six times she’d been wrong.
She took another, longer gulp of Prosecco, the bubbles stinging her throat as they went down.
Maybe her mother was right. Maybe it was time to concede defeat. To dedicate her life to being that crazy aunt who was always off on adventures, posting photos of her in exotic places with handsome men she never stayed with long enough for them to let her down.
It wouldn’t be a bad life.
‘What do you want me to do?’ Ruby asked. ‘Just say it, and I’ll make it happen.’
Ruby, Dawn decided, was the best friend a girl had ever had. Life would be so much easier if she could just fall in love with Ruby. Well, as long as Ruby loved her back, which wasn’t at all a sure thing. She wasn’t exactly Ruby’s type—she preferred blondes who played guitar, if her last three girlfriends were anything to go by. So, no, even Ruby couldn’t be her happy-ever-after. Not in a romantic way, anyway.
But she was still the best friend ever.
‘I need to get out of here,’ Dawn said. ‘I need to figure out what happened. What I do next. I don’t want anyone to worry about me or anything but I can’t stay here. I need to go find...closure.’
Ruby gave a sharp nod. ‘Closure it is. Give me five minutes. And finish that bottle while you’re waiting.’
THE PARTY WAS in full swing, the celebratory spirit apparently undimmed by the fact that there hadn’t actually been a wedding for them to celebrate. Cooper stayed in the bar long enough to make sure that the venue had everything in hand, then grabbed a bottle of beer from behind the bar and headed out into the darkening evening to find some peace and quiet, his best man duties done.
The terrace at the front of the mansion was expansive, elegant and, most importantly to Cooper, empty. Apparently none of the other guests felt inclined to survey the view that Dawn had been so taken with that she’d had to book the venue on sight, despite the fact it was convenient for practically nobody. His mother, at least, had seemed pleased with her choice.
Cooper sighed, well aware that the day had turned his already bitter heart just a little more sour.
Even if the wedding had gone ahead, he doubted he’d have been in much of a mood to celebrate today. He’d given his prospective sister-in-law the benefit of the doubt when the save-the-date cards had come out—in fairness, it was unlikely that Justin would have mentioned that the date she’d chosen was the anniversary of Cooper’s divorce. Chances were that his brother hadn’t even realised or they’d have picked another day. But the fact remained that it was now officially three years since he’d disentangled himself from that messy web of lies and false love and, while his freedom probably should be something to be happy about, it seldom felt like it.
But at least his brother hadn’t made the same mistake. That was something to celebrate. With a small smile, Cooper raised his beer bottle to the sky and silently toasted Justin’s lucky escape.
Then he frowned, peering over the edge of the terrace at the sweeping driveway below. Out there, in the shadows of the swaying trees, he spotted a willowy figure. One in a very distinctive white lace dress.
‘Where is she going now?’ he murmured to himself as he watched Dawn trip over her train and reach out for the nearest tree to steady herself. Was she drunk?
And, more importantly, was she going after Justin?
Without thinking, Cooper put aside his beer bottle and sprung over the edge of the terrace, landing in a crouch on the packed ground. He strode across the driveway to where was parked the vintage robin’s-egg-blue Cadillac convertible he’d hired for Justin to drive away in for his wedding night. It had been his own, personal present to his brother—something far more meaningful than a second toaster, or even the speech he’d written to give to the assembled crowd. The car was a memory that only he and Justin shared. A dream, or a promise, they still had to fulfil.
‘When we’re grown-ups, we’ll be able to do whatever we want,’ he remembered saying when Justin had been only seven to his ten. ‘We’ll get the coolest car ever—’
‘A Cadillac?’ Justin had interrupted.
‘Yeah, a Caddy. And we’ll drive it all the way across America together. Just you and me. It’ll be the best adventure ever.’
They’d never done it, of course. Life had got in the way. But renting the car for Justin for this day, the start of the rest of his life, had felt like a reminder never to give up on his dreams, just because he’d been tied down by love, family and the business.
Except now he wasn’t, of course. Justin had run and left him to clear up the mess.
Like a drunk woman in a wedding dress trying to break into his incredibly expensive hire car.
‘Do you really think you’re in any condition to drive that?’ Cooper crossed his arms and leant against the far side of the car, glaring over to where Dawn was trying to unlock the driver’s side door.
‘Do you really think it’s your place to try to stop me?’ Dawn asked, eyebrows raised. She didn’t sound drunk, but Cooper was hard pressed to think of another reason she’d be stealing his car.
Yeah, okay, so he was thinking of it as his. Since Justin clearly wouldn’t be using it for his planned honeymoon road trip with Dawn, it seemed stupid not to make the most of the already paid-for rental. He could take it up the coast, maybe, for a couple of days, until he needed to be back in the office.
Once he’d evicted the woman in white who was trying to steal it.
‘Since it’s my name on the rental agreement, I think it’s exactly my place.’ Cooper was gratified to see that his statement at least gave her small pause. ‘Where are you planning on taking it, anyway?’
‘To find some answers,’ Dawn said, her head held high. Her long, pale neck rose elegantly up from the white lace monstrosity of a dress to where her dark hair was curled and braided against the back of her head, tilting her chin up with its weight. She looked every inch the English aristocrat—rather than the low little gold-digger Cooper knew she was.
Her words caught up with him. ‘Answers? You mean you’re going to find Justin?’
Dawn slammed her hands against the unyielding metal of the car door. ‘Of course I am! Did you even read the letter he left for me? Could he have been any more vague? So, yes! Yes, I’m going to go find him, and figure out what the hell happened so I can get my life back on track!’
As it happened, Cooper had read the letter—if only to be sure that his brother wasn’t leaving things open for a blissful reunion with his gold-digging bride. Which meant... ‘Except, of course, Justin didn’t tell you where he was going. Don’t you think you should take that as a hint that he didn’t want you chasing after him?’
Dawn’s eyes narrowed. ‘No, he didn’t tell me. But I’m willing to bet he told you. So, spill, Cooper. Where is your brother?’
Damn.
*
