Once in a Lifetime(85)

“Lucille,” Aubrey said. “You know how much people loved Hannah. You know I can’t compete with that. Not after what I did.”

“What you did,” Lucille said, “was human. All of us have stuff we’re ashamed of. Every single one of us. And if people don’t remember that, well, shame on them.”

Carla looked at Aubrey. “What happened?”

“She was human,” Lucille repeated, and patted Carla’s hand. “And nice to see you here, honey.”

Aubrey shook her head at Carla’s questioning gaze. “Later,” she said.

Or never…

“What is all that?” Ali asked Lucille, gesturing to the things she’d brought.

“I made flyers to help bring people in for the party.” Lucille held them up. It was a cartoon of a blond Wonder Woman. Her hair was drawn to resemble Aubrey’s own smooth mane and was held back by a gold crown with a star in the middle. She was standing among stacks and stacks of books, hands on hips, looking pretty kick-ass. In the background were brownies, a teakettle, a laptop, and a tool belt.

“A tool belt?” Aubrey asked.

Lucille smiled. “I see Ben in here pretty regularly, so I wanted to make sure people knew that this is a hot-guy magnet. Nothing says ‘hot guy’ like a tool belt, you know.” She pulled three automatic staplers from her huge purse and handed them out. “Okay, girls, time to get busy.”

“Me, too?” Carla asked, holding a stapler, staring down at it.

Aubrey shook her head. “No, you don’t have to—”

“Sisters,” she said to Aubrey. Lucille handed Carla a stack of flyers, and Carla took them.

Aubrey smiled past the lump in her throat. “Thanks.”

Lucille had grabbed a cupcake in each hand and was sinking into a couch. “Hustle, ladies,” she said around a full mouth. She licked chocolate off her lips. “Go on, now.” She waved a cupcake. “No time to waste. I’d planned to put up a notice on Facebook, but as it turns out, I’m grounded from my account.”

“How do you get grounded from your own Facebook page?” Carla asked.

Lucille shrugged unrepentantly. “One too many pictures of hot guys not wearing enough clothes. But I started an Instagram account, so it’s all good.”





Ben sat at his desk. Because it was a Saturday, employees who happened to be in the building kept to themselves, making it quiet. Usually his favorite state.



I’m used to quiet, he’d told Aubrey, and he’d meant that. But today it haunted him. Because he also liked Aubrey just the way she was: fiery, passionate, tough. It was bothering him that he’d let her think he didn’t like those things about her.

There was a lot bothering him. He was a first-class *, as Jack had made clear. Jack was a lot of things, but as much as Ben hated to admit it, one of the things Jack almost always was was right.

Yes, Aubrey had taken away two years of time that Ben might have had with Hannah. Might. Because the truth was, he’d made the most of those two years. He’d enjoyed the hell out of himself, and an even bigger truth was that he wouldn’t want to take that time back. He’d been too young for a serious relationship with Hannah back then, and only in hindsight could he see that. If they’d stayed together, he’d have blown it anyway.

All on his own.

And then there was Hannah herself. Ben had loved her—he’d loved her with everything he had, and she’d loved him. But she’d never have come to his house in the middle of the night and thrown rocks at his window to demand his attention. She’d never have yelled at him or made a scene. And she sure as hell wouldn’t have fought for him. She hadn’t fought for him, when it had come right down to it.

Instead she’d let him go without so much as the truth. Or any words at all. She’d tossed him away.

As he’d done to Aubrey.

He dropped his head and thunked it on his desk a few times.

“Careful, you’ll shake something loose.”

Ben lifted his head and found Lucille standing there watching him. “What are you doing here?”

She showed him a flyer for Aubrey’s grand opening, and he had to smile at the image of Aubrey as Wonder Woman.

It fit.

“I’m making sure people remember to go to her grand-opening party,” Lucille said.

Ben nodded. “You’re a good person, Lucille.”

“I am,” she said. “And I thought you were.”

“What does that mean?”

She just looked at him with her rheumy, knowing eyes.

“You’re going to have to give me a hint,” he said.

“How about a couple of hints?” Lucille said. “Such as since when do you judge someone for making a mistake? You’ve made plenty yourself, Benjamin McDaniel. Remember when you and Jack and Luke broke into the Ferris wheel’s machine room and set it running in the middle of the night? Or how about when your aunt had the entire search and rescue team looking for you when you’d gone night surfing? Everyone thought you’d drowned, but there you were on the harbor, right on the beach, sleeping through your own rescue.”

He winced. “I was young and stupid.”

She gave him a baleful stare.

“I’m not going to discuss Aubrey with you,” he said flatly.