It wasn’t Ally’s fault she’d been stood up, it wasn’t even Ember’s fault. It was Adam Michaelson’s and the chink she’d allowed to appear in her armor.
When she glanced at the screen she saw the message wasn’t from Ally at all. It was from Lucas Russell. Surprised, she opened it up and quickly scanned his words.
Hey. Hope everything’s going okay on your date. Just wanted to let you know I’m over at the diner ordering takeout, so if you need rescuing I’m less than a minute away.
Ember glanced up from her phone and looked in the rearview mirror. She could see the diner from here, with its low building and silver décor, a few cars parked outside.
For a moment she considered turning her key, switching on the engine, and driving home. There was a bottle of wine in the refrigerator with her name on it, and the lure of her warm, cozy bed. Maybe she’d curl up in there and have a good cry. Let all those desolate emotions she’d thought she’d conquered rise up all over again.
The thought of it made her chest ache. But everything inside her ached right now.
Pulling her keyboard up on the screen she quickly tapped out a message.
I’m in Delmonico’s parking lot. He stood me up.
Thirty seconds later a reply appeared on her screen.
Stay there. I’m coming over.
13
“Can you make that two hot dogs and fries?” Lucas asked the server, who gave him a nod and added an extra dog to his order. “And two sodas, please. All to go.”
Within a couple of minutes he was carrying a large brown bag filled with food and drink out of the diner. He crossed the main road that led to the boardwalk and Delmonico’s parking lot, frowning as he scanned around to spot Ember’s car.
He stopped when he saw her slumped in the driver’s seat, her eyes red as she stared straight ahead. The muscles in his back tensed up, his hand curled tighter around the paper bag at the thought of her being stood up.
She looked pretty broken up about it, too.
With his free hand he gently tapped on her window. Ember looked up, her face a picture of surprise. When she realized it was him, she tried to smile, but somehow it ended up looking like a grimace.
She opened the door and he leaned his head inside. “I bought us some dogs and fries,” he told her, lifting up the brown bag. “I figured you might not have eaten.”
That half-smile half-grimace was still there. “I didn’t. Though I did manage to drink half my body weight in water. The waiter kept coming over and asking me if I wanted another bottle.” She gave a brittle laugh and it cut straight through him.
He tensed up again, trying to bite down the anger he felt at this guy. “Maybe we could go eat these
on the beach,” he suggested. “That’s if you feel like heading over there. I don’t want to mess your car up.”
She climbed out, grabbing her purse from the passenger seat. Lucas stepped back, and his chest tightened even more.
“That’s a nice dress,” he said, nodding at her. Yeah, understatement of the year, Lucas.
“Thanks. I bought it for the date.” Another almost-laugh. “More fool me.”
“You’re not a fool, he is,” Lucas said gruffly, waiting for her to lock the car up and join him.
They walked in silence over to the boardwalk, then past the pier. He wanted to put a bit of distance between them and Delmonico’s, imagining the last thing she wanted to do was eat hotdogs with him while looking at that damn restaurant. Her face was still shiny from her tears, though he was pleased to see they’d stopped flowing. He wasn’t great with emotions, even his own – especially his own – they always left him searching around to find the right thing to say.
They reached the part of the beach that curved around into a rocky cove, at the far end of Angel Sands. From there you could see the deserted buildings of what used to be the Silver Bay Resort – an Art Deco hotel that thrived during the half-century since it was built in the 1920s, right up to its abandonment in the 1970s.
Lucas put the brown bag down on a flat rock, using it as a makeshift tablecloth. Then he took off his jacket and laid it down on another rock, gesturing at Ember to sit down.
“You don’t need to take your jacket off,” she said, glancing up at him. He could see the moonlight reflected in her eyes. “It’s chilly, you’ll get cold.”
“You’re more likely to get cold in that dress,” he pointed out. “You can either sit on the jacket or wear it, if you like.”
She offered him a smile. “I’ll sit on it.”