“But, Jimmy, I love you,” Milla whispered, stepping forward and cupping that clean-shaven jaw that looked strong enough to chop wood. “And, if this is wrong, then I don’t want to be right.”
I snorted and shoved a handful of popcorn into my mouth as I stared at the fuzzy TV screen, wondering what Jimmy’s answer would be. Would he finally accept Milla for her betrayal by joining the rival company and acting as a honeypot or a spy? Or would he give up and leave them both broken hearted?
For as long as I could remember, I’d always loved soap operas—no matter how weird they were. The wackier, the better.
Maybe because it was so surreal. When everything in life seemed unbelievable and out of hand, I could just retreat into TV land and enjoy some light comedy. Maybe because it was easier to deal with than real life. Plus, it gave me a sense of peace, knowing that these kinds of things could never happen in real life. People just didn’t marry their ex-husband’s grandfather’s brother-in-law’s son’s personal trainer.
I seemed to be in the minority, though, but it was a guilty pleasure I just couldn’t shake. Even when others scoffed at it, I found it addictive. Some people retreated into poker and videogames, but I preferred trashy TV with no real purpose. It just made problems that much easier.
The show dissolved into an infomercial advertising thigh enhancers, and a knock at the door sounded, breaking me out of my TV stupor. I frowned and stared at the wooden door of the apartment, wondering if I’d ordered pizza and magically forgotten about it. It was almost six-thirty on a Tuesday night, and, despite the fact it was summer (though England seemed a little slow on the uptake, considering it was still snowing lightly outside), not many people swung by.
I put down the bowl of popcorn and dusted off my jeans, before moving through the clean white apartment and towards the door. “Coming!” I called, quickly adjusting the fruit bowl on the counter and then throwing open the door.
I froze, and it seemed almost like the whole world skidded to a halt as I was faced with three people I hadn’t seen since I’d left America eighteen months ago to pursue my cooking dreams on the other side of the world in England.
Ava Donoghue, my best friend of three years, held out her arms and wiggled her fingers in a parody of jazz hands. “Surprise!”
She looked completely different to when I’d last seen her, her face older and more mature, and her long raven locks had been cut so that they fell in effortless waves to her chest. Her eyes were wide and green, but she seemed tanner and slighter than I remembered.
But that wasn’t all that gave me pause—God, I wished it were. But, no. Standing behind her were two people that caught me so off-guard I felt like passing out.
Jamie looked older than I’d last seen him, his hair also shorter so that it only curled slightly at the nape of his neck, and he’d buffed up considerably since I’d last seen him, seeming taller and muscular. Still, he had that large puppy-dog smile plastered on his face, which I’d always attributed to him.
And behind him, bringing up the rear end of the trio, was Chance Ryder, a boy I’d left behind eighteen months ago heartbroken in an airport terminal as I told him I loved him, said my final goodbyes, and boarded a plane—where I thought I’d never see him again. Yet, here he was, as muscular and tanned as ever, his hair seeming blonder and his eyes lighter.
“What?” I whispered, unable to comprehend their sudden appearance on my doorstep. I hadn’t seen them in over a year, and now they were here, on my doorstep, in England. “What are you guys doing here?”
“We wanted to surprise you!” Ava said, bouncing up and down in her usual peppy manner. “So… surprise!”
I just gaped at them all. As much as we’d tried to avoid it, unfortunately we’d lost contact over the year and a half since I’d left, constantly playing phone hockey and missing each other. Between work and study and time zones, it had been a true effort to nail a phone call once a week, and soon it had dissolved more than I’d like. I hadn’t heard from Chance in eighteen months, Jamie in three, and Ava in three weeks. And now here they were, standing before me in all of their glory.
“Aren’t you happy to see us?” Ava asked, pouting once I’d failed to say anything. “Because we did not just travel twenty-three hours via plane, get stuck in the airport for three hours due to storms, and then spend two-hundred dollars on a cab to take us through the snow here for nothing. At least give me a hug and welcome us to the land of tea and corgis!”
I snapped out of my daze then, and breathlessly threw my arms around Ava’s small figure, squeezing her. “Oh, my God!” I squeaked. “I can’t believe you’re here!”
I stepped back in the doorway, just as Jamie bounded over and hugged me as well. Chance shyly stayed back, as if unsure how to carry himself, and, as if of its own accord, the memories carried themselves back to me.
I thought back to my memories with Chance; of stolen kisses that tasted of mint and chocolate, of lazing around watching movies and cooking together. Chance had been my first love in every way, and it had ended in a pile of flaming ashes and perfect storms.
“Babe?” a voice called out behind me, and I felt my face drain of blood as the shock wore off and the horror set in. “Who is it?”
The sheepish grin slid off of Ava’s face, and her eyes involuntarily slid behind me. “Who is…” she trailed off as he appeared from the depths of the shower, wearing nothing but a white, low-slung towel on his hips, leaving his abs and muscular figure on display. “…that?”
