Authors: Samantha Chase
Return to You
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Copyright © 2015 by Samantha Chase
Cover and internal design © 2015 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Cover design by Dawn Adams
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The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.
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There's nothing like a good challenge to put a little pep in your step and to get the heart pumping. In the last several years, William Montgomery had put a lot of pep in his step, and his heart had never felt better. Who knew matchmaking could be so rewarding? Getting his three sons married to their perfect matches had certainly been a challenge, but it was nothing compared to the one before him right now.
“Are we sure about this?” he asked cautiously as he scanned the file he held in his hands. William absolutely adored his role as the family matchmaker, but this particular situation was a little more sensitive. One look at his nephew, and he saw that it wasn't being taken lightly on his end either.
Ryder Montgomery nodded. “Believe me, it wasn't easy to get even that much information out of him. Luckily, James gets chatty after a couple shots of tequila.”
William chuckled and flipped through more pages. “It seems to me like you're onto something here, but I want to be sure before we move forward. Have you talked to any of your other siblings? Anyone willing to give us a hand with this?”
“Actually, there's someone here I think can help.” Ryder stood and walked to his uncle's office door and opened it. “Her name came up in the conversation at the wedding, and it didn't take much to track her down.” He motioned to someone in the reception area and then stepped aside. “Uncle William, this is Jen Lawson.”
William stood and welcomed their visitor with a smile. “Thank you for being willing to meet with us. Please, have a seat.”
“I have to admit that I feel a little overwhelmed by all of this,” Jen said as she sat down. “When your nephew contacted me, I thought he was crazy.”
Another small chuckle escaped before William could help it. He looked over at Ryder and smiled. “Well, we Montgomerys tend to be a little unorthodox at times.” His expression turned serious as he leaned forward on his desk. “My family means the world to me. In a million years, I never would have imagined Ryder coming to me with such a request. As of late, most of my nieces and nephews seem to run in the opposite direction when they see me coming. I'm sure he's mentioned my recent hobby⦔
“You mean the whole matchmaking thing?” she said with a saucy grin.
William looked at the woman and smiled broadly before turning to his nephew. “I like her,” he said. “I think she's going to be an asset to this whole thing.”
“What exactly are you planning?” she asked.
“It's been a little over ten years,” William began, “and this conversation Ryder had at my son Mac's wedding was the first time James even mentioned what happened back then. He's distanced himself from his family and is leading a very solitary life. I can't bear to see it, and I think it's gone on long enough.”
Ryder pulled up a chair and finally sat back down. “He's my brother, but to be honest, I had no idea exactly what had happened. We were close growing up, but once we hit our teensâ¦well, things changed. Back then, he was rebellious. He and my dad fought all the time and were always at each other's throats. Then he finally left and went to live with some distant relatives of my mother's. I'm ashamed to admit this, but I was too self-absorbed to pay much attention to what was going on. Apparently my parents had some kind of inkling of what had happened at the time, but they kept his secret for him. None of us had a clue.”
Jen looked between the two of them and leaned back in her seat. “I still can't believe that James is from such an affluent family.” She shook her head in disbelief. “I mean, back then, when we all knew him, he was working as a landscaper, had no car, and seemed to be dirt poor. I think that speaks highly of his characterâespecially knowing what I know nowâbut why would someone purposely make their life more difficult when they didn't have to?”
“I think he found having the Montgomery name to be more of a burden than a blessing,” Ryder said. “It's opened a lot of doors for us, but my brother wanted to get by on his own merits and not because of his name. On top of that, my father was grooming all of us for corporate careers. That was never James's style. I think he felt that he had to take drastic measures to be who he wanted to be.”
“That's one of the drawbacks of being from a big family,” William said with a sigh. “There's a lot of pressure on the Montgomery men to continue the family traditions in the business. James wanted to make his own way. As long as he lived at home, that wasn't possible. My brother Robert was not pleased that James moved so far awayâin spite of their differences. Unfortunately, he had no choice but to let him make his own mistakes.”
“I still can't believe all he went through,” Ryder said. “I don't know if there was anything I could've done at the time, but I hate the thought of him going through it all alone.”
“It was worse to be there living it with them, with Selena and James,” she said sadly. “I never felt so helpless in my life.”
All three grew silent for a long moment before William straightened in his chair. “And that's why we're doing what we're doing. Enough time has passed. This situation should never have gotten to this point, and I think between the three of us, we can rectify it.” He stared intently at the woman before him. “I need to know that you are fully committed to this. You are going to be the most directly involved, and you're going to need to keep your story straight in order for it all to work out.”
She gave a small smile. “Actually, your timing couldn't be better. When I get back home, it seems I will have a legit reason to get in touch with James. Selena is going to be the problem.”
