by Melody Grace
“All set?” he asked, returning to the table, which already looked like a fancy store display. Natalie had stacked the bags in small pyramids, gold ribbons trailing. Luke couldn’t imagine anyone passing by without wanting a taste.
“Yup!” Natalie straightened up the last ones, then turned to thank the servers who’d been helping her. “If they ask, my cards are right here,” she told them, patting a small box.
“You didn’t put them in every bag?” Luke asked.
“I didn’t want to be pushy!” Natalie protested.
He shook his head, smiling. “You’re too modest for your own good.”
They were halfway to the exit when a voice cut through the crowd.
“Sara!”
Luke barely registered it. “We should be able to skip traffic on the way back, at least,” he said, checking his watch. “Unless there’s another festival attracting thousands we don’t know about yet.” He paused to check out an interesting chair in the lobby, but Natalie grabbed his arm.
“Still, we shouldn’t risk it,” she said, suddenly looking stressed. “Let’s just go. Now.”
Luke blinked, thrown by her sudden change in mood. “Worried someone will accost you for a donation?” he teased, but Natalie sent a fearful look over his shoulder.
“Please, Luke, we need to leave.”
He turned to see what was worrying her, just as a petite woman materialized beside them. She was wearing a formal gown, diamonds glittering at her neck.
“Sara! I knew it was you! Didn’t you hear me? I’ve been hollering all the way across the room.”
Sara?
Luke was about to tell her that she was mistaken when he caught the look on Natalie’s face. Pale and frozen, like she’d seen a ghost.
“It’s been forever, babe,” the blonde continued, oblivious. She reached in to drop air kisses on both Natalie’s cheeks. “Not since Mimi’s New Year’s bash, isn’t it? How are you?”
“I . . . I’m fine . . .” Natalie barely croaked the words—looking anything but fine.
“Wasn’t it a riot? Those guys,” the woman said, smiling. “How is Olly, anyway? Is he in town? We must get together!”
Luke felt Natalie’s grip on his arm tighten. “Actually, we’re not together anymore,” she said, sounding nervous.
“Oh, what a shame.” The blonde gave Luke an assessing gaze. “Still, these things happen. I’m surprised Oliver let you get away, we all know how he adored you. I’ll have to give him a call and see how he’s holding up.”
Luke saw a flash of panic in Natalie’s eyes. She reached to grab the blonde woman’s hand. “Please, don’t tell him you saw me,” she said quickly.
The woman looked surprised. And Luke knew exactly how she felt.
What was going on here?
“I just mean . . . It’s all still fresh,” Natalie blurted. “I’m trying to give it some time.”
“Say no more.” The woman winked. “When Trent and I broke up the first time, it was all just drama, drama, drama. Still, we found our way back to each other, so, you never know . . .” She gave Natalie a meaningful look, then noticed the table of chocolates. “Ooh, candy!”
Natalie didn’t even say goodbye, she just bolted for the exit the moment the woman’s back was turned. The blonde looked around. “Sara?”
“Sorry,” Luke apologized. “We have to run. It was, uh, nice meeting you.”
He followed in the direction Natalie had fled, his mind still racing.
Or should that be Sara?
He didn’t understand. That wasn’t just an awkward post-breakup run-in he’d witnessed back there. Natalie had been terrified. But of what, he didn’t know.
Luke felt a jolt of unease. Her vague responses and air of mystery didn’t seem like a game anymore.
What was she hiding?
9
Natalie clasped her hands together to keep them from shaking. The city lights blurred outside the windows as Luke drove them through downtown, but she couldn’t register a thing. Her whole body was wired with adrenaline, the fight-or-flight reflex kicked into high gear.
What must Luke be thinking of her right now?
She snuck an anxious glance over, but he seemed perfectly at ease navigating the traffic. She figured he must have a hundred questions for her, but Natalie didn’t know if she could find the answers.
Of all the galas in the world, why did Kelsey have to walk into this one?
