Tossing his tuxedo jacket onto a chair, Myles crossed the room with his hands in his pockets and walked over to the window. Ronald’s condo was located in one of the exclusive areas of town and the huge home he was having built for Sheila was on ten acres of land close to the Suwannee River.
He stood at the window, gazing out at the darkness, seeing nothing but feeling everything. Feeling more love for a woman than he had a right to feel. More love than she could possibly know he felt. Five years hadn’t destroyed his love for her; it had only intensified it. Seeing her again made him realize that every moment he spent away from her had boosted the emotions he felt. He hadn’t needed to see her to know it. But he had needed to see her for his own peace of mind. He could admit that now.
When he had gotten the call from Ronald in the summer asking that he be his best man, he had immediately known he would do so because he would have a chance to see Lisa again without breaking the promise he had made to her parents; a promise that he loved their daughter enough to get out of her life and stay out.
And now that he had seen her, he wasn’t so sure he could return to Charlotte and live the life he had for the past five years. It was a life where he had tried so hard to forget her—but he never could. There wasn’t a woman out there who could take her place in his life—and his heart.
So where did that leave him? Where did that leave them?
As far as she was concerned, there was no them, and a part of him felt that maybe he should accept that and move on, leave in a few days like he’d planned and be a spectator at the race in Daytona to cheer Bronson on to victory. But another part of him could not. It was the part that had heard the hurt and pain in Lisa’s voice. It was hurt and pain the years hadn’t erased and for her to believe that she was of no value to him, or possibly never had been, was unacceptable.
He turned when he heard his cell phone go off and quickly crossed the room to get it out of his jacket. “Yes?”
“Merry Christmas. I know the day is almost over, but I thought I’d check to make sure you’ll still coming to Daytona next week.”
A smile touched the corners of Myles’s lips. “Bronson, Merry Christmas to you, too, and yes, I’ll be there.”
He heard the loud noise in the background. “Having a party, Bron?”
He heard his friend’s chuckle over the loud music that was playing. “I decided to open the Race Track for a couple of friends. Wished you were here to party with us.”
Any other time Myles would have wished he was there, too, but not this time. He was exactly where he wanted to be, right in the same town, breathing the same air as Lisa.
The Race Track Café was a popular hang-out in Charlotte that was owned by Bronson and several other race-car drivers. Myles found himself spending a lot of time there.
“Donovan sends his greetings,” Bronson said. “He would come to the phone, but he is kind of indisposed at the moment.”
Myles shook his head. For Donovan Steele, being indisposed meant he was cornered off somewhere with a woman. The man took his role as one of Charlotte’s most sought-after bachelors very seriously. It was a top spot that Donovan shared with Bronson.
“Thanks. And tell Donovan that I might be missing the Christmas party, but I’ll be at the New Year’s party to celebrate your win in Daytona.”
After talking to Bronson a few minutes longer they ended the call and his thoughts immediately went back Lisa. Once the picture-taking sessions at the reception had ended, she had avoided him, not giving them a chance to spend time together again. He wondered if she’d deliberately put distance between them because she knew her family would want her to.
He shook his head, realizing that wasn’t the case. If he knew anything about Lisa it was the fact that she had never succumbed to any pressures her family placed on her. She had always been considered the rebel in the family, thinking for herself and not catering to what others wanted. That had been the main reason her parents had sought him out, pleading for him to do what they considered the right thing when it became apparent that she wouldn’t.
Maybe he had hurt her too much and she could never forgive him?
He headed for the guest bedroom. Without a family to call his own Christmas would end for him just like the other Christmases that he had spent for the past five years. Alone.
* * *
LISA ENTERED HER APARTMENT, closed the door behind her and leaned against it. It might have been her imagination but she could swear she could detect Myles’s scent. And when she closed her eyes she could still see the intensity of his eyes as they followed her around the room while greeting those she knew at the reception.
At any point and time she could glance up and meet his eyes and immediately she would feel sensations flow through her. Sensations that only Myles could evoke. He was still attracted to her, that much she could figure out from the way his eyes would roam over her, like a private and personal caress.
She kicked off her heels as she made her way to her bedroom. She was grateful that neither her parents nor her sisters had tried discussing Myles with her anymore. She was well aware that they had known she and Myles had arrived at the reception together, just like she knew they were aware she had caught a ride back to the church with Sheila’s cousin Judy to get her car.
As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t forget Myles’s words that the two of them still had some talking to do. A part of her knew he intended to make good on that promise. And she wasn’t looking forward to it.
* * *
MYLES SMILED AS he entered Sybil’s Delicatessen, and immediately the thought of dough, powdered sugar and honey made his stomach grumble. Sybil Porter had owned the pastry shop on the main street in Chiefland for as long as he could remember, and he considered her the best baker in the entire Southeast. While growing up it wasn’t uncommon for him to stop by on his way to school or to the garage. One of the things that made Sybil special was that she had treated him with kindness.
The bell above the door had jingled as he walked in and the older woman turned in his direction and smiled. “I wondered when you would finally drop by. Once I heard you had returned to town I knew I might as well get the dough ready for those strawberry tarts you liked so much,” she said.
Myles laughed. “You mean you made a batch of sticky fingers just for me?”
“Yep. I figured you deserved them. Not every day one of our own goes up against the likes of Grady McClellan and wins a big championship race.”
He lifted a brow. “When did you start keeping up with the races?”
“When I heard you had moved from being a mechanic to a driver. Joe still comes in on occasion and he’s proud as a peacock. Have you seen him?”
“Yes, I’ve seen him.” What he didn’t tell her was that upon arriving in Chiefland the first place he’d gone was out to Joe’s place. The older man had since retired from working at Harris Auto and spent his days fishing on the lake behind his home. At seventy-five, Joe, the man who had taught him everything he knew about cars, was sharp as ever and just as ornery. But Joe had been the closest thing to a grandfather he’d had, especially after his own grandfather and father had gotten killed in a car accident trying to outrun the law. The Chiefland police had tried stopping them for speeding and, instead of pulling over to get a ticket, the two men thought they would give the cops a run for their money. Unfortunately, they hadn’t planned on a huge semi truck unexpectedly pulling into their path while they’d been doing close to a hundred miles an hour. That had left Myles with no family. His mother had run off when he’d turned ten, fed up with her husband and father-in-law’s drunkenness, and never looked back. When he turned sixteen he’d received word that she had died of breast cancer.