Page 12 of Don't Regret Me
My face heated. “Hi, Mrs. Kelly.” The woman was a beloved figure of this town, each of her children following in her footsteps to make their names known. “I hope we weren’t intruding on the service.”
“Nonsense. We welcome everyone here.”
Liz stood, scooting out of the pew. Mrs. Kelly put an arm around her shoulders. “Have you heard the news, dear?”
“News?”
“About Nick Jacobs.”
Everything inside Liz turned to ice, and all she could manage was a shake of her head.
“He’s returning to our little town. Pastor Drake convinced him to do his community service in our new youth center. Can you imagine? A movie star among us.” She practically squealed in excitement. “Maybe you’ll get to meet him if you keep coming on Sundays.” She let go. “I have to run. My family is coming for dinner tonight, and it takes me all day to make enough food to feed that lot.”
When she was gone, Liz couldn’t move. A hand slid into hers, and she looked down to find Owen staring up at her with wide, innocent eyes.
“Come on.” She put a hand on Evelyn’s shoulder and guided the two of them through the crowd to reach the path to the parking lot. They were almost home free when someone called her name.
“Ms. Ross,” he said again, jogging after them, his robe billowing around his legs.
Liz drew in a breath of warm air before turning. “Pastor Drake, it’s nice to see you.”
“Call me Bentley, please.” He pushed a hand through his ruffled hair.
The man looked younger than he was. He was handsome, with ear-length, ash-brown hair and a tall build. But it was his kind smile that kept her from walking away. “Okay. I’m just Liz then. Not Ms. Ross..”
He nodded. “I saw you walk in and…” He pushed out a breath, his nerves breaking through the calm façade. “The accident… I know we weren’t in the same one, but I feel like we’re connected by it somehow. I can’t really explain it.”
She could. It was because of Nick. “Trauma will do that. We both experienced something awful.”
“Yes, but…”
“I’m sorry. I really need to get my kids home.” She gestured to them.
“Oh, of course. Please drive safely.”
She offered him a tight smile, trying to hold every emotion inside of her while facing this man she barely knew. But the moment she got into her car and closed the door, everything came pouring out of her in a torrent of tears. The memories of her accident, of the seconds before hitting the tree. And everything that happened after.
She hadn’t let herself cry over Nick in a long time, but Bentley was right. They were connected, and speaking with him brought it all back to the surface.
Nick was returning to Gulf City. And he still didn’t know who she was.
She slammed a hand against the steering wheel, the tears continuing until a tiny voice in the back seat said, “It’s going to be okay, Mom.” Owen reached forward to grip her arm.
Evelyn threw her entire body between the seats and into Liz’s lap. “Don’t cry, Mom. I’m sure your angel is still looking out for you.”
Liz wiped her eyes. She loved her kids with everything she had. Even if Nick didn’t exist, she still had them.
And yet, thinking of a world without him in it, without the lake house, that wall of windows and the off-limits office, sent fissures through her heart, through her faith.
Maybe the Nick she’d met really had just been an angel keeping her alive until she could return to her kids. But then, why did it hurt so much?
A thought came to her, a way to prove whether or not that time had just been a dream. Locked away in that house was the most beautiful manuscript. She had to find it, to prove it had all been real.
7
NICK
There were times in life when even the most unfeeling people wanted to run. Nick always viewed himself as cold, someone who’d never had the chance to be anything different. He pushed his emotions to the back of his mind, never letting the world know what he truly thought, how he truly felt.
