by Olivia Miles
With a hard glance at Alec, he stormed off.
Kate folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes on Alec. “Is that true, Alec? Every story has two sides?”
Alec held up a hand. “Kate, you’ve misunderstood.”
“That’s what everyone keeps telling me. What were the papers then, Alec? Was this all planned? Did you know that I was engaged to Jake? You sure seem to do your homework—after all, you had all this planned when you came to Misty Point. Were you looking for inside tips, something to help you land the business?”
Alec heaved a sigh. There was no hiding it. “I didn’t know about your connection to Mason’s son.”
“But you still had this planned all week? Knowing what it meant to your brother? To me?” Her voice cracked on the last word, and he closed his eyes at the sound. “I have to go,” she said, turning to leave.
“Kate.” He took a step toward her. “If you’ll just let me explain.”
But there was no excuse. The notes she had found were real. There was no denying his plans. He had chosen not to go through with them, but it was simply too late. The intention had been there, and that was incriminating enough.
“There’s nothing to explain, Alec. It was all explained to me right there in that file. You’re exactly the person Elizabeth said you were. The person she warned me about. And I didn’t listen. I didn’t listen,” she said quietly, shaking her head.
“Then listen to me now.” He raised his hand to grab her arm and then thought better of it. “I never meant to hurt you.”
“But you did, Alec. And I’m not the only person you hurt.” She searched his face. “Why bother coming to town at all? Why couldn’t you have just said you couldn’t make it? Why put us all through this?”
“It wasn’t meant to go this far. This meeting today, it didn’t come about until the other day, I promise.” He waited, and seeing the way her stance softened a bit, continued. “I came to town to meet with Mason on Monday. Then I stayed around to see if there was any way William might rejoin the firm. The business is in trouble—”
She closed her eyes. Held up a hand. “I’ve heard enough. I have to go.”
“Kate.”
“Goodbye, Alec.” She backed away toward the door, the distance between them growing one step at a time before he knew it was too late to stop her. “I hope it was worth it to you. And I hope that you find what you’re looking for,” she said before she was gone.
* * *
Kate was already out the door before he could catch up with her. He stood on the porch where just a week ago he’d sat on a wicker chair, watching her march out on him over something stupid he’d said. But that time it was still lighthearted. Maybe even a little fun. And that time all he’d had to do was call her name and she’d come back.
He knew it would take a lot more than that to get her back again.
Alec ran a hand through his hair, cursing to himself as he glanced at his watch. He’d see her at the wedding, but he didn’t want to wait until then. He needed to explain, to her, and to William.
William. No doubt that’s where she was going. To warn him. She’d never let him explain, never let him tell her that he’d spoken to his father this morning. That he wouldn’t be attending the meeting. That he’d made his choice.
In the distance he could see that the tents were already being set up near the shoreline, a reminder of the events that were under way, the plan that was in motion. Had he ruined it? Had he been too late?
There was only one way to find out.
Turning to go back inside to get his car keys from his hotel suite, he came face-to-face with Jake Lambert, who stared stonily at him from the entrance to the lobby.
“I hadn’t realized when we met that you’re Alec Montgomery.” His gaze was cool.
“My father will be handling the meeting today,” Alec said, still moving toward the elevator bank. “I’ll be attending my brother’s wedding.”
“I didn’t realize you knew Kate. How’d that come about?”
Alec thought back on the dinner he’d spent with Elizabeth and her family at Kate’s parents’ home and felt his defenses grow. Here was a man who could have been a part of that, a loving, warm, bustling family, and instead he’d turned his nose up, broken promises, and broken hearts.
He stopped. Nailed the jackass with a hard look. “My brother’s marrying Kate’s best friend. We’re practically family.” Family. He liked the sound of that.
Jake cocked an eyebrow. “Then I’m going to tell you what I told Kate. Whatever you hear from Charlotte, you have to consider the source.”
Alec frowned, not understanding where the guy was going with this but not liking it either. “You made your choices with Charlotte,” he said.
Jake took a step forward. “That’s right, I did. But it doesn’t mean I’m that baby’s father. With a girl like Charlotte…well, I think she’s shown what she’s all about.”
Alec fought the urge to punch the guy in the nose. God knew he deserved it. “I don’t know about that, but I do know that I can see what you’re all about. And I don’t like it.”
He brushed past the man, trying to digest what he’d just heard and wondering just how much Kate had learned before he’d interrupted their conversation. From what he could tell, she didn’t know what he knew.
All the more reason to find her and set things right. For everyone.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Kate knew she should have checked on the tent setup, but if there was a problem, she was reachable by phone. Instead she took a detour, stopped at Harbor Street Café, slowly sipped a latte, gathering up the courage to talk to William. To warn him, and probably, she knew, break his heart.
She’d taken the long way home, each mile closer filling her with dread, until she couldn’t stall any longer. It was time to stop hiding.
She blinked back tears as she pulled the car to a stop in her driveway and stared at the house across the hedge. She should have known that it was all too good to be true, that Elizabeth knew what she was talking about, that she wouldn’t misjudge someone the way Kate had so many times.
