Page 62 of Her Brother's Billionaire Best Friend

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The cabin crew had prepared the boat for us, and as we cast off and began to drift towards the center of the lake, the evening light was gorgeous. Long tongues of orange cast on the lake, and gradually, the fireworks began to go off. We watched for a while, cheering as the fireworks cracked and colorful lights fell over the fairground, and I poured Laura a glass of champagne I had on ice.

“This has been a nice way to spend an evening.”

“Better than your dinner?”

“Quite a lot better,” I said. “For one, you are here.”

“What a charmer,” said Laura, as she chinked glasses with me. I savored the taste of the champagne as it warmed my throat.

“Well, I aim to please.”

“You sure do. You’re being suspiciously nice.”

“Suspiciously?”

“Yeah. You practically had kid gloves on when you were talking to David. Despite how rude he was.”

“It’s not his fault,” I said. “It’s small-town life. It does things to you. Makes you think that anyone new or different is…wrong, somehow.”

“You say that like you’ve lived here—” Laura said, but I pointed.

Slowly, they were being lit.

The sky lanterns.

“Oh wow,” said Laura. “Oh, wow!” She clapped her hands and watched as the lanterns, spheres of paper buoyed by candles, started rising into the air. In a minute, they were covering the sky.

“Lucien,” said Laura, and her voice sounded thick with emotion. “The lanterns. I thought they didn’t do them anymore!”

“I know,” said Lucien. “I heard about the idea and it sounded nice, so I thought I’d—”

Laura had turned to me. She was looking closely at my face.

“Come here,” she said.

All at once, I was both terrified of her remembering who I was, and certain I wanted nothing but to be seen for my true identity. I reached out with my hands and clasped hers. The way I’d done so long ago, that night after she’d come home from college, when we stood on the shore and pledged ourselves to one another.

I leaned towards Laura and kissed her mouth, feeling the soft sweetness of her lips. So much had changed since that night, but not how good it felt to kiss her.

After the lanterns had floated away, we sat on the stern of the boat, watching the fair and the Ferris wheel recede into the distance.

“Where are you taking me?” said Laura playfully. “Not kidnapping me, are you?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I said. “I thought maybe you’d like to go for a walk on the other shore of the lake. You know, by the parkland?”

“Where you’re going to build that fancy hospital?”

I grinned. “Near there. Actually that bit is protected by federal law. It’s intended to be a nature reserve.”

“I know,” sighed Laura. “My parents were conservationists.”

“No kidding,” I said. Of course I knew that already. But Lucien didn’t.

And Lucien felt like a pretty good guy to be right now, sitting and sipping champagne with Laura Solomon.

We crossed the lake and the sun began to lower behind the sky, the world was bathed in a beautiful blue twilight. And a curious thought crossed my mind. Maybe I should just tell her who I was. It would solve everything.