Page 80 of The Moment He Saw Her

Libby pulled out her phone as it rang in her pocket. Looking at the number, she answered. “Hello, Savannah, is everything all right?” It was only the second time her sister had contacted her since arriving in Lyntacky.

“Libby, you need to come home,” her youngest sister said, sounding agitated. “This has gone on long enough. Andrew will forgive you if you do. Plus you have work commitments!”

“Stop yelling at me, Vannah,” Libby said. “You haven’t called me in days, and you can’t even say hello?”

“This is not funny. Our life is hell at the moment. You need to come back and fix it!”

“I’m not coming home until I’m ready,” Libby said as calmly as she could. “I need to work out what I want to do with my life first.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re an accountant and going to marry Andrew. Clearly you had some kind of breakdown?—”

“I need to go, Savannah,” she cut her sister off.

“Wait, Libby, don’t go!”

“Savannah—”

“Elizabeth, it’s your father, and I want to know what it is you think you’re trying to prove with this little stunt. You get yourself home now and beg Andrew’s forgiveness. Do you realize the humiliation you’ve caused both families?”

Libby closed her eyes at the voice. She loved her father, but he’d never really understood her, as she likely didn’t understand him.

“Well?” he demanded. “When are you returning, and further to that, where are you?”

“I’m not coming home,” Libby said, looking down the street to the peaceful neighborhood sprawled out before her.

Bad things happened here, like they did everywhere, but right then Lyntacky felt safe and a place she wanted to be.

“You are coming home, or you’ll never get another cent out of your accounts!” he roared at her. “No child of mine will walk out on her responsibilities.”

Libby swallowed down her tears. No good would come from crying now.

“Did you wonder why I ran out of my wedding, Father?” Libby whispered. “Did you wonder why I, the one who always does what she’s told of the three of your daughters, did that?”

There was silence then from her father, but she knew he was still there because she could hear his breathing.

“And what you did, freezing my accounts and leaving me without funds at a time when I most needed them, is something I’m not sure I’ll ever forgive you for. I’m your child.” Libby heard her voice break.

“Elizabeth—”

She cut the call before he could finish whatever he’d been about to say. That would shock him as much as her walking out on her own wedding. Never, not once in her life, could she remember disobeying her father or cutting him off on a call.

Anger and hurt had Libby throwing the phone hard at the ground. She watched it shatter into satisfyingly small pieces.

“Are you all good there, Libby?”

She spun to find Phoebe’s brother and his partner behind her.

“All good, thanks, Caleb,” Libby said, dropping to pick up the shattered pieces of her phone. She then shoved them into her pocket.

“I hate when my phone annoys me enough to do that,” Jonathan said, moving to Libby’s left’s side while Caleb came to her right.

“He’s broken four phones like that,” Caleb said.

“Sad but true.”

“I’m okay,” Libby said when Caleb slid his arm through hers. “But I really need to know why you’re out here before the sun has fully risen. Phoebe told me you both hate mornings.” She could feel color filling her face over what they’d just seen her do.

“It’s his idea,” Caleb said, pointing to Jonathan. “Apparently, I need to get in shape to be a top-notch curler, and to do that, he’s taken over as my personal trainer.”

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