live one road over. You took the left-left fork."
What in the ever-loving fuck?
This might be the strangest conversation Liz had had in a long while. They were talking as if nothing had ever happened between them. Maybe...to him...it hadn't been all that important.
"Oh." She glanced back at her car. "I guess I need to find my way there. Mallory is waiting for me. She's going to be worried."
As if on cue, Liz's phone rang and it was, indeed, Mallory. She gave Noah an apologetic look and answered, knowing that her friend must think she'd driven into a ditch.
"I'm fine," Liz said before even saying hello. "I took a wrong turn and I'm standing on Noah's front porch."
The way she said his name so casually had her flinching inside. She'd barely allowed herself to even think his name the last few years. Now she was saying it out loud like it was no big deal.
Her friend laughed. "Carter just showed up and pointed out that if you took the far left fork, you'd end up at his brother’s house. Can you hand the phone to Noah, please?"
Why am I doing that?
"Sure."
Liz held out the phone to the man that had haunted her dreams for far too long. "She wants to speak to you."
Noah accepted the phone and pressed it to his ear. "Right. Of course. I'll make sure she gets there. No problem."
He held out the phone and she took it back, extremely careful that their hands didn't accidentally brush against one another. If he touched her...
She sure as hell wasn't prepared for that, either.
"I'll get my truck and lead you to Carter and Mallory. She wants to make sure you don't get lost and that's a possibility on the ranch, especially now that the sun is going down. Give me a minute and I'll get my shoes and keys. You should come inside."
No. She couldn't do that. Then this whole encounter might feel more real than it already did.
"It's okay. I'll wait here. You won't be that long."
Probably. I mean...it was just shoes and keys, right?
He opened his mouth and for a moment she thought he was going to argue with her, but then he shook his head and backed into the house, leaving the door wide open. Probably in case she changed her mind. She wasn't going to.
It took less than a minute and he was back on his front porch this time wearing shoes and holding a set of keys. She'd been so focused on looking at his face she hadn't even noticed that he was wearing faded blue jeans and a long-sleeved flannel shirt.
Just like he'd told her that night in Chicago. She'd easily been able to tell he wasn't a business suit kind of guy, although he'd looked sexy as hell in it.
He looked better in jeans, though. She walked behind him and she had a ring-side seat to watch his backside. If anything, he looked even better than he had and that was pretty fucking amazing, because she'd assumed over time that she'd built him up in her head. No one could be that sexy and handsome. Turned out she was wrong.
Noah Anderson could.
He was an Anderson. So much was falling into place. What he'd said that night, and what Mallory had said these last few months. Liz hadn't listened as well as she should and now she was paying the price. Blindsided. Like Wile E. Coyote running straight into a brick wall.
He pointed back down the dirt road. "Just follow me. We're going to take a shortcut."
Her brain had shut down and she was on automatic pilot. Nodding in agreement, she climbed into her economy sedan and fired up the engine. She followed closely behind his truck but there was a voice in her head that wouldn't let her alone. It was screaming for her to turn around and drive back to where she came from. Nothing good could come from this.
Then she thought about Mallory. Liz had made a commitment. Full stop. She'd see it through. Somehow.
Noah was the past. The before.
She couldn't allow herself to forget that.
6
He would have recognized her anywhere. That stubborn chin. Those whiskey-colored eyes and chocolate brown hair. Libby - no, Liz - had trimmed it to shoulder-length at some point but it was still as shiny and luxurious as he'd remembered.
She looked exactly the same.
So many nights after he'd come home from Chicago, he'd lain awake reliving their night together. The fact that he couldn't seem to evict her from his thoughts had often made him angry and frustrated but as time had gone on, he'd thought about her less and slept through the night more.
She'd never disappeared completely, though. She'd always been there in the back of his head whenever he dated another woman. He'd compare them and his girlfriend would never come out on the good end. Then he'd be pissed off at himself, but no woman could possibly be as wonderful as he'd built her up in his mind. At some point she'd changed from actual human being to a legend.
And now here she was. In the flesh. She was also going to be around for awhile as she'd come out to Tremont early to help with the last-minute wedding preparations.
What did that mean for...them?
It had been two years. The time had flown but a hell of a lot could happen in that amount of time. She could be engaged or dating someone or maybe she simply didn't have the memories of that night like he did. She might not remember it the same way. As in earthshattering. Frankly, her feelings may have never been as strong as his.
Do I really even know what I felt?
Noah didn't know but one thing was for sure. Libby-now-Liz was going to be here long enough for them to talk. He wanted to know everything she'd been doing for the last two years, and he wanted to tell her all he had done as well.
Face it. You want to find out if she's truly as great as you thought.
Fine, but isn't that normal?
Mallory and Carter were waiting on the front porch when they drove up. The two women threw themselves into each other's arms after Liz parked her car in the curved driveway. Carter ambled down the stairs and slapped Noah on the back, letting the ladies have their reunion.
