The Only One for Her (10 page)

Opening the door, I expected to find my gorgeous girl curled up in my bed, or on the lanai, but she wasn’t there. She wasn’t in the bathroom either. Placing the ice bucket on the table, I turned around and went to her room.

Knocking on her door, I heard her yell, “Go away, Trace.”

What?
“What’s wrong, Lindy?”

“Everything. The front desk called to confirm your dinner on the beach for tomorrow night, snorkeling, and zip lining…all for the honeymoon couple. The woman on the phone addressed me as Mrs. Michaels and asked if I was enjoying myself. You’re married. Where’s your wife, Trace?”

Oh fuck. I couldn’t imagine what she was thinking, but I just knew it wasn’t good. “We didn’t get married. We ended things on our wedding day and I decided to get away from it all by coming on our honeymoon. Please let me in.”

Lindy opened the door and then turned around to finish packing. “What are you doing?”

“I’m packing. I need to get out of here.”

“I don’t want you to go. Please listen to me,” I said, entering her hotel room.

“So, you’re not married, but basically spending your honeymoon with me. The picnic, dinner, the plans for today. They were all for your wife, not me. You weren’t honest, Trace.”

“I know I didn’t tell you everything, but technically I didn’t lie to you.”

“Technically?”

“Please stop packing and listen to me.”

“Why, are you going to tell me the truth now? Do you even know how?”

“Yes. It’s just embarrassing.”

Lindy stopped and stared at me, her eyes commanding me to divulge my heavily guarded secret. I didn’t want to have to tell her this, not this way. I wanted to tell her after she was head over heels in love with me. But, I didn’t have a choice now.

“I caught my fiancée cheating with my best friend two days before the wedding. Instead of breaking up with her, I videotaped them and then played it at our wedding before we said I do. It was cruel and hateful and I wanted to hurt her. I punched out my best friend and left for Maui. I needed to get away to lick my wounds.” Lindy still seemed guarded, but her expression had a hint of sympathy.

“Why didn’t you tell me at dinner when I asked if you had ever been married?” Lindy’s nostrils flared. I was far from being off the hook.

“I haven’t been married, so I decided not to say anything.”

Lindy stared at me blankly. She had stopped packing for a moment, but the look on her face told me she was leaving.

“Trace, I’m just a simple girl, with a simple life. I don’t want to be the rebound. You had your heart broken and you need time to get over what happened to you. I can’t take the chance of being hurt by you. I just can’t. I’ve been hurt so much and lost more than I want to think about.”

“You’re not a rebound, I promise. When I saw you on the rocks saying goodbye to your husband, I don’t know how or why, but I knew you were the one for me. I don’t even care about what happened between Angelina and me. I honestly hope she marries Derrick and that they are very happy together. You did that to me. Meeting you changed everything for me.”

“Derrick? Your best friend Derrick?”

“Yes.” For a moment, I thought she would soften in her anger. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

In a less angry voice she said, “I wish I could believe you, but I don’t think you really know what you want right now. Maybe you think it’s me because I’m here with you right now, but once you get home, that will probably change. I can’t take having my heart broken again.”

“I’m not going to break your heart, Lindy. I promise. Give me a chance to prove it to you.”

Lindy zipped her suitcase. “Trace, I’m fresh out of chances. This is just too much for me. Up until a few days ago, you were going to be someone else’s husband. You might forgive her when you get home and I’ll end up just being a fling you had in Maui while your relationship was going through a rough patch.”

Lindy began rolling her luggage past me. “Please, Lindy. That’s never going to happen. I don’t want her, I want you.”

Lindy was out the door as my words seemed to echo hollow in her hotel room. Time was running out. This hotel only had two floors and Lindy bound down the stairs in one fluid motion. Following her out to her car, I continued my pleading, but it was no use. It seemed she had made up her mind. My stomach twisted in knots as I watched her drive away. She was gone and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Son of a bitch. When am I ever going to catch a break?

Part 2:

Chapter 20: Lindy

I’d run away. I wasn’t proud of myself, but things with Trace had become too real, too scary, too much to deal with. I was in love with him and terrified of being hurt. I couldn’t risk it, not after all that had happened in my life.

It had been too much and I’d hardly been able to survive so far. Being rejected by him when he came to his senses would have sent me over the edge. An edge I’d teetered on regularly. Knowing he would be going home to see his ex-fiancée was more than I could handle. If she had a brain in her head, she’d do everything in her power to get him back. That’s probably what I should be doing. Trace was a catch in every way—handsome, smart, successful, sweet, funny. What the hell had she been thinking? She’d been smart enough to get him to propose once, she was most likely clever enough to get him back.

