Lakeshore Candy: The McAdams Sisters (By The Lake Book 4) Read online

  Unable to resist, Abby leaned over and softly kissed his lips, savoring it for the last time.

  “I love you,” she whispered.

  Taking a deep breath of his smell, she clung onto it as she rolled off the bed and went into the bathroom. She left all the lights off and slipped her pants over her shorts. Grabbing her bag, she crept silently back across the bedroom hoping he wouldn’t wake up and convince her this was the wrong idea. She knew it was the right decision.

  Abby set the letter she wrote on the pillow beside him and touched his hand one last time.

  I love you so much.

  Abby waited at the front door for the grumbling and partially hung over Izzy and Avery.

  “I will drive.” Abby took the keys from Avery and they all piled into his car.

  “Do we get an explanation?” Izzy asked.

  Abby shook her head. She couldn’t do it right now. “Later,” she said.

  Izzy kissed her cheek then settled in the back seat.

  Avery squeezed her shoulder. “Love you, Sis.”

  Abby patted his hand. “Love you too.”

  Then she started the car and drove away from the man she loved and the heart she left with him.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  THE THREE-HOUR drive back to Willow Valley was agonizing torture. Strings pulled from her heart to her tear ducts making it almost impossible not to tear up at every tug. The ride back was nothing like the ride there with the man she loved by her side. They had been ready to break through and start a future together. A future. That had never been a word in her vocabulary until the moment Riley said he wanted to explore whatever was between them...love. It turned out the same thing all her sisters had fallen into. She’d gone and taken a ticket in first class and now was back in coach feeling the seat pains.

  Abby dropped Avery off at Gran’s place. There she was calling it Gran’s place again. Gran’s place, Riley’s place...did she not have a place to call her own? She would have willingly called Riley’s place her place.

  On the outskirts of town, she slowed at The Caliendo Resort to drop Izzy off. It was almost seven in the morning when they headed toward the private drive where all the Caliendo siblings lived in large suites in a secluded area from the resort and centered around a tropical indoor pool.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Izzy yawned, stretching out in the front seat and resting her feet on the dashboard.

  “No.”

  “Did you run away from him?” Apparently Riley wasn’t the only one who thought she was a runner.

  Abby slanted her a look. “What do you think?”

  “That you just broke his heart.”

  “I just broke my heart to save his heart, but I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “I will talk about it and you can listen.” Of course she would. “I don’t really know what all the hype is on this love stuff...” It’s like the greatest feeling in the world. “I do know that you are an incredible person Abby, sweet and caring, so much more than I am...” Izzy didn’t give herself enough credit. Under that saucy tongue was a strong love for her family and friends. “...and with Riley you are happier than I’ve ever seen you. He brings this light out in you that no one else can and I’ve only ever seen that a couple times with Kate and Marc and my mom and dad.” She paused and took a deep breath. “My real dad. He brings this spark out in my mom, this light in her eyes, and relaxes her, comforts her in the exact way Riley does with you. I wouldn’t want to see you lose that because you’re scared.”

  She wasn’t scared. She was protecting him. Wasn’t she?

  Abby parked the car, but didn’t reply.

  “Call me later.” Izzy leaned across the seat and gave her a long hug before climbing out. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay with me?”

  Abby nodded. She needed time to herself.

  When Izzy disappeared behind the door with a wave, Abby’s eyes fell to Kate’s door. A drawing Rosemary had colored was posted in the window of the three of them, Kate, Marc and Rosemary, having a picnic under a tree. A family. Abby’s family.

  Abby didn’t want a moment alone. She wanted her family...she wanted her sisters.

  Abby pushed the door open and her feet took her to the door. Her hand knocked before she could talk herself out if it. Normally, she would remind herself of the pitiful looks that would follow from her sisters. Right now she didn’t care if the pitiful looks never ended, they were worth the comfort, the love.

  Kate’s warm and compassionate smile was like a security blanket. “Avery texted me,” she said. “Marc took Rosemary to breakfast. I was hoping you would stop by.”

  The string reefed full throttle and tears spilled down Abby’s face. “Kate it hurts,” she said.

  Tears formed in her sister’s eyes. “I know Abby.”

  Kate took the three steps down and pulled Abby into her arms like she had a million times growing up, taking the pain away with her soft whispers, hands petting her head and letting Abby cry against her shoulder. Today the pain wouldn’t cease. Abby squeezed Kate’s middle with all the strength she had left and when that was gone she collapsed against her.

  “Avery also texted Peyton and Sydney,” she whispered in her ear. “I’m sorry. They barged in here too hoping you would stop by.” They were all here? “I’m giving you a heads up if you want to run. I don’t want you to run.”

  Abby didn’t want to run. She shook her head against her sister.

  “Good. Are you ready to come in? Peyton has a surprise for you.” Abby could only imagine what surprise Peyton would generate.

  Kate wrapped her arm around Abby’s shoulder and led her into the cool central air. The Caliendo suites were all the same: three bedrooms, three full bathrooms, an open kitchen and living room in a contemporary style, crisp and modern. While Izzy’s suite had her style everywhere, from her curtains, to the paintings she collected, Kate’s suite, which had once been empty of life, kind of like Riley’s house, was now full of life with family photos, paintings and pictures from Rosemary, the artist, and toys in every corner.

