She flashed a professional smile. “But I can promise you after his inquiry undergoes the review process your media outlets will be given an exclusive. Please fax or email the manager at my local office and mention this press conference. She’ll make sure you know as soon as a decision about the Carmichael-Girard event is finalized.”
That got a round of applause, but Lily knew there wouldn’t be any news because she had veto power. And this event was vetoed already.
She couldn’t handle another rush-job right now. Not so soon after planning her own hurried wedding, an event she’d whipped together during a whirlwind engagement that had gone belly-up in a public way. She’d salvaged what she could from the wreckage, but Lily didn’t doubt these reporters knew all the gory details.
She’d turned the wedding of her dreams into a full-scale charity event, because she’d refused to waste a perfectly amazing party. Since the venue had been a palace on the Dalmatian Coast—a favorite getaway for her and Lucas—the organization she chose as recipient supported war orphans in the former Yugoslavia. Fortunately, the response had been impressive.
At least she’d been able to feel good about that.
But the emotional upheaval had taken its toll, and she’d come home because she needed to regroup and reenergize her depleted batteries and heal before she burned out her creativity completely. Max had no business putting her on the spot—and on the record—this way. If he thought this public announcement would persuade her…
She was here to plan her sister-in-law Riley’s wedding—a tiny affair Lily could plan in her sleep.
“Thank you for the welcome reception,” Lily addressed the crowd. “I hope I’ve answered your questions.” Too bad she couldn’t answer her own. Like why she’d allowed her life to spin out of control and would she ever regain her equilibrium?
She might have the skills to fake the professional image, but inside her nerves were rattled. Why was Max trying to add more chaos to her life?
Retrieving her belongings, she turned to thank the pilot who appeared behind her then headed down the steps.
The crowd parted as she made her way toward the terminal of the private airstrip. She didn’t slow down until she was inside, away from the reporters who were trailing her. Her baggage already waited on a trolley. Glancing around for assistance, she guessed her dad must be outside to pick her up since he wasn’t in here.
Max entered. Tall and attractive with his glossy hair and light eyes, he looked the way he always had with those broad shoulders and long-legged strides. But what had happened to his good sense? Putting her on the spot that way. Honestly.
Even when he’d been in college, he’d kept his cool after he caught her drinking apple-blossom wine with her teenage friends in the Main Mall parking garage. He’d promised not to tell—this time. But he’d threatened to tell her parents if he ever caught her drinking again. Then he’d insisted on driving her home.
And kept his word.
He headed toward a bench, where he scooped up a trench coat. After sliding on the coat, he turned that striking gaze on her. Her heartbeat rocketed.
“Why are you here?” she asked. “Did you think that public announcement would get you what you want?”
He closed the distance between them, making her suddenly so aware of how she had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze.
“I’m here to give you a ride home.” Stepping around her, he reached for the trolley. “Your father sent me.”
“Why? Is he all right?”
“He’s fine.” Everything about him struck her as masculine, in charge.
“If he was busy, why didn’t my mom come?”
The dimples flashed as he turned on the charm. “You know your mother. With the prodigal returning, she invited everyone for dinner. She’s been cooking and cleaning. I offered because I wanted to talk to you about my brother-in-law’s wedding.”
He sounded wistful, almost as if he longed to have someone at home preparing for his return. Lily swallowed an urge to blast him for his comments at the press conference. How could she? How did one blast a man who had lost most of his family in a car accident? His wife, pregnant with their son, had been killed instantly and their young daughter had barely survived.
True, the accident had happened two years ago, but this was the first time she’d seen Max. She’d been out of the country at the time and while she would have dropped everything to make the trip home, he hadn’t had a funeral service. With his daughter fighting for her life, he and his wife’s family had opted for a simple memorial mass at church.
“Thank you, Max. I appreciate the lift.”
“No problem.”
His opinion, maybe, not hers. She’d need to arrange for a rental. Driving was the only way to get around this town. No matter what kind of wedding Riley wanted, there would be running around to pull everything together.
Good, Lily’s head was back on business, and she was starting to wrap her brain around things. She walked beside Max as he wheeled the trolley toward the terminal entrance. She darted ahead to grab the door, remembering the restored Karmann Ghia he’d owned once upon a time. Hopefully whatever he drove today had a bit more room. She’d packed for a month-long trip.
Max led her to a late-model SUV parked directly in front. He clicked open the hatch to reveal a cluttered space. Bed pillows in bright pink pillowcases. A Hello Kitty blanket hanging over the backseat. A Dora the Explorer backpack. A rhinestone slipper that could have been Cinderella’s.
His daughter’s things.
The sight of his large, competent hands shoving aside pink blankets and frilly pillows to make room for her luggage struck Lily like a fist in the gut.
This was reality. The reality that he’d lost his wife, the woman he’d loved. Lily swallowed around the lump in her throat. She’d been running, working, running. The last time she’d been home had been for another funeral. For her funny, kindhearted, always-crusading-for-lost-causes twin brother.
Her better half, as he’d always said.
Both she and Max had lost people they’d loved and life would never be the same again.
CHAPTER TWO
“LISTEN, MAX.” Lily placed a hand on his sleeve, waiting until he looked down with a gaze that suddenly felt unfamiliar. “I haven’t seen you since Felicia and your son. I never had the chance to tell you how sorry I was.”
His lips compressed, his expression so very resigned. He knew this drill. “You sent your regrets.”
“I know. Flowers and Mass cards. You replied with a thank-you. It’s not the same as telling you. Mom and Joey keep me up on how you and Madeleine are doing. I just wanted you to know.”
He didn’t say another word, but his chiseled jaw tightened as he packed her bags into the vehicle. It was as if he’d drawn an invisible shield around him that warned her to back off. There was something so solitary about this Max, so dramatically different than the Max of her memory.
That Max used to show up at her family’s totally average split-level house for any excuse under the sun, from meals to cards to football to hanging out with her brother Joey. That Max also had a cook on staff and lived in a grand historic home overlooking the Hudson that had been in his family for generations and had boasted neighbors such as the Roosevelts and Vanderbilts.
Despite the rose-colored glasses of her teenage crush, Lily had never understood him or how he could be so enamored of her family. As wonderful as they were, they didn’t exist in the same realm as the Downeys. The family business was a hardware store in the