William wanted to probe into the woman's predicament, but right now his nephew's future and happiness were on the line. “Do you keep in touch with her? With Selena?”
She nodded. “We talk at least once a week, but she hasn't come home inâ¦well⦔ She shrugged her shoulders and looked at the two Montgomery men. “A long time.”
Clapping his hands together, William said, with a wicked grin, “Well, then, it's about time Miss Selena Ainsley received an offer to come home that's too good to refuse.” Standing, he reached over his desk to shake her delicate hand. “Ryder will fill you in on all the details, and if there's anything else you need from me, please feel free to contact me. Anytime. Day or night.” Reaching down, he found a business card and then wrote on the back of it. “That's my personal phone number on the back. I expect to hear from you periodically to keep me up to date.”
“I wish I had your confidence, sir,” Jen said hesitantly as she took the card from him. “I'm afraid too much time has gone by, that maybe it won't all work out.”
“I have an excellent track record, my dear. My sons were all stubborn and convinced they didn't need any help with their lives, and now? They're all married with children on the way. Which reminds me.” He turned to Ryder and grinned. “How is Casey doing?”
Ryder smiled at the mention of his wife. “She's finally done with the morning sickness and is getting her energy back. I have to remind her to take it easy most days. All in all, we are both beyond excited for this baby's arrival.” He turned to the woman. “And don't let my uncle fool you; he'll try to take credit for my marriage too, but I was already on a mission to win Casey back.”
“You can tell yourself that all you want, Ryder, but you and I both know that if it hadn't been for me, there wouldn't have been a wedding for you to work with Casey on.”
Ryder rolled his eyes and couldn't help but smile at his uncle. “I was already in the area and had no idea about the wedding when I walked over to Casey's beach house. Sorry, old man, but this match is firmly on me.”
William winked at his female guest. “I'm four for four, no matter what my nephew says.”
She chuckled. “With a track record like that, I don't think James and Selena stand a chance.”
“Atta girl!” William bellowed with characteristic gusto. “I knew we'd win you over. I look forward to hearing from you in the very near future.” And with that, he excused himself and fairly skipped out of his office.
William smiled and nodded to his assistant Rose on his way out. “If you need me, you can reach me on my cell. I think I'm going to take my lovely wife out for a celebratory lunch.”
Rose was used to her boss's cheery moods and his multiple excuses for celebrating. “What are we celebrating today, sir?”
“Another successful match.”
Yes, there was nothing like a challenge to put a little pep in your step, and if this challenge turned out the way he thought it would, William Montgomery's feet weren't going to touch the ground for a long time.
“I don't understand. I thought this was a done deal. There wasn't enough interest or funds to make it happen, so I just thought we were through,” Selena Ainsley said over the phone.
“So did all of us,” Jen continued, “but it seems like someone has stepped forward and is providing the funds to cover the cost of the entire reunion. All we need now is a person who is able to pull together an event of this magnitude on short notice. You know, the kind of woman who is super organized, great with delegating and numbers, and who maybe, perhaps, does this for a living. Sound familiar?”
“You can't be serious,” Selena said with more humor than disbelief.
“As a heart attack.”
“Jen, as much as I would love to help out, there is no way that I can get away for the length of time it would take to put together something like this reunion. You need to find someone local who can handle all the particulars. It's too much to manage from six hundred miles away.” She could have added that Jen should probably look for someone who actually wanted the job and the chance to go to the reunion, because that certainly wasn't her.
“Oh, please,” Jen said with a snort of mock derision. “You know as well as I do that you can delegate a lot of the particulars. We have a venue, and you can speak to the catering staff anytime you need to, even from six hundred miles away. I'm sure with all of your connections you can organize the invitations and activities and whatever else is needed for this reunion. C'mon, say yes.”
Selena was torn. Ordinarily, this was the type of job she loved: big venue, short notice, and a bit of challenge. The problem wasn't the job, per se; it was the location. It had been years since she had gone back to the small Long Island town where she had grown up, and just the thought of returning there now made Selena break out in a cold sweat.
If it were anybody else calling, she would have had no problem telling them no. But this was Jen. Her best friend. Her confidante. Her conscience.
Dammit.
“Don't do this to me, Jen,” she began.
“Do what? Offer you a fabulous challenge? I know you thrive on this sort of thing. Everything is essentially paid for; the donor wrote us a huge check. It's a no-brainer. Basically, all you have to do is talk to a few people and show up. You can do this kind of thing in your sleep.”
“Then I'm sure you or someone else can handle it. Seriously, I don't have that kind of timeâ”
“Okay, look,” Jen interrupted. “I think I've been more than understanding. You moved away and never came back, and I never pushed you to. I come and visit you, and I love seeing you, but I'm beginning to feel like this friendship is a bit one-sided.”
