Chapter One
Five Years Later
The chug of boats on the Hudson River filled Caitlyn’s ears, along with the sound of her own rhythmic breathing and the morning traffic on the other side. She smiled, picking up the pace of her run and feeling beads of sweat trickling down the back of her neck. She was glad she’d remembered the sweatband that now held back her strawberry blonde hair. The autumn air was cool against her skin. There was nothing like that first rush of endorphins in the morning. Though she didn’t usually experience it quite this early.
“Hurry up!” Melinda called back to her.
Caitlyn looked up and saw her friend laughing several steps ahead of her.
“Sorry.” Caitlyn picked up the pace. “If you keep sprinting off like that, how are we supposed to talk? And then what’s the point of being awake, or even alive, at five in the morning?”
Melinda wiped her brow. “Exercise, I’d guess?”
Caitlyn made a noise.
“It’s good for you.”
“But at what cost, Mel? What cost?!” Caitlyn pleaded.
Melinda laughed and looked over Caitlyn. “You sure complain a lot. I’m not sure I believe you run back home.”
“I like the trails better in Cincinnati. And not this early.”
“Pfft. New York is better than Cincinnati. Can you get a tattoo and a hooker at 3am in Cincinnati?”
“I wouldn’t want to do either of those things at any hour!”
Melinda laughed wickedly. Caitlyn fought her nature so she could speed up and leave Melinda in her dust. She loved Mel, she did, but they were two very different people. Caitlyn was really only out there with her this morning because Caitlyn was staying at Melinda’s apartment while visiting the city. After four days of being shaken awake at the ass crack of dawn, she’d finally given in.
But Caitlyn was a night owl by nature and preferred to work and exercise and anything else much later in the day. It wouldn’t kill her to come out with Melinda in the mornings while she was here, though.
Probably.
When they’d finished the trail, the two of them settled into a seat outside at a juice bar. Melinda would have to get back to the apartment and shower so she could go to work, but Caitlyn could do her work for the day back at the apartment ensconced with a latte and Melinda’s cats.
“So are you really not liking the city?” Melinda asked.
“I like it okay. I like visiting with you. It’s a bit crowded for my tastes.”
“I’m off tomorrow. We’ll find some better things for you to do. Oh! And I have tickets to that movie screening on Friday, and there’s an after party.” Melinda held her hands up. “Just a small one at a lounge, my little antisocial butterfly. We do have to dress up, but it won’t be loud and crowded like a club.”
Caitlyn sipped her Protein Buzz smoothie and leaned back in her chair. “What movie? Will Jaina be there?”
Melinda chuckled. “Yep. The girlfriend’ll be there. And it’s that sequel everyone’s been talking about. Roughhousing Frequency II.”
Caitlyn wrinkled her nose. “Maybe we could just go to the party.”
“Okay, even if that guy you hate is in the movie, it can’t be that bad. Plus it’s free, and it’s at one of those theatres where you can order drinks. Just ignore him!”
“I don’t hate him. I just think he’s overrated.” Caitlyn set her cup down and wiped the condensation from her fingers. “Does he have to be in everything lately?”
“That’s what happens when your career takes off. I mean, that actor whose face looks like a potato was in everything for a while. At least Emrys Sébire is a total hottie.”
“What would you know about a guy being a hottie?”
“Just because I have a girlfriend, who is hot by the way, doesn’t mean I’m blind. I swear to God that man is contracted to lose his shirt three times per movie and offer up an ass shot at least once.”
Caitlyn rolled her eyes. It wasn’t like she didn’t know that Emrys was attractive. He was just a lot more built than he’d been when she’d known him. And she’d never expected that after their wonderful time in France and all their promises to call and visit, the next time she’d see him would be three years later on the big screen.
She didn’t know what had hurt her more: the empty, silent days following her flight home when she’d still clung to the hope that Emrys would pick up his phone or answer one of her emails, or seeing his face one day during the previews to some stupid romantic comedy and finding out that everything he’d told her about himself had been a lie. Emrys had said that he was also a student. That he was from England. That he wanted to wrest as much happiness as he could from life, marry a nice girl, and settle down with children someday.
Once Emrys had started appearing in movies and his fans got busy on his Wikipedia page, the details about his life spread far and wide. He was not a student when he’d met her; he was from some small country in Europe called Cabeau, and he was the prince of the country.
Caitlyn had spent many nights praying for Emrys to come back into her life. Now it seemed like she couldn’t be rid of him. He was at once everywhere and completely out of her reach. Every time she saw him in the tabloids, it was like he was taking her heart in his hand and giving it another crushing squeeze. Caitlyn had told him absolutely everything about herself. He’d known the names of her parents, how her cousin had lived with them when his parents kicked him out of the house, the story of how her grandparents had met, and the name of the little independent coffee shop where she’d gotten her first job. Emrys had known her class schedule for the summer abroad program, and he knew enough about her academic program to guess that now she was working as an independent web designer.
But everything Emrys had ever told her was a lie. Caitlyn guessed that she shouldn’t be so shocked that he ended up as an actor.
“We don’t have to go if it really bothers you,” Melinda offered. “I just thought it would be fun to have someplace fancy to go.”
“No. You’re right. It would.” Caitlyn brushed back some stray tendrils of hair now starting to curl. “But I’m gonna need a couple of mojitos before the previews even roll because that asshole will probably be in half of them.”
Melinda squeezed Caitlyn’s hand. “Awesome. Luckily, no one in New York drives.”
“Then why the hell is there so much traffic?”
“No one smart in New York drives.”
After they had gotten back to Melinda’s apartment and Melinda headed off to work, Caitlyn showered and then settled in with her laptop, her to-do list, and a bag of chocolates that she dipped into whenever she crossed an item off her to-do list. As she worked, though, her mind kept wandering back to Emrys. Not movie star prince Emrys. The sweet, charming boy who had taken her by the hand when she’d been so fresh and new to the ideas of love and sex. He’d drawn her out of her shell and introduced her to so many things in such a short time, but then had been gone just as abruptly. It had taken her almost six months to realize it would never be him when she picked up the phone. It was more than two years before she’d given up hope that one day, maybe, he’d get in touch with her and give her a heartfelt apology and an explanation.
Caitlyn scratched the head of a little purring black cat. Marbles or Snowball. She couldn’t tell the difference between the two cats yet.
An explanation had never come, though. Even after Caitlyn had finally let herself accept that he had never loved her and didn’t care enough to call—hadn’t even cared enough to break up with her face to face—she hadn’t been able to make herself date much. It was so hard to trust guys. They were always hiding something behind their charming smiles and understanding eyes.
Marbles or Snowball purred thunderously and flopped down beside her. Caitlyn thought that when she got back to Cincinnati she should probably go to the shelter to get a cat; it would help make her apartment a little less empty.