  It was the dining room table that caught her attention, noticing neither of their other sisters in sight.

  Abby wiped away the tears and even felt a glimmer of happiness at Peyton’s foolish attempts to console her. The chairs were all pulled away from the table and sprawled over top was a dark blanket where she knew Sydney and Peyton were waiting underneath that table tent...with breakfast.

  When they were growing up the mornings or evenings Kate didn’t make it home to cook for them, Peyton would throw a blanket over the table and her and Avery would have a tent meal.

  Kate pulled the blanket up and her sisters, all grown up, smiled at them like children sitting around bowls of candy.

  Abby couldn’t help but laugh in between her sniffles. “That looks disgusting,” she teased, climbing underneath the table with them.

  “This is your favorite food,” Peyton objected, gesturing her hands slowly across the candy buffet.

  Abby didn’t have an appetite. “I’ve been spoiled with real meals all week,” she said. “I’ve hardly touched candy.” Unless you included Riley as her candy. He seemed to have the same effect on her, whenever she was in a bad mood he made it better, if she was feeling sad he brightened her mood. His touch and his kiss were more delicious than any candy Abby had ever eaten.

  Peyton held a bowl out and Abby shook her head.

  Kate crawled in beside her. “I’ve never had a tent breakfast before.” Kate had generally been working or locating their dad during tent meals.

  “She’s lying,” Sydney said. “This is the third one we’ve had since you and Riley got together.”

  “What? Why?” Abby asked.

  Sydney rubbed Abby’s leg. “We wanted to be ready when you needed us.” She gave her leg a little squeeze.

  “The first time was the night after you told me about your feelings for Riley,” Kate said. “The girls came over that night and spent th
e night in case you showed up.”

  Why would they do that?

  “The second time was after you and Riley slept together. Avery texted us and we thought maybe you would need us.”

  Abby dug her hand into the jujubes. “Need you like a child,” she muttered.

  “Need us like a sister,” Kate said. “Remember when I had my panic attack and Izzy called all of you and you three came rushing here to spend the night with me?”

  Abby remembered Kate’s dramatic secret about giving up Rosemary six years earlier forced by the hand of Marc’s father. “That was way different.”

  “Remember when I found out I was pregnant with Colt and he game-overed me?”

  Yes, Abby remembered Peyton was pregnant, huge deal, and Colt thought she was trying to manipulate him into her heart. Again very different.

  “I ended up ruining our grand opening at the soap shop with all my drama,” Peyton said.

  “Remember our night at the bar last month?” Sydney asked. “You dressed me up like a sexy hot teenager...by the way Jake loves that dress and I only wear it for him...” Sydney said causing raucous laughter from her sisters at the mention of her in the bedroom with Jake. Sydney did not offer such details...ever. “Anyway that was me needing you Abby.”

  “Abby do you see that we all need each other. It’s not any different with you.”

  When they said it that way she supposed maybe they didn’t see her the way she thought they did.

  “Abby you don’t deal with your emotions,” Kate said. “You never have. You hide them you bury them and then you have a meltdown because nobody can hold all of that in. Like Gran’s funeral. If we hadn’t talked to you before we all walked into the funeral home you would have had a meltdown in front of everyone.”

  “Like a child.”

  “No. Abby we do not see you as a child.”

  Abby straightened. “You think I have meltdowns.” She pointed at Kate. “You think I don’t work enough.” She pointed at Peyton. “And you think I party too much.” She pointed at Sydney.

  Sydney shrugged. “I don’t party enough,” she said. “And in the last year I’ve watched you hang up your party ways, even Jake has mentioned it, to spend more time with people important in your life.”

  Riley. She’d hung up her party ways up because she would rather sit around on Riley’s couch teasing the rare smile out of him. The last week Abby spent with Riley he’d smiled more than the two years she’d known him making her happy for him and reminding her why she had to leave him.

  “I work way too much,” Peyton said. “Until I was pregnant and fell in love with Colt, I didn’t understand why one would take off so much time from work. Then I realized why. To live life. You live life better than any of us and since I’ve returned home you have stepped up to the long hours in the soap store. You work hard and offer your opinions. You take on any task and, although you ramble on about working weekends, you smile through each day. I’m so proud of you.”

  Everyone’s eyes fell on Kate. “I’m just an old prude. What do you want from me?”

  A real smile caught Abby’s lips and she leaned over and hugged her sister.

  “You are so strong Abby,” Kate told her. “You stand tall and plow through life with your head held high.”

  “That’s what Riley said.”

  “He’s right. We just want you to know you don’t have to deal with things alone. I think we try harder now because we feel guilty for leaving you or not being there for you in the past.”

  “Sometimes it’s because she’s wild,” Sydney added.

  “Yeah she does get a little wild,” Peyton agreed.

  “I’m right here,” Abby said.

  They all laughed.

  “Do you want to tell us what happened?” Kate asked.

