Nantucket Romance 3-in-1 Bundle (38 page)

With a sigh, he lay his head back down and closed his eyes. He was a dog. Why had he snapped at her like that? She was grieving. She hadn’t had time to recover from the shock of being dumped before she’d found herself married to another man for the next twelve months.

His hands fisted, clenching the pillow until his fingers ached. He wished he could put his arms around her and tell her it was going to be okay.

He wished it was him she loved so much.

Kate felt another sob rising and muffled it with the pillow. Two years with Bryan. Two years spent getting to know him, investing in the relationship, coming to love him. How could he leave her so suddenly, so cruelly? The betrayal was almost too much to bear.

Had his lack of commitment been present all along? Is that why he’d never come to the island, except once, early on in their relationship? She’d made the trip to Boston out of respect for his job. Her hours were more flexible than his, and they were able to spend more time together when she traveled to see him. If it had been up to him, maybe he wouldn’t have made the long trips.

Their weekends together had been special to her. They holed themselves up in his apartment, talking and just being together. Bryan turned down invitations to events and get-togethers so they could have time to reconnect. He’d seemed committed.

She was so confused! Kate reached out into the vacant space of the bed where Bryan was supposed to be, her fingers sliding across the cool, empty sheets. Her heart felt as empty.

She pulled the other pillow into her stomach and remembered all the grieving women she’d counseled. Women who’d poured their life into a relationship only to have it jerked from under them at a moment’s notice. She hadn’t known it felt like this. Seeing others endure it and suffering through it yourself were two different things.

A memory flashed in her mind. It had been shortly after her mom kicked her dad from the house. Her mom’s reddened eyes and baggy clothing had become part of her identity, and Kate couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her smile, much less laugh.

Kate entered the tiny living room where her mom sat curled on the couch, staring at the TV, though Kate didn’t think she was watching. Kate picked up the remote and flipped through channels. If only she could find something to cheer her mom up. Something to make her forget. Something to make her smile again.

When Kate flipped to
Roseanne
, she turned up the volume. Her mom always laughed at that show. Sitting beside her, she pulled her knees to her chest and yanked her nightgown over them, stretching the thin pink material to its limits.

The show’s audience laughed at something Dan said, but a glance at her mom dampened Kate’s spirits. Her face was blank, the light from the TV glazing her deadened eyes. Why was she so sad? If she missed Daddy, why didn’t she ask him to come back?

Kate felt her own eyes burning, watched Roseanne’s living room blur. She missed her dad, and her mom obviously missed him too. Why wouldn’t she let him come back?

Her mom popped to her feet. “I’m going to bed, pumpkin.” Her words sounded squeezed from her throat, as if a scarf was wrapped too tightly around her neck.

“Good night,” Kate answered, but her mom was already down the hall, closing her door. The light in the room flickered as the scenes on TV changed. Kate watched the room glow white, then blue, then white again.

From down the hall the sound of her mom’s muffled weeping reached her ears. Kate had grown to hate the sound that escorted her to sleep each night. She turned up the volume and lay on the itchy tweed couch, then pulled a pillow to her ear . . .

Now, Kate turned over and dried her face with the sheet. She hadn’t thought about that night in years. Not until now, when her own life seemed to have taken over exactly where her mother’s had left off.

A sound reached her ears, and she lifted her head from the pillow, listening. A second later, she heard it again—a long, loud snort coming from the direction of the couch.
Great. Just my luck.

Her new husband snored.

No matter how wonderful the relationship,
disappointment is inevitable. Perfection
will never be attained, so set reasonable
expectations and be prepared to work
through problems.

—Excerpt from
Finding Mr. Right-for-You
by Dr. Kate

Chapter Six

A distant clattering woke Kate. She stirred, stretching her limbs, before opening her eyes. The room was dark, and she tried to get her bearings as the events of the day before emerged, rising like a tsunami out of a still sea.

She’d married Lucas.

She was on her honeymoon.

Kate closed her eyes, wishing for the oblivion of slumber again. Maybe she could fall back asleep. For a year.

Another noise, a quiet clinking, disrupted her efforts. Apparently Lucas woke before the break of dawn. She rolled over and tugged the duvet over her head, but moments later the rich aroma of brewing coffee beckoned her.
Aaahhhh
. . . She pushed the cover down and sat up against the heap of pillows, untangling her legs from the sheets.

“Sorry,” Lucas whispered from the wet bar. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”

Kate rubbed her eyes. Her lids felt heavy and swollen. “You’re forgiven. Especially if you made enough for me.” She needed it right now just to keep her eyes open.

He turned on a light over the bar. “How do you take yours?”

“Cream and sugar.” What she’d really like was some good espresso, but the coffee should be decent in a fancy hotel like this. “Do you always rise so early?”

She heard the splash of coffee into the cup. “Yep.”

Great. She hoped he didn’t expect her to talk in the morning.

Before she could make her legs work, he brought her a mug. “Thanks.”

He’d apparently already showered and dressed. His wet hair hung in strings beside his face. The five o’clock shadow was back.

She took a sip. It was good for regular coffee. Strong enough to wake her at least. For the rest, they had cappuccino and lattes at the restaurant. She’d made certain of that before she’d made the reservation.