I still can’t believe how it all went down. One minute we were having the time of our lives. The next, the whole world was crashing down around me. All it took was one phone call. Something so simple had obliterated my short-lived happiness. It was how it had always been and how I expected it to be. How
could
it be any different? This was my lot in life. I had to accept that. End of story.

Getting my hopes up for anything to change only left my heart smashed, like the rocks would have broken and bruised my body if Trace hadn’t caught me. Maybe it would have been better if he hadn’t. Maybe the ocean would have claimed me along with Dane’s ashes and we’d be together now. Instead, I’m all alone.

Looking around my meager trailer, I would be mortified to have Trace see me here. How I live. What my life is. Had I used him being on the rebound as an excuse to protect myself? Most likely. But what else could I do? If there was one thing life had taught me, it was that happiness was elusive. I’d had happiness for a little while and I was just going to have to hold onto that. Some of us didn’t get second chances at the fairy tale. I was still Cinderella and
my
Prince was gone.

Trace had called and texted me many times. One of his texts was from the airport. He had come after me, but I was already on the plane and he was too late. I’d barely made it to the plane myself. I had considered getting off the plane and going to him. At that point, it wasn’t too late and he was pleading with me to stay. But, I had been too cowardly to do that or to even answer him.

I hadn’t responded to a single text or voicemail from Trace. I’d read them all so much, I practically had them memorized. Ro had chided me for my behavior, but still, I didn’t respond. She had urged me several times to hear him out, but I wouldn’t listen. My stubborn streak was in full swing. Just thinking about some of his texts brought tears to my eyes. He had begged for me to answer him, but I just couldn’t.

Looking at my watch, it was about time for Randy to pick me up for dinner. He’d asked me out three times in the last week since I’d returned home from Maui. I’d managed to delay our date so I could have some time to digest everything that had happened between Trace and me. I had relived every moment spent with Trace over and over like watching reruns of Friends on TV. But, my life wasn’t a sitcom with writers figuring it all out for me and things couldn’t be resolved in a thirty minute episode. If only…

Hearing a knock at the door pulled me away from my onslaught of thoughts about Trace. I should really call it like it was: my obsession. I grabbed my purse before opening the door.

“Hi Randy,” I said, doing my best to sound enthusiastic.

“Lindy, you look beautiful,” he said, extending his hand to take mine. Randy’s dark brown hair and eyes were a comfort to me somehow. Kindness emanated from his face and I realized he had always been there for me, even if I hadn’t exactly noticed at the time. Taking his hand, I climbed down the steps and we made our way to his truck. Opening the door for me, he helped me get in. After he shut my door, I watched his tall frame walk to the driver’s side and get in. So, this was Randy on a date, wearing khaki’s and a button-down shirt. “You look really nice this evening, Randy.” I couldn’t recall a time I’d seen him in anything other than shorts and a T-shirt.

His grin said it all. He was pleased I noticed his effort to look good for our date. “Thank you, Lindy,” he said. “We’re going to Andre’s for dinner.”

Had he always sought my approval? Could I feel the same about him?

I looked down at my favorite blue dress. The one I wore to dinner with Trace in Maui. I was grateful I had something nice enough to wear to Andre’s. It was the best restaurant in town. “Wow, Randy. That sounds great. I haven’t been there in ages.”

My last anniversary with Dane to be exact. Dane had been so romantic. He made everything special.
Ugh
. Now I had three men on my mind. I was on overload and needed to calm down. I needed to concentrate. Dane was gone, I had run away from Trace, and Randy was here. Randy made sense. He already knew everything about me and he still wanted to date me. I was going to have to find a way to lock Trace up in the back of my mind and not think about him anymore. I’m sure he had already long forgotten about me. I couldn’t think about him anymore. He was probably back in California. Probably back with Angelina. I would never be able to compete with her…
lock him out, Lindy. Throw away the key.

Chapter 21: Trace

Why?
Why did the front desk have to call the one minute I was out getting ice? It was so unfair, but then that was life. I hadn’t stopped thinking about Lindy for one second since I returned from Maui, even though I had a ton of shit to deal with. She never left my thoughts and the fact she wouldn’t respond to me only made it worse. Every morning when I woke, all I could see was the hurt in her eyes when we were discussing that I was on my honeymoon. What a giant clusterfuck. I was in love with a woman who wouldn’t believe I loved her. No matter what I said it fell on deaf ears. If I didn’t have so much going on with the company, I’d track her down and make her listen.

