To say he had been a bit of a shit in his younger years was putting it mildly. He’d embraced teenage rebellion with open arms, using it as a cover for all the bad things that were going on at home—his mother’s drinking, his father’s persistent absenteeism, the feelings of utter inadequacy with looking after his little sister, Zoey.
And Lily, with her pretty dark hair and gold stars, had represented everything he would never have—good grades, career prospects, a future. Now she was some hotshot Hollywood screenwriter, and he was pouring beers at the same old dive bar where he’d been working for the last ten years.
So, things had turned out exactly as he’d predicted.
“Antithesis is a good word, though. You wouldn’t want to bet against me in Scrabble. I bet I could even keep up with a wordsmith like you.”
Lily looked amused, in spite of herself. “I bet you could.”
“And look who’s laughing now,” he said, gesturing to her. “You’re the globe-trotting success story.”
She was engaged to some actor. The guy looked like the human personification of a Ken doll with his overly-styled blond hair and a square jaw. He even had one of those butt dimples in his chin.
The guy didn’t strike him as Lily’s type.
Yeah, because you still think you’re her type? Dream on.
“We’ll be commencing boarding shortly for American Airlines flight 9243 to Boston.” The speakers crackled and Lily pressed her free hand to her temple, squeezing her eyes shut like she had a headache. “If you require extra assistance boarding, please come forward now.”
Lily already had her boarding pass out, her foot bouncing with agitated energy. She was wearing a pair of white sneakers and blue jeans that looked soft and worn in. They hugged her thighs to perfection. On top, she wore a simple white T-shirt and had a puffy black coat tucked under one arm. Her hair spilled down around her shoulders and an LA Dodgers baseball cap cast a shadow over her face.
A disguise? He’d spotted her right away. She’d always had that effect on him—drawing his eyes like a magnet. There was also the teensy fact that he’d found out from her cousin, the bride-to-be, which flight she would be on, so he could book accordingly.
But he would neither confirm nor deny it.
“What?” she asked, looking at him warily. “Have I got something in my teeth?”
Sean shook his head. Nevertheless, she pulled a makeup compact out of her bag and checked for herself. “I had a bagel before and those bloody poppy seeds get everywhere,” she muttered. “But they’re too good to resist.”
“I couldn’t quite bring myself to eat the unidentified yellow rubber things they called eggs on the breakfast menu,” he replied, wrinkling his nose. “Although I appreciated the mini packet of Tim Tams. That was a nice touch.”
“Oh, Tim Tams!” Lily’s eyes lit up. “I swear, it doesn’t matter how many amazing things I eat here, I’d still give my firstborn for a pack of Tim Tams.”
“The originals?”
“Psssh. Double-coated all the way.” For a moment she smiled at him and it was genuine and bright, but then something inside her switched off and the light dulled. “Anyway, I should probably get ready to board.”
With a small wave, Lily went to line up at the boarding kiosk. Dark hair trailed down her back, swishing right above where her jeans hugged her backside to mouth-watering perfection.
You know better than to lust after a woman like that.
There was “out of his league” and then there was Lily Dunn. She was in a category all of her own. Had that stopped him thinking about seeing her for the last few weeks? Uh, nope. Because “knowing better” and “doing better” were two totally different things. Besides, he had some questions for Lily.
Questions like why, when he watched Wave of Love, did it feel like he was watching a movie about his life? And why, when he’d tried to contact her about it, had she ignored him? Or why, when he knew a woman like her and a guy like him would never work, did he still dream about her?
Okay, so maybe that last question was more for himself.
Logically, he knew their lives had nothing in common. They were on totally divergent paths. Heck, if commercial space travel was a thing, he wasn’t even sure they’d be on the same planet. Besides, he’d made the mistake of fooling himself into believing they could be together once before. And how had that turned out? A moment of hope quickly dashed.
Despite supporting his best mate’s marriage by agreeing to suit up like a penguin and play the role of best man, Sean knew that the closest he would get to true love was watching one of Lily’s movies.
2
Lily walked onto the plane, dragging her carry-on suitcase behind her. The whole way through the check-in process, she’d been waiting for someone else to recognise her. The words, “Hey, aren’t you…” had been burned into her brain in recent weeks, causing her to cringe before the speaker could even finish their sentence.
At no point had she ever wanted to be in the public eye. Weren’t most writers like that? The hermit creative archetype existed for a reason, right? She was a behind-the-scenes kinda gal. A quiet-room-and-the-scratch-of-pen-over-paper kinda gal. Close to deadline, she was a harsh-glow-of-a-laptop-screen-and-bottomless-coffee kinda gal.
Being on television had never been her goal.
In fact, writing for movies and living in Hollywood hadn’t been her goal, either. Not in the beginning, anyway. She’d harboured dreams of owning a secluded holiday home, penning the great Aussie novel amidst the peace and quiet of nature. But after winning a prestigious award for a short screenplay, the vast American movie industry had beckoned. Mostly, Lily enjoyed it. Going to premieres and having all the attention on the actors suited her perfectly, because hearing the happy sighs as the audience watched her characters kiss for the first time, was what fuelled her.
Not the recognition. Certainly not fame.
It was the creative process. The ability to dream an entire existence from nothing but the power of her brain. Watching the words appear across her screen almost as if of their own volition.
Only now, the words had dried up.
Every time she opened her laptop, the blinking cursor in her word processing program mocked her failure to produce. Apparently, finding out that your boyfriend was willing to humiliate you for career publicity was a major cause of writer’s block.
Lily glanced down at her boarding pass to confirm where she was supposed to sit. Thankfully, she had a window seat. The plan was to huddle against the wall and stick her nose in a book so that, hopefully, whoever sat next to her would leave her the heck alone for the next five and a half hours.
“Seven, eight… nine.” Lily stopped and reached up to open the overhead compartment.
“Ma’am, excuse me.” A flight attendant in a navy uniform came over, a silky red and blue scarf tied at her neck. Lily braced herself but sighed with relief when she saw the woman pointing to the overhead compartment. “Looks like we’re full here, but I can fit your bag in a little further back.”
“That would be great, thank you.” She smiled and allowed the woman to take her carry-on suitcase.
Sliding into her seat, she thought about keeping her cap on. But perhaps she was being paranoid. Sure, the older woman sitting next to her at the gate had been a little harsh. But maybe those teenage girls were taking a photo of someone else.