Chapter Seven
Eleanor couldn’t believe her eyes. Will Jaynes, here in the chapel. Not ten yards away from her. She felt dizzy, and her breathing was uneven. Was she having a heart attack? Was this the beginning of the end? She was desperate to use the Ask Dr. Bridges symptom checker, but this was the middle of a wedding ceremony.
The notes of Pachelbel’s Canon flowed effortlessly, her fingers hitting the correct keys in the correct order and with the correct timing. But inside, she was a wreck wrapped in a catastrophe, sprinkled with chaos.
Deep breaths. This wasn’t a heart attack. She’d been in and out of therapy enough times to step back and recognize that she was currently in a stressful situation, and that stressful situations triggered her anxiety about illness.
But now her heart hurt. Not with a physical ache, but an emotional one. Because the man she’d loved long ago now stood so close. It was what she’d yearned for and dreamed of for two whole years before finally giving up on him ever returning.
Summer, the bride, glided down the aisle with her parents, her brown skin looking rich and smooth against her simple white gown. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears and Eleanor didn’t think she’d ever seen someone so beautiful, so in love. This wedding was a true union of two people who cared deeply for each other.
As soon as Summer’s parents left her side to sit in one of the pews, Eleanor found a good spot to end the Canon and let her hands rest in her lap. She flicked her gaze to Will.
He was staring right at her.
Feeling her cheeks grow hot, she immediately looked down to her hands. She’d probably just imagined his gaze. The fact that it had felt as powerful as his touch…she’d imagined it. She imagined a lot of things, these days, from broken toes to heart murmurs to flesh-eating diseases.
The ceremony passed quickly. A brief speech about love, an exchange of vows, a kiss, and then Eleanor played Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring while the wedding party walked back down the aisle to exit the chapel. She ran through a couple of extra pieces while the stragglers in the chapel made small talk, before everyone headed to the community center down the street for the reception.
Eleanor had changed her mind about the reception. She would not be attending it. She’d much rather go home, let Fido ignore her, and allow Dr. Bridges to help her contemplate the possibility that she was developing necrotizing fasciitis on her forearm.
Will was long gone—he’d disappeared with the wedding party to get their photos taken before the reception. Not that she’d paid any attention whatsoever. Eleanor gathered up her sheet music, stuffed it into the book bag she’d hidden behind the back of the pulpit, and marched out of the chapel.
She carefully walked down the steps, then through the little paved trail to the rear parking lot. Her Subaru was one of the last cars in the lot, and a man leaned against the hood.
Her heart skipped in her chest until she realized it was Nathan Emory.
“I don’t want to talk to you, Nathan,” she said.
He shrugged. “I heard Will Jaynes was here a couple weeks ago.”
“That’s none of my business.”
He ran his hands through his hair and fixed her with his dark brown eyes. “I wanted to say I was sorry.”
“I don’t want to talk about The A-Hole.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw movement on the other side of the parking lot. Will-shaped movement. It was Will, sitting in the cab of a truck. Why hadn’t he gone with the others for pictures? She turned back to Nathan.
“Fine. Say what you have to say.”
“It was wrong of me to kiss you when you didn’t want to be kissed. I realize that now although I didn’t at the time, and I’ll never do that to another woman as long as I live. I found someone—a great woman who I’m already falling madly in love with, and I’m embarrassed at the idea she’d ever find out about me acting like such a jerk.”
Eleanor stared at him. Was this really Nathan Emory? “Wow,” she said.
“Yeah, I know. Love…changed me, Eleanor. I keep thinking back to how we both were in high school. Our parents all split up at the same time, you know? Within a year of each other? I thought that meant we had something in common.”
Eleanor remembered. She hadn’t wanted anything in common with Nathan Emory, not like that, at least. He’d been a class clown, and not a very funny one, at that. “And you’ve fallen in love?” she said.
“Yeah. It’s a Christmas miracle. She and I—we have this connection. It’s like what you and Will have, you know?”
“Had,” Eleanor said. “What Will and I had. And look, Nathan,” she added in a whisper. “Just be careful, with your heart, okay? Because as magical as I thought things were with Will, that all ended.”
Nathan shook his head. “Nah. I can see him over there now, watching us. He’s jealous. Possessive. He’s loved you since middle school. As soon as I heard he was in town two weeks ago, I knew why. He’s come back for you.”
Will had been in town two weeks ago? Nobody had said anything. He hadn’t come to see her. And Nathan thought Will was possessive of Eleanor? She wanted to laugh. Instead she stood, dumbstruck, while Nathan stepped forward. He held his arms out, not forcing her into any kind of hug, just waiting to see if she’d accept it.
He’d been a creep to her two weeks ago, but now he was madly in love with someone. And even though he was dead wrong about Will being back for Eleanor, at least he was trying to do the right thing.
She hugged him quickly. “I’m happy for you. I hope everything works out.”
Off to the side, Will’s truck started up. He drove away, not looking in her direction.
“It will,” Nathan said. “True love wins in the end.”
She pursed her lips to keep from saying, Not freaking likely. Nathan turned and walked out of the parking lot. Eleanor got into her car, started it up, and drove toward home.
Will, back in town for her. Ha. No, he was here for this wedding. And two weeks ago he’d been in town, and she hadn’t even known he was here.
Ten years ago, he’d asked her to marry him. It hadn’t been the first time he’d proposed, either. They’d just graduated, and Eleanor had gotten into the music program in the tiny liberal arts college in Lakewood, an hour away. She’d gotten on her bike and rushed over to the library, where Will was working. She’d gone to the window at the front of the library and held the fat college envelope above her head, grinning like a fool, until he came to the library’s front entrance.
His grin had mirrored the one she felt on her face. “You got in,” he said.
“I know, I can’t believe it!” she’d exclaimed.
“I can. Marry me, Ellie. As soon as you’re done with school, let’s get married.”
She’d laughed. “You know I’m never getting married, right? But if I ever did, it would be to you, okay?”
Something had passed across his face. Disappointment? But it was gone before she’d had a chance to figure it out. And for no reason other than the fact that it had felt right, she’d leaned forward and kissed him.
Even now, heading home in her shitty old Subaru, Eleanor could remember the way his lips had felt on hers. That kiss had flipped some kind of switch in Eleanor. Up until then, she’d been merely practicing music, but after the kiss, she was living in the music. Every moment was a song. She’d come alive with that kiss.
Even though she hadn’t accepted him at that point, several years later she’d finally listened to her heart and her body, and she’d given herself to that man. All the love she’d been saving up, afraid to set free after watching the disastrous end of her parents’ marriage—she’d taken all of it and poured it into Will.
And as soon as she’d done it, he’d skipped town.
When she came to the turn-off for her street, Eleanor slowed. And then she drove right past the turn. Stupid Will, with his stupid perfect lips. Coming back to Huntwood and making her think about him like this again.
Why should Eleanor be the one to skip the wedding reception? Why should she hunker down in her living room, feeling sorry for herself and wondering again why he’d left her? No, Eleanor had done absolutely nothing wrong.
And it was time Will was made aware of that fact.
As soon as it was safe, she turned around and headed in the other direction, toward the community center where the reception was taking place.
Because gosh darn it, Eleanor was going to give Will a piece of her mind.