A Pretty Good Chance (a short romance) by Crane Lisa

Author:Crane, Lisa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

A short time later, Lily watched as Trace buckled Tori, clean and clothed in her blue dress, into the car seat. It took him much longer than it had taken her, but she waited, knowing, if he was going to be a part of Tori’s life, he needed to learn some things for himself. Even as that thought registered, she wondered just how big a part of Tori’s life Trace might want to be.

She remembered the pain—unexpected and brutally crushing—upon learning he was going to be married to Stacy Lindstrom. After four years, and everything she’d been through—alone—how could her foolish heart still long for Trace Bennington? And yet, as she buckled herself into the passenger seat, Lily knew it did. She knew she’d never really stopped loving Trace. How would she survive being friends with him for Tori’s sake?

* * *

As he drove, Trace was aware of Lily’s growing tension. Her hands were clenched in her lap, her full lips pressed together, and her eyes locked unseeing on the road ahead of them. He touched her hand lightly, and she flinched.

“Hey.” He kept his voice low, calm. “I didn’t mean to startle you. You okay?”

“A little nervous.” She glanced over her shoulder at Tori, who was singing softly to herself in the back seat. “What is your mother going to think about all of this?”

“Meaning being the fact that her husband has kept a huge secret from all of us all these years?” Trace glanced over and Lily gave a jerky nod. “I really don’t know. But the one thing I’m certain of is this: she’s going to love Tori.” He reached for Lily’s hand again, this time giving it a gentle squeeze before releasing it. “You’ve done a wonderful job with our daughter.”

“Thank you, Trace. That means a lot to me.”

“I’m only sorry you’ve had to do it alone.”

* * *

It seemed to Lily that time stood still for just a moment. She realized it hadn’t, however, when—all too soon—Trace was turning into a long driveway.

It reminded Lily of the differences in their lives. Those vast differences were what had so bothered Clark Bennington. The idea of his son with a ‘nobody’ like Lily Harmon was, quite simply, intolerable to the man. Benningtons married within their own circle. They certainly didn’t look for mates among the servers in a restaurant.

In the large circular drive in front of the wide steps, Trace opened Lily’s door. He then opened the back door and unbuckled Tori, who went into his arms without hesitation. With the impulsiveness of a three-year old, she placed a little hand on either side of his face and kissed him right on the mouth.

After his initial shock, Trace grinned broadly at Lily. “Did you see that?”

Lily nodded, returning his smile. Together, they walked up the steps to the front door.

Lily’s smile faded slightly. “Trace, how … you’re not going to just spring this on your mother, are you?”

“No.” He handed Tori to her mother and opened a door to a small parlor off the entryway.

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