Say Yes (11 page)

I
sat straight up in my bed, my body covered in sweat. My heart was racing…I had
dreamed of Luke
again
. Every night for twelve solid days. I looked over
at the alarm clock on my night stand. Five thirty-seven. I laid back on my
pillow, my body covered in a cold sweat, heart racing, and my thoughts still on
Luke. It had been more than a week and a half since the fight at the bar, and
more than a week and a half since I had seen him. Everything changed for me
that night. I was worried that Luke might start to develop feelings for me
again if we hung around each other too much, but I was the one that fell first.
Seeing him defend me like that, the girl he gave his heart to that was too much
of a coward to accept it, lit a spark in me. I couldn’t stop thinking about
him. We had talked on the phone a couple of times and we’d been texting back
and forth almost daily, but I hadn’t been able to see him face to face. He told
me that everything was fine and that he wasn’t mad at me for what happened, but
I could definitely tell something had shifted in him. He was obviously avoiding
me and I needed to know why. It was now exactly three days until the wedding,
and I was desperate to clear the air between us.

Things
with my family had never been better. Everything was right on track with the
wedding, and everyone was getting excited. We had had our final fittings a few
days ago, and I cried when Violet tried on her dress for the last time. She
took my breath away. We had her bridal shower the following weekend, which was
so much fun. Since Daisy was in charge of the bachelorette party, she let me
take control of the shower, and I didn’t know planning it would be so much fun.
Violet wanted to have a tea party theme, so that was very simple to arrange,
and I made all the food so that saved on hiring a caterer. She absolutely loved
it, especially the food. I hadn’t realized until that moment that no one in my
family had sampled any of my cooking yet, so it was a treat to do that for
them. She didn’t even get to open her gifts in front of all of us because all
we did was eat and laugh. The bachelorette party was coming up in two days, and
I know I was definitely excited for that. Daisy and I had met up with Brooke
for lunch two days ago and we decided to have Violet’s party at Brody’s. Brooke
offered the place to us to use exclusively after what had happened the first
Friday I was back. There were no night clubs or bars close to here besides
Brody’s, so Brooke offered to shut the place down and let us have the bar for
the night. That way we could dance, get drunk, and have a blast without fear of
any men like Jared bothering us. My heart was just bursting with happiness for
her and Evan.

We
also had one hell of a surprise for Violet. Even though she insisted she didn’t
want any strippers at her bachelorette party (because she said Evan was the
only man she wanted to see naked for the rest of her life), she was getting the
ultimate stripper: Evan himself. I had called him and asked if he might be up
for something like that, and it thought it was hilarious and was completely in.
Violet thought that he and his friends were just going to be having a guy’s
night in and playing poker at Jack’s house, so this was going to be a total
shock to her. I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when he showed up.

Daisy’s
stress over Jack seemed to be subsiding as well, because she had stopped
getting sick about a week ago and was feeling better. She also had taken
another pregnancy test and it was negative, so after that she was visibly more
relaxed. I will admit though, I wish that she and Jack could work things out.
Better yet, Daisy should knock off the whole “I like my freedom” stuff and open
her eyes and see she had a wonderful man standing there in front of her. I had
been able to spend more time with Jack the past week and half as well, and I
remember why I always liked him. He was like the brother I never had, and he
had such a good heart. He could make me laugh like no other just by being
himself. I admired him even more because of the kind of work he did. As a
reproductive endocrinologist, it was his job to be able to help couples struggling
to conceive make their dreams of family come true. The practice that he, Evan,
and Luke were starting together was going to be such a great place for
families. From preconception to pregnancy and all way through childhood, this
practice was going to be a wonderful option for the families of Glenbrook and
hopefully the surrounding cities. I was so proud of the three of them.

