Five Months Later
Chapter 1
Carla
What the hell is wrong with me? I curse. Here I am hiding like a naughty child in the pantry wishing I could disappear. Better yet, wishing I hadn’t agreed to come today, but then I’d have upset Lily.
It isn’t fair! I stamp my foot and do an abrupt turn before I begin pacing back and forth trying to remember what I’ve come into the pantry for to begin with. I take a deep calming breath, and lean against the pantry shelf. Get it together Carla, you’re here for Lily!
I’ve become friends with Lily over the past five months as well as her friend Sylvia. The last thing I want to do is let Lily down, especially while she’s so emotional, more so because of her pregnancy hormones.
I’ve witnessed a few emotional times for Lily, which have been amusing in part; watching Michael, Lucien and on occasion Ramon try to hug her and mop her up. There was no way I could have missed today, even if I’d had prior warning that he was going to be here.
It is, after all Lily’s baby shower and Pippa is holding the event at the McKenzie ranch for Lily. Baby showers are supposed to be for the women, right? The men folk are supposed to go and do something else, pat Michael on the back and tell him what a good job he did of knocking Lily up. But oh no, not the McKenzie men. Michael is standing guard over Lily, while he has everyone else fussing around her, waiting for his brothers to arrive.
Thanks to Ramon, I have about ten minutes before the McKenzie men arrive, which is why I’m hiding in the pantry. If I’m honest with myself it wasn’t the McKenzie men I’m hiding from, but one in particular. Sebastian.
Ever since Lily and Michael’s wedding, I’ve been unable to get him out of my head, and when I think about him, I always end up hot and bothered with a longing so strong I don’t know what to do about it.
Once every two weeks, Ramon takes me out to his parents’ place for Sunday lunch to spend a relaxing afternoon with his family. Except it isn’t relaxing for me. What it means is that every two weeks, I have to endure being so close to Sebastian without touching him. He always keeps his distance from me, which I know is for the best. But it doesn’t stop the flare of jealousy or the twinge of pain in my heart when his smile slips as he looks at me and he turns cold and aloof. A few times I’ve excused myself, and disappeared into the bathroom to try and pull myself together and to dab at my eyes.
A couple of times, I’ve caught Lily watching me and know she realizes there’s something strange between Ramon and me. I’m just surprised Lily hasn’t asked anything because it’s unlike her to stay quiet.
I sigh and glance around at the shelves, hoping for an answer, or at least the item I’m looking for to come forward. Despite all the feelings for Sebastian, I love Ramon. He is my best friend and has been for a few years. I met him when he’d been working up in Canada on a McKenzie project, or rather my brother had met him, introducing him to me, all three of us hitting it off straightaway. Despite having known Ramon for years, I only recently met his family leading up to Lily and Michael’s wedding.
It had been a surprise for me when I first met Ramon’s family because not one of them knew who I was. When Ramon told them he’d known me for a few years, they’d all looked skeptical and I couldn’t blame them really. I suspected he hadn’t mentioned me to them previously because of his connection to my brother, Noah. That would have been awkward, considering what I suspect.
Neither, Ramon or I know where my brother has disappeared to. One minute everything seemed to be going really well then the next he’d up and left Lexington without a word to Ramon or a message to me. I’d still been in Canada at the time, but he hadn’t come home or even called me to let me know he was okay.
I shudder at the thought. My life in Canada hadn’t been that great. After being knocked around by an ex-boyfriend looking for my brother, I’d fled the country and arrived in Lexington two weeks later with multiple bruises and stitches above an eyebrow. I’d hoped that my brother was in Lexington to help me, but I turned up at Ramon’s door and my brother had been nowhere in sight.
Ramon had taken me in and we’d come to a twelve-month agreement.
I would live with him for twelve months and pretend to be his girlfriend. Why he needs a pretend girlfriend, I can’t figure out. Both my brother and Ramon had shared enough women when they were together in Canada so that couldn’t be the problem.