To my astonishment, Derrick and Angelina had eloped while I was gone. It had been a shocker to say the least, but what did I know? Maybe they were just right for each other. When I returned to the office, the three of us had a meeting to discuss how we were all going to work together. If it hadn’t been for meeting Lindy, knowing that her life was so much harder than mine, I may have told them both to fuck off. But, I took the high road and didn’t say anything even though I wanted to tell them both to go to hell. It had felt like a herculean feat, but that’s what Lindy had done to me. She made me want to be a better man. Closing my laptop, I thought about our conversation.

“So, we need to sit down and talk,” Derrick said, his shoulders slightly hunched over.

“Okay,” I mumbled, as he and Angelina trudged through my office door and proceeded to my sofa.

“Trace, I know there’s nothing I can say to excuse what I did…what we did, but I am truly sorry for hurting you,” Angelina began. “I only hope in time you can forgive me for the terrible way I treated you. I let things get out of hand and I should have been upfront with you and told you about my feelings for Derrick. The truth is that I was in love with both of you.”

I put my hand up to stop her from saying anything else because nothing she said mattered. “Going to Maui was exactly what I needed. I was able to clear my head and realize that you two belong together. I don’t like the way things happened and I deserved way better than how you treated me, but I’m not holding a grudge. Life is too short for that.” Lindy’s face was in the forefront of my mind. I wasn’t going to waste any of my life feeling bad about Derrick and Angelina. I was over it. I just wanted Lindy.

“Wow, man. That’s really great of you,” Derrick interjected. “I don’t know if I could do that.”

“Let me be clear. Just because I’m not angry with you doesn’t mean that I trust you or want to work with you. Because I don’t. But, we are partners, so we’re going to have to find a way. I don’t want our business to suffer for personal reasons. So, let’s just agree to put the business first and our own personal lives will be left out of it. Basically, we’re not friends anymore. I don’t want to know about your lives and I have no intentions on sharing mine.”

“Fair enough,” Derrick said. “We understand.”

“We.” He had become a “we” with the woman I thought I was going to marry. But, honestly, I dodged a bullet. Angelina wasn’t the woman I thought she was and couldn’t be trusted. Derrick was in for some rough times being married to her. Looking at my watch, it was time to get out of here. It had been a long week and I was grateful it was Friday. Kristie had invited herself over to hang out. She was bringing dinner, so I wasn’t going to turn that down. I’d missed her. She always gave me great advice and I needed some where Lindy was concerned. I didn’t want to spend another second thinking about Derrick and Angelina. My time was more valuable than that.

Pulling into my driveway, Kristie was just getting out of her car. She was a sight. My sister and best friend. We’d always been close and always would be. I could tell her anything.

“Hey you,” I said, hugging her. “It’s so good to see you. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too. I hope you’re hungry. I think I have enough to feed an army.”

“Good because I’m starved. Crazy day.” We went inside and Kristie began unpacking the cartons of food from Claim Jumper.

Once we sat at the table, Kristie raised her glass of wine to me. “Here’s to you, Trace. I’m really proud of how you’re handling everything that’s gone down.” We clinked glasses and each took a sip.

“Honestly, it’s because of meeting Lindy. Knowing about her life changed my outlook on things.”

“She sounds like a really special woman. Any word from her?”

“No. I’d give anything to hear from her, but she hasn’t answered my calls or texts.”

Kristie took out an envelope from her purse and handed it to me. “What’s this?” I questioned.

“Open it and find out.” Her sly grin made me a little nervous. Taking the paper out, I saw Lindy’s name, home address, job history and a few other details about her whereabouts.

“I took the liberty…”

Looking at my sister, I was too choked up to speak. “Private Eye?” That was my sister. Where there’s a will, there’s a way was her motto. She always knew what I needed and had my back.

“I hired someone to do a background check and get this information on her. She doesn’t have any skeletons in her closet. Seems like someone who has been through a lot. The second page has some info on her family.”

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about finding her in the last week. But I didn’t know if I should. Plus with everything at work, my time has been constrained.”

“I can’t tell you if you should track her down or not. Only you know that. But I at least wanted you to have the option. I don’t want you to have any regrets.”

Regrets.
There was a loaded word. “You always know what I need. Thank you for this. I’m going to go to Louisiana and wait for her on her doorstep if I have to. I’m going to convince her that we belong together.”

Kristie was grinning from ear to ear. “That’s what I was hoping you would say. I just feel it in my bones that you’re supposed to be with her. I can’t explain why, but I just know.”

Placing my hand on Kristie’s I said, “This is the best gift you could have ever given me. You’re going to love Lindy. She’s amazing.”

“I know I will. But the most important thing is that you love her and she loves you.”