Page 22 of Sunset Serenade
Chip shrugged, grinning. “I had to stop being stubborn to see her in front of me.”
Lillian looked at Rose – she was diligently writing this all down.
Dustin cleared his throat. “I feel like I should be excused from this because I knew Lillian was the perfect girl for me and tried to get her to marry me in high school, but she had to go and be all reasonable about it and tell meno.”
Lillian laughed. “It wasn’t the right time. We both needed to grow up.”
“But how’d you know he was the one for you now?” asked Rose.
Lillian needed to tread carefully, because Rose had already tried comparing Greg to Dustin, and they werenothingalike. “I had a lot of soul-searching to do. I was insecure, and I had accepted less from a partner than I should have.”
“Why were you insecure?” Lucy said, shaking her head. “You’re awesome.”
“It doesn’t work like that.” Lillian glanced at Rose, who was still writing.
They both had their issues with insecurity – issues that escaped Lucy.
Lillian continued. “Still, I was in love with Dustin, but I truly believed he wanted nothing to do with me.”
“Babe!”Dustin put his arm around her. “I’ve always been crazy about you.”
She smiled. “That’s the thing. I know that now. It’s not…” Lillian paused, gathering her thoughts. How could she make sure Rose didn’t twist her words to assure herself about Greg? It wasn’t the same situation, as much as Rose wanted it to be.
“People have to be able to change,” Lillian finally said. “They have towantto change, they have to want to see their problems and make sure they’re not hurting the ones who love them.”
Rose stopped writing and set her pen down. “We should probably order.” She picked up a menu. “Is that blueberry French toast still on special?”
Uh oh. Rose had gotten her message, loud and clear.
Lillian shot Dustin a look, and he patted her leg under the table.
“I know what you were trying to say,” he said in a low voice. “Maybe she’s not ready to hear it yet.”
“I guess not.” Lillian sighed. “She shuts down anytime I even hint at talking about Greg.”
He squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry. I think she’s figuring things out.”
Rose pointed at Lucy. “Oh! I wanted to tell you. The pilot from my flight this morning told me my outfit was ‘glamorous’!”
“It is,” Lucy said simply. “He was probably hitting on you.”
Rose laughed. “Yeah, right.”
Lillian looked at Dustin. He was smiling to himself. Maybe he was right.
Oh, how she hoped he was right.
Chapter Ten
Though the matchmaker brunch was less insightful than Rose hoped it would be, it was still fun. By the end, her face hurt from laughing, and just before they left, Marty sent a text that read, “She said yes!!!” complete with a smiling picture of the happy couple atop Mt. Constitution.
Back home, Rose went over her notes and tried to see if there were any hidden clues to all those happy relationships.
What she found surprised her. As different as everyone’s stories were, they all had something in common: fear.
In one form or another, fear held everyone back – fear of loss, fear of their own insecurities, fear of not meeting expectations.
Even Lucy, whom Chip correctly characterized as scary, seemed fearless – but she wasn’t. She’d been afraid of being hurt and she ran from love at every chance. In the end, even scary Lucy was only human.
