Love Unforgettable: Love in San Soloman - Book Three Page 2

  Until I couldn’t.

  Because just over a year after that I lost both my parents and my twin brother in a plane crash during winter break.

  They were coming to visit me for the holidays.

  And they died.

  The plane went down, there were no survivors.

  I went from having everything to having nothing. Everyone I loved was gone, one way or another. I managed. I pretended to move on. At least that’s what I told everyone I was doing.

  Except I didn’t move on. I didn’t date. I didn’t go out. I let no one get close. I barely talked to people outside of classes and my studies. I figured it would get better once I graduated and started my winery.

  But it didn’t.

  Even still, I limit most social interaction to events at my winery, the occasional meal with Mavis, and meeting Kat and Remi for dinner and/or drinks.

  Then Trevor showed up earlier this year out of the blue and pieced me back together again. After that, I was good, solid, whole even.

  Right up until he vanished without a word and broke me all over again.

  But he’s here now.

  Again.

  And I don’t know what the fuck to do with him.

  Chapter 2

  LEXIE - Later that night

  Chance is going to be okay, according to the doctor who just left after updating all of us in the hospital waiting room. He has a long recovery ahead of him and won’t be able to walk for a while, but he’s alive.

  It took us way too long to find him earlier today. Chance was badly injured with a gunshot wound to the thigh and a brutal barrel roll down a big hill while his hands were tied, but he’s safe now. And I’m sure he has one hell of a story to tell us once he’s able. Especially since we still don’t know for sure what happened to Helen, his crazy psycho ex.

  I don’t know what we would have done if we hadn’t happened upon Trevor when we did. He was instrumental in helping us find Chance. He saved the day. Trevor was the only one who recognized that Chance had given us clues as to where he would be. It was Trevor who put the clues together and helped us find Chance. And my heart warms toward him a little too much for my liking because of it.

  Kat came back in the waiting room after taking a call from her fiancé, Brad. He’s part of the crew fighting the El Diablo fires near where we rescued Chance, and I know she’s been worried about him all day.

  “How’s he doing?” I ask her.

  “Good. The fire’s forty-five percent contained. One of these days I’ve got to remember to ask him how they measure that. Big ass measuring tape? A guy on either side holding each end?”

  I laugh at Kat’s attempt to make a joke. It’s her way of covering up when she’s nervous or scared.

  “Where’s Trevor?” she asks.

  “He went to make a phone call or take a phone call, I don’t know. I just . . . God, Kat, I can’t believe he’s here. Again.” I take a deep breath and try to blow it back out slowly to calm myself. “He says he wants another chance. But, I mean, how many chances am I supposed to give him? I already gave him his one chance and he broke me. Now he wants another.”

  “Usually I say trust him until he gives you a reason not to. But he kinda already gave you a reason not to when he flew the coop. What does your gut say?”

  I hate that question. I never know what my gut wants unless it’s ice cream. I shrug my shoulders in response to her question.

  “Do you trust him?”

  “I didn’t think I did, no. But then today, jumping in like that to help find Chance, not a lot of people would have put in all the effort he did.”

  “I agree.”

  “So, when you ask me if I trust him, my first thought is no. But then I think about today and I really want to think yes.”

  Trevor returns to the room, his face pinched with an emotion I can’t quite identify.

  “I’m going to go distract Remi for a bit,” Kat says and then turns to head toward where Remi is sitting with Chance’s parents.

  “Everything okay?” I ask Trevor when he sits down in the chair next to me.

  He nods. “Just tough making a transition like this sometimes.”

  “You mean, moving from Syracuse to San Soloman? That transition?”

  He nods again.

  “Assuming you actually do it this time.” I can hear the bitterness in my voice. That was why he was in town months before. Because he was moving from the East Coast to the West. But then he left, and I didn’t hear from him again.

