Holiday In the Hamptons (From Manhattan with Love 5)

As the door closed behind him, she turned her attention back to the books, stacking them carefully in boxes and labeling them.

Her heart felt lighter than it had in a while.

She was in love. And this time she wasn’t afraid to tell him.

In fact she couldn’t wait to tell him.

She straightened, rubbed her aching back and walked down to the kitchen for a glass of water.

She drank a glass straight down without pausing and still had the empty glass in her hand when the phone rang.

It was the landline.

She frowned. Should she answer it?

Yes. It might be important. It might be someone trying to get hold of Seth.

She picked it up and heard a woman say, “Hello?”

She recognized the voice instantly, and part of her was tempted to hang up. Another part of her knew this was an encounter she had to handle at some point.

“Hi, Vanessa,” she croaked. “It’s Fliss.”

There was a pause. “Fliss. It’s been a while.”

“I’m helping Seth pack up some of the things in the house. He’s not here. He’s performing surgery on a dog that was kicked by a deer.”

“Oh—well, I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a while.”

Fliss sat down hard on the nearest kitchen chair. “You have?”

This was going to be bad.

Really bad.

“I owe you an apology.”

“Excuse me?” Fliss assumed she’d misheard. “I didn’t catch that.”

“Apology. Last time—that phone call I made. All

of it.” Vanessa’s voice sounded strange, slightly thickened. “I wasn’t—friendly.”

That, Fliss thought, was an understatement. “You didn’t like me.”

“That’s not true. Seth is my brother. It’s true that sometimes we fight and annoy the hell out of each other, but I care about him. I love him. And after you walked away from him last time—”

Fliss’s mouth was so dry she could hardly form the word. “What?”

“I was worried about him, that’s all. It took him a long time to get over you, Fliss. He was not in a good way. You hurt him.”

Fliss felt an ache behind her ribs. “I didn’t mean to.”

“I believe you, but he was hurt. I think the fact that he couldn’t talk it through with you drove him crazy. He didn’t know how to handle it, so he threw himself into work. You’re probably the reason he graduated top of his class. It was two years before he even went on another date.”

Fliss felt a stab of shock. “Two years?”

“Yes. And then he moved to California. As far away from everything and everyone he knew. He said it was a fresh start, but I think he just couldn’t bear to spend time in the places you’d been together.”