“Thank you for the invite,” Ember said, smiling at the woman who she might once have been related to – even if by marriage. Now she was just a friend, but Ember couldn’t be happier with that. “And for letting me bring a plus one.” Ember squeezed Lucas’ hand.
“It’s an amazing party,” Lucas agreed, squeezing her hand back. “I’m happy to be here.”
“Um, Will is here too somewhere,” Janice said, lowering her voice. “I hope that won’t make you uncomfortable.”
So Will was here. Ember felt a shiver run down her spine. “Not at all.” She flashed Janice a smile, although it took a lot more work than her last one. “That’s all water under the bridge now.”
“Well I’m sure he’ll be over to say hello at some point,” Janice said, looking relieved. “Natalie has been telling everybody that you’re here, and brought the best looking guy in Angel Sands along with you.”
This time Ember’s laugh was easy. That was so typical of Natalie, she liked to stir up a little interest to make the party swing.
“I should go and see some of the other guests,” Janice said, sounding reluctant. “You both enjoy yourselves, you hear? And promise not to groan too loudly when Richard makes his annual speech. He’s been working on it for days.”
Richard Martin’s speech was all part of their anniversary party tradition. Usually a man of few words, he always liked to use the party as a chance to tell his wife how much she meant to him. As it was forty years since their wedding, it was no wonder he’d been working on it for a while.
“I’m sure it will be a wonderful speech,” Ember said.
Janice sighed. “I hope so. He’s promised to keep it to ten minutes or less.”
For the next hour, Ember and Lucas wandered around the party, refilling their drinks a few times, and dancing to the music from the band the Martins had hired to play old favorites. Every few minutes old friends and Martin family members would come up to say hello, their eyes raking her over as if to work out if she was still upset about Will leaving her. But the man himself remained conspicuously absent.
The band struck up a mellow version of The Beach Boys’ God Only Knows, and Lucas wrapped his hands around Ember’s waist, his fingers almost touching as they swayed together, singing the words they could remember. They hadn’t kissed once since that moment behind the old palm tree, but every time she looked into his eyes she saw a promise there, and it sent a shiver down her spine.
“Do you think we’ve been here long
enough?” Lucas leaned in to whisper in her ear as the singer crooned about the world showing nothing to him if she left.
“You read my mind.” She grinned at the way their thoughts were so in tune. “I don’t think anybody will notice if we left.”
“Stay here, I’ll grab us another drink and we can walk along the beach to the car. It beats going back out to the road.” Lucas winked at her and headed over to the tiki bar. Ember waited by the band, still swaying to the music. She was so busy looking over her shoulder for Lucas that she hadn’t noticed the man standing in front of her until he cleared his throat.
“Will?” It came out like a question, though Ember was in no doubt it was her ex-fiancé standing in front of her. He looked exactly the same as he always did. His hair was brushed back off his smooth face, and his eyes were dark beneath the light of the moon and the string lamps that glittered all around the Martins’ backyard. He smelled the same, too – he must still use that same minty shower gel that he always did. If she closed her eyes she could imagine it was last year, and they’d be here at the party together, smiling and laughing at the guests.
“How are you?” he asked her.
“I’m great.” No thanks to him. He’d never know how hard she had to work to scrape what remained of her heart off their kitchen floor, or how many tears she’d shed when he left her without a warning. And that was a good thing. She didn’t want him to know. The ability to hurt somebody was a kind of power, and she wasn’t planning on giving anybody that kind of power over her anymore. “How are you?”
“I’m good.” He swallowed. “Um, I wasn’t sure if you’d come tonight.”
She gave him a fake smile. “Oh? Why not?”
He wouldn’t quite meet her eyes. His own were darting around, looking anywhere but at her. “Can we talk for a minute? Maybe back in the house?”
Oh, now he wanted to talk? She would have laughed if it wasn’t so sad.
“I don’t think so, no.”
Will looked shocked at her answer. “There’s something I need to tell you. I’ve tried calling but it says you’ve still blocked me. It won’t take…” he trailed off, looking over her shoulder. Ember immediately felt a shiver snake its way down her spine. She didn’t need to turn her head to know that Lucas was standing directly behind her, yet she did anyway.
“Lucas, this is Will. I think I might have told you about him?” The fake smile she’d offered her ex-fiancé turned into a real one when she looked at Lucas Russell. She was so glad to see him.
“Um, Will. Yeah. You work with Ember at the school, right?”
“No. I’m an accountant.”
Ember laughed as Lucas slid his arm around her shoulders, knowing exactly what he was doing. She let her head lean against his firm chest. “No, sweetie, Will and I used to date. But he left town a while ago.”
For a second she wondered if Will was going to correct her, and tell Lucas that their relationship had been much more than dating. Part of her was enjoying seeing him taken aback by how easily she’d moved on from him and found somebody new.