  He sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. I watch his shoulders visibly tense and then relax. He turns toward me and takes both my hands in his, running his thumb over my knuckles. The sounds of the hospital float around us like white noise. But not so loud that I can’t hear what he says next.

  “Lexie, I bought Doc Richardson’s practice.”

  Okay, I didn’t know that.

  “He’s retiring and I’m taking over. I’m here for good. I could have bought a practice anywhere. Make no mistake, I chose here for you. To finish what we started. I’m here to get you back.”

  I blink at him. He bought Doc Richardson’s practice? That’s definitely a sign of stability. But he still hasn’t explained why he left so suddenly before. Or why he stayed away so long with no contact at all. I open my mouth to ask him that, but he speaks first.

  “You have no idea how incredible you are, do you?” he asks.

  I don’t know how to answer that, so I don’t.

  “Lex,” he says with a small sigh as he raises his hand to smooth my hair back from my face. God, it would be so easy to lean into his caress. To let his touch smooth away all the angst and stress from the day.

  Except that I’m really pissed at him. A fact that I keep forgetting about. So, I don’t let him soothe away the day. Instead I ask him what’s on my mind.

  “If I’m so incredible, why didn’t you call? I mean, Trev, there was no note, no email, no text, no nothing. You couldn’t even be bothered to return my calls!” My voice rises to a near shrill level.

  Kat chooses that moment to reappear and sits in the empty chair on my other side. “You ghosted her, Trev.” I turn to look at her. “That’s what the kids call it,” she says with a shrug.

  “Okay,” he says. “I get where you’d be mad about that.”

  “Oh, you get it. I’m so relieved. Thank you so much for the concession.”

  He looks at me sharply. “Lex—”

  “Trevor, you literally disappeared. Stood me up for a date, cleared your stuff out of my house, and left town. Never to be heard from again.”

  “Which is the literal definition of ghosting,” Kat says. I snicker, grateful for the support and levity she brings.

  Trevor just keeps talking. “I picked up the phone to call, so many times . . .”

  So, I do too. “Fingers broke? Can’t dial a phone? No voice commands available in your car? Cell service was down in all of New York and there were no landlines to be found? And even now, here you are. No grand gesture, no apology cards, nothing. Not even flowers!”

  “What is it with you and the grand gesture?” he asks.

  “It’s the ultimate display of love.” I lean back in my chair and cross my arms across my chest.

  “That’s love?” He cocks his head and raises one eyebrow.

  “Didn’t you . . . you know what? Never mind. This is exhausting, Trevor. I don’t want to do this with you. I’ve got two friends in the next room, one fighting for his life, the other barely escaped with hers. I’ve got another friend who is risking his life fighting a fire. Having this discussion, making this an argument, this is dumb.”

  “Agreed,” Kat says, standing up. “I need to pee, don’t do anything entertaining until I get back.” She attempts one of her face contorting winks, blows me a kiss, and heads down the hall.

  “Look,” Trevor says, his voice softening. “Can we just, can we start over? Please?” He reaches out to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear, the side
of his hand caressing my cheek in the process.

  This time when he touches me, I shiver. My goddamn body completely betrays me. If the satisfied smile on his face is any indication, he knows it too. That touch almost does me in.

  It feels good.

  He feels good.

  I stand so I can get my distance, nodding as I think this through. “Start over. Yes, we can do that. Friends?” I reach a hand out to him.

  “We can’t even hug?” His shakes his head and holds his hands up in the air, moving to approach me. I need to be careful with him. He broke me so completely before, twice before, and he has the power to do it again.

  I step back. “Let’s start with the handshake and see where it goes.”

  I can do this.

  He reaches his hand out to mine and we shake.

  He looks from my hand back to my eyes, his brows raised expectantly.

  “Starting over,” I say. “It sounds good.”

  His face breaks into a smile as his posture relaxes.

  “But, Trevor, we need to take it slow. We can’t just jump back into to where we were before you left. The second time.”

  “Can I take you to dinner tomorrow night?”

