From Fake to Forever (21 page)

Thirteen

T
he white sand of Barbados stretched out as far as the eye could see and a balmy breeze played with Meredith’s hair. The sun shone, she was relaxing in a bikini and the resort hadn’t opened yet, so it wasn’t crowded. Paradise—except for the part where she was miserable.

She’d walked away from Jason again, but this time, he’d kicked her out the door. It was over and she’d lost the only man she’d ever loved. Probably the only man she ever
would
love.

And with absolutely no emotion on his face, he’d stared her dead in the eye and chosen divorce instead of love. It was a flat-out declaration of the temperature of his blood—cold. Obviously she was as empty-headed as she’d always feared if she hadn’t seen that coming.

Meredith sucked the bottom out of her piña colada and wished it had deadened even a tenth of the pain a shattered heart caused. If the past two years were any indication, she had a long, difficult ride ahead full of painful memories.

Her sister, Cara, who was stretched out in the next lounge chair sewing the bodice piece of what would become some bride’s happily-ever-after dress, glanced at Meredith’s glass longingly. “Can you drink another one and let me watch?”

“Alcohol envy?” Meredith suggested with raised brows.

When Meredith had shown up in Barbados without calling and without explanation, Cara had simply hugged her and said she was so glad to see her. Because she hadn’t wanted to tell Meredith over the phone that she was pregnant.

Everything else ceased to matter in that moment as Meredith had smiled and laughed with her sister over the joyous news. Cara had survived an emotionally painful miscarriage with her first pregnancy and Meredith prayed this time it would stick.

“And how.” Cara patted her bare stomach. “I won’t be able to drink for like another year and a half because I’m planning to breastfeed.”

That was enough to start the tears again. Why, Meredith had no clue. It wasn’t as if she’d gotten to the point of thinking about having Jason’s baby. She wasn’t mother material—at least not yet. But it was hard to be around someone so blissfully happy, who’d figured out how to navigate choppy relationship waters.

It was a skill and Meredith lacked it. Obviously.

“Honey, that’s the third time.” Cara rubbed her shoulder. “Maybe one of these days you’ll tell me what happened in New York?”

Meredith had arrived in Barbados a week and a half ago and somehow, after the baby news and diving right into being Cara’s assistant again and the slightly numb feeling that never eased, well...talking about Jason had gone from hard to impossible.

“Guy trouble,” she mumbled and adjusted the strap on her bikini.

God Almighty, what else could she possibly say?
I went to New York for a divorce, fell in love with my husband all over again and got dumped like yesterday’s trash. Oh, that’s right, you didn’t know I got married. See, there was this trip to Vegas...

Cara rolled her eyes. “Duh. I’ve just never seen you cry over a guy before. Find another one. You’ve always got some man on a string.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Meredith sniffed. “And I’ve tried finding another one. It’s useless.”

“Honey, you’ve only been here less than two weeks. Give it time.”

“I’ve been trying for two years,” Meredith muttered under her breath.

Plus three weeks, which was how long ago she’d left New York, broken and bleeding and too proud to admit to anyone what a mess she’d made of her life because she was flat dumb enough to think an accidental marriage to a man she’d met in
Las Vegas
would work out.

Cara, cheer-up speech in full swing, waved the needle in her fingers at the interior of the resort beyond the beach. “Find another pool boy, like Paolo, and let him talk your clothes off. Paolo seemed pretty good at making you smile.”

Meredith searched her memory. “Paolo? Oh, from the Grace Bay resort.”

She and Cara had attended a bridal expo in Turks and Caicos last fall, where Cara had reconnected with Keith, the man responsible for her current blissful condition. Meredith had chased yet another set of gorgeous abs while trying to forget Jason.

“I was faking it,” she informed her sister. “Paolo is obviously very forgettable.”

“Obviously.” Cara fell silent for a moment and then cocked her head. “Can you at least tell me if you’re planning to stay? Because if you’re going home, I have a couple of things lined up for you to take care of. You know, if you’re still interested in being partners.”

It was the perfect segue into a difficult subject, but it was one Meredith needed to address. That was what grown-ups did—tell people the truth, even when it was hard. “I have to be honest. I’m not sure what I want to do, but I know that wedding dresses is your dream, not mine. Would you hate me forever if I backed out?”

