Page 99 of Lovestruck at Sundown
God. “Yes.” I took my hand to my forehead. “Just a bad dream. Where’s William?”
After seeing William’s lifeless body over a puddle of blood in my dream, I needed to take a look at him to give my adrenal glands the signal to stop pumping cortisol into my circulatory system.
It’d been a while since I had a nightmare, one ofthosenightmares where Thomas shot William or Caleb. Or both. My guess was the nightmares got triggered by stress. And I’d been stressing out the past few days after my last conversation with my dad on Christmas Eve.
And now, the slight hint of a headache began to pulse in my frontal lobe, reminding me of all the wine we’d drunk last night.
“He went to the grocery store with Joel,” Lily explained. “You know they like going early to avoid it being too busy. The town’s extremely crowded, as you witnessed yesterday.”
Lily and I naïvely thought we could go for a quick run to the liquor store undetected, but many people, tourists and locals alike, were asking to get selfies. They mostly asked Lily, but I was surprised to have people approaching me, too.
After being photographed with William outside of Parson’s and on Christmas Eve, I had been stopped by a few people whenever I went out. Nothing crazy. It was wild, though, to get recognized by random strangers. But being out with Lily made us more visible. Luckily, Aaron was there and escorted us out quickly.
Not only were we celebrating New Year’s Eve, but Lily’s birthday was on January 1st, so there was even more reason to celebrate.
“Didn’t William bring everything he needs to cook tonight’s dinner?” I grabbed the blackout curtain remote and clicked the button to roll them up. It was a somewhat grey day, but the light reflected intensely against the snow, stinging my sleepy eyes.
“He said he was missing some herbs or spices or something like that.” Lily chuckled. “And Joel wanted more beer since they almost finished it last night.”
“Aren’t you hungover?” I stretched my arms over my head with a yawn, making my head throb a bit more. “You seem … fresh.”
“Ehh.” She shrugged. “I’m more scared about what state I will find myself in tomorrow.” She laughed, and I shook my head with a smile. “So, are you feeling better?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I dismissed her concern with a carefree wave. “Did Naomi arrive?”
Naomi was going to attend a New Year’s Eve party in North Haven, only a 15-minute drive from Sagaponack. Lily and Joelinvited her over since they had decided to change publicists and hire her instead. They would use this time to discuss media plans for the wedding before she had to leave for that party.
Tobias was doing the switch, too, once he returned from visiting Cecile in Paris.
I’d been wanting to give Aaron some time off work, but he insisted on coming. I wasn’t sure if my dad forced him to work on New Year’s Eve, but I knew Aaron’s father wasn’t doing great, health-wise. I guess he’d rather keep himself busy than spend his time inside his head about it when he couldn’t fly to visit him.
“She arrived about half an hour ago.” Lily’s eyebrow flew up. “Aaron and her have been bickering about every single thing they talk about. Including the correct temperature to drink coffee.” Naturally. Aaron and Naomi had a rocky start when they first met. Whenever they crossed paths, they refused to be cordial to one another. I was hoping they could coexist for a few days. “But I’ve been ignoring them and keeping myself busy with wedding stuff.”
Shit. I’d promised Lily we would go through her to-do list this morning, and I slept in. “Let me take a quick shower, and I’ll meet you downstairs to get started, okay?” I was so embarrassed. With so much going on in my personal life, I hadn’t been the best maid of honor. But I was determined to change that.
The wedding was upon us. Lily and Joel were getting married in June, and I still had a shower to throw and her bachelorette party to organize.
It hadn’t been all so bad, though. Wedding dress “shopping” was so much fun. And I quoteshoppingbecause Enzio de Luca designed a gown exclusively for Lily. For free. Of course, photos of Lily wearing it would appear in every fashion magazine, so it was meant to be a win-win for everyone involved in the exchange. However, trying on some existing models to narrowdown a specific style and seeing Lily’s excited face was priceless.
There was still so much to do before the big day, and I wanted to show Lily I was there for her.
I showered and changed into leggings and William’s oversized Hammarby hoodie.
The smell of coffee invaded my nostrils as I descended the stairs and headed toward the kitchen. Aaron was sitting in the living room with a book, wearing black cargo pants, a black long-sleeve t-shirt, and boots. I had to do a double take because I almost didn’t recognize him without his suit. But I was glad he’d listened to me. I’d asked him to relax and leave his suits back in Manhattan. He seemed so … domestic.
“Good morning,” I said to Aaron.
“Morning, Miss,” he replied with a nod. I was afraid to make eye contact out of fear that he would jump up from his seat and start following me inside the house. But he didn’t. He’d made himself at home as William and I had insisted he should.
“Did you eat already?”
“I did, Miss. Thank you.”
“What are you reading?” I tilted my head with curiosity.
He lifted the book to show me.The Book of Joeby Jonathan Tropper. “It’s great so far.”
“I’ll have to borrow it once you’re done.”