  I nod while trying to recall my calendar, then say, “No, sorry.”

  “Which is it?” he asks, laughing. “You’re nodding yes, but saying no.”

  “Sorry, it’s a no. I have dinner with Mavis tomorrow night. What about the next night?”

  He sighs, then reaches up and runs his hand through his hair. I stop myself from reaching up and mimicking the move. “I head back to Syracuse on the red eye tomorrow. I still need to finalize everything there.”

  “You just got here,” I say.

  “I know. This was meant to be a quick trip, just long enough to sign the paperwork which I do in the morning. Then I’ll spend the day at the clinic, meet the staff, and head back late tomorrow night. What about lunch?”

  I think for a minute, then smile and nod. “Okay.” He smiles back at me, capturing me in his gaze, like a snake to his prey.

  Wow. Okay. Harsh much, Lexie?

  Maybe more like a sleek panther or a tiger.

  Okay, no, get off the predator theme, Lex. It’s creepy. He’s just Trevor.

  Kat comes back into the room, looking exhausted. “Hey, I’m sorry, I know you guys are talking, but I’m really tired all the sudden. I was thinking we could poke our heads in to say goodnight to Remi and Bauer, and then maybe Trevor could take us home?” She looks up at him hopefully.

  Annoyance blankets Trevor’s face, but he covers it quickly with a more neutral expression and a smile.

  “I thought Remi’s boyfriend’s name is Chance?” Trevor asks.

  “It is. Kat calls him by his last name: Bauer. He’s a detective and she helps the police department on cases sometimes, that’s how she met him. They all call each other by their last names.”

  “Your little group has gotten nepotistic,” Trevor says.

  “Not really—”

  “I’m teasing, of course. I’ll go get the car and bring it around. Meet you girls out front when you are ready,” Trevor says, his face looks anything but playful and teasing.

  “You okay?” Kat asks me as we head to Chance’s room.

  “I think so,” I say. “I mean, this is a huge shock . . . but, Kat . . . he says he’s here for me. That he wants us to try again. You know, again.” I scoff at my own words.

  “How do you feel about that?”

  “I don’t know. Part of me wants to try again, again. I’ve always considered Trevor to be the love of my life. I waited forever for him to come back the first time. But then, you know, he ghosted me.”

  “Did he say why?

  “Actually, no. And I didn’t ask. I was so caught up in the moment, I forgot about that. You better believe I’m going to find out.”

  “That’s my girl,” she whispers as we head into Chance’s hospital room.

  * * *

  We quickly say our goodbyes and leave the room quietly.

  “Can you believe it?” Kat asks once we’re a few feet from his room.

  “I know,” I say. “I’m so glad we found him in time!”

  “Pffft,” she says, waving her hand in the air. “Bauer’s indestructible, he’ll survive anything. I mean about the fact that our little girl is in love! I’m all verklempt.”

  “You aren’t Jewish,” I say.

  “Well, no, but Mavis is.”

  “Which has what to do with you?”

  “She’s practically a grandmother to the three of us. It makes us half Jewish.”

  I laugh at her logic, but don’t argue. Somehow it kind of makes sense.

  “Well, then I’m all verklempt too,” I say.

  We head outside the hospital, but I don’t see Trevor’s rental car anywhere.

  “Do you think he’s not here yet?” I ask Kat.

  “No, that was plenty of time,” she says, looking around. “There he is.” She points a little further up the road.

  “Why’s he all the way up there when the entrance is back here?” I ask.

  “Maybe there weren’t any spaces when he pulled up,” Kat says.

  “Good point,” I say. We can hear yelling as we approach the rear of the car.

  “Is that Trevor I hear?” I ask.

  “I think so,” Kat says. “Maybe we should give him a minute before we get in.”

  I can’t understand much of what he is going on about outside of the occasional curse word. He hangs up after a minute and throws his phone against the dash. Then runs both hands through his hair, obviously upset.