"Thanks for bringing her. I had visions of having to send out a search party."
"No problem. I was just relaxing and watching some television."
"I brought enough food for an army. Come eat with us. Then you and I can have a couple of beers after the women leave."
Leave?
"Where are they going?"
Carter groaned and rolled his eyes. "Mallory has this bee in her bonnet about us not having sex for a few weeks before the wedding. It's supposed to make it more special on the honeymoon or some nonsense like that. So, Mallory and Liz are going to stay at Dizzy's old place. I'm not going to get a decent night's sleep while she's gone. I'm used to her snoring now."
"I don't know much about relationships but I don't think it's a good idea to mention that your wife-to-be snores. And you do too, by the way. Like a buffalo. That's why no one wants to share a tent with you when we go camping. It's one of the reasons, anyway."
"You snore, too," Carter retorted. "And I wasn't going to tell Mallory she snores. I was just saying that I'm used to sleeping with her. I think it's fucking romantic that I need her to sleep."
"You're a romantic fool. Or just a fool," Noah mocked. "I don't know how Mallory puts up with you."
"I wonder myself sometimes, to be honest."
The two women were done hugging and Noah was sure that he saw tears in their eyes. Mallory had talked about Liz quite a bit and how close they'd been in college, and then later when th
ey were getting their careers started.
Liz. The pottery artist. Had Noah been lied to? He was beginning to think that. Had anything she’d said been the truth? Had he been played? He didn't want to think that he was the fool in this scenario.
Yes, she was actually real, but no, she wasn't who or what he'd thought. That fact was a bitter pill to swallow, and it gave him a pain somewhere in the region of his chest.
Mallory introduced Liz to Carter and Noah finally learned her last name. He couldn't help but watch closely, examining every expression on her face and every movement of her body. Was she a big liar? He wanted - no, needed - to know.
"Noah's staying for dinner," Carter announced. "So let's get inside and eat before it gets cold."
Liz appeared less than happy that Noah was going to be joining them for dinner. In fact, she was quite pale and her smile wasn't as genuine as he remembered. Whatever she'd expected today, she obviously hadn't been expecting him. They'd both been shocked.
Food was dished up and they all settled at the dinner table, Mallory to his left, Carter to his right, and Liz across from him. There was a hell of a lot he wanted to say but very little in front of his brother. With Mallory and Liz leaving for Dizzy's house later he wouldn't get the chance to talk to her. Normally he was a patient man, but in this situation he found that he couldn't keep his mouth shut.
"Mallory tells me that you're a pottery artist. That sounds fascinating."
Liz's head jerked up and her gaze ran from him to Mallory and back to him. "Yes, I am. It's very fulfilling work."
"You should see what she creates," Mallory gushed, setting her fork on her plate. "It's amazing. The colors are gorgeous."
This time Liz's smile was real. "I just might have made something for you and Carter."
Mallory's eyes went wide. "Is it in your car? Can we open it now?"
"How about after we eat?"
Noah wasn't done yet. "So how long have you been doing pottery, Liz? Seems like it would take years to perfect a talent like that."
Taking her time answering, Liz sipped her iced tea. "I've been doing pottery since I was a teenager but I only opened my own business about eighteen months ago."
"And she became instantly successful," Mallory bragged, clearly not aware of the tension that was building in the room. "She's amazing and people love what she creates."
Eighteen months? Had she not received the job offer in Chicago? Or had she received it and then found that she didn't like it?
"What did you do before that?" he asked, taking another bite of chicken. He wanted to keep his tone neutral, as if he was simply trying to politely get to know her.
Mallory grabbed the chicken platter in the middle of the table and held it in front of him, blocking his view of Liz.
"More chicken, Noah? I know how much you love the barbecued chicken from Ted's."
He had a fairly full plate.
"Uh, I'm good right now. Maybe in a few minutes."
Mallory wasn't going to give up, though. She set the platter down and picked up the pan of garlic toast. "How about some more bread then?"
What in the hell...?
"I'm good. Really." He emphasized the last word. She was acting strangely, giving him a look that he couldn't decipher.
"Carter, what about you? More bread or chicken?"
He'd never seen Mallory like this. She was acting weird and she never acted weird.
Carter, who had a hollow leg, accepted the pan. "I could eat a little more, thanks."
Noah tried again. "So, Liz–"
"Carter," Mallory said loudly, interrupting what he'd been about to say. "Have you and Noah nailed down the bachelor party plans? What have you decided to do?"
Okay, she was officially acting like a loon. She wasn't going to let him speak, apparently. If his brother thought it was strange, he wasn't saying anything.
"Just a get-together. Pizza, beer, and poker. No strippers," Carter laughed. "I promise."
"Absolutely," Noah agreed. "No strippers. It's going to be really casual and low key. How about the bachelorette party? What do you ladies have planned?"
