Page 41 of Keep My Heart (The Haydon Falls #1)

Lyndsay

Nick and I take the elevator to the main level and go down a long hallway to the ballroom. There’s a table set up outside it where a woman checks us in.

‘Nick?’ She smiles at him. ‘I can’t believe you came.’

‘Kami. Hey.’ He smiles back. ‘How have you been?’

‘Good.’ She gets up and goes around the table to give him a hug. Nick dated Kami junior year. They only went out a few times. Back then, she had long dark hair and was skinny with braces. Now her hair is shorter and blonde, and she’s wearing glasses. I almost didn’t recognize her.

‘Is this your wife?’ she asks.

‘No,’ I say, laughing. ‘It’s Lyndsay. Lyndsay Davis?’

She gasps. ‘Oh, Lyndsay, I’m sorry. You look so different with the darker hair.’

‘I decided I was tired of being a blonde,’ I say, jokingly, but the truth is I felt people didn’t take me seriously with my blonde hair so I starting coloring it. I did it a few weeks after I got my associate degree, thinking it might help my chances of getting a bookkeeping job.

‘Where’s Chris?’ Kami asks, looking behind me.

Here we go with the questions about Chris and I’m not even past the door yet.

‘Chris didn’t come,’ I tell her.

‘We should get inside,’ Nick says, taking my hand.

‘Yes, go ahead,’ Kami says, going back behind the table. I see her looking at my hand in Nick’s. ‘Wait, are you two—’

‘We are,’ Nick says, and leaves it at that as we go into the ballroom.

‘Thanks for handling that,’ I tell him as we look around for a table.

‘You okay?’ he asks.

I nod. ‘I have to get used to it. It’s going to happen a lot tonight.’

‘And you’re okay with people knowing about us?’

‘Of course. I love being here with you.’ I reach up and talk in his ear. ‘And I can’t wait until later when I get you all to myself.’

‘Hey. Don’t be doing that here.’ He glances down at his pants. ‘This is a tight suit.’

I laugh as he buttons his jacket, hiding the effect I had on him by saying that.

‘You want a drink?’ he asks.

‘I’d love one.’

As we’re walking to the bar, two women race up to me, both very pregnant.

‘Lyndsay?’ one of them says.

Seeing her face, I instantly recognize her.

‘Molly!’ I hug her, a distant hug because her belly’s so big. ‘When are you due? ’

‘What do you mean?’ she asks, sounding hurt as she pulls away.

Is she saying she’s not pregnant? She’s thin everywhere but her huge belly. She has to be pregnant.

She bursts out laughing. ‘I’m kidding! I’m due in August.’

‘And I’m due early September,’ the other woman says.

‘Jane!’ I hug her. ‘Oh gosh, I need to pay more attention. Everyone looks so different. It hasn’t been that long, has it?’

‘Fifteen years have not been kind to some of us,’ Jane says, laughing. ‘Except you.’ She looks me up and down. ‘You look even better than you did in high school. Do you have kids?’

‘No.’

‘Well, that explains it,’ she says, motioning to Molly. ‘We each have two, plus the one on the way. It’s impossible to get your body back after having kids.’

Molly looks up at Nick, tilting her head. ‘You look familiar. Do I know you?’

‘Yeah. Nick. Kanfield.’

She gasps. ‘Oh my God, you’re right!’

‘I hope so,’ he says, smiling.

‘You got hot,’ Jane says, staring at him.

She was never one to censor her words, which is one of the reasons l liked her.

Jane and Molly were on the cheerleading team with me.

We had a really great team. We didn’t fight or form cliques or start rumors about each other.

As head cheerleader, I didn’t put up with that stuff.

I wanted us all to be friends, knowing it would make us a better team.

‘ Really hot,’ Molly says, practically drooling over Nick.

‘He’s an attorney now,’ I tell them. ‘A very successful one. He just made partner at his firm.’

‘I always knew you’d do well,’ Jane says to Nick. ‘You took all the hardest classes and got straight A’s. ’

‘Where are you living now?’ Molly asks him.

‘New York.’

‘Where in New York?’

‘Manhattan.’

‘Wow, fancy,’ Jane gushes. ‘I love New York, but Michael, my husband, hates it. He thinks it’s too crowded.’

‘Are you married?’ Molly asks.

‘No. I’m single.’ He glances at me. ‘Well, actually I’m dating someone.’

‘Anyone we know?’ Jane asks.

‘Me.’ I wrap my arm around Nick’s. ‘Nick and I are dating.’

‘Wait—what?’ Molly looks at Jane, then back at me. ‘What about Chris?’

‘We’re divorced.’

They both frown.

‘But you two were such a cute couple,’ Jane says. ‘We thought you guys would last forever.’

‘It just didn’t work out,’ I say, not wanting to talk about it.

I knew people would react this way. I knew they’d tell me how Chris was the perfect guy for me and try to convince me I made a huge mistake by leaving him.

I wish they knew what he was really like instead of keeping him on the pedestal they put him on back in high school.

They only did that because he won us football games, which made him a celebrity in a town this size.