I let out a breath and turned to look at him. He was still wet from the shower, droplets falling from the curls at the nape of his neck and his long eyelashes. Things did not look good from their perspective, and I could see why.
“I wanted to tell you,” I started off, feeling like I was on a never-ending tilt-a-whirl. Like I could throw up at any moment. “But I was afraid of what you’d say...”
“Babe?” he asked, stepping forward gingerly. He seemed as confused as I felt, and he awkwardly stood in the doorway, probably regretting coming out in just the towel. “What’s going on?”
“Will, this is Ava Donoghue, Jamie Donoghue, and Chance Ryder,” I introduced slowly and gestured to each of them, wondering if this was some surreal nightmare I was stuck inside of.
Will reached out and shook Ava’s hand, his blue eyes lighting up in recognition. “Candice has told me so much about you three.”
“Ava, Jamie, Chance, this is Will. My…” I trailed off, and felt my stomach clench in pain.
But it was too late, as Ava spotted something on my hand, and her jaw dropped. “Candice, is that…?”
“Fiancée,” I finished in a low voice, but it was too late, as she was already grabbing my finger and staring at the engagement ring that adorned it.
“No!” she said. “This is not happening. I know you didn’t get engaged and not bother telling me.”
I looked past Ava’s shoulder to see Chance standing there, his face pale and his lips almost white. His eyes flickered between Will and the engagement ring on my finger, and I felt like my head might explode.
“Can we just go inside, please?” I asked. “I think there’s a lot we need to talk about.”
“I’ll say,” Ava said, pushing through the door and into the apartment. Jamie followed her, his whole body stiff.
Finally, Chance stepped in, seeming like he’d rather be a million miles away and nowhere near here. But, he kept on, and walked inside behind them, completing the group.
“Okay,” I said, breathing out. “Let’s talk.”
~ * ~
“So, what are your intentions with my best friend?” Ava asked a shirtless Will as she stepped through the door, still staring at him with impervious eyes.
“I…” Will said uncomfortably.
“Ave!” I hissed.
“I think I’m going to go throw some clothes on,” Will said, hooking a thumb towards our bedroom and walking off towards it.
“That might be a good idea,” Jamie muttered, reminding me of all of their presence in my apartment.
I turned to them and crossed my arms over my chest, feeling awkward and self-conscious. “So,” I said. “What are you guys doing here?”
Ava was silent for a minute, staring off at Will, but finally met my eyes with her own green gaze and spoke. “Well, I just finished college, so we all bundled in our savings and thought we’d come here and spend the summer with you as a surprise. We thought you might be lonely over here in England after eighteen months. I see I was wrong.”
“No, you weren’t wrong,” I promised her, shaking my head wildly. “I mean, I wasn’t lonely, but… it’s so good to see you guys again. When are you leaving?”
“We don’t know yet,” Ava replied. “We thought we’d stay the three months, but…” She shrugged.
“Where are you staying?” Will asked, reappearing in a blue polo that made his dimples stand out and brought out the color of his eyes, and even now his British accent was as handsome as when I’d first heard it.
Ava scratched the back of her head. “We don’t know. We were thinking we’d just find the cheapest motel around and crash there.”
Will shrugged. “Why don’t you stay here?”
Chance choked, and Ava blinked in surprise. “Uh, no, we couldn’t possibly… I’d hate to intrude.”
“Don’t mention it,” Will said, waving it away. “This is a two-bedroom apartment, and Chase and Jamie can stay in one. You and Candice can crash in the other.”
“It’s Chance,” Chance piped up from behind us, and Will looked over in surprise.
“Huh?” he asked in confusion.
“My name… it’s not Chase. It’s Chance.”
Will flashed him an apologetic smile. “Right. I’m sorry.”
“What about you?” Ava asked, picking up our previous conversation. “Where are you gonna sleep? I’d hate to reduce you to the couch.”
“I’ll just stay at my other apartment,” Will said, shrugging.
“Other apartment?” she replied. “What do you mean, other apartment?”
I cleared my throat uncomfortably and looked away, and, as Will took a seat next to me on the arm of the chaise, he put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. “Well, my parents always keep another apartment rented out in the event that, you know, Candice and I… split.”
“Oh,” Ava said, unsure of how to take that. “Well, that’s… nice.”
“How about I book you guys a room for tonight and then you guys can sleep off your jetlag and move in first thing tomorrow?”
“Are you sure?” Ava asked, chewing on her glossed lower lip. “I really don’t want to put you out.”
“It’s fine,” Will told her, flashing her the million-dollar smile that had made me fall in love with him in the first place. “How about I take you down to the check-in desk and get you signed up for a room now?”
“I’m not even sure there’ll be vacancies here,” Ava responded. “I hope we haven’t left it too late.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure we can find you a place.”
“How do you know?” Jamie inquired. “You act like you have full reign of the place.”
“I should hope so,” Will replied, chuckling, and I found myself smiling. “My parents own the hotel.”