They’d only met a couple of times, at parties with Oliver’s high-flying friends. Natalie couldn’t have picked her out of a lineup if she’d tried, but of course, Kelsey clocked her from clear across the room. The sound of her voice calling had turned back the clock, freezing Natalie in her tracks.
Sara . . .
She hadn’t heard the name in months; it was like it belonged to a stranger now. And maybe it did. She certainly didn’t feel like that woman anymore; she’d worked so hard to outrun her and all her mistakes. But in just a couple of syllables, it had all been stripped away, taking Natalie right back to all those parties she’d attended, a trophy on Oliver’s arm. Smiling and polite while she was secretly dying inside.
She swallowed back the sting of tears, hating how easily her new beginning had unraveled.
Would she ever escape her past?
Luke cleared his throat and she looked up, panicked. But instead of asking what the hell just happened, his voice was casual: “Keep your eye out for parking,” he said.
“OK,” she replied, confused. Luke found a spot up ahead and pulled over on a busy street packed with bars and college hangouts. He climbed out of the van, and Natalie followed him to a noisy fast-food joint, her head still spinning. Surely he had questions for her?
And he did. “Fries or onion rings?” Luke asked when they reached the counter.
“I . . . I’m not hungry,” Natalie said, hugging her arms around herself.
“Then I’ll get both,” Luke said cheerfully. He ordered, one eye on the baseball game playing on the TV above the counter.
Natalie’s trepidation grew. She glanced around, still on edge. This was the last place any of Oliver’s friends would be—but that was what she’d thought about the East Coast. Now it felt like anyone could walk through the door and blow her new life apart with a single word.
Finally, Luke’s food came. “Want to take a walk?” he asked as they emerged back onto the street. “Stretch our legs before we hit the road again?”
Natalie didn’t know what to say, but her body was still coursing with panicked energy, looking to escape. “Sure,” she mumbled, and Luke led the way, strolling down the street towards the river.
Natalie kept pace beside him. She looked for a sign of judgment on his face, or even curiosity, but he just casually slurped his soda, eating fries from the bag. The silence was agonizing, but what could she say? She’d tried to explain before, to the people she’d trusted most in the world, but nobody had ever believed her. They all thought she was being dramatic or looking for attention. They figured it was just a lovers’ quarrel and they’d work it out.
That was another way Oliver had won.
Natalie had learned to keep it to herself. Change the subject, let them think what they wanted about her. She didn’t need to justify her choices or defend the mistakes she’d made. But now, she was struck with that same sick anxiety all over again. Because this was Luke. And if he acted the same way, dismissed what she’d been through, or—worse still—judged her for it, like it was all her fault?
It would break her heart.
So, Natalie kept walking beside him in silence, her mind full of the words she didn’t know how to say. They reached the riverbank and followed one of the pathways that wound beside the shoreline. It was beautiful out, the water glittering dark, reflecting the city lights, but Natalie couldn’t take in the view. She was too focused on the man beside her, his footsteps steady in the night.
Finally, Luke took a deep breath. Natalie braced herself.
�
�I won’t ask what happened,” he said slowly. “It’s your business, whatever it is. But if you ever need a friend to talk to, or just someone to listen, I’m here.”
Natalie’s heart stopped.
She almost didn’t believe him, thinking maybe this was some kind of trap, the way Oliver used to twist everything around, but when she looked up, Luke was staring at her with such quiet compassion in his eyes, she knew every word must be true.
“You can tell me anything,” he added. “I promise, I’ll be here for you. When you’re ready to talk.”
She nodded silently, still trying to find the words, but it was another half mile before she was able to speak.
“My name was Sara. Before. I changed it, legally,” she added quickly. “Alice helped with that. I’m sorry I lied to you.”
Luke shook his head. “You don’t owe me an apology,” he said.
“I know, but—”
Luke stopped her. “I mean it.” He looked out over the dark water, his hands in his pockets. “The way I figure, if you went to those lengths to start over, to make it so you couldn’t be found, well . . . You must have a pretty good reason.”
