What Makes Us Stronger (A Well Paired Novel Book 3) Read online

  “Yet she’s going to sacrifice a night with her hunky husband to hang out with us?”

  “So you’re in?”

  Lily had been hoping Ty would call sometime this week and ask her out. Dinner. A movie. Cuddling on the couch. She didn’t care what it was; being with him was enough. And a night out with girlfriends sounded fun too. Maybe someday they’d be able to combine the two.

  A couples night with Alexis and Ben, Hope and Cameron. Mia and Jenna were gorgeous women who could easily find dates.

  Not that Lily and Ty were anything more than that. It wasn’t like they were boyfriend-girlfriend. Although it would be nice to be in a committed relationship. One where she trusted her boyfriend. Her husband.

  “Lils? You in?”

  “Sure.”

  “Don’t sound so enthusiastic about it.”

  “I’m sorry. I had a long day at work.”

  “Uh huh. If Hope can go one night without Cameron, you can go one night without Ty.”

  “I didn’t—”

  “I’m his sister. I know things.”

  “We’re not—”

  “Yeah. Whatevs. Since I’m dragging you girls out, I’ll drive. Jenna and Grace are in, and Alexis is a maybe. Sunday is a busy day at the winery, and Sophia’s been up a lot at night. Teething I guess.”

  “I’m sorry she hasn’t been feeling well.” The baby itch hadn’t hit Lily yet. It wasn’t something she’d thought about growing up, and definitely not something she wanted to think about when living in Italy with—

  “You’re done at two on Saturdays, right?” Mia interrupted her near-flashback.

  “Yeah. I’ll stay open until four in July and August. The summer people are just starting to make their way up here.”

  “You learn fast, outsider,” Mia teased.

  “It’s a concert in the park gig, so bring a cooler with whatever you want to eat and drink. A blanket or chair or whatever too. It’ll be fun.”

  “I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Me too.”

  “I’ll see you Saturday.”

  “Sounds good. Oh and, Lily? I’m gonna let you be the one to break it to Ty that you’re not available Saturday night. He’ll kill me for taking you away from him.”

  “We’re not—”

  The phone went quiet on the other end and Lily sighed, putting her phone on the coffee table.

  Needing to eat, she made her way to her kitchenette and microwaved a Lean Cuisine. Five minutes later she had chicken teriyaki, a glass of Alexis’ wine, and a Jodi Picoult novel in front of her.

  She’d managed to read three chapters and sip two glasses of wine before her eyes began to droop. Realizing sleep was in order, she checked her phone—no missed calls or texts from Ty—and got ready for bed.

  It wasn’t until Friday afternoon when Ty called her. She’d had back-to-back-to-back-to-back hair appointments and didn’t get to return his call until after six. When he didn’t answer she contemplated hanging up, knowing he’d see her caller ID, but left a quick message instead.

  “Hey there. Sorry I didn’t get to call back until now. We were pretty busy. So um, I’m all closed up now, so feel free to call back if you want. Bye.” Lily scrunched up her face when she ended the call. Ugh, she sounded like an idiot.

  What happened to prim and polished Veron—no. She was gone. Lily Novak sounded like a normal human being. Just your typical girl next door who had a crush on the town hunk.

  When the spa was locked up, she climbed the stairs to her apartment and paced the living room, holding her cell phone tightly in hand. Her belly growled, but she didn’t want to eat if Ty wanted to have dinner together.

  An hour later, her stomach started eating itself. Squirting a pile of ranch dressing in a bowl, she scooped it up with a baby carrot and munched. And munched. And waited.

  The carrots were gone, and she made a strawberry banana smoothie. Usually, she preferred it in the morning, but she didn’t want to heat up a frozen dinner or boil water for noodles if she and Ty were going to have a dinner date.

  A bowl of ice cream later, Lily gave up and went to bed.

  At midnight her phone vibrated near her head, and Lily reached blindly for it.

  “I woke you.”

  Eyes still closed, Lily’s mouth stretched into a grin. “Nah. I’m out on the town. You know how wild and crazy Crystal Cove can be on a Friday night.”

