The Goodbye Bride (5 page)

He must've drifted off because light was peeking through the window when his eyes opened next. The alarm was going off. He checked on Lucy, then stumbled back to the sofa and fell promptly asleep.

A pounding noise woke him. He bolted upright, his thoughts
spinning. Last night came bounding back. Lucy's call. The ER. Lucy in his guest room.

He ran a palm over his face.

The pounding started again, and Zac unfolded himself from the dinky couch and went to the back door.

Beau stood on the porch in his church clothes, giving him a black look. “Where you been? You didn't show up at church.”

Zac turned back inside. It was too early for this. “I got in late. Didn't get much sleep.” He headed upstairs to his apartment, dreaming of coffee, Beau on his heels.

“I've been texting all morning.”

“What's the big emergency?”

“You kidding me? You take off last night with no explanation, leave the restaurant in my hands, and don't show up for church?”

Zac entered his living room, leaving the door open, and headed straight toward his kitchenette, his coffeemaker, like a zombie. “Were there any problems?”

“Naw, there were no—Zac, what's going on? You look like crap.”

“Can you at least let me get some coffee in me? Jeez.” He filled the machine with water and grounds and hit the Power button. He heard his brother pacing in the living room. Beau was in his oldest-brother glory.

Zac pulled out a mug, then looked over his shoulder. Beau was staring out the window that faced the harbor. “Want some?”

“No thanks.”

The thought of the research he had to do today, of Lucy sleeping downstairs, made his head throb. A quick check of his watch showed it was going on twelve thirty. After he got rid of Beau he'd check on her, then start Googling. Surely it wouldn't take long to find her wedding information, her fiancé.

He glared at the slow trickle of coffee.
Come on.

With any luck he'd figure this out and get her back to Portland before the sun set. Maybe she'd even get her memory back. Then they could all have their happy endings.

He gave a quiet
humph.
His mind wandered to the man Lucy had been about to pledge her life to. Poor schmuck. He had no idea what he'd gotten himself into.

Even as the thought formed, he had a gut check. He remembered the sweet Lucy, the sassy one. The one who'd turned him upside down and inside out in all the best ways. She'd been everything he'd dreamed of.

And then she left you high and dry.

The coffee machine began the blessed gurgling sound that indicated his drug of choice was ready for consumption. He filled his mug, took a sip, and started toward the living room. Maybe he could just give Beau some vague excuse and get him out of his apartment.

Zac froze on the living-room threshold as Lucy appeared in the apartment doorway. Her dark hair was all tousled and sexy, the loose T-shirt falling to mid-thigh. She offered Zac a tremulous smile just before her eyes swung to Beau's back.

Her lips pulled higher. “Beau . . . hey there.”

Beau turned, his lips parted, his eyes widening. “Aw, no . . . No way.” His gaze flitted off Lucy, then his lips tightened and he nailed Zac with a look.

Well, shoot. Couldn't a man have a cup of coffee in peace?

“You shouldn't be up here,” Zac said, his voice sounding harsher than he intended.

Lucy seemed to sink in on herself as she crossed her arms. “I can't find—”

“I'll be down in a minute.” He should probably offer her a cup of coffee, but he couldn't get her out of there quick enough.

Her eyes toggled between Beau and Zac. “O-okay.”

Zac shut the door behind her and took a long sip of his coffee, barely noticing the burn at the back of his throat. He felt Beau's dark eyes on him as he settled in the recliner and tried to forget that his ex-fiancée was downstairs in his T-shirt, still in love with him.

“What. Have. You done?”

Zac looked up, his gaze glancing off his brother's face. Not quick enough to miss the way his neck bent forward in disbelief or the shock that registered in his eyes.

“It's not the way it looks.”

“Then what way is it?”

“She's hurt. I'm helping her, that's all. I'll have her home by—”

“Helping her?”

“—tonight, if all goes as planned.”

“She left you!”

“She has a concussion! And memory loss. What do you expect me—?”

