last night together and we go to a wedding rehearsal? Think about it. That’s just all kinds of wrong. Plus, I don’t want you there, Lance.”
He winced and she almost retracted her words. Part of her did want him there. Another part knew the sooner they parted the sooner she could get back to the regularly scheduled program of her life. Her time with Lance had been a nice interlude from reality.
“I should tell you that Yves invited me to the wedding.”
“I don’t want you there,” she said.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Without another word, he left her office.
McKenzie’s heart shuddered at the soft closing of her office door as if the noise had echoed throughout the building.
She went to her mother’s rehearsal dinner, smiled and performed her role as maid of honor. Truth was, watching her mother and Yves left her heart aching.
Feeling a little bereft at the thought she was soon to be single again.
Which was ridiculous.
She liked being single.
She thrived on being single.
She didn’t want to be like her parents.
Only watching her mother glow, hearing her happy laughter, maybe she wouldn’t mind being a little like her mother.
McKenzie got home a little after eleven. She’d not heard from Lance all evening. She’d half expected him to be waiting in her driveway.
No, more than half. She had expected him to be there.
That he wasn’t left her feeling deflated.
Their last night together and they weren’t together.
Would never be together again.
Sleep didn’t come easily but unfortunately her tears did.
This was exactly why she should never have agreed to more than a month with him. Anything more was just too messy.
Lance sat in the fourth pew back on the groom’s side. There were only about fifty or so people in the church when the music started and the groom and his best man joined the preacher at the front of the building. The music changed and a smiling McKenzie came down the aisle. Her gaze remained locked on the altar, as if she was afraid to look around. Maybe she was.
Maybe she had been serious in that she really hadn’t wanted him to attend. Certainly, she hadn’t contacted him last night. He’d checked his phone several times, thinking she might. She hadn’t. He’d told himself that was a good thing, that McKenzie sticking to their original agreement made it easier for him to do so too.
Their two months was over.
The music changed and everyone stood, turned to watch the bride walk down the aisle to her groom.
Lance had never met McKenzie’s mother, but he would have recognized the older version of McKenzie anywhere. Same green eyes. Same fine bone structure.
Seeing McKenzie made his insides ache.
Part of him wanted to ask her for more time, for another day, another week, another month.
But he couldn’t.
Wouldn’t.
He’d vowed to Shelby that he’d remain committed to her memory.
To spend more time with McKenzie would be wrong.
He wasn’t free to be with her and never would be.
“You invited Dad?” McKenzie whispered, thinking her knees might buckle as she took her mother’s bouquet from her.
Her mother’s smile was full of merriment, but she didn’t answer, just turned back to her groom to exchange her vows.
The exchange of wedding vows was brief and beautiful. McKenzie cried as her mother read the vows she’d written for a man she’d known for less than two months.
Less than the time McKenzie had been dating Lance.
McKenzie outright wept when Yves said his vows back to her mother. Okay, so if the man loved her mother all his days the way he loved her today, he and McKenzie would get along just fine and her mother was a lucky woman.
The preacher announced the happy couple as Mr. and Mrs. Yves St. Clair and presented them to their guests.
A few photos were taken, then the reception began. McKenzie spotted Lance talking to a tall blonde someone had told her earlier was Yves’s cousin. A deep green pain stabbed her, but she refused to acknowledge it or him. She headed toward her father, who was downing a glass of something alcoholic.
“I can’t believe you are here.”
He frowned into his empty glass. “She invited me.”
“You didn’t have to come.”
His gaze met hers. “Sure I did. Today is a big day for me, too.”
“Freedom from alimony?” she said drily.
For the first time in a long time her father’s smile was real and reached his eyes. “Exactly.”
“She seems really happy.”
That had her father pausing and glancing toward her mother. “Yeah, she does. Good for her.”
“What about you? Where is your wife?”
He shrugged. “At home, I imagine.”
He excused himself and went and joined the conversation with Lance and the blonde. No doubt he’d have the blonde cornered in just a few minutes.
He must have because Lance walked up shortly afterward to where McKenzie stood.
“You look very beautiful,” he said quietly.
Okay, so a smart girl wouldn’t let him see how his words warmed her insides. A smart girl would play it cool. McKenzie tried. “Cecilia works wonders.”
“She is indeed talented.”
Their conversation was stilted, awkward. The conversation of former lovers who didn’t know what to say to each other.
“I see you met my father,” she said to fill the silence.
Shock registered on Lance’s face. “That was your father?”
McKenzie laughed at his surprise. “Yes. Sorry he moved in on Yves’s cousin while you were talking her up.”
“I
