He nodded. “For a long time, in fact. I never really pulled it off. I wish that I could understand why. I mean, I foolishly thought that, at the bare minimum, we were friends. But that couldn’t have been true. A friend would have at least left a note.”
It felt like her tears turned into battery acid. “I did what I thought was best. I did it for you—us.”
He shook his head. “No. You did it for you. You wanted out of that town and you wanted to get as far away from me as you possibly could. I get it. And look … “ He stepped back as well. “You’ve done real good for yourself. You’re running a big-time talent agency and now you’re about to marry the number one box office star. Life is good.”
“No. You got it all wrong.”
“What? You’re not a big success? You haven’t achieved everything that you’ve ever dreamed of?” There was a hardness that was slowly creeping into his eyes.
“Of course not.” Because we’re not together. “It’s … complicated.”
While that statement hung between them, the temperature seemed to drop another ten degrees.
“Complicated,” he finally repeated and then glanced off toward the scenic view. “I traveled all the way up here to New York just for you to tell me that it’s … complicated?”
Corona opened her mouth to respond, but all that she could manage to get past her lips were thin puffs of cold air.
“Well, that’s disappointing.” He drew in a deep breath and then reached over and removed his jacket from around her shoulders. “Good luck to you.” With that, he turned and strolled back toward the terrace door.
Icy tears trickled down Corona’s face as she watched Lyfe walk away. “What would you have me say?” she asked.
He stopped with his hand on the door. “That’s just it. I don’t know.” Lyfe glanced over his shoulder. “But it sure wasn’t some bullshit like ‘it’s complicated.’” He jerked open the door and strolled back inside.
Corona blinked and then tried to hold back her tears. It turned out to be a pretty hard task now that Lyfe’s mere presence was like an emotional nuclear bomb exploding in her heart. She had long thought that he was out her life—that they would never see each other again—that their paths would never cross.
And now he was here.
At long last, the night’s cold penetrated her bones, forcing her to go back into the apartment. This time, when she moved through the crowd, she had trouble painting on a smile. However, she had no trouble spotting Lyfe as he made it back to the small circle of Rowan and her family. She watched with her heart in her throat as he leaned down and whispered something into Tess’s ear.
Immediately, the two sisters’ gazes met from across the room. Lyfe started for the door, but Tess grabbed his arm and then rolled up on her toes to whisper something into his ear.
Jealousy rose like a dragon inside Corona’s heart. She had the urge to march back over to the group herself and snatching every strand of hair out of Tess’s head. Wahida may have laid this trap, but, for the first time, she noticed the calculating look on her sister’s face.
Rowan said something to Lyfe, but Lyfe shook his head. Whatever excuse he was giving, her fiancé wasn’t trying to hear it. The men went back and forth, and then Tess and her parents got in on it until Lyfe’s shoulders slumped and he nodded.
Rowan lit up and then gave Lyfe a one arm hug before spinning around and spotting her across the room. “Honey, come here.” He waved her over.
Corona groaned and, for a brief second, she thought about pretending not to have seen him. But with the whole family looking and staring her dead in the face, she tried to inject steel into her spine and give herself a pep talk as she made her way back through the crowd. As she got closer, she noticed that Lyfe averted his eyes and gritted his teeth.
“We have a great idea to swing by you, honey,”
Rowan said, slipping an arm around her waist and planting a kiss against the side of her head.
Lyfe finally glanced over.
“Is that right?” she said, leaning into Rowan for support.
Rowan nodded and continued, “What do you think about us being in each other’s weddings?” he asked.
She blinked up at him.
“Tess was going to be your maid of honor, right? I figured Lyfe here can be my best man and then when they get married in January—”
“January?” Corona whipped her head toward her sister.
Tess shrugged. “What better way to start off a new year than walking down the aisle?”
Corona clenched her jaw while another image of her yanking her sister bald-headed flashed across her head. “Perfect,” Rowan said. “They will be in our wedding, and then we’ll be in theirs. What do you think?”
Corona’s skittish gaze made its way back to Lyfe before she pushed up another painful smile. “I guess you’re right. It’s perfect.”
Chapter 12
“So you think that this Lyfe guy is your father?” Amanda Hogan asked, twisting up her face as she leaned over Melody’s shoulder.
“He just has to be,” Melody said, flopping back onto one of Amanda’s fluffy pillows. She clutched two of her mother’s diaries to her chest and smiled dreamily up at the ceiling. “I never knew that my mother had ever been in love like this before. It’s soooo … unlike her.”
“For real,” Carrie Jones said dismissively. “I’ve always thought that it was more appropriate for her to marry her job.”
Melody sat up and felt the need to come to her mother’s defense. “All right. That’s not fair. She’s not completely a workaholic. She never missed a recital or school play. And somehow she still manages to check my homework and watch my every move like a hawk.”
Amanda and Carrie laughed. “Still sore that you got caught sneaking out of the house to see Robbie back in August?”
