Unsteady in Love: Fairlane Series #3 Read online

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” he held his hand out for me to shake. “I’m Luke Sandström. I’m Alex’s boyfriend. The yelling woke up Mason, and I came over to make sure everything was okay.”

  “Shit.” I glanced over at Alex’s house. “I’m sorry I woke you up. I’m Prue, it’s nice to meet you.” I extended my hand and shook his surprisingly warm one. “Please come in for a moment and get out of the cold.”

  Luke waved his hand in dismissal but followed me inside.

  Closing the door, I tried my best to smile up at Luke, but I knew it looked forced. “Thank you for coming over and making sure I was okay. Alex must be happy you’re here.”

  “We both are. We don’t get to spend much time together,” he answered, eyes dreamy at the notion of his girlfriend.

  Seeing how much he loved Alex made me want to cry. I missed that feeling. I missed being in the arms of a man and having someone to talk to.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Luke asked with concern etched on his face.

  “It’s been a hard few days,” I answered back softly.

  Or months. Or years.

  “I’m sorry,” he said sincerely. “If you’re okay, I’ll leave you be. Is there anything you need?”

  “No, but thank you.”

  Walking Luke to the door, he stopped and stared at something on the table by the door for a moment before turning back to me. “If you need anything, we’re right next door. Don’t hesitate to ask.”

  “Thanks.” I tried to give him a reassuring smile. “Again, it was nice meeting you.”

  “You too.”

  Heading back to my bedroom, I buried my head in my pillow and screamed. Why did Holden have to show up at one of the worst times in my life?

  I screamed and cried at the gaping hole that had been left in my heart now that my dad was gone and from seeing Holden again.

  My doorbell rang for the second time that day and I swore to myself that if it was Holden, I would call the police on him. Had he waited until Luke was gone to come back?

  Opening the door, I was surprised to see Alex standing there. She was beautiful as always, but today she had a glow about her. One that I was sure Luke had put there. When our eyes locked, I saw the tears she was holding back.

  Staying silent, I headed back to my bedroom. It was the only room I could be in without seeing my dad’s ghost. Crawling up on the bed, I curled into a ball.

  “Prue, sweetie. Are you okay? Is there anything I can do for you? Luke told me about your dad,” she said barely above a whisper, rubbing my back.

  “Can you bring him back, cancer free?” I asked brokenly.

  “I wish I could.” Picking up my hand, she held it as I cried silently. “I’m so sorry, Prue. He was such a great man, and I’m going to miss him. Can I make you a cup of tea or anything?”

  “No, I don’t want anything but to be left to mourn my father in peace.”

  “Who was that guy who was here earlier? Do we need to be worried about him?” she asked curiously.

  Turning into my pillow, I cried out. Alex rubbed up and down my back, trying her best to soothe me. Little did she know there was nothing that could have made the hurt go away. I’d been trying for the past three and a half years.

  “What is it, sweetie?”

  “It’s Holden,” I sobbed. The memories of our time together flashed before me until they were finished. Gone. Just like he was gone that day. “He’s back for some reason and showed up here demanding to speak to me. Saying he was already here and heard about my dad.”

  “Who is he to you?”

  “The man who broke my heart,” I cried out. “I don’t want to talk about him though. I don’t want to remember what he did to me.”

  “Do I need to be worried that he’ll come back?”

  Turning toward her, I promised, “He’s not violent if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  “I wasn’t sure what to think.” Wrapping me in her arms, she let me cry on her shoulder until there were no more tears left to cry.

  “Um…I hate to bring this up now,” she looked at me sheepishly. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to you since I got back from Mexico, but I’m moving.”

  “What? Really? Where? When?” I giggled, and it made her smile. “Oh, gosh, listen to me and all my questions.”

  It felt freeing to laugh. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d even broken a smile let alone laughed.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’d have the same questions if it were you who was moving. I’m moving tomorrow, but it’s still in town, so we can see each other whenever. The deal was too amazing to pass up, and eventually, Luke will move in too.”

  I sat up against my headboard with wide eyes. I knew she liked Luke. A lot. But I had no idea it was to the point of them moving in together. “Wow. Things are really serious between the two of you. I guess Mexico was a hit.”

  A smile spread across her tanned face. “It was amazing, and so is Luke. Every day, I wake up and have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. How am I living this life? How did I get so lucky to have such an incredible man find me and get along with Mason so well? It’s wonderful and sad at the same time to see. Mason’s father has never given him the time of day, and Luke listens to every single word he has to say. Right now, they’re making pancakes together.” Happy tears filled both our eyes.

  “Oh, Alex, I’m so happy for you. And Mason.” Leaping forward, I wrapped my arms around her in a hug. No one deserved a happy life more than Alex. On more than one occasion, I had witnessed her ex standing outside her house yelling and swearing at her. Threatening her.

  “Thank you. I didn’t mean to make this about me, but I didn’t want you to find out I was moving when you saw the truck show up in the morning. We won’t be far, and you can come over anytime or call if you need me. Please, it’s going to be so weird at first being in a new house. I need someone to help me pick out furniture because I can’t decorate to save my life.”