For
all the advice I had been trying to give Daisy on her love life, I had no clue
what to do about my own. Not being able to talk to Luke had been driving me
insane, so I had a plan this time. Asking to meet up for coffee or inviting him
to come hang out in a group hadn’t worked, so I was just going to ambush him at
the hospital today. Daddy wanted me to stop by his office that morning and
“show me off” to his colleagues, so it’s not like I didn’t have an excuse to be
there. After I left Daddy’s office I was just going to stop by Luke’s and
invite him to our house for dinner. I was hoping that he wouldn’t be able to
say no if he was put on the spot. I know it seemed kind of stalkerish, but at
this point I didn’t care.

I
threw back my blankets and rolled out of bed. I grabbed my robe and headed to
my bathroom to take a shower. I turned the water on and decided to brush my
teeth while I waited for the water to warm up. While my teeth were being
scrubbed to a minty clean shine, my mind started wandering again. Having the
same dream night after night was making it feel so real to me. It was like I had
gone back in time. I could still feel Luke’s hands on me, feel him kissing my
neck, his naked body on mine. My eyes began to drift closed and sensation took
over me. I didn’t notice how far my mind was wandering until the toothbrush
dropped out of my mouth and onto the sink, splashing toothpaste all over my
chest. “Damn it,” I cursed, and used a hand towel to clean up the mess. By then
the water was hot, so I stripped off my robe and pajamas, jumped into the warm
water, and let the remains of my dream wash away.

After
spending a wonderful day with Mama, I was headed to the hospital to meet Daddy
that afternoon. I pulled my rental car into a parking spot in the hospital
garage and shut off the engine. I grabbed my bag and pulled out my cell phone
to check to see if I had any messages before I went in to see Daddy. Two from
Tara, one from Alejandro…and nothing from Luke. My heart sank just a little
bit. I knew he wasn’t my boyfriend by any means, but I still felt a little sad
that I hadn’t heard from him. I knew in my head that pining over a high school
sweetheart was childish and stupid, but my heart was drowning out those
thoughts. As I was putting my phone back in my bag, it started to ring. I was
hopeful at first, until I saw it was Tara. I sighed and opened the driver side
door and got out. As I was locking the car, I decided to answer. “Hey girl,” I
said. “You must be on lunch.”

“Yep,
I'm on my way to the restaurant now. How’s everything going there? You didn’t
elope with a cowboy yet, did you?” she said.

I
sighed. “No Tara, I didn’t. But I am about to go meet a dashing doctor who’s
going to show me off to his rich friends though,” I joked.

“What?
Who?” she asked, irritation in her voice.

“Relax,
it’s just my dad. He asked me to come into his office today. I’m actually here
now,” I answered. “So, how’s it going there?”

“It’s
going great. Busy as hell, but ‘tis the season, right?” she said.

“Yeah,
I know what you mean. It’s been so hectic here getting ready for this wedding.
I can’t believe it’s only three days away,” I said as I walked through the
sliding doors.

“Yeah,
how’s that going? You getting nervous?”

I
chuckled. “Why would I be nervous?”

“Well,
you know. You’re almost thirty, you’re single, and your twenty-two year old
model-looking sister is getting married before you. I would be drunk for the
whole wedding if it were me,” she said.

“Nice,
Tara. I am very happy for Violet. I am not upset at all. Why would you even say
that?” I asked. I walked past a huge water fountain in the foyer and headed
straight to the elevators. I pushed the up arrow, and when the doors opened I
walked into the elevator. Pushing the button for the floor Daddy’s office was
on, I waited for her answer.

“I’m
just saying there’s nothing like a wedding where the bride looks like freaking’
Aphrodite to make you feel self conscious. That’s how drunken one night stands
and unplanned pregnancies happen. There are probably some hot groomsmen in that
wedding that would love to get into your panties. You, being the depressed
spinster sister lets one of them give it to you, and the next thing you know...single
mom,” she said.

“Ugh,
Tara, you’re disgusting! Have you always been this crude?” I asked, irritated.