As she sipped the brew, her mind kicked into gear. She thought about the wedding and Lucas’s family. She thought about the media and the articles coming out in today’s papers. What would they say?

Then she thought about Bryan. Was he planning to marry this other woman? Why hadn’t she asked who it was? Maybe he’d realize he made a mistake and break up with the mystery woman. Why hadn’t Kate told him this marriage with Lucas was temporary? Maybe she and Bryan could still be together someday.

“What’s on the agenda today?” Lucas’s voice startled her.

She sipped her coffee. “What makes you think there’s an agenda?”

He gave her that lazy half smile. “Because you’re Kate Lawrence.” The smile faltered. “Well. Guess you’re not anymore.”

She was supposed to be Kate Montgomery. She remembered the way she used to jot her name with her boyfriends’ last names when she was a teenager. She’d say the name out loud, testing it on her tongue. She hadn’t even thought of her married name with Lucas until the justice pronounced them man and wife.
Kate Wright.
It sounded strange.

Lucas studied her from across the room, and she remembered he’d asked a question. The itinerary. She had it memorized. “We were supposed to go to the beach today, surfside. Bryan wanted to—” Why was she rambling about Bryan? “Anyway, it would give us time to make plans, if you’re up for it.” He didn’t seem like a beach person, but she could be wrong.

He shrugged. “Sure. I’ll need to swing by my house and pick up my things first.”

He’d need to know what she had planned in order to pack accordingly. She rattled off the agenda, noting the whaling museum, the day trip to Martha’s Vineyard, and the other points of interest she’d planned to take Bryan to.

The more things she listed, the higher Lucas’s brows went.

“What?” Kate asked.

“There any room for spontaneity on that list?”

“Spontan—what in the world for?”

His crooked smile was slow. “Tell you what. I’ll do everything on your agenda if you’ll allow one day of spontaneity.”

Kate frowned. What was the point? She’d included everything a person could want from one week on Nantucket. She studied Lucas skeptically. “What would we do?”

His head cocked. “Planning kind of ruins the point.”

She sighed. She supposed it was his vacation too. “Oh, all right. One day.” Her hollow stomach let out a growl. “I’m starving.” She hadn’t taken more than two bites at the reception.

“Room service?”

She was ready to sit down to a big, hot breakfast. “I was thinking the restaurant.”

He leaned against the back of the sofa, hands in his shorts pockets. “Won’t that seem odd?”

Odd? Oh.
Newlyweds would still be in bed at this hour. For several more hours, at least. She felt her cheeks grow warm. “Maybe you’re right. Will you order something while I grab a shower?”

He gave a mock bow. “Your wish is my command.”

Kate refrained from rolling her eyes.

While Kate showered, Lucas called room service and placed their order, then puttered around the room awhile, procrastinating.

He couldn’t put it off any longer. The last thing he wanted was for his parents to read about the wedding in the paper before he told them. As it was, it wasn’t going to be much fun.

He picked up the phone and dialed his mom’s cell. “Hi, honey,” his mom greeted him. “Hang on a second. I need to plug in the phone.”

A moment later she returned. “Ah, there we go. My battery was about to go, and I didn’t want to lose you. Everything okay there?”

“Everything’s fine. I just called with some news.” He gulped, ambled across the room, and leaned on the armoire. “It might be a little, uh, surprising. Are you sitting down?” It didn’t matter if she was. When she heard the news, all the miles between them wouldn’t seem like enough.

“I’m in the car, Lucas. What’s wrong?”

“Well, you won’t believe it, but I—”
Just say it.
“I got married last night.”

The silence betrayed her shock. Three seconds dragged by. He heard the clock on the wall ticking them off. Then . . .

“Married!” His dad said something in the background before his mom spoke again. “Who in the world to? I didn’t even know you were dating.”

Neither had he. “Well. We kind of kept it under wraps. Low-key.” Nonexistent key.
I have to tell her; there’s no way to soften the blow.
“It’s Kate, Mom. Kate Lawrence.”

It sounded like his mom sucked the air from the hotel room through the phone line. But he didn’t have to wait long for her to recover. “Kate Lawrence. Kate Lawrence?” She jabbed each syllable at him. “Lucas, how could you?”

“I know. I know, Mom. I knew you’d be upset. That’s why I didn’t tell you until now.”

“You mean until it was too late to do anything about it!”

“There’s nothing you could’ve done about it anyway. I’m a grown man, and I make my own decisions. Especially about whom I marry.”

“You didn’t even invite us to the wedding.” She sucked in another breath. “The wedding! She was supposed to have some big production with the media!” His dad mumbled in the background again. “For heaven’s sakes, how did it look that we weren’t there? The whole country is going to know we missed our son’s wedding!”

“It was actually a small, intimate affair, Mom, and I’m sure—”

“This is awful!”

“I know you’re shocked, and I don’t expect you to be happy about Kate. But I want you to remember one thing.” He waited until she stopped huffing. Then waited two beats beyond that. He needed her to hear what he said, take it to heart.

“I love her, Mom. Regardless of the past—which, incidentally, she’s not responsible for—Kate makes me happy.”

He could almost hear his mom’s frustration, her emotions torn between her unresolved anger and her son’s happiness.