Meredith wasn’t willing to settle for a job unless she could be passionate about it, and it wasn’t fair to Cara for Meredith to go into a partnership unless she could give her whole heart.

With a smile, Cara shook her head. “Not at all. I was hoping you’d eventually figure out that it wasn’t what you really wanted. But I would have welcomed you regardless.”

How had she gotten lucky enough to be related to such a wise woman?

Cara stretched and motioned at the dress she’d been stitching. “I’m at a stopping place and I need to get out of the sun.”

Meredith nodded and helped her sister carry her sewing supplies so she wouldn’t get sand in the dress pieces. They walked through the pool area to the main building and not one pool boy caught Meredith’s eye.

The mention of Grace Bay also reminded her that Cara had walked a similar path as Meredith. Albeit much more successfully, as she was currently carrying the baby of the man she’d married, despite a rocky beginning to their relationship, which had included Keith leaving Cara at the altar the first time they’d planned to get married.

“You and Keith got back together after two years. How did you make it work the second time around?”

Cara shrugged and paused at the front desk to situate the fabric over her arm. “We didn’t know each other well the first time. When I ran into him again in Grace Bay, I swore I wasn’t falling for him again. But I was so jealous of you and how easily you seemed to love ’em and leave ’em. I wanted to try that. Keith was supposed to be my tropical island fling. I clearly missed the memo about how a fling works.”

Her sister laughed as Meredith shook her head. “I’m the last person you should be jealous of. I suck at everything.”

“The only thing you suck at, sweetheart, is paperwork.”

The familiar masculine voice washed over her as she and Cara jerked their heads simultaneously to view the speaker.

And there stood the man of her fantasies, in the flesh. Jason—with one hand stuck in his khaki pants pocket and an intense smile deepening his delicious cheekbones.

He’d come for her.
He missed her. He was sorry and wanted to try again.

“Jason,” Meredith croaked. “What—”

“Well,
hello
there,” Cara interrupted with an inquisitive brow lift and an extended hand, dress pieces forgotten on the front desk. “Cara Mitchell. You must be the reason my sister is visiting me in Barbados?”

“Yeah, seems like.” Jason held out his hand to shake Cara’s. “Jason Lynhurst. Meredith’s husband.”

Crap.
That had
not
just come out of his mouth. That was so like a man. As if he could fly in here and she’d fall into his arms, as if everything was fine and they were a married couple meeting in Barbados, as planned. All is forgiven.
Let’s get it on, little wife.
Jerk.

“Oh, my.” Cara tsked as she barged on past Meredith’s squeak of denial. “This is a far better story than I was hoping. Do tell.”

Meredith unstuck her tongue from the roof of her mouth and elbowed her sister in the ribs. “I’m standing right here.”

“Uh-huh,” Cara agreed. “And yet you’ve never breathed the word ‘husband’ to me one single time, so maybe you should hush up and let me talk to my brother-in-law.”

“As if.” Meredith tossed her head and zeroed in on Jason with equal parts attitude and scorn. Just to cover the nervous flutter of her pulse at the sight of his gorgeous self not three feet from her. “You shouldn’t go around sneaking up on people who deliberately flew thousands of miles away to hide. And you definitely shouldn’t introduce yourself as my husband.”

“Then you definitely shouldn’t have married me,” he countered brightly.

Too brightly, especially for a man who—if life was fair—was miserable without her and had tracked her down in the Caribbean because he wanted to throw himself at her feet, begging for mercy.

She might even forgive him after a fair amount of groveling. Or she might not. Too early to tell.

That’s when she noticed the manila folder in his hand, like the kind used to hold important papers. Her pulse dropped. He’d tracked her down all right. To finally divorce her, once and for all.

Her stupidity knew no bounds.

“What are you doing here?” She crossed her arms before he noticed her shaking hands. “You were supposed to mail me the divorce papers, not deliver them personally.”

“I did mail them. Three weeks ago. But funny thing—I never got my copy of the filed papers back.”

Neither of them broke the staring contest they had going on as Cara murmured that she had something else to do and slipped away.

