Page 226 of Enthrall Shadows
“It’ll do,” I joked.
Lilly looked at me wide-eyed. “The pool is big!”
“Did you bring your bathing suit?” I asked her.
“Yes!” She beamed as she watched Diana, my housekeeper, set a handful of plush beach towels on a lounger.
“You really don’t mind?” asked Lilly.
“I invited you to swim,” I said. “Have fun.”
She was easily a younger version of her mom—before life had hardened Reese.
Seeing the charm bracelet on Reese’s left wrist made me pause. I’d bought it for her eighteenth birthday. The “R” was missing because she’d placed it in the envelope with the co-ordinates for the preserve.
Reese saw me staring at the bracelet.
“Still fits?” I asked, surprised she thought wearing it was a good idea.
“For old times’ sake.” She gave me a smile, the same kind that had once haunted my memories.
I snapped my focus back to Lilly. “Your mom and I will be in the conference room.”
“Do you ever get lost in there?” asked Lilly.
“Not yet.”
Every hallway led to the center of the house eventually. I wondered if that could be a metaphor for my life now—all paths leading me back to Lotte.
“Henry?” Reese touched my arm to get my attention. “Thank you for inviting us. It means a lot.”
“Of course.”
“You and I are healing old wounds, getting familiar with each other all over again.” Reese’s expression was full of hope.
I smiled. “How’s your hotel?”
“Great.”
“Good of you to fly out,” I said.
Lilly hurried to the side of the pool and stripped down to her bathing suit. Her being outside would give us more time to talk.
“Forgive me,” said Reese. “For everything.”
“We have to move forward.”
I’d also forgiven myself for pining after her all these years. Reese was a different version of herself, though her introspection was still lacking.
“There’s something I have to tell you,” she said.
“Can it wait?”
“I still love you,” she blurted out.
Words failed me as I tried to find a reply that would sound kind.
“It might take you longer to come around,” she said. “But we can still make up for those years apart.”