“That's what that phone call was about? She just calls you out of the blue, after all she did, and you go running—”

“Oh, here we go.”

“—to her rescue?”

“She has memory loss—or did you miss that little piece of the puzzle?”

Beau plunged his hands deep into his khaki pockets. “I don't care if she has malaria. What problem is that of yours? She lost the right to call on you for help when she deserted you with an entire wedding to cancel. With a broken heart, in case you forgot.”

“I haven't forgotten anything! She's the one who's forgotten.
She doesn't even remember leaving Summer Harbor. She woke up on some bathroom floor with a knot on her head and the past seven months gone.”

Beau studied him intently, as if he were trying to piece it all together.

Good luck with that. He hadn't even gotten to the wedding dress.

Beau walked to the sofa and sank down across from Zac, his elbows planted on his knees as his eyes narrowed knowingly. “She's playing some kind of game, Zac.”

“Believe me, my mind went there too. But I took her to the hospital. She has a concussion. It's true.”

“How do you know she's not faking the memory loss?”

“I just do.”

“Come on, Zac, don't be so gullible.”

Okay, now that smarted. He glared at Beau. “I'm not freaking gullible. What do you want, a medical report? I sat right there and listened to the doctor say she has amnesia.”

“Because she
said
she didn't remember? Come on, man. You know she's your weak spot. After what she pulled, I wouldn't put it past her.”

“You didn't see her last night. Didn't see how upset she was. She went to the
hospital.
You know how hard that is for her. Besides, why would she lie? She's the one who left
me.
”

“Well, maybe she's changed her mind. Maybe this is some devious play on your sympathies so you'll—”

“She was in a wedding dress, all right?”

“What?”

“She was wearing a wedding dress. And some other dude's engagement ring. It was her flipping wedding day, and she can't even remember who she was marrying.”

Beau's brows pulled together in confusion. “That doesn't make any sense.”

“Well, I'm going to figure it out. I'm going to find her—people—and get her home ASAP. She'll be gone before you know it.”

“Where was she at?”

“Portland.”

Beau shook his head. “It just doesn't make sense. It's only been, what, six months since she left?”

“Seven.” And eighteen days. But who was counting?

“And she's not only moved on, but she's ready to walk down the aisle with some other dude?”

Zac shrugged. It stung, he wasn't going to lie. Here he was, forcing himself to date other people, and she was about to take the plunge.

“You think she was cheating on you before?”

“I don't know.” He thought back to last fall. They'd been so happy. Or so he'd thought. “It didn't seem like it. Everything seemed fine.” As Beau's eyes met his, the silent words filled the gap between them.
Obviously it wasn't.

“I don't even want to think about it. I just want to find her fiancé, hand her over to him, and forget she was ever here.”

“I'm not sure it's going to be that simple.”

“I'll make sure it is. In the meantime maybe you can keep this to yourself. I really don't feel like having a bunch of people slapping my shoulder again and asking me how I'm doing. Or worse, gossiping about what a gullible fool I am.”

“People are going to see her, Zac.”

“I'm closing the restaurant today. And I'll have her back in Portland by tonight if it's the last thing I do.”

Chapter 6

L
ucy loosened the edges of the eggs with the spatula and with a quick jab of her wrist flipped the omelet. She liked to cook at the Roadhouse. The walk-in was always well stocked, and the pans were top of the line.

Had it really been seven and a half months since she was here? It didn't seem possible. It went against everything her mind was saying.

She couldn't forget the way Beau had looked at her upstairs. Like she was the last person he'd expected—or wanted—to see. She couldn't help but feel she was missing some part of the equation, some critical piece of the past.

After being chased from Zac's apartment, she took a quick shower and slipped back into the loose jeans and T-shirt she'd been given from the hospital lost and found. Her stomach growling, she'd scrounged up some fresh ingredients. They'd both perk up after a nice breakfast.