Hope flickered to life in her chest. That maybe he would understand.
Natalie took a deep breath. “Oliver. His name is Oliver, and he’s the reason, for all of this.”
She felt a surge of relief just saying it out loud. After so long hiding her secrets, carrying it like a burden, there was something freeing about finally sharing the truth.
They reached a bench overlooking the river. Natalie took a seat and Luke joined her, waiting patiently for whatever she had to say. She took another deep breath, her confidence slowly building.
“We were together for four years,” she explained. “And they . . . they weren’t good ones. Not in the end. I finally left last winter. Moving here, starting over, my new name . . . I wanted to leave it all behind,” she said. “A fresh start, with nothing holding me back. But it wasn’t just that. I needed to get away for good.” She paused. “I don’t know what he would do if he found me,” she added in a quiet voice.
Natalie felt Luke’s whole body tense beside her. “Did he hurt you?”
She shook her head.
“Not physically. He never hit me, although . . . Sometimes, I wonder if it would have been easier if he did,” she confessed in a whisper. “Then at least I would have something to point to, a way of knowing for sure that it wasn’t all in my head. It’s awful, I know,” she added, guilty. “But I was so confused all the time, I felt like I was going crazy. He would be so sweet to me, and then the next, screaming how useless I was. How stupid. How he was the only one who would ever love me.”
Natalie stopped, remembering the nights he would turn on her, equal parts sweet and scornful. He knew just how to cut her down, to find her insecurities and twist the knife, stripping her defenses away until she was weeping and lost in his arms.
“I know it sounds simple now. Why didn’t I just leave?” she asked, echoing the question she’d asked herself a hundred times. “I mean, if he’d acted like that from the beginning, then of course, I would have run as fast as I could. But it wasn’t like that. The good times outweighed the bad. Until . . . they didn’t.”
“Like a lobster.”
Natalie turned, confused. Luke gave her a rueful smile. “If you put a lobster straight in boiling water, it leaps right out. So, you turn up the heat slowly, and it doesn’t even realize that it’s boiling to death.”
She blinked. “That’s it. That’s exactly it!” she agreed, her courage growing. “He could be so sweet to me; he said he loved me so much. I thought, maybe it is my fault. Maybe if I tried harder, fixed things, didn’t make him so mad . . .” Natalie trailed off. “And before I even knew what was happening, it was too late. I felt trapped, like he was my only lifeline. Like I was nothing without him.”
She swallowed hard. “I hate him,” she said softly. “But I hate him for that the most. He took away everything that made me me, one piece at a time, until I didn’t even trust myself anymore. We would have these fights, and then he’d deny they’d ever happened,” she said, shaking her head. “He’d tell me I was imagining things, that he’d never said the things he did. I started believing him. I actually wondered if I was losing my mind.”
She stopped. Luke took her hand and squeezed. “But you got out,” he reminded her. “You found a way.”
“I did.”
Natalie took another breath and looked out over the glittering water. A calm pride rolled through her, knowing how far she’d come. How hard she’d worked.
Nobody could take that away from her now.
“I didn’t tell him I was leaving,” she said, rueful. “I wasn’t strong enough for that yet. I just packed a bag when he was away on a business trip and left without saying goodbye.”
“Good.” Luke’s jaw was clenched. “He didn’t deserve one. He didn’t deserve anything from you.”
His voice was so fierce, it made her smile. “I thought I could just move on after that, go back to my old life,” she explained. “But he was relentless. Calling all night, showing up at my parents’ house . . . He even logged into my cellphone accounts to check my calls and try and trace where I’d been. I didn’t even know he’d found all my passwords.” Her fists curled in determination, remembering how trapped she’d felt—and how certain she’d been that she needed to get away. “He threatened all kinds of things . . . Told me that he’d never give up on us. I realized if I was going to have any chance at all of a new life, it had to be a clean break. No way for him to ever track me down. My grandmother had left me a little money, so, I left. Came here. Opened the shop. Met you,” she added.
