Free A Timeless Romance Anthology: Spring Vacation Collection by Annette Lyon, Sarah M. Eden, Heather B. Moore, Josi S. Kilpack, Heather Justesen, Aubrey Mace Page A

haste, she kept an eye on the door of the museum, wishing James would come out to stop her, to beg forgiveness, to offer the ring she’d waited for so, so long.
    She sat in her car, worrying her keys between her fingers and fighting tears, hoping to see James push through the glass door. But five minutes later—she watched each one tick past on the car’s clock—he still hadn’t come out. She turned the key, backed out, and drove away. Tears blurred her vision. She swiped at her eyes with the back of one hand.
    It wasn’t the ring she wanted after all, although that would have been nice. It was James. Dear, sweet James. But he was lost to her now.

Chapter Two
     
    Tess drove straight to her condo, where her sister Hope waited. Fitting, she thought . I could use some hope about now.
    She could feel tears streaking down her cheeks; her makeup had to be a total mess. She didn’t care. Nothing about her appearance mattered any more. James was leaving her. He didn’t care like she’d thought he did.
    The jerk!
    By the time she got home, Tess had burning fury in her chest as much as horrid sadness washing through her. The mixture of emotions was upsetting and tiring all at once. And energizing. And so, so confusing. Right then, she both hated and loved James. Although how such a thing was possible, she didn’t know. She opened the door and slammed it behind her.
    Hope looked up from a magazine she was reading. “What’s the matter?”
    “James dumped me.” Tess walked to the couch and collapsed on it.
    “He what ?” In a flash, Hope tossed the magazine to the couch scooted to Tess’s side.
    “Okay, I guess he didn’t technically dump me—he didn’t say the words. But what he did do was practically the same thing—and in front of his friends and family! You should have seen his mother’s face. So smug. She never did like me. She must be thrilled I’m out of her son’s life.” She told Hope about the evening, finishing with, “Now everyone there—at least a hundred people—know it’s over. I couldn’t stay in that room another minute.”
    “I don’t blame you.” Hope’s face was a mask of worry and confusion. “But I’m confused. Didn’t he say he was going to propose tonight?” 
    Tess shrugged. “I thought so. He never said it exactly, but he was hinting about something big, about something he had to say to me tonight.” She sighed. “So I assumed...”
    “You assumed the same thing any woman would have three years into a relationship, having been promised an engagement ‘after school.’”
    “Maybe I missed some red flags. Maybe I was just kidding myself.”
    Hope scooted closer, and Tess leaned her head on her big sister’s shoulder, like she used to when they were kids. “I should have known he wasn’t really committed after the lame Valentine’s gift.”
    “I don’t think I heard about that one,” Hope said.
    Tess played with her fingernails in her lap. “That’s because I didn’t tell you. He put together this huge romantic night—everything was perfect. At the end, we were sitting on a park bench by moonlight, when he pulled out a jewelry box. What was I supposed to think?”
    “That he was proposing,” Hope said.
    “Exactly! But it was a stupid necklace.” She took it off and chucked it across the room.
    Hope watched it smack the wall and scoffed in disgust. “The pig…”
    “He was only a couple of months from graduating. I figured that if we got engaged in February, we’d have plenty of time to plan a wedding before fall. I figured he’d be able to pass the bar and get a job by then.” She sighed, verbalizing her fantasies, the ones she’d let herself think about—just a little—regarding their future.
    They would have gotten married in June or July. As he studied for the bar, she’d be his wife, the support he never had at home during law school. He wouldn’t have to rely on Coke and Doritos to stay awake as he crammed for tests with Garrett. She