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Kaitlyn had…everything.
And he realized that he’d been wrong. He wasn’t half in love with her.
He was headfirst, all the way, completely in love with her.
*
“That girl needssome confidence-building,” his mother said. “Do you know when she saw you with Lily she thought you werewithLily?”
“So she thinks I’m suicidal?” Ry said dryly, glancing over to where Shane and his wife were slow dancing to the beautiful ballad playing on the jukebox.
His mother laughed. “No, I explained who Lily was. Where is she, by the way?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out. I saw her heading for the ladies’ room when I got here about fifteen minutes ago, but then Lily hit me with…some information and I lost track of her.”
“Information?”
“I’ll tell you later, right now I need to find Kaitlyn. And she’s nowhere in sight.”
“You said you did see her, though?”
“Yes.” He smiled. “In all her Sydney and Ariel glory. She’s beautiful.” He met his mother’s gaze, held it. “But she always has been, to me. And I want the old Kaitlyn back when this is over.”
He was a little surprised when she reached up and cupped his face in that way she had. And she was smiling in warm approval as she said, “Right answer, Rylan. Right answer. Now, I’ll go make sure she’s not still in the ladies’ room.”
Then she was off, briskly heading for the hallway that led to the restrooms. But in a moment she was back, a look of slight concern on her face.
“She’s not in there?”
“No.” She looked thoughtful, then worried. “The last time I saw her was soon after we sent her off to waylay you. She said she needed to get something out of my car. I just unlocked it from here with the fob, and told her how to lock it back up from there.”
“What did she have in the car?”
“Her backpack. She’s almost never without it, isn’t she? I teased her, but I assume she wanted her camera, to take some pictures here.” She frowned. “But now that you mention it, I haven’t seen her since.”
A chill was starting to creep over him “Which pack? The big one or the smaller one?”
His mother frowned. “The one she was carrying that first day I saw her. Seems pretty big to me.”
The big one. Which held more than just her gear. “When you women duded her up…what did she do with her other clothes?”
“She just stuffed them into that pack. What are you saying, Rylan? Did something happen—”
With uncharacteristic rudeness he left his mother without explanation and headed for the parking lot out back at a near run. He found her compact SUV parked three slots from the back door. In the light from the fixture above that door, he could see into the front seats. And on the passenger seat was a swath of silky gold fabric he’d last seen sleekly caressing curves he thought he could already recognize in the dark. Gold that was the same color as those flecks in her eyes.
His mother arrived and stopped beside him. “What on earth?”
He heard the beep, realized she’d unlocked the door. He yanked it open. There was a square of paper or cardboard on top of the carefully folded dress. He grabbed it. Realized vaguely it was one of the coasters from inside. But all that really mattered was what was written on the back, cramped in order to fit.
Dear Maggie,
I’m sorry. I’m sure Rylan will explain what I did. Please tell him it was never, ever in my mind until Jillian texted she was almost here. He won’t believe it, but it’s true. I’m sorry I’m too much of a coward to face him.
Thank you for all you did. And thank Sydney and Ariel for me. You all made me look at myself a little differently. On the outside, anyway.
Kaitlyn
Ry stared at the small piece of cardboard. Inanely, all he could do was wonder how and where she’d changed clothes. In the ladies’ room inside? Possibly. Things were just getting started and it wouldn’t have been a busy place yet. Or maybe she’d gone into Java Time across the street, then come back. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was the pain that fairly radiated from the written words.
