Love At Last (Lily's Story, Book 3) (27 page)

What about Chelsea? I wanted to ask, but didn’t want to utter her name. Maybe if Marcus spent more time with me and Natalie, he would forget about Chelsea. I pictured her face and knew that wasn’t likely, but a girl could dream. “No, that would be great.”

“Okay. After we finish painting, we can buy the tile and other supplies we need.”

I nodded, my anxiety over not getting the painting done in time lifting. “Sounds great.” And I liked the way he’d said “the supplies
we
need.” Like this was
our
house.

“Okay. I’ll see you first thing.”

Marcus arrived early the next morning. Natalie had slept later than usual and when Marcus arrived, I was just fixing her some breakfast.

“Let me help with that,” he said, taking the jar of pureed bananas from my hand.

I smiled, happy to hand it over so I could finish cleaning up the kitchen. As I wiped down the counters, I watched him feeding Natalie and felt my feelings of love for him grow even more, if that was possible. Now that Cameron was no longer in the picture, I’d given up on battling my feelings for Marcus.
 

Even though our future seemed to only hold friendship, it was too exhausting to deny the way I felt about him. I loved him, plain and simple. Even though he didn’t feel the same, I couldn’t stop myself from feeling the way I did. That was like telling the sun to stop shining.

“She’s a good little eater,” he said, turning to look at me, a smile on his face.

“I know. I just hope she stays that way.”

A short time later I drove us to my new place.

“I’m excited to see what it looks like so far,” Marcus said as we walked to the front door.

I unlocked the door and we walked inside. “It’s amazing what a coat of paint can do.”

“Wow, Lily. It looks great.”

I beamed under his praise. “Thanks.”

“I’ll bet we can get the second coat finished today.”

“Really?”

He examined the place where the walls met. “I don’t think we need to cut in again, so if we just have to use the roller, it will go fast.”

“That would be great. I want to make sure it has plenty of time to dry before the carpet installers come on Monday.” I sat Natalie on the floor next to several toys.

“We should be fine.”

I gazed at him as he stood looking at the wall, and I wanted to wrap my arms around him and feel his strong arms around me. Just having him here with me made me feel protected and secure, like everything would be okay.

He turned and looked at me, and an emotion I couldn’t read swept over his face, then was gone. “Ready to get started?” he said, his voice soft.

Had he seen the unguarded love in my eyes? My face heated with embarrassment and I walked over to the cans of paint on the kitchen counter. “Yes.”

I poured some paint into the tray and a few minutes later we were applying the second coat. An hour later we’d completed two rooms.

“This goes a lot faster when two people are doing it,” I said as I stood back and admired the finished kitchen.

He tilted his head to one side. “If you’d called me in the first place, I could have helped you from the start.”

I turned to face him, feeling chagrined under his stare. “I guess I didn’t want to take your time since I know the tile work will take longer to do.”

He gazed at me. “Lily, how many times do I have to tell you that I’m here for you?”

My heart pounded at the intense look he gave me, and my attraction to him was almost overwhelming. It took all of my self-restraint not to fling myself into his arms and profess my love for him. Before I had a chance to respond, his cell phone rang.

He pulled it from his pocket, looked at the caller Id and sighed, then answered. He paused as he listened to someone speaking. Then, “No, I can’t. I have plans all day today.” He gave me a quick smile as he listened, then, “Yes, that’s right.” He frowned as he listened. “Look, this isn’t a good time.” “Okay, bye.” He slid the phone back into his pocket, then focused back on me.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah. Nothing you need to worry about.” He smiled brightly. “Okay, what room do you want to do next?”

I kept my own frown from forming as I answered him, but inside I wondered who he’d been speaking to and what they were talking about. Was it Chelsea? If so, he sounded irritated with her. What did that mean? I tried not to think about it, and instead focused on the job at hand.
 

Partway through painting the bedroom we were in, Natalie became fussy.

“Go ahead and take care of her,” Marcus said. “I’ll keep working on this.”

“Thanks.” I picked Natalie up and brought her into the kitchen where I prepared a bottle and fed her, then put her down for a nap in the living room, where I’d set up a playpen. When I got back to the bedroom, Marcus was just finishing, and I smiled, pleased with the progress we were making.