“That's not fairâ”
“Not finished!” Jen snapped and instantly felt bad about her tone. “I'm not saying you weren't within your rights; however, it's been likeâ¦forever. Enough is enough. The thought of our ten-year reunion without you is just not even within my realm of comprehension. You were student body president, Selena. Everyone will expect to see you there. And on top of that, I'm your best friend andâ¦well, to be honest with you, things haven't been going so great for me lately, and I could really use a little time with you.” Jen knew it was hitting below the belt using her private issues to flush Selena out, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
“What's going on?” Selena asked, concern lacing her voice.
“Remember that guy I told you about? Todd?”
“Vaguely.”
Jen would have felt annoyed at her friend's lack of memory, but Todd had been nothing but a blip on the radar. “Well, he's kind of been stalking me. It's starting to freak me out.”
“What? Oh my gosh! Jen! Are you okay? Have you gone to the police?”
“I have, and basically there isn't a whole lot they can do because he's not threatening me or anything like that. It's just harassment.”
“Like what?”
“He calls a
lot
. I run into him everywhere. Honestly, it's kind of creepy.”
“What does he say when you answer the phone or see him?”
“Basically, he's pleasant.”
“And⦔ Selena prompted.
“Until I say that I don't want to see him again; then he tends to get a little mean.”
“But he hasn't threatened you?”
“No,” Jen said with a sigh. “Like I said, I went to the cops and filed a report, but unless he threatens me, there's nothing they can do. Their hands are tied and so are mine.”
“Have you thought about changing your phone number?”
“About a dozen times a day.”
“Then why haven't you?”
“Because I keep thinking he'll stop and just go away. I hate having to disrupt my life because this loser can't take no for an answer.”
“Jen, you have to do something. If he continues to have access to you, then he wins.”
“I'm finally at a place where I feel like my life is going well: I own my own little house, my job is good⦠If I could just get rid of this creep, life would be perfect. Plus, it wouldn't hurt if my best friend would come to our ten-year reunion that we planned together.”
Selena laughed. “Cheap shot, Jen.”
“I'm not above begging.”
“I just don't thinkâ”
“Then don't think,” Jen said quickly.
“But what ifâ?”
“You won't.”
“How can you be sure, Jen?”
It was times like this that Jen hated the physical distance between them because all she wanted to do was to wrap her arms around her best friend and hug her. “Selena, you are a grown woman. You own a successful business, and you never turn away from a challenge. Except this one. It's time to own it and face it.”
Selena's gut clenched. “What if people, you know, bring it up?”
“So what! It happened, Selena, and all of the denial in the world isn't going to change it. I'm not trying to trivialize it, but there it is. And believe it or not, everyone has moved on with their lives. I'm sure the topic of you and James Montgomery isn't something everyone we know is dying to talk about. People have gotten married, had kids, gotten great jobs, and some have crazy stalkers in their lives⦠It's not all about you, you know.” The last was said with a smirk that Selena could detect even over the phone.
It was hard to say which emotion was the stronger one at the moment. Hearing James's name out loud for the first time in years knocked all of the breath out of her and left her shaking, but Jen's teasing tone helped lighten the mood almost immediately. Perhaps she was the only one who remembered or even thought about her past relationship with James. Clearly he hadn't, since he'd never bothered to look her up. Maybe it was time to put some old ghosts to rest and go back to her childhood home and see her friends.
“
If
I say yes,” she began, but Jen's whoop of delight stopped her and had her laughing. When they finally calmed down, Selena continued, “If I say yes, then I'll need you to email all of the information to me right away so I can get started. What kind of time frame are we looking at?”
“Eight weeks,” Jen answered and prayed that she wasn't cutting things too short.
Selena did a mental check of her calendar and all that would have to be accomplished in order for her to pull this off. “It's going to be tight, Jen, but if you promise to help me and get a committee together quickly, I think we can have one heck of a ten-year reunion.”
“I've already got the committee lined up and the email is drafted. I was just waiting for you to say yes.”
“Mighty confident, weren't you?”
“Hopeful. And yes, there is a difference.”
“Only you could talk me into this, Jen. You know that, right?”
“That's what I was counting on,” she said and let out her first relaxed breath of the entire conversation. “So when do you think you'll actually come up here?”
That is a good question
, Selena thought to herself. “I should be able to do the bulk of it all from here, but I'll come up a couple of days beforehand, to make sure everything's in place.”
“A couple of days?
A
couple
of
days
?” Jen cried. “I pour my heart out to you about everything that I'm going through, and you can't even spare me a little extra time? That's just cold.”