She hesitated, unable to get out of the car and cross the lawn, even though she knew she should, even though she knew she had to. Not just as the wedding planner, but as…a friend.
She closed her eyes, pushing aside that little part of herself that still wanted to believe Alec could be different, trying to ignore the urgency in his voice, the pleading look in his eyes. He’d been caught in the act, scrambling to find a way out of his mess without looking like a complete jerk. That’s all it was.
Or was it?
Enough. The man was a jerk. A big one, at that. And she of all people should know how to spot one.
She pushed open the car door, just in time to see her mother’s silver sedan pull in. Well, great. She didn’t want to have a conversation about Charlotte. Not now.
“Hi there.” She smiled, hoping to mask her feelings as she walked over to greet her mother, but it was no use. Maura took one look at her and frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
What wasn’t?
Kate smiled a little bigger, but she could feel the tears shining in her eyes. “Nothing. Just busy. Wedding day and all!”
“Oh, honey.” There was the dreaded head tilt. Here it came. “It’s hard, I know. But your turn will come.”
Kate could only nod. She struggled to swallow against the lump in her throat. Would her time come? And did she even want it to? She wasn’t so sure anymore. If anything, she was less sure now than she’d been a year ago.
Maura reached out and gave Kate’s hand a squeeze. “Just think of how much this means to Elizabeth.”
“Oh, I know how much this means to her all right, and that’s why…” She shook her head and furiously brushed at a hot tear that escaped.
“Honey.” Maura’s voice lilted with concern and she squinted at Kate. “Is this really because Elizabeth and William are getting married?”<
br />
Or is it because Charlotte was back in town? That’s what she was really implying.
“It’s because they might not be getting married, Mom. Or because if they do, the day might be ruined. And it’s my fault. I should have known. I should have listened!” If she’d heeded her best friend’s advice, kept an eye on Alec instead of falling for his charm, then maybe all this could have been avoided, or at least detected sooner.
“Okay, you’re going to have to fill me in.” Maura led Kate over to the small garden bench tucked under the tree near her garage. They were hidden, out of view of William and Elizabeth’s house, and Kate was grateful for it. Just seeing it was a reminder of how much excitement had gone into this single day, and how much everyone stood to lose.
“You know William’s brother?” It felt good to admit this, to tell someone the truth, even if it was to her mom, someone she had pushed away this past year, because she didn’t know what else to do. Now, sitting side by side, her mother’s familiar hand in hers, she realized how much she missed these talks.
“Alec. Of course. Such a polite young man.” Her mother’s smile was wistful.
Kate pinched her lips at that. “Elizabeth warned me about him. She was worried he would do something to ruin their wedding. I thought she was being silly, that it was wedding jitters and all that. But she was right, Mom. And I didn’t listen.”
“But you spent all that time with him this week!” Maura cut in, but then her expression took on a knowing look. “Oh. I see.”
“I liked him, Mom. I…felt excited at the thought of seeing him. He made me start to believe that there are better men than Jake out there. Men that won’t lie to me. Betray me.” Her voice broke, and she closed her eyes again. Fool. What a fool she’d been.
“But there are men like that, Kate,” Maura said softly.
“Well, not Alec,” Kate said firmly. “He wasn’t the person I thought he was. He’s the person Elizabeth has always insisted he is.”
Kate had expected her mother to be outraged, to demand to know why she felt this way, but instead her brows pinched and she turned thoughtful. “Are you sure about that?”
“Yes, I’m sure! I couldn’t be more sure!” She had an entire file folder to prove it. “He was planning on skipping the wedding, Mom, in favor of a business meeting. With the Lamberts.”
“The Lamberts?” Maura paled. “You mean Mason and—”
“Jake,” Kate finished for her.
Kate followed her gaze, thinking of what Jake had said, his cryptic words, but decided now wasn’t the time to discuss Charlotte. Kate just needed her mom right now. No history. No family problems. Just mother and daughter. The way it used to be.
“Sometimes there’s more to the story than meets the eye.” Maura sighed. “Talk to him, Kate.”
“Mom, no offense, but you don’t know the whole story!”
“I do,” her mother said firmly. “Talk to him. For me.”
Maura jutted her head to the road, where Alec was standing, his hands thrust in his pockets, his frown visible even from this distance.
Her mother released her hand, but not before saying, “You always had a good sense of people, when you listened to that little voice. Listen to it now. And…believe in second chances.”
Kate knew her mother was referring to Charlotte as much as she was implying she should forgive Alec, but she wasn’t ready to do either of those things right now. She had to focus on the facts, and the fact was that her best friend’s wedding was about to be ruined, just like her own had been.
* * *
Kate stood, but she didn’t make any motion to walk closer to him. “Unless you’re here to tell me there is no meeting and you will be attending the wedding, I have nothing to say to you.”
“I’m here to tell you that I am attending the wedding,” Alec replied, and Kate’s eyes turned sharply on his. “You wouldn’t let me explain.”