Will’s parents were absolute millionaires, probably due to the fact they owned about a quarter of the hotels in England—which is a lot, if you knew how many hotels frequented the place. That’s why Will was able to have two apartments in the block. This one he paid for with me, like normal people did it. But there was another one two storeys above that also had his name on it, that his parents paid for in case Will ever ‘came to his senses and realized that he shouldn’t be marrying a money-grubbing gold digger like me’ as his mother had eloquently put it. She’d never liked me from the beginning, probably because I didn’t have a multitude of zeroes in my bank account, and I was not part of the A-list crowd like the Winchesters. It sucked, but Will had assured me that he loved me regardless of my worth and his parent’s opinion, and that was enough for me. Soon after he asked me to marry him, with or without his parents approval. His mother had thrown a tantrum like no other, and Will had practically disinherited them in favor of me. It just made me fall deeper in love with him.
Jamie let out a whistle under his breath, and Will stood up and dusted his jeans off. “I’ll take you down now and get your rooms sorted.”
Chance and Jamie started off behind him, and Ava gestured to me. “If that’s okay, I think I might stay behind and catch up with Candice.”
Will nodded. “No worries. I’ll be back soon.”
He led the boys out, and Ava turned to me with wide eyes. Everything had moved so quickly, and it finally felt like it may be slowing down and I might have a moment to process things.
“Okay,” Ava said in a low voice. “I am trying to remain calm about this, but it is getting really hard. You wanna tell me what the hell’s going on here?”
I straightened a stack of magazines on the glass coffee table to stay focused, and shrugged. “What’s there to talk about? I’m engaged to Will. There’s not much else to talk about.”
“Not much to talk about?” she spluttered. “Candi, I am your best friend. Why didn’t you tell me you were engaged?”
“Believe me, Ave, I wanted to,” I assured her. “But there was just never time.”
“Never time? How long have you been engaged?” Ava asked, and I had a feeling this was not the happy reunion she’d been picturing. This felt more like a standoff.
I looked away and stared at the ground. “Six months.”
“What?!” she screeched. “You’ve been engaged for six months, and you couldn’t have used one of the seconds in that to tell me—your best friend since the start of college, remember—that you’re engaged? I could understand a few days or a week—a month, even—but six? God, how long were you even dating him before he popped the question? It wasn’t one of those rash engagements where you just decide to elope and disappear into the sunset, right?”
“No, Ave. I’m not like that,” I assured her.
“Well, then, how long?”
I breathed out and looked away. “A year, okay? We dated for a year.”
Her eyes flashed with anger. “A year? So, you’ve known him for eighteen months, and it didn’t once cross your mind to maybe tell me you were dating a guy—namely, a hot British guy? That just slipped your mind, huh?”
“I’m sorry, okay?” I said tiredly, running a hand through my hair. Had I known they were coming, I could have had time to prepare, but it was like everything was being sprung on me all at once. “I know I should have told you, but there were just so many other things to talk about, and—”
“Wait a second,” Ava murmured, her eyes darting around the room as she contemplated something. I knew then that she’d figured out exactly what I’d wanted to avoid. “You moved to England eighteen months ago. Are you saying you started dating as soon as you got here? Right after you told Chance you weren’t looking for a relationship?”
I took some deep yoga breaths, forcing myself to stay calm and explain it to her rationally. “I’d been here for a week,” I told her. “And my time in London had been absolutely awful. I didn’t know anyone, I was all alone, and I had no idea what I was going to do or how I was going to survive the next three months. And it was my first day of work, and I was seriously considering moving back to America. Everything was just… a mess.”
I swallowed and pressed on. “And then I ran into Will. He also worked at Rive La Belle. I remember he spilled sauce on me and he kept making puns and he was just so sweet. And for once since I got here, everything felt just a little bit better. He introduced me to people and took me out and kissed me in the snow, and suddenly everything seemed a little brighter, you know? It was like a fresh start. Finally I felt like I had a place in London. I hardly spoke to you and Jamie, and I was lonely, and I was scared. And then Will came along, and for once, I felt like I belonged.
“So when he popped the question six months ago, I said yes. Because it was the first time I ever felt truly happy. Ava, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about him, but it felt like two completely different worlds.”
“Do your parents know?” Ava asked quietly, and I could tell by the look in her eyes she was feeling guilty for snapping at me so harshly.
I blew out a breath and swallowed. “God, I haven’t spoken to them since I left America…”
“Candi, I know you don’t like your parents, but, come on…”
“It’s not by choice, Ave,” I cut her off. “I told them I was leaving for London, and they told me that if I left I shouldn’t ever come back. That if I left, I should stay gone.”
“Oh, Candi,” Ava breathed, her face crumpling, but I continued on.
“When I got here, I sent them a letter telling them everything. I gave them my address, my phone number, my email address… God, I even gave them my video chat username. I didn’t hear back, and I haven’t heard from them since.”
“I’m so sorry,” Ava whispered, walking over to me and hugging me. “I didn’t know.”
“I lost my parents, my friends, and literally everything I knew. But with Will, for the first time, it finally felt…”
I searched my mind, until the perfect explanation came to me. “It felt like home.”