A Winter Wedding

He covered the phone. “He’s giving me her number,” he mouthed. “What should I do?”

“Hang up,” she whispered.

“Won’t he get suspicious?”

“He won’t guess it’s me. I’ve never done anything like this before.” She’d never felt she had to, not until Crystal entered their lives...

Flicking his wet hair out of his face, he removed his hand from the receiver. “Sorry for the interruption. My wife’s telling me that my editor’s been trying to reach me. She’s already backfilled the interview with someone else, so I apologize for the false alarm. I’ll keep Ms. Holtree in mind for future articles, though...Yes, I agree. She’s talented. I’ll see what I can do in the next few months.”

He hung up. Then he sank into his chair. “I’m not sure that was completely believable.”

Lourdes couldn’t be sure, either. She’d been straining the bounds of credulity when she’d had Kyle call so late. Crystal was generating sufficient interest that it wasn’t inconceivable, but it was Lourdes’s emotions that were driving her these days—not logic. That was why she’d had to pull away from Nashville. She needed to get her priorities straight, put recent setbacks in perspective. “You handled it well.”

“But we didn’t learn anything. Maybe she was there, and he’s just too smart to give himself away.”

“Did he even try to suggest me for the interview? Or for another one later?”

“No. He might’ve if we’d talked longer.”

“He would’ve a year ago, no matter what.”

Kyle drummed his fingers on the desk. “Maybe he couldn’t.”

“You think she’s there?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You sensed a hesitancy or something that makes you wonder.”

He grimaced as if he didn’t want to admit that, but she could tell it was true.

She dropped her head in her hand. “Shit.”

Before he could respond, the office phone rang.

He glanced over at her. “It’s the Ooma line I just used, and I shouldn’t be getting any calls this time of night.”

Her heart began to pound. “What happens if you don’t answer?”

“It rolls over to the regular lines and eventually goes to voice mail for First Step Solar.”

“Grab it,” she cried, but he must’ve come to the same conclusion, because he was already reaching for the handset.

“Graham Gibb.”

Lourdes held her breath. If Kyle’s caller happened to be looking for solar panels, he or she would be quite confused. But, in the next second, it became apparent that Derrick was calling back, just as they’d feared.

“Great,” Kyle said. “That’s convenient...” He squeezed his forehead with one hand as if he regretted getting mixed up in her little ruse—or was worried about the fallout. “Of course I’d like to speak to her...Sure...Put her on...”

Derrick must’ve transferred the phone to Crystal, because, for the next several minutes, Lourdes had to sit there and listen to Kyle feign interest in Crystal’s burgeoning music career. When he could do so without seeming too dismissive, he cut in to say he had to go if he was going to finish his article tonight, that it had been a pleasure speaking to her and he’d get back to her if he ever had the opportunity to give her some press.

When he hung up, he rubbed a hand over his mouth. “So what do you make of that?”

“She called back awfully fast.”

“Derrick said she just stopped by to drop something off after we hung up.”

Lourdes felt sick to her stomach. She wished she could believe it was the coincidence Derrick claimed, but her intuition wouldn’t allow it. “What could Crystal need to drop off that she couldn’t email?”

Kyle shook his head.

“What did she say?” Lourdes asked.

“That she wanted to reach out and let me know she’d be happy to speak to me whenever. We could even have lunch. That sort of thing.”

“Was it convincing?”

He didn’t seem too keen on committing himself.

“Kyle? Did you get the impression Derrick was pretending she’d suddenly shown up?”

“That’s a tough question,” he hedged.

She blew on her hands, which hadn’t warmed up since their journey through the storm. “Because you think they’re having an affair.”

“Because I don’t really know!”

“God, I hate this,” she said. “I hate feeling as if I’m being taken for a fool. And I hate feeling I can’t trust the man I love.”

“Has he ever cheated on you before?”

“Not that I know of. But he’s never been so preoccupied and distant, either. Never been so swept away with someone else.” He also had a history that included an extramarital affair with an intern, well before he met her, but Lourdes didn’t volunteer that information. She’d chosen to believe he’d just messed up, that he regretted it—but she understood that others might not give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was merely enamored with Crystal’s potential, as he claimed. “It doesn’t help that she’s younger, prettier and more talented than I am,” she grumbled.

Kyle looked shocked. “She might be younger, and I’m no judge of singing talent, so I can’t weigh in there. But she couldn’t be any more beautiful.”

It was a nice compliment. One that sounded sincere.

Maybe if Lourdes hadn’t been so distraught, she could’ve appreciated it.

* * *

Kyle stared at the ceiling for at least an hour after he went to bed. He felt bad for Lourdes. Clearly, she was stumbling through that unique hell reserved for partners of the unfaithful. Can he change? Will he change? Should I give him the opportunity to change? Does he really love me—or does he love her? Kyle had discussed those questions with her at great length over the past three hours. While the snow continued to fall outside, they’d shared a bottle of pinot noir and Lourdes had told him that even though coming to Whiskey Creek had been her idea—she’d seen it as a way to withdraw from public life so she could “reset”—Derrick had promised to come with her. He’d said they’d use whatever time she didn’t spend writing to rebuild their relationship, since they’d been having so much difficulty getting along. So even if Derrick hadn’t been lying about Crystal tonight, he’d put Lourdes off and that led Kyle to believe he probably was too caught up with his new client. Hearing from Crystal so soon after calling Derrick was certainly suspect, despite Derrick’s explanation—since that explanation was flimsy at best.

Lourdes seemed like a nice person who didn’t deserve the turmoil she was going through. But whether or not Derrick was cheating wasn’t the only thing on Kyle’s mind. Discussing her problems had forced him to face that his own life needed an overhaul. The woman he loved—had always loved—was married to his stepbrother, which created an awkward challenge whenever he saw them (and he saw them often). To make matters worse, he had an ex-wife who wouldn’t let go, who claimed she still loved him, even though, from what he remembered, she’d hated being married as much as he had. And almost all his friends were not only in committed relationships but having children, too. They’d moved on and he hadn’t. He felt lonely and shiftless whenever he wasn’t completely immersed in his work. So he worked longer and longer hours, which made it even harder to meet someone.

He was approaching forty. If he was going to marry and have kids, he needed to do it soon. But he hadn’t met a woman who could replace Olivia—and he was beginning to fear he never would.

His phone buzzed. Leaning up on one elbow, he squinted to see who’d texted him. It was Riley Stinson, the most recent of his close friends to find a mate.