  “I shouldn’t have called.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s late.”

  Lily rolled to her side and cuddled one of her many pillows into her chest. “Not as late as it was last weekend.”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t call and wake you up. We were already out.”

  And had still been clothed. It was one in the morning by the time their clothes came off. And she’d like to do it again. Soon. Real soon.

  “So why did you call tonight? Not that I mind.”

  “I feel bad we haven’t connected this week. I’ve had a project down in Rockland that’s been taking up more time than it should.”

  “Are you just getting home now?”

  “Sort of. I went to my parents for dinner and then met Cameron at the Happy Clam for a beer while he waited for Hope to finish working. She didn’t get out of there until almost ten-thirty.”

  “That’s a long day.”

  “Yeah. I was hoping I’d get to see you sometime this week, but I’ve been busy. Tomorrow night...” Ty’s voice changed from its usual laid-back baritone to something sad or concerned. “I hear there’s a girls’ night happening.”

  “Mia told you?”

  “All too happily. Made it crystal clear Cameron and I were not allowed to crash your party.”

  And he was upset about it. Instead of being sad about missing a date night opportunity with Ty, she giggled. Ty was jealous. Of her girlfriends.

  Again, all new experiences for her.

  “And a wild party it’s going to be,” she teased. “Dancing, drinking, all sorts of shenanigans.”

  “I can believe all of that from Mia and probably Grace. You and Hope, however...and Alexis, not likely.”

  “What are you trying to say about us?” Lily bit her lip and contained her giggles. “What category have you placed Jenna?”

  “Jenna? I’m not sure. Definitely nothing like Mia, yet I see an edge to her.”

  “So you’re categorizing me with the married hens?” She knew Ty would hear the silliness in her voice. Hope and Alexis were lucky to have such wonderful husbands.

  “Well, I. I didn’t mean...”

  The phone slipped from her grasp when she realized the implications of his words. Ty thought of her as his. Not in a domineering way, but taken. He wasn’t a man to sleep around. He was the kind of guy—based on the expiration date of his condom—who took sex seriously.

  They may not have said the words or made any type of commitment, but Ty was the committed type. And Lily was as well.

  “I’m not outgoing like your sister, as you know. And I’m not a shy mouse either, as you’ve learned. I’m planning to have fun tomorrow night with my girlfriends and coming home not drunk, but a little frisky.” Lily heard a lot of cursing on the other end of the phone. “Oh, and by the way, I have a spare key hidden under the fourth brick from the backdoor. Night, Ty.”

  HOLY HELL. HE’D TOSSED and turned all night and was a bear at work all day. As soon as he took care of Meatball he’d pick up takeout and head over to Cameron’s.

  Ty hadn’t planned on working on Saturday, but with Lily busy at the spa and then going out with her friends, he needed to stay active.

  Mia’s little bomb she dropped at the family dinner was intentional. She wanted a reaction and if he hadn’t been at his mom’s dinner table, he might have risen to her bait.

  “Sounds like fun, Mia. Maybe I’ll hang out with Cameron and Delaney.”

  “I hope you didn’t have to cancel any plans with Lily.”

  “Lily? Nope. Haven’t talked to
her in a while.” Which he hadn’t. The Wainwright job had turned into a bitch of a project. Angelina Wainwright changed her mind and direction for her home reno more often than a fruit fly reproduces. He supposed that was what a woman—or man—with billions of dollars at their disposal could do.

  Ty and his crew had to tear down and rebuild tresses for the new dormers three times. Mrs. Wainwright was addicted to home improvement shows, and every week seemed to have a new idea for her addition. She didn’t realize—or didn’t care—that changing the size and shape of the windows affected the studs and now the tresses as well.

  The Wainwrights weren’t in any hurry, but Ty had three more jobs lined up and once he went over on one, the rest were backed up to hell. He couldn’t afford to have any of them cancel their contract with him.

  “You’re not seeing Lily tomorrow night?” Mia hedged.

  “Like you said, you girls have plans. So do I. Lily and I are just friends.” Although he hadn’t had sex with any of his lady friends since... Kristi. Fact was, Ty didn’t have lady friends other than Hope, and she was more like a sister.