“I didn’t get the papers.” Because she’d gotten on a plane to Barbados, too numb to even think of mentioning to her mother that she was expecting divorce papers in the mail. Guess she’d proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that she couldn’t be trusted to resolve adult problems like filing for a divorce.

She glared at him. “If you came here to rub it in how much of a dingbat I am about paperwork, you’re two years too late.”

His expression softened. “I’m here because I finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up. But I can’t do it without you.”

The words lanced through her. Why would he deliberately throw that into the mix now, when she’d already tried to have this conversation back in New York? It was too little, too late.

“You want to be CEO,” Meredith reminded him. “You made it really clear you don’t need me for that.”

She’d laid everything on the line: her heart, her future, her happiness, her marriage. Even her job prospects. All with the belief that he’d been warming up to the possibility of forever, only to be crushed with the truth. He wasn’t willing to give her the one thing she wanted from their marriage—love.

“Maybe this will help explain.” He handed her the folder. “Go ahead. Read it.”

The manila folder scalded her hand and she nearly dropped it. “I know what the divorce papers say. My father’s lawyer drew them up.”

With an intense once-over she didn’t dare interpret, he shook his head. “It’s not what you think. Inside is the manifesto for revamping Lynhurst Enterprises. Bettina, Paul, Avery and I worked on it together.”

Meredith’s eyes narrowed even as her fingers curled around the folder, itching to open it and verify what he was telling her. “The four of you were in the same room? And no homicide detectives had to be called?”

His smile melted her and she forgot to breathe. Apparently her body hadn’t gotten the message that this man wasn’t hers anymore.

“It was touch and go for the first couple of meetings. But I remembered what we talked about. How Lynhurst Enterprises is my passion and I’d sacrifice anything for it because it was built by people with my blood. Figured it was time to put it to the test.”

A little off balance, she opened the folder. Page after page of black type detailed a mind-numbingly comprehensive business plan. Like he’d said. “I don’t understand. What happened to the merger plans you worked on with Avery?”

Jason’s need for vengeance against his father couldn’t have vanished so easily. Neither could his rivalry with Avery. They’d both been his sole focus for too long.

“Some of it is still in there, but it’s better now. The manifesto details the restructuring of Lyn and Hurst under one umbrella using Hurst’s capital and incorporating Lyn’s soul.” He reached for her hand and held it to his heart, a bold move that she appreciated enough to keep from snatching her hand back. “It’s nearly complete, but it’s missing one important stamp of approval. Yours. The only Lynhurst who hasn’t reviewed it yet.”

“Um...what?” Meredith’s cheeks went hot at the same moment her spine went cold. “You want me to be involved in this? Why? I’m not a Lynhurst.”

But she wanted to be and for more reasons than solely to be Jason’s wife. She’d found a place in the world where she truly fit, where her mind mattered far more than her body and he’d ripped it away from her.

Only to appear out of thin air and offer her...what?

His gaze grew heavy with significance and she couldn’t look away.

“You were the inspiration for the whole thing, Meredith. Avery quoted you. Bettina quoted you. I don’t think I had an original thought the entire time. It was all you. We used everything the marketing department came up with to refute Avery’s sweatshop allegations and it all took off from there.” He gripped her hand tighter. “You are a Lynhurst. At heart, where it’s most important. It’s one of the many things I learned from you. Leading with my heart is not easy for me and I needed to get better at it. Unfortunately, it came at a terrible price—it cost me you.”

Her eyes burned as she registered the sweet vulnerability in his gaze, the same way he looked at her when they were connecting. That nearly undid her. “It didn’t have to cost anything. I loved you for free.”

It was a vicious reminder that she didn’t want his money, or his loft, or a job offer from anyone named Lynhurst. Just Jason’s love, and he’d handed her heart back to her. She didn’t know if she could trust him with it again.

* * *

I loved you.
Past tense.
God, please don’t let me be too late.

When Jason had left New York for Houston, he’d hoped she hadn’t filed the papers yet because she didn’t want to. Because she wanted to try again, like he did. Never had it crossed his mind that he’d get to Houston and discover his wife had fled to the Caribbean. And that he’d have to scrap his entire rehearsed speech since he had no idea
what
her state of mind would be when he found her.