Stacking the Deck (A Betting on Romance Novel Book 2) (45 page)

Carter blinked back at the four eager women. “Do I have to answer that?”

“Yes,” Grams insisted. “We don’t help unless you’re willing to be honest. True love isn’t easy and usually involves a willingness to publicly humiliate yourself, so you need to tell us. Do you love her?”

Carter couldn’t have felt any more on the spot if he were on national TV. He cleared his throat. “Yes.”

He might have said more, but then a floral muumuu was smothering him as Lydia cried her delight into his shoulder. “I knew it!
I knew it!
The cards don’t lie!” she cried exuberantly before sitting back again and mopping her eyes with a crumpled tissue.

“Moving on,” Claire said with a quelling look for Lydia. “What do you want us to do?”

“I want to surprise her. I have this idea...” He cleared his throat again. “It’s a bit out of the box, so I’d appreciate it if you ladies would keep open minds. But I’ll need help. Can I trust you to be, uh, discreet?”

Four silver heads bobbed eagerly. “Absolutely!” they said in near unison.

Carter chewed his bottom lip then shrugged. Hell, what did he have to lose?

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
____________________

L
IZ RESOLUTELY PULLED the zipper shut on her suitcase. It was for the best, she told herself, as she set it next to the bed. Trish was right. She had no business dreaming of making a life in Sugar Falls—no business putting all the trappings of her June Cleaver fantasies into place—until she stopped letting life happen
to
her and started going after the life she wanted. And, it all started today. She had 36 hours before she had to be back in Chicago. It wasn’t enough time to take away the empty ache in her heart, but it was enough to check one thing off her list.

She turned resolutely toward the door. “No more shying away from life, Eddie. By the end of the year, the ‘Liz Never’ list will be no more.”

Eddie peered at her unblinkingly from the top of the dresser.

Her cell phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Oh, good. Glad I caught you. It’s Aunt Claire. I need you to do me a favor.”

“Actually, I’m leaving town earlier than expected. I was just on my way out—”

“Even better! You can give me a ride to the dedication. It starts at noon. I promised Ruth I’d be there and Trish isn’t answering her phone.”

“What dedication?”

“What do you mean, ‘what dedication’? The fountain! The Sugar Falls Commemorative Fountain! Where have you
been
?”

“Chicago?”

“Oh. Right. Well, it’s fixed now, and they’re having a re-dedication. Today. At noon. I promised Ruth I’d be there.”

“Aunt Claire. I don’t have a car. I returned it to the rental agency yesterday. My taxi will be here within the hour, and then I’m flying—”

“Perfect timing. You can drop me off on your way through town. I’d drive myself, but I haven’t been hydrating like I should and I had another dizzy spell this morning. If you
really
don’t want to, I suppose I
could
try driving...”

Liz blew out a breath. “
No
. No, I’ll give you a ride. Can you get home again?”

“I’m sure I’ll figure something out. See you in an hour?”

“Sure. See you then.”

Forty-five minutes later, Liz blinked back tears as the taxi pulled out of her driveway. She wouldn’t look back, she told herself. She wouldn’t second-guess herself anymore.

Anyway, it was better this way. She needed to move forward and stop thinking about what might have been. A home wasn’t a place, it was a state of mind, right?

And, Elizabeth Anne Beacon intended to put her house in order.

A faint, bittersweet smile curved her lips as she stared at the passing landscape. Soft-green leaf buds dotted the stark tree limbs. Before long, the branches would grow lush and heavy with summer foliage.

She loved this time of year. Loved the carpet of maple seeds that littered lawns and sidewalks. Loved the musky scent of spring rain, the nighttime melody of peepers as they searched for mates in roadside marshes.

Loved Carter McIntyre.

Oof
. It always hit her like that, smack between the eyes when she was thinking about innocuous things like peepers or maple seeds. It was a gentler ache now, the empty space where her heart used to be. More of a hollowness instead of the stabbing pain of fresh rejection. There was nothing to be done about it anyway. Like Trish said, it was over.

Liz swallowed over the thickness in her throat.

She should have trusted her own judgment, should have ignored what everyone else said about him and listened to her heart. But it was too late. Whatever feelings Carter may have had for her had been killed by her own inability to trust and accept herself and take a leap with him.

She’d left him nine messages of apology not including hang-ups. He hadn’t called her back.

Liz reached out to roll down the window. Warm air blew onto her face, a sweet medley of earthy spring fragrances teasing her nostrils. Taking a deep breath, she pursed her lips. Some things were in her control. Some were not.

She glanced at the suitcase on the floor beside her and prepared to open the door for her aunt.

“D
ON’T ASK,”
L
IZ WARNED as Aunt Claire eyed her luggage for the umpteenth time since leaving her driveway.