  He peered across the table at Mia who was nothing like Hope. He loved them both in very different ways. And none of them were anything similar to how he felt about Lily.

  It wasn’t love. It would take Ty years and years of knowing and dating a woman before he’d trust one enough again to fall in love with. In the meantime, what he and Lily had together was fun.

  Enlightening. She made him smile and laugh again.

  After dinner with his parents—and an annoyingly amount of knowing smirks and comments from his mother and father—he’d met Cameron at The Happy Clam for a beer while Hope closed up.

  They didn’t talk about anything substantial. Too many bent ears. The local gossip had fun with Cameron when he’d come to town last year and were ready to move on to the next juicy tidbit.

  When Ty got home he’d wrestled with sleep and finally caved, calling Lily in the middle of the night. It was a dumbass thing to do, but he hadn’t heard her voice since Sunday night when he’d kissed her goodbye.

  Part of him regretted holding back, of not stripping her naked and making love to her after their meal. He could read it in her eyes, and she’d wanted him as much as he wanted her. But he wanted to prove to her, or to himself, he wasn’t sure, that what was going on between them was more than just sex.

  And at the same time he wanted it to be just sex between them. He wasn’t looking for a relationship. But this was Lily. His sister’s friend. Hope’s friend. A member of their community. Ty couldn’t take her to bed as if she hadn’t been more than a one-night stand.

  If he was honest with himself, he’d admit to pining away for her for months. Maybe longer. He’d been so caught up in his misery and then taking care of Hope that he hadn’t left much time or energy into noticing the world around him.

  Now that he could see, he didn’t know how he’d stayed away from Lily for so long. Her teasing and giggle chipped at the stone wall he’d built around his heart, and he couldn’t help but smile when he was around her.

  Saturday night would suck not being with her, but he’d hang out with Cameron. Work on building his own network of guy friends the way Lily so easily grew her circle of friends. Having a big circle wasn’t important to Ty; he’d gone more than a decade living by himself with Hope as his only real friend and Mia as his constant pestering sister.

  They loved each other, but they didn’t confide in each other. The fact that Mia could read him so easily freaked him out a little. Unless Lily had talked to her about them. No, he didn’t think she would. She’d said she was a private person.

  Unless that was a lie.

  There’d always be a piece of his heart and mind that doubted, that didn’t trust. It wasn’t Lily’s fault. It was his. Still, that nagging piece would always come in between him and a woman, which was why he didn’t pursue anything more than infrequent hook-ups.

  Only Lily Novak threw a wrench into the mix. She was too damn likable. Too easy to trust. Ty would need to keep his distance or he’d lose his heart to her.

  If he hadn’t already.

  Serious meant emotions, and emotions were dangerous. They’d make him vulnerable. He needed to stay steady. Which meant everything he felt for her needed to be tamped down a thousand notches.

  Once Meatball was fed and curled on his dog bed, Ty picked up Chinese and drove out to Cameron’s.

  “’Bout time. I’m starving.” Cam took the paper bag from Ty the second he opened the door and headed into the kitchen.

  “Nice to see you too. Thanks for picking up dinner, Ty. That was nice of you,” Ty muttered behind Cam’s retreating back.

  “Hey, don’t bark at me. I got stood up tonight as well. It’s pretty sad when the highlight of my night is Kung Pao chicken.”

  “Ouch.” Ty covered his heart with his hands. “Enough with the insults. You and Hope have a fight or something?”

  “Just the opposite.” Cam opened the carton of pork fried rice and dumped half of it on his plate. “Delaney’s at a friend’s house, and Hope has the night off. I had all sorts of plans for us. And then she ditched me for the girls.”

  Ty took the carton from him and dumped the rest on his plate. He’d make a crack about Cam not getting laid, but Hope was like a sister to him. He couldn’t go there.

  “I guess you’re in the same place I am, huh?” Cam asked around a mouthful of chicken and noodles.