“The highlight, clearly,” Luke said with a grin. “Well, me, and the many delights of Sweetbriar Cove.”
Natalie paused, feeling like a weight was slowly lifting from her shoulders. All this time, she’d been worried what people would think of her. How they’d judge. But Luke wasn’t looking at her any differently.
He didn’t think less of her after hearing the truth.
She realized suddenly that she was still holding his hand. Natalie quickly let it go. “Anyway, that’s the story. Most of it, anyway. I haven’t seen or heard from him since I left, so when I saw Kelsey . . . I just freaked.”
“Will it be OK, do you think?” Luke asked, frowning. “What if she tells him?”
Natalie tried to think clearly. “I’m safe,” she decided. “All she knows is that she saw me in Boston. It’s a big city. She doesn’t know my new name or where I’m living. Plus, Kelsey is kind of self-centered,” she added. “She might not even remember to call him at all.”
“Here’s hoping she gets distracted by some hot gossip,” Luke said with a comforting smile.
Natalie smiled back, relief and gladness surging in her bloodstream now. It was out. Her dark secret had been brought into the light, and even though it hadn’t quite melted away like those monsters hiding under the bed, it didn’t seem so scary or shameful anymore. “Thank you,” she said, feeling overwhelmed.
Luke looked confused. “For what?”
“For listening. For not judging me.”
“Why would I ever do that?” he asked. “None of this is your fault. You loved someone who hurt you. That’s on him, not you. I hope you know that,” he said, his brow furrowing in concern.
“I do,” Natalie said with a sigh. “But other people . . .”
“Screw other people,” Luke said forcefully. Natalie couldn’t help but smirk at the double entendre. “Or not,” he added with a chuckle. “You know what I mean.”
“I do,” Natalie said, smiling. She felt lighter. Brave. Back to her old self again. And the best part of all?
She didn’t have to hide anything from him.
She got to her feet. “Come on,” she said, beckoning to Luke. “Do you know this city?”
“A little. Why?” he asked, looking surprised.
“Because I’m goi
ng to buy you a drink.”
* * *
Luke took her to a noisy, dim dive bar full of college kids and so loud, Natalie could hardly hear herself speak. It was perfect. They ordered beers and then another round of food, too, when she discovered she was ravenous. She hadn’t eaten all day. They squeezed into a booth in the corner, the leather sticky with God knows what, and watched amateur rock bands perform on a tiny stage while the girls danced in front, sweaty and free.
Natalie watched them. “I was that young once,” she said, feeling wistful.
Luke snorted. “You’re still young.”
“Not like that,” she said, gesturing. “When you think you’re invincible.”
“And dumb and hormone-addled, wracked with insecurities . . .” Luke corrected her, grinning. “Nope, I much prefer being a grown adult, thanks all the same. Fewer fake IDs to worry about. Plus, no filthy roommates. Oh man, the guys I roomed with in college were the worst. Pigs.”
“And you were Mr. Clean?” Natalie challenged with a laugh.
“Compared to them, yes! At least I didn’t use the same towel for my feet and my face.”
“Eww,” she laughed. “OK, you win.”
“What were you like in college?” Luke asked, taking a swig of beer. “Straight As, I bet.”
She shook her head. “I never went. Managed a couple of years of community college, but . . . School was never my strong suit. I don’t have a head for facts or figures,” she added.
“Me either,” Luke admitted. “Why do you think I prefer working with my hands?”
Natalie’s gaze dropped to where he had those hands wrapped around a bottle. Steady and tanned. Capable. She remembered the way they felt, sliding around her waist.
Gently cupping her cheek as he kissed her.
She swallowed, hard, and grabbed a buffalo wing to keep from reaching for him.
Big mistake.
“Hot!” she managed, fanning herself as her entire mouth went up in flames. “Argh!”
Luke laughed, passing her a glass of water. Natalie gulped fervently, until the burning had mellowed.