  “I’d be happy to help. Just tell me when you need me. It’ll help keep my mind off of my dad and Holden.”

  “If you need a place to get away or hide from Holden, just say the word. I’d be happy to help. If you’re sure you don’t need anything, I should probably get home to help pack. I have no clue how he packs, and I’d like to know where all my stuff is since he’ll be leaving me to do all the unpacking, and I won’t be able to ask him where everything is every time I can’t find something.”

  “Thank you for coming by to make sure I was okay. I really appreciate it. I’m going to miss you and our talks, even as infrequent as they were.”

  “Call me if you need anything. I mean it. Day or night, I’m here for you, and I’ll miss you, too.”

  “I will, I promise.”

  We hugged once more before she left.

  This time as I headed back to bed, I felt a little bit lighter.

  I wasn’t as alone as I thought I was.

  I had Alex. Even if she was moving away.

  3

  HOLDEN

  I held my breath as I waited for Prue to answer her door. I’d given her two days, and I would have given her more if I could, but I was shipping out in a matter of days. Time was running out for me to explain to her why I’d disappeared after graduation.

  The front door swung open to a scowling Prue standing with her hands on her hips. “Look who came at a decent time.”

  “For that, I really am sorry. I truly thought that you might disappear so you wouldn’t have to deal with me.” I tried to explain.

  Never in all the years when I thought I’d see Prue again did I think it would be immediately after her father’s funeral. I knew she would be pissed at me, and I didn’t blame her, but now I wasn’t sure if she’d ever listen to me.

  “Like I said before, I’m not the one who runs,” she bit out.

  I didn’t remember her being so feisty.

  “Can I come in? It’s cold as hell out here.”

  Letting out an annoy
ed breath, she stepped back from the door, and I got my first look into her house. It was small. Smaller than the house she’d grown up in. I saw the couch that we had spent many hours making out on now more worn out. The table I’d sat at and eaten more than my fair share of dinners at had a few extra scuffs on it. Almost everything was the same as it once was just in a different place and more worn.

  The one thing that had drastically changed was Prue. She was more beautiful now than she had been back in high school. She was stunning and all woman. Her curves had filled out even though she was skinnier than ever. Her hair was long, down past the middle of her back, and her eyes held more hurt in them than she ever deserved.

  I knew I’d put some of that hurt there, and I was ready to try to ease her pain.

  “I was about to make a cup of coffee. Do you want some?”

  “No, thanks. You never used to drink coffee.” I blurted out the last part, but once it was out, I wished I hadn’t.

  Tilting her head, her gaze turned cold. “I never used to do a lot of things I do now.”

  Shit. I had my work cut out for me. Not that I thought otherwise when I had decided to find her, but I thought she might hear me out. Now, not so much.

  I followed her as she headed into the kitchen but stopped at the dining room table when she turned to look at me over her shoulder with a withering look. Fine, she needed her space. I could give her that for a couple more minutes.

  There were papers scattered all over the table. With the surface covered, it didn’t look as if it had been used to eat at in a long time. I didn’t mean to be nosy, but when I spotted more than one ‘past due’ and ‘final notice’ in red, I couldn’t help but look. They weren’t just papers, but bills, and all of them were preparing to cut services or send her debt to collections.

  What the hell?

  “You didn’t used to be a snoop,” Prue brushed passed me, making her way to the living room.

  “Well, it seemed like you didn’t want me to follow you into the kitchen, and then…I saw all the red.”

  “Which is none of your business. Say what you came to say, Holden,” she said with clear annoyance in her cool tone while sitting down in the recliner.

  Taking a seat on the couch, I turned toward her, ready to try to explain.

  “Please hear me out before you speak. At the time, I thought what I did was the best decision I could make.”

  “So, you don’t believe that now?”

  “What did I ask?” I said, trying to keep my cool.

  Her eyes went round, and her voice filled with sarcasm. “Excuse me. Go ahead.”

  “To answer your question, no I don’t know if it was for the best. I was young and in shock. I didn’t know what to do.” Running my hand through my cropped hair, I steeled myself for what I was about to tell her and the tears that I was likely to see. “After graduation and we split up for the night, I went to dinner with my parents. It was surreal. Earlier that day, they were acting strange, but I thought nothing of it. Just that they were sad their only child was graduating high school and would soon be moving out and headed to college.” Taking a deep breath, I rubbed my sweaty hands on my jeans. “Do you remember when my grandfather died?”

  “Yeah, I remember, but what does that have to do with what happened after graduation?”

  “Well, my parents failed to mention at the time of his death that he left me a sizable fortune under the condition that I marry before I turn twenty-five.”

  This was where it got messy.

  I could tell she wanted to say something, but she kept to her word and stayed silent. Except for her tapping her fingernails on her coffee cup.

  “I thought no problem. Right? Because I planned to marry you after we graduated, but my parents had a different idea.” Shock and hurt flashed in her eyes, but I continued on, needing to get my story out. “They had the rest of my life planned out for me, and none of it included what I wanted. They already had someone picked out who I was supposed to marry. They even wanted me to change my degree. No longer was I going to be an architect, but a lawyer, following in my family’s footsteps.”