  Kat and I approach the passenger side of the car from behind. Trevor gets out and slams the driver side door, reaching the rear of the car faster than we’d expected.

  “Lexie!” He sounds surprised to see us.

  “Trevor!” I say, trying to joke with him by pretending to sound surprised. He smiles nervously.

  “Everything okay?” I ask.

  “Yeah, yeah.” He runs his hands along the thighs of his jeans, then moves to open the passenger side doors for us. “That was just . . . a work thing. I, uh, didn’t mean for you to hear that.”

  “We couldn’t really understand the words with you yelling,” I say as I climb in the car.

  “Just the shits, fucks, and pisses,” Kat says, smiling and following behind me. Shit Fuck Piss being her favorite cuss phrase. Trevor shuts both doors after us and climbs back into the car.

  “Okay, Kat, where to?” Trevor asks.

  “Where are you staying?” Kat asks him. “It might be easier to drop Lexie off first.”

  “Yet, I have no intention of doing that,” Trevor says, looking at Kat in the backseat through the rearview mirror.

  “Okay,” Kat says drawing out the word slightly. Then she gives him directions to her house.

  The three of us sit in silence as Trevor drives.

  We drop Kat off at her house and Trevor begins the slight backtrack to mine. I live further out of town than Kat and Remi. Even though San Soloman isn’t very large in population, it is spread over a large expanse of land. I have just over one hundred acres and my “farm” is considered small, which shows just how spread out the area is.

  As such, it takes a short while to get from Kat’s place to mine. I have him slow down as we approach my drive.

  “You can just let me out at the end of the driveway,” I say.

  “Lexie, it’s late at night, I’m not letting you out at the end of the driveway.”

  “It’s my house, Trevor, it’s fine.”

  He looks at me, face set.

  “Let me get the gate,” I say jumping out of the car. I could just give him the code to open it himself, but I don’t want to. Plus, I’m nervous. If I open the gate, he gets closer to the house. And with the house comes the front door. The closer he is to my front door, the more likely I am to invite him in. And once I invite him in, I’ll have sex with him, and then I’ll get all caug
ht up in the emotions and will jump right back in where we left off.

  I wait until he drives through the entrance, then close the gate behind him. Once I’m back in the car it’s a ten second drive to my house. I can hear my dogs howling before I even open the passenger door.

  “Thank you for the ride, Trevor.”

  “No problem, Lexie. Hey, can you come around to my side for a sec?”

  By the time I get around the car, he’s rolled the driver side window down.

  “Everything okay?” I ask, tilting my head to see him.

  “No,” he says. “Can you just, can you come a little closer?” I lean down to the window height.

  “Right here . . . I just need—” he says.

  I poke my head partway through his open window.

  “That’s better,” he says. “I just wanted to see your beautiful face one more time before I leave for the night.”

  My insides go to jelly when he says that. I open my mouth to respond but have no idea what I want to say. He reaches his left hand up to cup my cheek, his eyes go to my lips.

  Ohmigod. He’s going to kiss me. I just know it.

  I brace myself.

  His lips softly touch mine, a whoosh of warmth rushes through my body. I grip the car door to keep from climbing through the window.

  Stop the kiss, Lexie.

  His tongue probes, encouraging me to open further. I can’t help myself. It’s so good and I’ve waited so long.

  He pulls away after another moment. We are both breathing hard for such a soft kiss.

  “I know you said I couldn’t sleep in your bed tonight, but can I come in for a little bit?” he asks.

  I shake my head, not trusting myself to speak.

  He smiles, but it’s small. “You’ll still meet me for lunch tomorrow?”

  I nod.

  “Does one o’clock work?”

  I nod again.

  “You know where the office is?”

  I clear my throat, but it does no good. I still sound frog-like when I answer. “Yep.” I look down at my feet and shuffle them a bit in the gravel of my drive.

  He starts to pull away, then stops and leans his head out the window, looking back toward me. “Hey, Lex?”