“Oh,
calm down, Lil, I’m just teasing. Listen, I’m on my way to the elevators, I
have to run. Call me soon, ‘kay? Love you, girl! Kisses!” she said, and the
line went dead. Scoffing, I glared at my phone in disbelief. Why the hell was I
friends with this woman? Looking back, there was always some moment in every
conversation we ever had where she made me feel inferior to her or took some
little jab at me. I was really going to reevaluate my friendship with her
before I went back home.

I
put my phone back in my bag just as the elevator doors opened. I stepped out
and walked down the hall and stopped when I found the office door that read
“Nephrology Department, Dr. Calvin P. Harrington, M.D., Department Head”. I
smiled and opened the door. A large middle-aged lady with red hair greeted me
from behind the desk. “Hello, may I help you?” she asked sweetly.

“Yes,
I’m Lilly Harrington, I’m here to see my father,” I answered.

Her
eyes lit up. “Oh, well, I’m Marjorie, and it’s nice to meet you! You’re daddy’s
been talking about you for weeks! I’ll let him know you are here,” she said.
She picked up the phone and pushed a button. “Yes, Dr. Harrington, your
daughter Lilly is here to see you. Okay, I’ll let her know.” She hung up the
phone and said, “He said he will be out in a minute. He’s speaking to another
physician. Why don’t you just take a seat and he’ll be out shortly.”

I
smiled at her. “Okay, thank you so much.” I walked over to an empty seat in the
lobby and sat to wait. I picked up a magazine and mindlessly thumbed through
it. About five minutes later, a door opened and my father walked out to greet
me.

“Lilly,
darlin, there you are. You look beautiful,” he said, walking over to me and
taking my hand as I stood up. I decided to dress up just a little since I was
meeting Daddy’s coworkers, so I chose a pair of gray dress pants, black leather
pointed toe heels and a burgundy scoop neck sweater. I pulled my hair into a
ponytail after I had teased it to make it full, and added some curls to it to
make it bouncy.

“Thank
you, Daddy.”

“Well,
come on back. I got a whole office waiting to see you,” he said, wrapping his
arm around me.

After
an hour of meeting the staff and chatting about everything from the wedding to
Christmas, it was time for me to head out. Daddy had a full day ahead of him,
and was heading out to make rounds. We walked out of his office and toward the
elevators together.

“So,
you headed home, darlin’?” asked Daddy.

“Well,
I was actually hoping of running into Luke,” I said. “Since you and Mama are going
to be out this evening, I thought I would ask if he wanted if he wanted to get
together tonight. Maybe have dinner or something.” Evan’s dad and stepmother had
arrived in town for the wedding, and they had invited my parents to have dinner
with them and Violet and Evan, and Daisy was working tonight so I would have
the whole house to myself for the evening.

He
smiled at me, and said, “A dinner invitation from a beautiful girl? How can he
refuse?”

“I’m
hoping he won’t refuse. I haven’t been able to see him for the past two weeks.”

“Well,
I bet he’ll be happy to see you,” he said, a twinkle in his eye and a smirk on
his face.

“What?
Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I
don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Uh
huh, okay. Well, I’ll let you go. See you later at home?”

He
hugged me and kissed my cheek. “Sure will. See you darlin’. Enjoy your evening,”
he said, winking at me. The elevator that was going up opened, and he walked
inside. With a wave, the doors closed and he was gone.

When
the elevator I was waiting for dinged, the doors opened and I blinked in
surprise. Luke was on the elevator and was staring intently at his phone, most
likely texting someone. He was so engrossed in his text that he didn’t even see
me when I walked in. I took advantage of that moment and stared at him. He was
wearing a deep blue button down shirt, navy dress pants, black loafers, and had
a stethoscope hanging around the neck of his white lab coat. He looked
gorgeous…every bit like a hot doctor. When he was done he put his phone in his
lab jacket pocket, and looked up. His eyes popped open in surprise when he saw
me. “Lilly, hey. I was just…” My phone dinged in my purse letting me know I had
a new message. “…messaging you. Small world.”