“What makes you think I was going to say anything about the suitcase on the floor? Do I
look
like the type of woman to stick my nose into my grandniece’s personal affairs? Do I seem like the kind of old lady who’d stoop to being nosy about something like that? To questioning what young people knew about making smart decisions? Do I?
Hmm?”

“In a word: Yes.”

“Well, if I’m already tried and convicted... where are you going?”

“Out of town.”

“I see.” Claire lips flattened in disapproval.

Liz hid a smile. “I don’t think you do.”

“I may be old, but I see perfectly. Now that Trish and Russ have decided to your folks’ house, you’re running away again. Just like when you smacked yourself unconscious and had that fight with Carter.”

“I’m not running away! This is different. If you must know, Trish is taking care of Eddie, and I’m going to New York for the weekend.”

“
New York?
Whatever is in New York?”

“About twenty million people... and Niagara Falls.”

“No.”

Liz sighed again. “You won’t change my mind—”

“I mean ‘no,’ as in technically Niagara Falls is only
partly
in New York. The rest is in Canada. I saw a program about it on TV last year. Did you know the falls are eroding a foot per year and in 50,000 years they’ll merge into Lake Erie and cease to exist?”

“Oh, look!” Liz interrupted with relief, not wanting to get into a geography lesson which was
so
not the point at the moment. “Sorry to cut you off, but we’re here. It looks like quite a crowd, so I think I’ll just let you off here by the bank if you don’t mind—”

“You’re not going to walk me to the common?”

“Walk you?”

“What if I have heart palpitations again? I brought a bottle of water with me, but...”

Glancing at her cell to check the time, Liz blew out a quick breath. What was a few more minutes delay in the scheme of things? Asking the driver to wait, she pushed open the side door. “Ten minutes, Aunt Claire. Truly. That’s all I can spare. I’ve got a flight to catch.”

“Fine. Fine. If we just find the other gals, I’ll let you go.”

“Fine.” Liz gripped her aunt’s elbow and pushed forward through the crowd.

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
____________________

“I
THINK
I
SEE
L
YDIA,” Aunt Claire announced as she and Liz pressed through the crowd.

Liz fought the urge to roll her eyes, as this was the third time the elusive Lydia had purportedly been spotted. You’d think a woman who dressed primarily in hideous florals would be easier to find.

“Aunt Claire, I
really
have to get to the airport. My plane leaves in ninety minutes and the pre-flight—”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, this is Sugar Falls! How long will it take to put fourteen passengers through a metal detector and onto one little puddle-jumper?
There!
I’m sure that’s her by the gazebo.”

The air held the warm promise of summer, and Liz’s heart squeezed tight in her chest. It was the time of year for lovers. For fresh beginnings.

Maybe she’d find someone new. Out of the millions of men in the world, there ought to be one or two possibilities, right?

Her heart squeezed again. She didn’t want just any man. She wanted
one
man. Carter.

She squinted against the sun and told herself that’s why her eyes were moist.

“
Liz
.”

She froze.
Oh God…

Aargh!
It wasn’t fair! Why couldn’t the Fates let her leave on her own terms? Quietly? Without conflict or confrontation? Slinking away with at least a tiny shred of her remaining dignity intact?

Liz turned and strained to remain calm even as every nerve cell in her body leapt with awareness. “Carter!” she said with false brightness.

He stood a few feet away, his dark hair ruffling lightly in the breeze. Liz wondered distractedly whether he had some official role in the dedication ceremony, because he was wearing a trim dark suit and burgundy tie that gave him the air of a high class spy. Lord, he cleaned up nicely.

“I’m glad you came,” he said. His green eyes sparkled in the sun, drinking her in, or at least that’s what Liz told herself, because she didn’t want that glittering look to be anger.

Guilt ate at her. She’d hurt this man so deeply. To hell with her dignity.

“I’m sorry,” she blurted, struggling to remain composed, resentful of the crowd chattering happily around them. Her skin tingled under his gaze, and she fidgeted, fighting the urge to bolt. “I never meant to hurt you, Carter, to imply—”

“I know.”

“You were right. About so many things. But you were wrong about one thing. The
real
me was—
is—
the me I am when I’m with you. Every time. Always. And, that’s the me I want to be. That’s the me I plan to be from now on…”

“Glad to hear that.”

“I just… I needed to tell you that.” She waited and he was so quiet, the tears threatened again. She turned away. If she didn’t leave
now
she’d do something to embarrass them both, like blubber all over him and beg him for another chance. In front of the marching band. And the baton twirling squad
.
And that guy over there in the uniform that looked way official and was looking at her like he was afraid he’d have to offer her a tissue…

“Liz—”

“I have to go. I—”