She hesitated at the edge of the path, glancing from William’s house back to him. “But…the file.”
Alec sighed. “I’m not going to lie to you, Kate. And I wasn’t trying to.”
“Then what do you call what you were doing?”
“Figuring things out,” he replied. And he had. It just might be too late. He motioned to the bench. “Can we sit?”
Kate seemed to waver, but after a long pause, nodded. Noticing the firm set of her mouth, he made sure to sit as close to the edge as the space allowed, even though he wanted nothing more than to reach over, take her hand, kiss her mouth, and bring them right back to last night.
“This week…I came to town to see if I could convince my brother to come back, rejoin the firm.”
Her brow pinched. “And what about the wedding?”
He wasn’t proud, but he also knew there was no way to move forward unless he was completely honest. Kate deserved to know the truth.
“Whether or not he got married wasn’t my concern. If he got married, but came to Boston, great. But if he couldn’t have both…I wanted him back, Kate. My dad…my dad needed him back. That’s the difference.”
“I don’t follow,” Kate said. Her eyes were flat and hooded, and Alec shifted forward, eager to close this distance that had grown between them.
“The business is in trouble. When William left, big clients followed. They liked working with him. I don’t blame them.” He gave a low chuckle, even though it wasn’t funny. “The way we saw it, the Montgomery Group had less than a year unless our revenue increased. We needed the old clients back or some big new ones to replace them.”
“Like Mason Lambert,” Kate said.
Alec nodded. “The thing is, though, for me…it was more than just the business. I missed my brother, Kate. I missed having him at the office. Maybe that makes me sound selfish. Maybe I am. But…he’s all I have.”
Her expression softened at this, and she met his eye, looking away quickly when she did. “And now? What’s changed? Why did you cancel the meeting?”
“Oh, the meeting’s still on. My dad’s attending it without me,” Alec added, seeing the confusion in her eyes. He pulled in a breath, releasing it slowly. “You asked me the other day what I wanted. I never knew. I never stopped to think about it. I was too busy hiding, too focused on trying to make the best of what I had, rather than finding something more.”
He reached out and set a hand on hers. He hated the way she flinched at his touch. “This is what I want, Kate. I want laughter, and a dog, and a home to come back to at the end of the day. I want to put myself out there, not live behind walls. I want you.”
* * *
His hand was warm, sturdy and strong, and he didn’t release it, even when she didn’t hold it back. She tried to listen to her heart, to search for that little voice that might tell her to shake him off, stand up, walk away. But it didn’t.
“Can’t we start over, Kate?”
Kate frowned and stood up. Forcing physical space between them would make it easier to think clearly, to remember what he’d done…until she considered his reasons for it. Until now this house had been her haven. Her safe place. Her fresh start.
And she’d invited him into it.
“Stop hiding.” His voice was clear, firm, and gentle enough to stop her in her tracks.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” But even as she said it, she knew he was right. She had spent the past year of her life hiding. Hiding from anyone and anything that caused her distress. Jake. Charlotte. Her parents.
“It means there are some things in life you have to face and not try to deny. I did it for too long, Kate. I don’t want you to make the same mistake.”
“And what is it I am trying to deny exactly?”
He stood and walked forward until he was standing right in front of her, forcing her to look up into his eyes. He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek, grazing his thumb over her skin. She closed her eyes to the touch, hating just how good it felt almost as much as she relished it. “Me. You and me. Us.”
&n
bsp; Kate stilled. This was it. A turning point. She could move forward, dare to try, or she could go into her house, shut the door, stay in her safe place. She swallowed hard. “There is no us,” she said with more determination than she felt.
His mouth curved into a half smile. “There could be.”
“No,” she chuckled softly, thinking of how close he’d come to breaking her heart and deceiving her. “No, there can’t.”
“Why not? Give me one good answer why, and then I’ll go and leave you alone forever.”
Alone forever. Elizabeth’s words echoed in her head. Was that really what she wanted? She drew a shaky breath. It didn’t matter what she wanted anymore. It mattered what made sense. And opening her heart didn’t make any sense at all. She had done it twice now, and look how it had ended.
Only this time it didn’t have to end.
“Love doesn’t last,” she said simply, forcing herself to stay strong.
A shadow passed over Alec’s face before he challenged, “I used to think that, too. But this week I saw that it can. I want to believe it might for us.”
She wanted to believe that, too. More than she wanted to admit. To herself. To him. She shook her head. She knew how it ended. She’d been there before.
“You’re just saying that because you’ve been hurt, but don’t you see, I’m not here to hurt you, Kate. I’m here because for the first time in my life I am standing where I want to be. This is what I want. This. Right here. You and me.”
God, he was good. But not good enough. She took a step backward. She really needed to get away from him. She needed to get inside, with sweet little Henry, curl up on the bed with a good book, and shut him out. Shut the world out.
“I know you, Kate, and I know that you love what you do because it’s a part of you. You’re a hopeless romantic.” He grinned.
“Hopeless,” Kate snorted. That was the word all right.