  “Nowhere near close. I don’t have a wife or a kid.” Even though Delaney was technically Cam’s niece, he doted on her as if she was his daughter.

  “So you and Lily.” Cam drank from his water glass and eyed Ty speculatively.

  “I bring you dinner and you can’t even offer me a glass of water? No wonder Hope was in a hurry to run off without you.”

  He slid off the barstool and helped himself to a glass, filling it up from the sink and drinking it down in one gulp. He filled it again before sitting back down.

  “Back to you and Lily.”

  “There isn’t a me and Lily.”

  “You sure about that?”

  No. “Yeah.”

  “Huh. That’s not what Hope said.”

  Ty shoveled a forkful of rice in his mouth and chewed, not taking Cam’s bait.

  They made quick work of their dinner and rinsed their plates before putting them in the dishwasher.

  “I’d offer you a beer... maybe a glass of wine?”

  “I’m good.”

  Cam didn’t hide his past issues with drugs and alcohol. After nearly ten years in jail, he’d been clean and sober before coming to Crystal Cove to win Hope back. When he’d first come to town Ty was protective of Hope, but it didn’t take long to see she had a thing for Cam. And he proved himself early on as a decent guy.

  The kind of guy Ty could see himself hanging around with. Laid back, far from perfect, and easy to get along with. They spent quite a few nights hanging out at Hope’s bar while she closed up. Ty would nurse a beer while Cam would nurse an iced tea.

  It was never awkward. The unease in the air tonight had nothing to do with alcohol and everything to do with a woman.

  “I’ve got some brush in the fire pit. Want to sit out back for a bit?”

  “Sure.”

  When they were situated in their Adirondack chairs and the fire blazing, Cam brought her up again.

  “Lily seems to have come out of her shell lately.”

  “You’ve known her less than a year, man.”

  “And you’ve been pining away for her for more than that.”

  “I don’t pine.”

  “Lust?” Ty glared at Cam across the fire who chuckled in response. “Hope said—”

  “I never knew Hope to be such a town gossip.”

  “You’re headliner news these days.”

  “Nothing I do is newsworthy.” And wasn’t that the truth of it. Kristi had something along the same lines years ago.

  Cam must have s
ensed the change in Ty’s voice and leaned forward. “Listen. I know we’re relatively new to this guy friendship thing.”

  “Guy friendship thing?”

  “Friends. I don’t have many and from what Hope says—” Cam held up his hand as if to ward off Ty’s comeback. “It seems you don’t have many either.”

  “I’m not into the social scene.”

  “Me either.”

  Ty snorted. “Could’ve fooled me. You’ve got that Mr. Personality thing going. It’s what charmed Hope and Delaney.”

  “Thank you? Unless that was a stab. If so, I totally missed it. Anyway, you were gone for some time fighting overseas while life continued in Crystal Cove. That had to be hard. Then to learn of Hope’s pregnancy. She said she relied on you a lot, even with you thousands of miles away.”

  And wasn’t that the crux of it all. For some reason their friendship never faltered, even after a failed attempt at romance, and with him gone eleven months out of the year in another country. When she came home from college pregnant and her boyfriend dead, Ty had been the only one she’d completely confided in.

  Her trust in him kept him going during those long desert nights in the blazing heat and bitter cold. Keeping Hope’s spirits up gave him more purpose than fighting a war he didn’t fully understand.

  She told him everything, and he told her nothing. He hadn’t told anyone about Kristi. Only a few of his squadron knew about her. They’d kept their relationship private, unsure what the repercussions would be.

  When his service was up and he returned home, he spent some time in therapy. Ty hadn’t agreed with the PTSD diagnosis his therapist slapped on him, granted, the guy didn’t know about Kristi and her betrayal. Ty answered questions about the war, what he saw, how he felt about it, but didn’t mention what it was that really had him torn up inside.

  It wasn’t Kristi that he mourned over for three years. It was the betrayal. The feeling of worthlessness. Ty had joined the service to figure out what he wanted in life, and he returned more confused than ever. After being home for a few years and hating his emotional lethargy, and after some prodding from Hope, he finally visited his doctor and opened up. A little.