“I am,” Melody grudgingly admitted. “I’m only just now getting off restriction.” Another smile curled her lips. “But at least I got to see Robbie before he left to be an exchange student in Paris. So it was kind of worth it. Plus, while I was bored in the house, I was able to find her secret stash.” She sat up and glanced down at the diaries. “I thought my mother didn’t understand what I was feeling but after reading these diaries … she understands perfectly. She loved this Lyfe more than … life itself,” she cracked up at the small joke. “They were so in love.”
“Sounds to me like you’re practically willing this guy to be your father,” Carrie said. She grabbed one of the other books and started flipping through the pages.
Now feeling possessive, Melody grabbed the book from her best friend. “No, I’m not. I’m just facing the facts. Their whole love affair fits the timeline to my birthday.”
Carrie continued to look unconvinced. “They only did it that one time. Who’s to say that she didn’t come to New York and shack up with a new boyfriend?”
Melody laughed at the ludicrous thought. “Are you kidding me? My mother is not the type. Heck. Rowan James is the first real boyfriend that I’ve even known her to have.” She opened her mother’s journals again. “No. There’s no mention of another guy in here the year I was born. This Lyfe Alton has to be him.”
“What has your mother ever told you about your father?”
Melody’s shoulders drooped. “Only that things hadn’t worked out between them and that one day when I’m older she’ll tell me all about him.” She started hugging the books again. “Now she doesn’t have to.”
Amanda sighed. “Well, if you ask me, none of what you’ve read to us sounds like your mother. She’s so no-nonsense, and she’s always running five minutes late for everything with a phone attached to her ear. In those diaries, she sort of sounds like … us.”
Melody nodded. Inwardly she acknowledged that since she had started reading these diaries, she’d felt closer to her mom. She felt like she understood her on a deeper level. Except for why she was about to marry a man she didn’t love. Rowan James was just some actor on the rebound.
Even she could see that.
“So what are you going to do now?” Carrie asked.
“What else? I’m going to find him.”
“Engaged?” Rufus barked. His face was puffing up and turning purple as he climbed into the back of their limousine. His sharp accusing gaze sliced over to Lyfe. “What? You like playing eeny-meeny-miny-moe between my daughters?”
Lyfe’s collar tightened as his own temper flared.
“Wait,” Tess said, jumping in before a full-fledged war broke out. “Calm down, Daddy,” she said. “We’re not engaged. I lied.”
Adele gasped and then covered her mouth with her hands.
Her father raged on, “I want to make it clear that I’ve never liked … “ Tess’s words finally penetrated his angry fog. “You what?” he asked, jerking his head in Tess’s direction.
“I lied,” Tess repeated as if it was no big deal. “I wanted to see whether I was right about something … and I think I am.”
Adele shook her head. “But to say that Melody’s f—”
“Mom, it’s just an experiment.” Tess’s eyes narrowed to remind her mother that Corona’s secrets weren’t theirs to share.
Adele caught the hint and then quickly pressed her lips together.
Rufus remained indignant. “I don’t like it! I don’t like it. After twenty-something years of you sitting in the front pew, listening to my sermons, you think it’s okay to toss around lies like this?”
“Oh, Daddy. Calm down,” Tess said. “I’ll tell her the truth. Right now, I want to see what she does next.”
Lyfe finally cleared his throat. “Well, you’ll have to finish your experiment without me. I’m on the next plane out of here.” He glanced out of the back window, wishing their driver would hurry and get them back to their hotel. He had certainly had more drama than he could possibly stand for one night.
“You can’t leave now,” Tess said, grabbing his arm. “You saw how she reacted when she saw you. She’s not over you.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t come here to win her back, Tess. You know that. I came for answers … and I got them.”
“You did?” the Banks clan asked in unison.
“Yeah. She said it was … complicated.” His top lip curled with a wrinkle of disgust. “Good to know, don’t you think?”
The limo fell silent. Lyfe appreciated the silence as he took in the city’s ornate holiday theme. When he was a kid, he used to love the Christmas holidays. There were so many memories of him and Corona being in Christmas plays, going door-to-door caroling and even building snowmen and having snowball fights. Their love of the holidays had been one of the many reasons they had chosen this time of the year to finally become lovers. It was supposed to have been just one more happy memory to associate with the holidays.
Now the holidays brought him nothing but pain.
At long last the limousine rolled to a stop in front of the Four Seasons hotel, and Lyfe popped out of the back seat the moment the valet opened the door. But, though he would love to do nothing more than to give the Banks his back while he stormed through the hotel’s front door, he turned and offered a hand to Tess to help her out of the car. “Regardless of how this night ended, I do want to thank you for talking me into coming. I think that I’m finally able to close this last chapter with Corona Mae.”
“But—”
“Not only that, but I’m going to take a page out of her book and move on.” He leaned forward and brushed a kiss against her forehead. “Take care of yourself, kid.”
Rufus and Adele climbed out of the back and Lyfe tipped his head. “Goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. Banks.” He turned and finally strolled into the hotel.
“But, Lyfe, wait,” Tess shouted.
He ignored her call, determined to finally leave the Bankses firmly in his past.
