Lily

The tears didn’t stop for the next two days. I decided that those insipid heroines from old historical romances knew what they were doing. There was something to be said about getting a fit of the vapors and taking to your bed.

I avoided everyone. Not that there were that many people to avoid. A couple clients, a caterer who needed a last-minute bartender, and Maggie.

Maggie was the only one who didn’t give up. I briefly told her what happened between Will and I before I told her I just needed to be alone for a while.

She gave me two days before she came beating down my door. She took one look at me when she walked in and sent me directly to the shower.

While I washed my hair for the first time in days, she changed my sheets and heated up some soup she brought with her. She waited until I was clean, dressed in fresh clothes, and had a few spoonsful of soup before she started in with the lecture.

She stood up from where we were sitting at my little dining table and started pacing in front of me. “You know I love you more than anyone, Lils. I want you to have everything your heart desires. But I think breaking things off with Will was a big mistake. You love him.”

“I don’t love the idea of moving from one home to the next. I’ve had enough of that to last me a lifetime.”

Maggie knew how it felt better than anyone. We’d spent time together in two foster homes and finally a group home before we aged out of the system.

“You’re forgetting one thing, though. The thing that makes all the difference.”

I could feel my eyebrows drawing together as I went over the last month in my head. I couldn’t think of one thing that would make me change my mind about living out of a suitcase again.

Maggie dropped back into her chair and grabbed both my hands. “You won’t be alone, sweetie. It’s not going to be just you dragging a suitcase of secondhand clothes behind you.” She squeezed my hands. “It’s never been about finding the one perfect place to live. It’s about having the one perfect person to share your life with. If you find that person, it doesn’t matter where you go, as long as you’re together. He is your home.”

I sat up straight and clutched at her hands like they were the life preserver keeping me from sinking below the water and drowning. “But what about my house, Mags?”

“It’s a house. There are lots of cute houses in this world. Maybe someday you and Will can buy that one or a different one. Or, I don’t know, maybe you’ll turn a tour bus into a showplace like you did here.” She lifted her chin and swept it around to encompass the room. “Does it really matter?”

I stared up at her, trying to come to terms with what she was saying. I closed my eyes and imagined my house. I pictured each room decorated as I’d always dreamed. I put myself on the porch swing and baking in the kitchen and all the hundred other things I planned to do there.

And then I really thought about doing all those things without Will. Cooking dinner without him leaning his hips against the counter and telling me about his day. Decorating the Christmas tree without him lifting me up to place the angel at the top. Snuggling under a cozy throw and watching The Walking Dead without arguing over Daryl or Rick. And then I imagined a lifetime like that.

I opened my eyes and stared at Maggie in horror. “I’m such an idiot.”

“No, you’re not.” She released my hands and gave me a quick hug. “You’ve been holding onto that dream for a long time. You shouldn’t be expected to give it up in a day.”

“I told him no, Mags. I sent him away.” Panic rose inside me as I talked. “I don’t even know where he is. He might have left New York already.”

“You’re in luck. I just happen to be working a party tonight. And it just happens that it’s being thrown by the record label of a particular band we both know and love.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope.” She popped the “p” hard and gave me a smug smile. “Why do you think I showed up here today?”

I sank my teeth into my bottom lip, my mind going a million miles an hour. “I don’t think I can face him tonight. I think I need to plan something, Mags. I need to show him that being him is enough. That no matter where we go, I’ll always have roots, as long as I have him.”

She grinned at me. “This is going to be good.”

An idea started forming in the back of my mind. “Do you think you can find out where he’ll be spending Christmas?”

“I promise I won’t leave the party tonight without that information.” She held up her fingers in the Scout’s sign.

I shook my head at her silliness. She and I had certainly never been Girl Scouts. “What would I do without you?”

“You, my dear, will never have to find out.”

* * *

Will

I couldn’t think of anywhere I’d rather be less than this party. But after almost a month off, my manager and the people at our label were anxious to get us out in front of people again. In this industry, a band could become old news fast if they didn’t keep producing music and doing shows and meeting fans.