She'd heard Beau leave fifteen minutes ago, and her nerves were wired waiting for Zac to come down. As she slid the omelets onto plates, she heard his footfalls on the steps. A moment later
he entered the kitchen, stopping short when he caught sight of her at the stove.

He wore a black T-shirt that hugged his muscular torso and a pair of fitted jeans. His hair was still damp from his shower, his goatee trimmed tighter than it had been last night.

“How are you feeling?” His remote gray eyes erased any warmth his words may have engendered.

“Better now that the meds have kicked in. Thanks for checking in on me last night.”

“How's your vision?”

“Still a little blurry. It comes and goes.” She held up the plates. “Hope you're hungry.”

“You should be resting.” If his tone weren't so gruff, she might think he still cared. But no. He only wanted her out of his life as quickly as possible.

The backs of her eyes stung. She swallowed hard as she set the plates on the prep table where they usually ate.

Used to eat.

After he retrieved some juice they dug in quietly, tension weaving around them like a sticky spiderweb. His stool couldn't be farther away. He hadn't even looked at her after that first glimpse of her at the stove.

How could he not love her anymore? After all they'd meant to each other? It seemed impossible. Her feelings were real. How could she have been in love with another man, ready to pledge her life to him, just yesterday?

A part of her was curious about this man she'd been engaged to. But another part just wanted to erase the past seven months so she could be back where she belonged—with Zac.

“Has anything come back to you?” he asked.

The hope in his voice deflated her. As much as she wanted him to remember his love for her—that's how much he wanted her to remember that they'd parted ways.

He'd moved on without her. He really didn't love her. Maybe he—oh dear—maybe he was dating someone else. Maybe he was in love with someone else.

Her appetite was suddenly gone. She pushed her egg around the plate with her fork.

“Lucy?”

“Um, no. I don't remember anything else.” She cleared the emotion from her throat. “Beau seemed a bit cross this morning.”

“He's—distracted. He just got engaged.”

“To Paige?”

“What? No. Her name's Eden. She's from away. Came to Summer Harbor last Thanksgiving.”

“Oh.” A lot had changed since she'd left. Riley was gone, Beau was with someone else, and Zac was completely over her.

He didn't say anything for a minute. “Listen, I'm going to shut down the restaurant today. Get online and figure this out. Sooner we can get you back to your old life the better.”

She pinned him with a look, but he kept eating, eyes on his plate.

“Better for whom?” she said. “I don't even remember that life.”

“Being back in your normal surroundings, your regular routine, will help.”

“I don't even know where I lived.”

“We're going to figure all that out.” He shoved a bite into his mouth.

Lucy studied him. His evasive eyes, his stiff shoulders, his
detached demeanor. She thought of Beau's reaction to her. Not at all consistent with his usual warm, friendly nature.

Maybe her brain wasn't operating at full speed, but something was wrong. “What's going on, Zac?”

His eyes came up, meeting hers for a long-drawn-out moment.

“Why are you being like this? So . . . distant and angry. And Beau . . . he didn't even say hello to me.”

Zac dropped his fork onto his plate and got up, his stool scraping across the ceramic tile. He scraped his plate off and set it in the sink. “Things didn't end well between us, that's all.”

“What happened?”

Zac grabbed a rag and began wiping down the counter. “You left, that's what happened.”

“What do you mean I left?”

“Out of the blue. Just like that. No explanation.”

Her mind rejected his words. The air left her lungs. “No.”

“Ayuh. I went away for a weekend. When I came back, you were gone. Your apartment was empty, your things were gone.” His voice was tight. “You didn't even leave a note, changed your number. I had no idea where you went. You left the ring, though, thanks for that.”

She shook her head. “No. I wouldn't do such a thing.” She loved Zac. It was the kind of love you lived for. The kind you died for. Surely he knew that.

“Something happened. Something more than that. What aren't you telling me?”

He fixed her with a look. “I'm telling you everything I know. It's precious little—believe me, I'm aware.”