  “I left Riley.”

  They stared at her silently waiting for more, none of them touching the candy.

  “I didn’t want to hold him back and I didn’t really consider it until Cece pointed it out.”

  “Cece?” they all asked in unison with questioning stares.

  “His sister,” she clarified. “Riley owns, he built,” she clarified. “Torsten Recording Label. I mean who does that? This week has been wonderful with him, don’t get me wrong. I know what you all think of him but he’s so much more than he lets on. He’s sweet, he’s funny, he teases and grins at me like no one else ever has, like he can see right into my soul and knows that grin is causing chaos. And, after facing the fears of his past, something lifted from him and he was even more amazing.” Abby paused, biting another jujube and feeling the sadness stirring up clenching and pulling deep into her upset gut. “He was willing to drive to the label from Willow Valley every day. There and back. Take days off, work short hours and give his positions to hired help so his sister could resume her managing job. He was doing all of it for me.”

  Peyton reached across and touched Abby’s hands resting on her legs. “That sounds beautiful. Like he loves you.”

  “He does love me. That’s the problem.”

  Her sisters shared that confused look.

  “He loves me so much he was willing to do all that, but how does he even know that’s what he wants. I mean really. He just went home, he just healed, and now he’s picking up his life and he’s trying to fit me in, but it’s not fair to him. So I left.”

  “Isn’t that his decision to make?” Sydney asked.

  “I love him and I can’t be with him when he’s rushing to make everything work for me and then one day down the road, when I’m even more in love with him, he looks at me and decides the travel is too much, he doesn’t want Willow Valley or what if he doesn’t want me? I would break. I would fall apart like after Gran died, but he wouldn’t be there to pick me up. I can’t do it again. I can’t. It was too hard. It hurt. I still hurt from Gran and if Riley ever told me it was over after spending so much time together, I don’t think I could survive it. I don’t know if I can survive this.”

  “We are all here for you,” Kate said.

  “What if he comes back for you?” Sydney asked. “What if his love is so strong he’s already headed here to announce his undying love?”

  Abby envisioned the letter she set by his bed. “He won’t.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I left him a note and I told him I wasn’t ready for a relationship. That I’m not a one-man girl and I asked him not to take it out on Avery. I told him that I would always love him for the friend he is to me.”

  Her sisters shared a round of compassionate sighs that bounced around the walls of their tent and settled in Abby’s ears.

  “He won’t chase me.” She knew he wouldn’t. Not after the note. Never. Abby had cut her ties and he’d never try to reach out to her again.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Riley tossed the crumpled note on the table and paced across the cold kitchen tile and back to the table, grabbed his keys and jacket and stormed into the garage, unlocking his vehicle.

  His fingers wrapped around the handle and he stopped. I’m not a one-man girl. I’m not a one-man girl! He let go and slammed his fists on top of the roof instead, sending pain through his arms.

  What was he doing chasing down a woman who slipped out in the night and cowardly left a letter breaking up with him?

  Because it’s Abby. Abby’s different. That’s not what her letter said.

  As if he hadn’t already memorized it from the bedroom, down the stairs and into the kitchen he picked it back up and re-read it:

  Riley,

  I’m sorry to leave you in the middle of the night. It’s cruel and mean, but it’s the only way I can express my true feelings without your sweet words pushing me in a different direction. I’ve had a wonderful week with you. Wonderful, but it was only one week. And in that time I’ve realized I’m not the one-man woman. I wanted to be for you, for us. If I’d told you this to your face you would have talked me out of it because I love you, but the truth is I wi
ll end up hurting us both because you will never be enough for me. You are my best friend, my best lover, but you cannot be my only lover. Please do not take my imperfections out on Avery.

  Love always, Abby.

  He gritted his teeth against every word. Every word kept his foot grounded.

  She ran.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  RILEY WAS EXCITED for the first time in weeks...as excited as he figured he could get while his heart felt like it was torn from his chest leaving only an empty hole of pain...that excited.

  His feet strummed impatiently under his desk while his hands thumped a light melody in tune waiting for Cece to come to his office.

  He’d been working his ass off the last two weeks, day and night. His office was his home again and he didn’t like it, but it was a home...a lonely sad home without Abby.

  Abby.

  Let her go. Let her live. You knew she was carefree. You knew she liked her ways. You knew she was a runner.

  It didn’t help his broken heart from crushing all over again. Every time Abby popped into his head between flipping pages and mouse clicks, she was always there in the background of his mind, his happiness, his excitement.

  No, this is exciting.

  Cece knocked on the door.

  “Come in.”

  She looked nervous, the opposite of the statement her bold red dress was giving.

  He stood. “I have exciting news.” It was more exciting for her than him, but he was excited to give it to her. He was excited to feel a little excitement after two weeks of feeling nothing.

  “Riley, I have something I need to tell you.”

  Whatever it was it could wait. He’d been working on this deal between the rest of his work and it wasn’t because of Abby. One might think it was Riley trying to win her heart back or make her see his true self. But he knew Abby and if her mind was set, there was nothing he could do to change her mind. Nothing anyone could do.