  I had always hated seeing Prue cry, and now was no different. My heart broke as I watched tears well up ready to spill over. Shaking my head, I leaned forward, putting my elbows to my knees. “They refused to pay my tuition if I didn’t do exactly what they planned. I didn’t care until they threatened to call Loyola and get your scholarship revoked.”

  “What?” Prue cried out in a whisper.

  “I didn’t believe them. Why would I? They loved you. Not once had they ever given me a reason to think otherwise. It wasn’t until my dad took out his phone and called the dean to your college that I knew they were serious. I couldn’t let them take away your scholarship or fuck up your life like they were trying to fuck up mine.”

  “Are you married, Holden?” she choked out. Her eyes held more pain in that moment than they had after seeing her outside the funeral home. There was no way in hell I would ever marry anyone but her.

  “Fuck, no! I wasn’t going to let them win,” I growled out. “They thought if they threatened your schooling, I’d do what they wanted. I did the opposite of what they wanted. I enlisted in the Marines. I wasn’t going to let them ruin both our lives.”

  “Didn’t you think I should have had a say in the matter?” she croaked out.

  “Now, I do, but at the time, I only wanted to make sure you could go to school to be a nurse. I knew how important it was to you.”

  “You were more important to me than becoming a nurse,” she whimpered. “I can’t believe you did that to us, Holden.”

  “I know,” I hung my head. There wasn’t a day that had gone by when I hadn’t questioned my decision to enlist. “I’m sorry, Prue. I really am. I tried to get ahold of you once bootcamp was over, but you were already gone. It wasn’t until a couple of months ago that I found out where you were, and I had to wait until I was on leave to see you.”

  Locking my eyes with hers, I reached out to clasp her hand. For a moment, she tensed but then relaxed under my touch. “I have to go back in a few days, and I couldn’t imagine waiting another six months to talk to you. I know this is the worst timing with your dad dying. Again, I’m so sorry, and I hope that one day you’ll be able to forgive me.”

  Tears freely trekked down her cheeks with abandon, breaking my heart. Her green eyes held so much sadness in them, they seemed endless.

  “I hope one day I’ll be able to forgive you too,” she said so softly I barely heard her.

  “Is there anything I can do for you?” Like pay the giant stack of bills sitting on your table.

  “Can you turn back time?”

  “If I could, I would,” I replied honestly.

  I knew that she meant to bring her dad back, but I couldn’t help but think deep down she meant about after our high school graduation too.

  Abruptly, Prue stood and wiped her tears away with the tips of her fingertips. “Well, thank you for coming back and explaining. I’ve got a lot to do. I need to try to get my job back, and I have very little time to do it in.”

  “What happened with your job?”

  Was that why her bills were left unpaid?

  “Oh,” she looked away. “I asked to take leave to take care of my dad. I needed my job for the health insurance, but it didn’t cover the expense of someone looking after him. I couldn’t have both. Instead, after a week of me taking leave, they fired me. No one else would hire me with the hours I needed.”

  “Fuck, Prue, I’m sorry.”

  “Not your fault, but I really need to figure things out before…” She bit her bottom lip and it took everything within me to not to pull it loose and crush my lips to hers.

  Standing, I headed to the front door. “I’d like to see you again before I have to leave. Would that be okay?”

  “I don’t know, Holden. While it was nice to finally know why you up and disappeared, it’s still hard to be around you. Too many memories
.” She peered up at me from beneath her wet lashes, and all I wanted to do in that moment was hold her in my arms.

  Her heart wasn’t the only one that broke when I left. I wanted to mend both our broken hearts and start living the life we had planned all those years ago.

  “Don’t you pull those sad, puppy dog eyes on me, Holden Montgomery. You know I could never deny you when you pulled those out.”

  Was I? Well, if it worked so I could see her again, I wasn’t going to stop.

  “Fine,” she huffed, tapping her foot. “I have a few job interviews tomorrow, so why don’t you come by sometime in the late afternoon?”

  “Or I could take you to dinner,” I offered, knowing I was pushing my luck.

  She looked as if she could use a good meal or a hundred. Did she not have the money to buy the food she needed or was it from taking care of her dad and not herself?

  “I don’t know, Holden.”

  This time, I intentionally pulled out the puppy dog eyes and even stuck my lower lip out a little.

  “Fine, but don’t think you can keep pulling that shit, and I’ll fall for it. Just to let you know, the pouting lip thing doesn’t work anymore. You’re too…” she tilted her head in a way that meant she’s trying to find a nice way to say what she was about to say.

  “What?” I laughed.

  “You’re too manly,” she shrugged. “Too rugged to pull it off.”

  “Whatever you say, Prue,” I chuckled. This had turned out better than I thought it would. “I’ll see you tomorrow night. I’ll pick you up at seven.”

  “Uh, yeah, sure.” She nodded awkwardly.

  I could tell she didn’t want to meet again, but I wasn’t going to give up until I got what I had come for.

  And that was Prue.

  The love of my life and the one who had kept me going after all these years apart.

  4

  PRUE