By the time Natalie woke up, we’d finished the rest of the rooms.

“I can’t believe we finished,” I said.

“Why?” He grinned. “I told you we would.”

“Yes, but maybe I didn’t quite believe you.”

He laughed. “You shouldn’t doubt me, Lily.”

I smiled in return. “Okay. I won’t make that mistake again.”

“Good. And now that we’re done, do you want to buy the tile?”

“Sure. But I need to get some boxes so I can pack my stuff. Once the carpet’s in, I’ll want to get moved in.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

We bought the tile and brought it back to the house, then bought some boxes at the hardware superstore.

“Is your friend going to help you move?” Marcus asked as he set the broken-down boxes on the floor of my current place.

I looked at him and shook my head. “He won’t be able to make it.” I put Natalie in her swing and turned back to Marcus.

A look of annoyance crossed his face. “Forgive me, Lily, but he doesn’t seem like much of a friend.”

I pressed my lips together, wondering how I could explain Cameron’s absence without revealing that he’d dumped me. I didn’t know why it was important to me that Marcus believe Cameron was still in my life—maybe I didn’t want him to feel sorry for me or worry about me, or maybe since he had Chelsea, I didn’t want him to know I had no one. “He lives up in Sacramento and it’s hard for him to get away from work sometimes.” Both true as far as I knew.

Marcus nodded. “Okay. Whatever. I’ll see if my Dad can help me move your stuff.” He looked around my small living room. “It shouldn’t take too long.” He turned to me. “What day did you want to move?”

Guilt that he was doing so much for me washed over me. As much as I wanted to tell him I could do it myself, in reality, I couldn’t, so I had to swallow my pride and let him help. “Uh, I guess on Tuesday? I can start moving the small stuff myself, but if you and your dad can move the big stuff, that would really help.” I paused. “But if Tuesday doesn’t work for you guys, we can do it whenever you can.” I bit my lip. “Sorry.”

His brow creased. “What are you sorry about?”

Pity for my lackluster—or nonexistent, really—love life, plus my total dependance on Marcus for so many things, not to mention my unrequited love for him, left me feeling dejected and melancholy. Tears flooded my eyes and I blinked, trying to force them back, but when I spoke, my voice shook, and the tears insisted on making their presence known. “I just feel like a burden sometimes,” I choked out as a tear slid past my eyelashes and tracked down my cheek. My voice dropped to a whisper. “Sorry.”

He reached out and pulled me into his arms, holding me tightly against him.

Several emotions roared through me—euphoria at being in his arms, comfort and security, and a powerful and overwhelming love toward this man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. My trickle of tears turned into a torrent, and I sobbed against his chest, sorrow that what I wanted so much was beyond my grasp.

“It’s okay, Lily,” he murmured into my ear. “Everything will be okay.”

We stood that way for several minutes and I wanted to stay in the safety of his arms forever, but eventually my tears stopped and my sobs slowed to an occasional sigh, and his arms loosened from around me. Though I didn’t want to move away from him, I couldn’t very well stand there forever, and at last I stepped back.

He put his finger under my chin, forcing my eyes to meet his, then he wiped a stray tear from my cheek. I gazed into his eyes, willing him to love me,
just love me
, but he just stared back, and I couldn’t read his emotions.

“You’ll never be a burden,” he finally said, smiling gently. “Don’t ever feel that way.” His green eyes sparkled. “Not with me.”

I nodded slightly, and he moved his finger away from my chin. I knew my face must be a mess, so I excused myself and went into the bathroom. Staring at myself in the mirror, I tried to figure out why he seemed to be stuck in the friend-zone, but then a thought occurred to me, and I gasped.
 

Maybe he felt toward me like I felt toward Cameron. Though I’d wanted to build a relationship with Cameron, I couldn’t get past my feelings for Marcus. Maybe Marcus
wanted
to feel more for me than friendship, but he was in love with Chelsea. Of course maybe he was perfectly happy being just my friend, but in either case, that’s where he was stubbornly staying.