Selena pinched the bridge of her nose and counted to ten to wait out her friend's audition for most dramatic phone conversation. Finally, she relented. “Fine. I'll block out two weeks of time to come up there. A week before and a week after. How's that?”
“Is there any way I can convince you to stay longer?” Jen asked.
“No.”
“Fine,” she said with a sigh. “Two weeks, but I would prefer that it be more time before the reunion.”
“Why?”
“Because that means you'll get here sooner. You have no idea how much it means to me that you're finally coming home, Selena.”
She wasn't going home, Selena reminded herself; she was just going back to a place she used to live to visit a friend. Her home was in North Carolina now. She wanted to remind Jen of that fact, but the emotion in her friend's voice was enough for Selena to avoid trying to back out again. “I really am sorry I've stayed away so long, Jen. I never realized I was hurting you.”
“I understand why you have, but I miss you.”
“Well, by the end of those two weeks, you are going to be sick of me. I'm staying with you, right?”
“As if I'd let you stay any place else! I will do my best to make my guest room a place you'll never want to leave!”
“Ease up there, Sparky,” Selena said with a laugh. “I have a business that needs me and employees who depend on me here in North Carolina. I'm giving you two weeks, but then it's back home for me.”
“Fine, fine, fine,” Jen said dismissively, “be that way. All I'm saying is that maybe it won't take another reunion to make you come back again.”
“One trip at a time, Jen. One trip at a time.”
By the time they hung up, the knot in Selena's stomach was finally starting to ease. The reunion itself wasn't going to be a problem; she could organize one of those in her sleep. The problem was going to be facing the memories she had been doing her best to forget. The old adage “time heals all wounds” clearly didn't apply to her. She'd go for Jen's sake, but it was going to take every fiber of her being to get through it without having some sort of nervous breakdown. It didn't seem to matter how together her life had become; there were just some things that had the ability to knock you on your butt and make you doubt yourself. Returning to Long Island was one of them.
Ten years ago, her life had been turned upside down by forces beyond her control, and she had spent a large part of that time letting other people dictate her life. Not anymore. Selena had broken free of a lot of the negative forces in her life, but just because she had taken that step didn't necessarily mean she was over the pain. She doubted she would ever fully be over that part; it was something she had learned to live with.
Jen was right. It was time to face her demons and prove to herself, if no one else, that she could go back to the place of her greatest failure and walk away with her heart still intact. She wasn't looking forward to it. If it weren't for the reunion, she wouldn't ever make the pilgrimage back to her old neighborhood. Her life was fine without having to go back there. And while Selena knew that Jen really did need her right now, she was certain that with a little persuasion, she could have convinced Jen to take a holiday on the Carolina coast with her. Sure, she would have fussed for a while about the reunion, but with the whole stalker issue on the table, Selena had a feeling Jen would have seen the reason in getting out of town for a while.
“Too late now,” she mumbled as she pulled up her calendar and began making notes. “I am a grown woman. I am in control of my own life. I don't have to answer to anybody but me.”
It was a good mantra to have.
If only she truly believed it.
* * *
James Montgomery was a leader, not a follower. He liked being in control of his own life without having to answer to anyone. True, his career in law enforcement had him answering to many people, but it was different from having to answer to his own family and dealing with their expectations of him. At this point in his career, he was well established, and the only pressure he felt was from himself. He wanted to be better, stronger, and more in control of himself personally.
Maybe someday it would be enough.
Maybe someday he'd be able to look in the mirror and know that the man he was, was good enough forâ¦well, anything.
It had been a long time since he'd openly admitted to himself that he still struggled with a sense of inadequacy, and if it hadn't been for today's events, he wouldn't be admitting to it now. Staring at the door to the station, James leaned back in his desk chair and nearly growled with frustration. Jennifer Lawson had left only minutes ago, and yet, instead of feeling like he was sitting in the present, her visit had taken him back to the past.
Ten years to be exact.
To say it was a shock to see her would be the understatement of the century. For too many years, James had distanced himself from just about everything and everyone he had ever known. It was necessary in order for him to become the man he wanted to beâneeded to be. And yet, one hour of time had brought everything back as if it were yesterday
“I'm looking for James Montgomery,” she said when she walked into the station, and it had been a coincidence that he was walking by right then or he might have had someone take a message or help her instead. Jen's eyes had lit with recognition as soon as she'd seen him, and one look at her and James had suddenly felt like that boy he had been way back thenânot good enough. He actually caught himself looking around as if suspecting his coworkers were looking at him in the exact same way, that by Jen being there, they were going to know his secrets and demand he turn in his badge or something. Odd how old insecurities can rear their ugly heads at the most inopportune times.