I should be ashamed of myself.
The locket doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to a man my mom had a one-night stand with twenty-four years ago.
He took her home after they met at a bar. When she woke, he was still asleep, so she filled her pockets with whatever she could fit in them and took off.
Nine months later, I was born.
She never told the man she slept with that he had a daughter. She didn’t tell the other two men she had one-night stands with that she was carrying their sons.
My two younger brothers have no idea who their fathers are either.
Every few years after we were all born, my mom would get married in an attempt to give us a father figure.
It wasn’t until her third marriage that everything changed. She married Jeremy’s dad, and we finally had a family, including an older brother.
Now, my mom and my stepfather, Craig Weston, are in prison.
I still have a family, but there are questions too. Questions about the man my mom took this locket from.
Ending her call, Audrey finally turns back to me with a bright smile. “That took forever, didn’t it?”
Fourteen minutes, but it felt like forever.
Audrey’s been at Wild Lilac for more than an hour waiting on her matron-of-honor to show up, but from what I just overheard, the woman is miles away from Manhattan.
“It looks like I’m going to do this on my own.” Slapping her hands together, she braces her designer heels a few inches apart as if she’s readying for a battle. “I think I know exactly what I want.”
If she does, I’ll be surprised.
She spent the first twenty minutes here trying to find a rose that matches her suit jacket. It’s an odd mix of pink and orange.
When I was able to get her back on track, she waffled between an all-white theme for the ceremony flowers or a brightly colored mishmash of whatever caught her eye in the store.
“Do you think I’m elegant?” She spins in a circle.
I don’t want to offend her, so I smile and nod. “Very.”
“I think all white with splashes of pink is the way to go.” She pats the arm of her jacket. “Can you show me some samples?”
I move toward my laptop. “I have an online gallery. I can show you the photos of a wedding I did three months ago. I think that might be what you have in mind.”
Her phone chimes behind me. “Oh, it’s Wren!”
I lose a half a step on my way, but I keep my shoulders back and avoid falling into the trap of thinking about Liam’s ex-girlfriend.
Tapping my fingers on my laptop keyboard, I catch Audrey doing the same on her phone.
“I’m going to sit her right beside Wolf at the wedding,” she announces in a giddy tone. “I still think they belong together.”
He belongs with me.
I chant that silently to myself over and over again wishing it were true, even though I know that he’s only looking for something fleeting and fun.
***
After a busy morning designing and creating four large arrangements for a new office opening on Park Avenue, I sneak out of the shop to grab something to eat. Leanna can handle things until I get back. I need fresh air, food, and time to myself.
Ever since Audrey mentioned Wren to me last night, I’ve been thinking about what’s going to happen when Liam sits down next to her at the wedding.