"Probably a movie night," Mallory replied. Liz had stayed strangely silent. She seemed content to be in the background of the conversation. Hardly the woman that had boldly spoken to him first at the hotel bar that night. "Just the girls. A few pitchers of margaritas."
The next half-hour went about the same. Every time Noah tried to speak to Liz or ask a question, he was interrupted by Mallory loudly changing the subject and Carter going along with it. If he'd had any ideas about her trying to fix him up with her best friend - and he really didn't - they would have been blown to bits by now. She didn't even want him to speak to Liz.
Except that didn't make a lick of sense. It would have if Mallory had known about Noah and Liz prior. But Liz had been shocked to see him so there was no way she could have told Mallory about knowing him in advance of tonight. So something else was afoot here. He didn't like mysteries all that much.
Liz made a point not to make eye contact with him, keeping her gaze firmly on her plate for most of the meal.
When they finished dinner, Carter offered to clean up and do the smattering of dishes so the girls could head directly to Dizzy's house and get settled. Mallory continually put herself between Noah and Liz. There was no way he was going to have a chance to speak with her. Not tonight. But tomorrow was another day. He'd try again. And find out what the hell was going on.
Mallory hustled Liz out of the front door as quickly as possible, with barely a goodbye to Carter, leaving Noah to help with the dishes. He didn't mind at all, however, because it gave him a chance to speak with his younger brother. Perhaps he could shed some light on the situation.
Time to ask a few questions.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
That was Mallory's question to Liz after they dumped their bags at the home they'd be staying in until the wedding. They'd made small talk the entire trip there but Liz had known that her friend had noticed her discomfiture. They'd spent four years as roommates, after all. Few people knew Liz as well as Mallory.
They'd changed into comfy pajamas and Mallory had poured each of them a glass of wine. Liz didn't like to use alcohol as a crutch but she sure as hell needed it tonight.
"I don't even know where to start."
"The beginning is the usual place. How about there?"
Liz rubbed at her temples. A nasty headache had bloomed there and it wasn't a mystery as to where it came from.
"It just all feels so surreal. Like it's not really happening."
If Liz went back to sleep right at this moment, would she wake up and it never happened?
"Now I'm really curious as to what is going on. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I'm only trying to help."
"I know." Frankly, Liz was tired of needing help. It felt like the last two years were all about her friends giving and her taking. "It's not easy to talk about."
Where to start?
Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest as the memories crowded her brain. She'd rarely allowed herself to think about Noah. It was a luxury she couldn't afford.
"I guess I should start the story in Chicago."
7
Noah trailed after Carter into the kitchen. His brother tossed him a dish towel.
"I'm just going to load the few dishes we have into the dishwasher. Can you wipe up the table and the countertops?"
Looping the towel around his hand, Noah leaned a hip against the counter. "Sure, in a minute. I wanted to ask you about Liz–"
"How about a beer?" Carter interrupted, looking more than a little harassed. Red dots had appeared on his cheeks and he was rubbing the back of his neck. "I have ice cream, too."
Okay, it was officially fucked up.
"I do not want a beer," Noah replied, his teeth gritted together so tightly his jaw ached. "I want to ask about Liz. Why won't anyone let me ask a question? There's something going on
here and I want to know what the hell it is. And the first question is when did she change her name from Libby to Liz? The second question is did she ever work at a bank? Because that's what she told me two years ago and I foolishly believed it."
Carter's mouth had fallen open and he appeared to be having great difficulty trying to speak. Eventually he managed to croak out a question.
"Wait...you already know Liz? I don't understand."
"That makes two of us," Noah ground out. "Why won't anyone let me talk? No one would let me speak to her at all."
Scraping his fingers through his hair, Carter sighed. "Because Mallory doesn't want anyone asking Liz any awkward questions."
"I asked about her pottery. How is that awkward?"
"How about you answer my question instead? What were you talking about when you said Liz used to be called Libby and that she worked in a bank?"
It didn't look like Carter was going to answer any of Noah's questions unless he fessed up to his prior relationship with Liz. Libby. Or whoever she was. But it wasn't going to be easy to talk about it. He steeled himself for another unwanted wave of emotions.
"I do know Liz. I met her two years ago while on a business trip to Chicago. She told me her name was Libby and that she worked in a bank. From what I've seen today, those were lies."
"You never told me about this."
Of course not.
"You're my brother, not my therapist. Why would I tell you? You don't tell me about women you meet...or met, now that you're getting married. I had no idea that Mallory's Liz was the same woman I met in Chicago."
"Shit," Carter muttered under his breath. "I'm afraid to ask this question but I think I need to. When you say you know Liz...do you...know Liz? If you know what I mean?"
"That's none of your business," Noah replied sharply.
"That answers my question." Carter groaned and sat down at the small kitchen table. "I think you need to tell me just how you met Liz and why you think she's lied to you."
Noah sat down across from his brother. There was no delaying the inevitable any longer.
Dancing With Danger (Danger Incorporated Book 10) Page 4