My shoulders slumped as I realized that as much as I loved Marcus, and as much as I wanted him to love me back, he couldn’t make himself love me like that, just like I couldn’t make myself love Cameron. Fresh tears flooded my eyes, and I allowed them to fall for a minute, then I took several deep breaths until I was able to get myself under control. I splashed cool water on my face and blew my nose, took one last look in the mirror, then opened the door. When I came out of the bathroom, Marcus was holding Natalie in his arms, a bottle to her lips.
 

He looked at me and smiled. “She was getting hungry. I hope it’s okay that I went ahead and fixed her a bottle.”

It was more than okay, and I nodded. “Yes, thank you.”

“Are you okay?” His face showed his sincere concern.

I gazed into his incredible green eyes. “I’ll be fine.” I hoped the words convinced him, because I had no idea if they were true.

He stayed long enough to put the boxes together, but then he stood to go.

“Thank you again for your help,” I said.

He nodded. “I’ll check with my dad about moving the big stuff on Tuesday and I’ll let you know if that works for him.”

I walked him to the door, and after he left I began packing, afraid that if I didn’t keep busy then my thoughts would focus on my bleak future and I’d dissolve into a puddle of tears.

Later that evening Trish called and invited me over for brunch the next day.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Hello,” Trish said, opening her door. “Please come in.”

I carried Natalie into the house and she squirmed to get down. I set her on the floor as Trish and I sat in the living room, and she immediately began crawling across the carpet.

“She’s going to be walking before you know it,” Trish said.

“I know. Then it will be even harder to keep up with her.”

“She’s at a fun age, but a busy age.”

“That’s for sure.”

Trish turned her attention from Natalie and over to me. “How is the move going? I understand Marcus is helping with some projects?”

“Yes. He’s been great. We finished painting all the rooms yesterday, and tomorrow I’m having new carpet put in.” I smiled. “I’m hoping to start moving my stuff in on Tuesday.”

“It’s very exciting to buy your first place. I remember when Jeff and I bought our first house. It needed some work too, but once we’d gotten it to where we wanted it, we really enjoyed it.”

I nodded. A short time later we went into the dining room.

“Is Jeff going to join us?” I asked.

“No. He won’t be home until tomorrow, so it’s just us.”

“Okay.”

I held Natalie on my lap as we ate and chatted companionably. Toward the end of the meal, she smiled and said, “I wanted to talk to you about something, Lily. Something a little sensitive.”

I set my fork down and focused on her. “Okay.”

“Has Marcus ever talked to you about Chelsea?”

I shook my head as my stomach began to churn. “No.”

“Hmm. Well, as I’ve told you, they’ve been dating, but lately they’ve been having some . . . well, some issues.”

I felt really uncomfortable with her telling me this, and I had no idea why she was doing it. “I’m not sure . . .” I began.

“No, you need to know this,” Trish said, cutting me off. “It concerns you.”

My forehead furrowed in puzzlement. “Okay.”

“One of their issues seems to be the time Marcus is spending with you, Lily. Helping you, as it were.”

The way she said it made it sound like she thought there was more to our relationship than friendship. “What are you saying?”

“Well, Chelsea is beginning to think that Marcus is cheating on her. With you.”

My laugh came out loudly and unexpectedly.

“You find this funny?” Trish said.

I shook my head and covered my mouth with my hand. “No. It’s just that she is so far from the truth, that it’s . . . well, it’s laughable.”

Trish seemed to relax. “Oh.”

“I’m still not sure why you’re telling me this. Isn’t this something they should be working out between themselves?”

“Of course, but if I can be completely frank with you, I told you because I’m . . .” She looked away from me with an expression of discomfort, then met my gaze. “I suppose I’m asking you to discourage Marcus from spending so much time with you.”

What?
I wanted to shout. “But he’s going to help me with some projects on my house.”

“Isn’t there someone else who could help? What about that man you told me you met on the cruise? Cameron, I believe you said.”

I shook my head.
This is unbelievable.
“I’m not seeing him anymore.”

Trish’s eyebrows flew up. “Oh.” Her expression smoothed out. “I didn’t know that.”

How could you?
I wanted to ask.

“When did this happen, if I may ask?” she said.

“Just a few days ago.”