Chapter 13
It had been years since Corona had woken up hungover. From the moment she attempted to open her eyes, there was some invisible devil at the back of her skull with a jackhammer, pounding away. Her battle to open her eyes only lasted a quarter of a second before she gave up the fight and told herself to lie as still as humanly possible. However, that tiny devil and his jackhammer were merciless and continued to drill. With one burst of energy, Corona flung out a hand, hoping to hit Rowan. But the other side of the bed was empty. So much for her plan of getting her fiancé to pity her enough to bring her some Excedrin and water. But there was some relief in not having him around to pester her about last night.
Last night.
Her family and Lyfe Alton showing up at her engagement party unannounced just had to have been a dream … or a nightmare. She couldn’t decide on which one just yet.
Riiiiiiinnnnnng!
Forget the jackhammer. The phone was a nuclear bomb that launched her straight up out of the bed. Even with her eyes wide open, it still took her a few seconds of looking around to recognize her own bedroom. Why had she thought that she had fallen asleep at Rowan’s place?
Riiiiiiinnnnng!
Corona’s temples detonated, causing her to slap her hands to the sides of her head to make sure that the damn thing was still attached. She was actually surprised that it was. The phone was starting to gear up for the third ring when she finally reached over and snatched up the cordless phone.
“Yeah. What is it?” It wasn’t the most cordial way to answer the phone, but she certainly wanted to convey to the caller that they should keep it brief.
“Momma?”
The migraine, nausea and her foul mood were quickly tossed out of the window. “Melody, baby? What is it?” She glanced around for the digital clock. “What time is it?” Heck. What day was it?
“It’s just noon,” Melody informed her. “How was the engagement party?”
Corona moaned before she had a chance to stop herself.
“That doesn’t sound too good,” Melody perked up.
“It … was … interesting.” She slid her hands into her tussled hair while she tried to process everything that had happened. But when her brain made it clear that it wasn’t even going to attempt to figure out the whole Lyfe and Tess engagement, she changed the subject. “What time is Amanda’s mother bringing you home? I’m thinking we should have lunch so we can talk.” Especially before you see your grandparents … and possibly your father.
“Well, that’s what I was calling you about. Is it okay that I stay an extra night here? We were thinking about spending the day Christmas shopping, and I can’t shop for your gift with you around.”
“An extra night?” She hesitated for a second. But maybe she needed this time to confront Tess and her parents alone, so that she could at least get her story straight for her daughter.
“Please, Momma. Carrie is here, too, and we all just want to hang out for the day.”
“All right. Just one more night. Let me speak to Amanda’s mother to make sure that it’s all right with her.”
“Yea! Thanks, Mom. You’re the greatest.”
Corona rolled her eyes with a smile. A few months ago her daughter had been declaring her the worst mother in the world when she’d been grounded after sneaking out of the house to see some boy. It had been the worst four hours of Corona’s life as she’d sat thinking of all the missing-child horror stories that usually played out on the evening news. That prank had landed Miss Melody on three months of restriction.
A minute later, Melody’s cell phone was passed over to Mrs. Hogan who verified and okayed the extra day at her home. Once the phone was handed back to her daughter, Corona extracted a promise from Melody to be on her best behavior then ended the call.
She now had twenty-four hours to get to the bottom of what was going on, and she wasn’t about to waste a single moment of it. Peeling herself out of her bedding, Corona was surprised to see that she was still wearing last night’s dress, complete with her Prada shoes. When she stood, she quickly realized that heels were not the best option when hungover. Neither was hopping around, trying to get them of
f.
In the bedroom’s adjoining bathroom, she took one glance at her reflection, then quickly turned away before she turned herself into stone. It wasn’t until she was standing beneath the shower’s streaming hot water that she got any relief. Just how much champagne had she drank?
Two hours later, she looked decent enough to rejoin the human race, plus she’d downed enough coffee to keep an elephant awake for at least half a year. She did at least remember her mother mentioning that they were all staying at the Four Seasons. It wasn’t until now that she wondered how they could afford such a luxury.
Wahida. Corona groaned. It stood to reason that if she had invited them all up to New York that she would also provide their accommodations.
“Why does that woman hate me?” she asked, racing out her front door. When she hopped into the back of the Maybach and dug out her cell phone, she saw that she had over twenty-three missed calls—most of them from her assistant Margo. She started to hit her callback option, but then pulled herself back. If she called the office, then chances were that she was going to spend the day dealing with actors and putting out small fires with studios.
No. Today she was going to play hooky.
“Where to, ma’am?” the driver asked.
“The Four Seasons,” she answered, plopping her phone back into her purse. “Please make it quick.”
Lyfe had spent the rest of his night making himself some long overdue promises. Number one being that he was now going to commit to finding a woman to settle down with. He was a successful architect, and it was time for him to become a family man. By the time he’d finally managed to fall asleep, he was content with his new life decision. When he woke up, he felt rejuvenated. A quick call to the airport informed him that there were no available flights out that morning, but he was more than welcome to wait to fly standby. His other option was to take a late afternoon flight. That was okay by him, as long he was back in his own bed by that night.
With his suitcase open on the bed, he started the work of repacking his belongings. A couple of seconds later, there was knock on his door. Since housekeeping had already been by, he concluded that it was Tess and waffled on whether he should open it.
A Christmas Affair Page 9
