“Ah, yes. The car you booked is out of commission, I’m afraid.”
“What do you mean it’s out of commission?” Lily groaned and scrubbed a hand over her face, praying she’d heard wrong.
“The car we had assigned to you was involved in an accident as it was being returned to the terminal, and unfortunately we’re completely booked out. The best thing we can do is check in with one of the other rental companies and see if they have any cars available.”
Apparently, there was a major convention happening outside Boston that weekend, and every single car at the rental company was booked solid. Of course, the car she’d booked—three months in advance, thank you very much—was the one that had gotten damaged.
Lily drew a deep breath to calm herself before she lost it at the guy behind the counter. It wasn’t his fault. But her cousin Evie hadn’t exactly chosen a place that was accessible by public transport, and an Uber would cost her a fortune. Which, given she was now living on her own and trying to shoulder the hefty LA rent, was an issue.
“Let’s try one of the other companies,” she said.
Ten minutes and three rental companies later, Lily was still without a car. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to scream, cry, or turn right back around and catch the next flight to LA. Or maybe somewhere else… like far north Russia.
What was she going to do now?
The rental company associate was ringing around to their other locations in the hopes they could have a car delivered to the airport. She appreciated the effort, but watching him hang up the phone and then pick it back up to dial a new number over and over again was not filling her with hope.
To distract herself, she wandered over to a small shop that sold snacks, drinks and magazines. Maybe some chocolate might cheer her up. She perused the brightly coloured display, trying to decide between the options. But then her attention was snagged by a rack of tabloid-style magazines. The shop assistant was shelving the latest copies of US Weekly and a familiar face graced the cover. The headline, in bold font, felt like it was screaming at her.
Hollywood hunk engaged! Brock Silvers finds his true happily ever after.
The picture showed him with a willowy redhead tucked into his side, her hand pressed against her chest and an enormous diamond glittering on her ring finger. A smaller picture next to it showed Lily looking pale-faced and sad. She hadn’t even known that someone had snapped that picture of her! For a moment, it felt like her heart almost stopped beating.
So much for him wanting to shed his romantic lead image.
Had the backlash from #breakupgate hit him harder than Lily thought? Was he using another poor unsuspecting woman as damage control? Or what if this really was his “true” love and everything he claimed to have felt for Lily was mere platitudes?
Or worse… acting.
“Hey, aren’t you…” The woman stacking the magazines looked at Lily, then at the copy of US Weekly and then back at Lily.
She didn’t give the woman a chance to finish her question. With angry tears blurring her eyes, Lily headed back into the crowd, hoping that nobody would notice that she was about to cry. Or scream her lungs out in frustration. Or both.
That. Freaking. Bastard.
Immediately, Lily’s phone pinged with a text.
MUM: Hey Lil, we touched down in Fort Worth. Aunty Patricia and Uncle John are with us. We’ll be in Boston around dinner time. I can’t wait to see my little girl. I miss you so much!
Lily swallowed, the tears threatening even more strongly. “I miss you too, Mum,” she whispered.
MUM: I saw the magazine with Brock and his new fiancée. I’m so sorry.
“Miss?” The customer service guy from the car rental company was waving to get her attention. Swallowing down the swirling emotions inside her, Lily walked over and tried to remain hopeful. “Good news, we can get a car in from another depot.”
Finally, something was going her way. “Fantastic.”
“The bad news is it’s going to take at least two hours, possibly more. It’s snowing pretty heavily outside and the roads are backed up.”
Over two hours? Her shoulders sagged.
Then Lily saw a familiar figure walking through the crowd. Sean had a pair of chunky headphones on his head and a bag slung over one shoulder, with the world’s smallest suitcase being dragged behind him. Seriously, what was that? A suitcase for ants? How did he even fit a tuxedo in there?
The thing that caught her attention most of all was the set of keys dangling from his hand.
Bingo! All she had to do was swallow her pride and ask Sean for his help after he’d already given it to her once today. No biggie.
“Just give me one minute,” she said to the customer service guy.
Lily raced after Sean. Trying to catch his easy, long-legged strides with her own was no small feat. Her dad used to joke that she had “duck’s disease,” meaning her bum was too close to the ground. Hustling through the crowd, flinging “excuse me” left and right, Lily finally made it to him. She waved, trying to catch his attention.
“Hey.” He yanked his headphones off. “You disappeared out of that plane so fast I thought I’d said something wrong.”
“It’s nothing to do with you,” she lied, feeling her cheeks growing warm. “So, uh, it turns out my rental car was involved in an accident and apparently there’s some huge event going on around Boston. So, there aren’t too many cars to go around and the guy at the front desk really tried to find one for me…”
You’re babbling.
Sean raised an eyebrow like he was trying to catch up with her breathless sentences.
“I noticed you have a set of car keys. I mean, I definitely wasn’t watching out for you or anything. Not at all.” Did she sound like she was creeping on him? Ugh, stop it! “I mean, it’s just that you’re easy to spot, being so tall.”
Not better.
She dropped her gaze to the ground, wishing it would open up and swallow her whole. Whatever confidence she’d built up over the years, it felt like the last month had shattered it all like fragile glass. And just now, seeing that magazine cover… Was this rock bottom? It sure felt like it.
“Uh…”
Smooth, Lily. Like a baby giraffe straight out of the womb.
“Do you need a ride?” he asked, his deep voice like soft caramel—decadent and delicious.
“Yes, please.” She looked back up at him, not missing the amusement sparkling in his eyes. “That would be great.”
“All you have to do is ask. I don’t need War and Peace as justification.” He smiled. “Are you ready to go?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I’m ready.”
Her stomach was still churning from the day’s developments.
One problem at a time. You’ve got a ride, now you can figure out what to do about the whole “Brock is engaged” thing.
Forty minutes later, Lily gripped the passenger side door handle as the rental car drifted toward the lines in the centre of the highway. The snow was blowing in hard and fast, and visibility was lower than either she or Sean would have liked. Much lower.
Was this when her life was supposed to flash before her eyes?
Sean pulled the car back toward the middle of the lane, but they drifted again. If she made it to the end of this trip, it would be a legitimate Christmas miracle. Thankfully, according to the GPS, Forever Falls wasn’t too far away.