Page 10 of Finally Forever
“Uh, oui. Yes.” He says something in French to the lady behind the register counter and leads me into the back room, the entrance half-covered by a swooping satin curtain.
He continues past a stock room and an alterations room to a kitchenette space with a small table and chairs for two.
“The way you’re sweating has me thinking this is hormonal,” Lowell says, remembering the times I joked about hot flashes during my period. What a memory!
“Mariette, the owner, has an arsenal of feminine products in the bathroom if you need some.” He points to a narrow door in the room. “I can’t guarantee she’ll have the medication you want or need. I can ask if there’s a pharmacy nearby. I don’t know the area that well.”
Laughter builds inside me over my adorable, caring, crazy-memory-former bestie, and bursts from my lips. The sound is shaky and tight with nerves, but at least my heart no longer echoes in my ears.
Fear shows on Lowell’s face.
“I’m okay. I swear. It’s not hormones.” I catch my breath, a lot less tense after my laughing fit. “I just, I don’t know how to explain anything. I still can’t believe you’re real and here.”
He gestures to the chairs at the small table. “Would you like to sit?”
“Thank you.” I lower onto one of the chairs. “Is it okay that we’re in here? I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
“It’s fine.” He joins me at the table. “I don’t work for this boutique. I’m delivering a dress for a local bride. You can’t get it here, so she had to order it through the designer I work for in Paris. I volunteer to deliver them when I can. Luc loves the south of France and any excuse to escape the city for the Côte d’Azur.”
He takes a moment, then grins, his gaze expectant. “This is the part where you tell me why you’re here. And why Harper thinks you abandoned her.”
“Abandoned her?” Anger and hurt return to me too easily.
I thought that chapter of my life was closed. I haven’t seen Harper in over a year, and yet here I am, as upset as ever. Caring as if what she says matters, which it doesn’t. Shouldn’t. Things had been shifting between our friendship throughout college, but they got worse when Sebastian entered the picture. Her jealousy and rivalry reached new levels—something I let rule me at the time, always worrying about her getting mad at me. It was too much. Moving in with her was a mistake brought by desperation and the stupid hope that we could get back to how we were in high school.
“Harper kicked me out of her apartment,” I say, trying for a calmer tone and failing. “She threw my goodbye note in thetrash. If anyone did the abandoning, it was her.”
His brows shoot up. “Sounds like there are some unresolved issues here.” He raises his palm. “Not that I want to get involved. I don’t. It always gets me in trouble. But if you want her to stop saying you abandoned her, you should give her your new number. She said you changed it so she can’t contact you. But then I told her I don’t have your new number either. Why is that?” He touches his chin.
And here we are again. What to say? How to lie?
The thing is, I don’t want to lie to Lowell. I can’t see this simple interaction putting him in danger. No one knows who he is and where he lives. He wasn’t in my life other than phone calls and texts before I went into hiding.
Sebastian’s voice sounds in the back of my head.Anyone you communicate with is in danger.How can that be if I can communicate with my classmates? Wouldn’t the same apply to them? Maybe it’s been long enough, and I can have this friendship with Lowell.
“Earth to Ainsley?” Lowell says, drawing my gaze from the table to his face.
“Uh, this is hard.”
His lips pucker with thought. “Is this about the guy you were dating? Did he do something to you? Threaten you? Is that why you’re here?”
Damn Lowell and his memory. “It’s complicated.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
I place my hands on the table and sit forward. “It’s not bad. I’m not in any harm.” Sort of. “I—we… he and I…”
Lowell gasps. “What in the love of all that’s sparkly is that?” He grabs my hand and draws it to him for a closer look at my ring.
I forgot I was wearing it.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s stunning. When did you get engaged?”
“Thank you.” I resist the urge to pull my hand away. Not because Lowell is examining it. That’s Lowell, but because I’m not sure how to explain it. “It just happened recently.”
“With that guy?” His turquoise eyes find mine. “Does he have a name?”
A nervous laugh escapes me. “Yes, he has a name.” I think quickly. “But there is a lot to the story. It would take hours to explain, and I’d rather wait until we have more time. You can understand that, right?”
