The Secret Between Them

Maureen really did look beautiful, with her hair done up and wearing a sexy black dress. Smiling at Jessica, she turned on the faucet and began to soap up her hands.

Jessica turned back to the mirror, swallowing the lump in her throat. She’d wanted so much to look pretty tonight. She glanced at her blouse, her most beautiful garment, exquisitely constructed and embroidered. It was her favorite top and it flattered her face and coloring, but now, if she looked at herself through what she imagined as Kyle’s eyes, all she saw was a chubby, pale woman, no longer young.

The last time Kyle had seen her she’d been a figure-skating princess. Fit and thin to the point of being ethereal.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Looks were such an illusion. In reality, back then she’d been dealing with the hell of her mother’s pressure, coupled with bulimia and control issues. Nobody knew. Kyle had maybe guessed, but—no. She wouldn’t go down that road. Since she’d last seen him, Jessica had been for a long time fighting her own battles, breaking free, struggling through her recovery. Now here she was, a survivor. With a place of her own. A job of her own.

And Sebastien.

She pressed the paper towel to her eyes one last time, as if cleaning a speck from her vision. She was acutely aware of Maureen’s gaze on her. She had to regain control of herself.

Maureen turned off the faucet and reached for a paper towel. “Was that Kyle Northrup you were talking to?” she asked, seeming casual. Jessica assumed there was an agenda. She always assumed that, because it was so often true with people who approached her.

“Yes,” Jessica answered carefully.

“I didn’t recognize him at first with that beard.”

“No.” She wasn’t one for beards, herself. Sebastien was clean-shaven. Never even had scruff, and she liked it that way.

“He still has those beautiful green eyes,” Maureen mused. “I remember him from high school. He graduated in my class year. The hockey captain. Other kids gave me a hard time because of my brother Bruce and his legal troubles, but Kyle never did. He was sort of geeky, shy with girls, but I always thought he was a good guy.”

“Umm,” Jessica said noncommittally. She hadn’t gone to the public high school and wasn’t sure what Maureen was talking about. She just knew that she didn’t want to gossip, about anybody. For years she’d been the topic of gossip herself.

Maureen fished a lipstick out of her bag, still sending sideways glances at Jessica. “He got really big, didn’t he? Filled out. Kyle was in the Marines, right?”

Joined the service because of Jessica’s lie. It still made her feel queasy. For years, she’d dreaded that if something happened to him, it would be on her conscience.

“I...don’t know,” Jessica said. “Kyle and I didn’t keep in touch.”

Maureen cocked her head. Gazed through the mirror with the sort of calculating glance that Jessica, as someone who’d been well-known, had gotten used to spotting. “Do you think he’s the one who stands to inherit the old twin rinks property?”

That must be Maureen’s angle—seeing if prime beachside property will soon be on the market.

“I honestly don’t know,” Jessica replied.

Natalie Kimball, Joe’s lawyer, was also Maureen’s sister-in-law. Maureen could ask Natalie about the twin rinks if she was interested in its fate. Because Jessica was not interested at all. If she had a vote in the matter, they’d tear down the place and repurpose it. She made it a point never to drive past it these days.

“Well, we’ll have to wait and see what happens,” Maureen said, tossing her lipstick tube inside her purse. She smiled again at Jessica. “Enjoy your Valentine’s Day dinner.”

“Thanks. Happy Valentine’s Day to you, too.” Jessica had been looking forward to this dinner all week. Sebastien so often traveled. But he was her boyfriend and this was their one-year anniversary, and he was out in the dining room waiting for her.

Taking a deep breath, she tossed the wet paper towels and pushed her way out the door. The restaurant was bustling. Busiest day of the year, according to a client who waitressed here. Sebastien was leaning casually against the hostess stand, the most handsome man she’d ever seen.

He bent down and kissed her on the cheek. Then he took her hand and led her through the bar area and to a back room, much quieter, with a row of secluded, leather booths near the window. Tables were also set up throughout the space, but the voices were low murmurs, not part of their private world for two. She heard only a quiet tinkling of cutlery as other people dined, and the faint rattle of ice buckets as champagne glasses were filled and refilled.

Now was her moment. The tension in Jessica’s neck subsided. Just before Christmas, Sebastien had casually asked her what kind of engagement rings she liked. She’d thought maybe he would propose to her at Christmas, but he hadn’t. New Year’s Eve passed without a proposal, too. Valentine’s Day—their anniversary—was the most logical day...

Relaxing into the booth, she accepted a goblet of wine from Sebastien.

Over the candlelight, he lifted his glass. His eyes looked deeply into hers.

Usually, she let her gaze drift away. It was embarrassing to let people stare into her eyes for too long. Off-putting. But Sebastien seemed so insistent that this time, she didn’t look away.

“I need to ask you something,” he said.

Her heart was pounding. Would this be the moment she’d been waiting for? Her gaze flicked to the pocket of his suit jacket. No telltale bulge from a jeweler’s box.

She glanced back to his eyes, holding her breath...

“Is everything okay with you?” he asked.

“Of course!”

“You were in the bathroom a long time. I was concerned.”

“Was I? Please don’t be.”

Just then, a loud gasp went up from the table behind her. It sounded like a feminine expression of happiness.

Jessica turned in her booth. The couple behind them were hugging and kissing. The woman had teary eyes. She was glancing with pleasure at a new round solitaire with a platinum band settled around her beautifully manicured ring finger.

Jessica couldn’t lie, her first emotion was bone-deep envy. A longing for what she didn’t have, so familiar from the emptiness of her childhood. But she fixed her smile and turned back to Sebastien. “Isn’t that nice?”

Sebastien’s gaze had shuttered. He’d put down his wineglass. Whatever had been between them in those earlier moments when they’d first sat down, had somehow broken.

Sebastien picked up his menu. “Good for them,” was all he said about it.

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_c0bc744e-74c6-5540-8e39-10d0788ef27c)

JOE MANSELL’S WAKE was in Wallis Point’s sole funeral parlor, a refurbished Victorian mansion that, one hundred years ago, had been built by Wallis Point’s wealthiest citizen.

Kyle stood in the back, away from as much of the action as possible, feeling suffocated in his suit and tie. He’d wanted to cut out early, but as the only family member, he couldn’t. The funeral director had tagged him the moment he’d walked in the door and pulled him aside, giving Kyle the day’s agenda.

Evidently, Kyle had duties. Joe had planned the whole thing, and Kyle was to stay for the prayer service to speak his part.

He was in hell.

Kyle shifted onto his good leg. Maybe he had a bad attitude where Joe was concerned, but Kyle still hadn’t forgotten years of his stepfather’s verbal abuse. Joe had been like a drill sergeant. The fact that Joe had been a Vietnam veteran might have explained it, but didn’t excuse it, in Kyle’s opinion. Still, after Kyle had attended boot camp himself he’d understood Joe a little more.

Joe had always needed that sense of order and discipline. A world where the rules were clear and the consequences for breaking them were set out.

But Kyle had always thought Joe had taken it too far. He’d been rude and angry most days, and Kyle didn’t want to be angry, not like him.

He shifted his weight to his other side.

A lot of people had shown up for the service, and Kyle was taken aback by the show of love and support for the cranky old man. Then again, Joe had behaved like a good guy to mostly everybody else. He’d liked to sit in his office in the front of the rink and listen to anybody who came to him with a problem. Jessa Hughes, for one.

“He wanted to be cremated,” Kyle heard one of the mourners say. “Didn’t want people seeing him in a casket.”