In the case of this party, there were a bunch of photo ops set up. The publicist wanted our pictures plastered on every online entertainment site they could find in the next twenty-four hours.

Normally, I didn’t mind this stuff. It wasn’t my favorite, but the food was usually good and the booze plentiful. I could count on a bevy of gorgeous females vying to keep my attention. Not a bad way to make a living.

But tonight I hated every minute of it. The party in one of the apartments the label owned in the city reminded me too much of the party where I’d met Lily. I still couldn’t believe I’d been such an ass to her. What had I been thinking?

“Shrimp puff?” A voice came from right behind me and was followed by a tray full of hors d’oeuvres being thrust under my nose.

Jeez. Usually the staff at things was a lot less obtrusive. I raised my eyes from the shrimp puffs to let the waitress know I wasn’t interested, only to find my gaze clashing with a set of angry eyes.

Scratch that. Maggie wasn’t angry. She was downright pissed.

“What’s the matter, Mr. Canter, my shrimp puffs not good enough for you?” She practically spit the words at me. Not that I could blame her.

As angry as she obviously was, she was the first bit of happiness I’d had in days. “How is she, Mags?”

Maggie’s eyes narrowed but she removed the tray from my chest. “How do you think she is?”

“Probably about as good as me.”

“Doesn’t look like you’re in too bad shape,” she grumbled. “You’re out of bed and dressed. I saw you eating a couple of those sliders going around earlier. I’d say you’re doing a lot better than Lily right about now.”

I straightened as cold fear gripped my chest. “Lily’s not eating?”

“Or getting out of bed or showering.” She shot me a look that should have flayed the skin from my body. “At least she wasn’t doing any of those things until today. But I took care of her. I’ve always got my girl’s back.”

I heard what she didn’t say. I didn’t have Lily’s back. “You’re right. I didn’t.”

“So what are you going to do about it?”

I pushed my hand through my hair. “I’m already working on it, Maggie. What the fuck was I thinking? She finally opened up to me about how she grew up, what she’d been through. And what do I do? I dump her because the thought of settling down scares the fuck out of me.”

“You’re already working on it?”

I nodded. “I’ve been working on it since about two hours after I left her. The minute I walked away from her, I knew it was a mistake. I imagined getting back to my regular life and it sounded like hell. I thought I didn’t want to settle down, but when I thought about the weeks I’d spent with Lily, I realized it wouldn’t be settling. It’d be building a beautiful life. If I could have what we’ve had this past month for the rest of my life, hell, I’d give up my music.”

Maggie gasped and I offered her a wry grin. “I can take my guitar with me wherever I go, so I’ll never be completely without my music. But if I don’t have Lily with me, I don’t have anything.”

She eyed me suspiciously, still not ready to forgive and forget. I was glad my girl had such a good friend.

“If you knew as soon as you left that you’d made a mistake, why didn’t you turn around and go right back to her?”

I shook my head. “She laid herself bare to me, Mags. And you know she doesn’t share that shit with anyone but you.”

Maggie nodded and I breathed a little easier as I saw her eyes softening a little.

“She laid herself bare and I all but kicked her to the curb. I can’t go get her back until I make sure she knows without a doubt she’s safe with me. That she can count on me.”

Maggie grinned and her face totally relaxed. “That’s exactly what I was hoping to hear. Welcome to the family, Will Canter. What can I do to help?”

Relieved laughter broke from me. After what happened, I wasn’t sure Lily would ever want to see me again, let alone let me back into her life.

But having Maggie on my side would go a long way with winning back Lily’s trust.

“Can you help get her to me on Christmas Eve? I have a few things I need to take care of to put my plan in place, but it should be all set by then.”

“I can do that.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, Will. Take good care of my friend.” Her words were both a warning and a seal of approval.

I smiled, feeling a little bit of hope for the first time in days. “I’ll spend the rest of my life taking care of her if she’ll have me.”