But Nick’s just as much a celebrity being a Kanfield, so I don’t know why people got so crazy about Chris and why they still think he’s so great.

‘So you guys never had kids?’ Molly asks, like she can’t believe it.

‘They would’ve had the cutest kids,’ Jane adds.

‘Chris didn’t want kids,’ I say, letting them know he was the reason we never had any. ‘He forgot to tell me that before we got married,’ I say, a hint of anger in my voice.

‘Why don’t we get some drinks?’ Nick says, giving my hand a squeeze. ‘It was good seeing you,’ he says to Molly and Jane.

‘Maybe this was a bad idea,’ I say as we walk to the bar. ‘I don’t know if I can go all night being questioned like that, or having people act like Chris is perfect and I’m the problem.’

‘If you want to leave, we’ll leave. Just tell me.’ Nick stops at the bar.

‘I’ll be fine.’ I turn to the bartender. ‘Chardonnay.’

‘Whiskey on the rocks,’ Nick says, getting his money out.

‘How’s it going?’ someone asks. I turn and see Diane standing next to me, wearing a red dress and heels, her hair in a twisted updo.

‘Hey, you look great!’ I give her a hug. ‘Wait, is this why you told me not to wear the red dress? Because you were wearing red?’

‘Maybe,’ she says with a guilty smile. ‘But the pink still looks better on you.’

‘It looks great on her,’ Nick says, handing me my wine.

‘Hey, Nick.’ Diane looks at him in the suit. ‘You clean up nice.’

‘I’m Tom.’ He comes up behind Diane and shakes Nick’s hand. ‘We haven’t had a chance to meet.’ He smiles. ‘I hear you’re one of the famous Kanfield brothers.’

‘I wouldn’t say famous, but yes, I’m a Kanfield. The oldest.’

‘Should we go sit down?’ Diane points to a table. ‘We’re sitting over there.’

We walk over to one of the round tables and take a seat. I’m next to Diane and the guys are sitting on either side of us.

‘I really like your brother’s new place,’ Tom says to Nick. ‘The beer’s good and I like what he did with the renovations. ’

‘Our cousins came up from Chicago to do it. They have a construction company. They specialize in restoring old buildings.’

‘They did a great job. It feels new, but still has the historic charm of the original building.’

‘Tom loves old buildings,’ Diane explains. ‘Every time we go on a trip he has to look up the history of the buildings.’

‘Next time my cousins are in town you should get together with them,’ Nick says to Tom. ‘They could tell you all about the buildings they’ve worked on.’

‘I’d like that.’

‘When do you think you’ll be back here?’ Diane asks Nick.

‘I’m not sure.’ Nick glances at me. ‘Maybe we should come back for the festival.’

‘We should.’ I smile at him, loving that he used ‘we’ to describe us.

‘Lyndsay said she’s thinking of moving to New York,’ Diane says, eyeing Nick like she doesn’t trust him. Why is she being like this? She’s my friend, not my mom.

‘That’s the plan,’ Nick says. ‘We haven’t worked out all the details yet.’

‘But you’re thinking it’ll be soon?’

‘Why would I wait?’ I say to Diane. ‘I don’t need to stay in LA.’

‘Rent in New York is ridiculous,’ Tom says. ‘You could get a mansion here for what you’d pay there for a studio apartment.’

Oh, great, now Diane’s got Tom trying to talk me out of this.

‘It might be good to move home for a month or two,’ Diane says. ‘Save up some money.’

‘Would you stop?’ I whisper to her, giving her a look that I mean it.

‘It’s not a bad idea,’ Nick says .

I turn to Nick. ‘You think I should live here instead of New York?’

‘Not permanently. Just until you’re ready to make the move.’

‘But then we’d be apart.’

‘Why don’t we talk about this later?’ he says, glancing at Diane and Tom.

I let it go, but I’m not happy. Why does Nick want me to wait to move there?

Is it because of what Diane said, or is he getting cold feet about having me there?

He said he didn’t have time for a girlfriend.

Is he having second thoughts about us? If he is, we shouldn’t be spending the night together.

‘Oh, I love this one!’ Diane says as a slow, romantic song comes through the speakers. ‘Tom, get up. We have to dance.’

He sighs as he stands up. ‘Okay, but I’m not doing this all night. You know I hate dancing.’

‘And you know if you stop complaining what will happen later.’

A slight grin appears on his face as he follows her to the dance floor.

‘Would you like to dance?’ Nick asks.

I would, but right now I’m annoyed with him. Why is he siding with Diane, wanting me to wait to move to New York? Does nobody trust me to make my own decisions?

‘Could we talk first?’

‘Sure.’ He turns to me. ‘What’s going on?’

‘What you said just now, about me living here. Did you mean it?’

‘It was just an idea. I didn’t say it was a good one.’

‘Then why did you say it?’

‘Because I don’t want you feeling like you have to rush into this if you’re not ready.’ He lowers his voice as people walk past us. ‘You just got divorced. You’ve been through a lot of changes the past year. I’d understand if you need some time before making another big change.’