[Invitation to Eden 15.0] Return to Sender by Steena Holmes Read Free Book Online Page B

because it still whispered to her in the middle of the night, even now, after six years of believing she wasn’t enough for him.
    She smiled and raised her hand to gently stroke his cheek. It was really him.
    “I’ve missed you,” Lauren whispered. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and then struggled to get up.
    With her hands firmly enclosed in Marc’s, he helped her up off the ground and they both stood there, their hands clasped, small smiles on their faces as they stared at each other.
    “I take everything back that I thought about this island. I love it,” Lauren said.
    Marc’s eyes lit up and he pulled her close. “I can’t believe you’re here. Really here.” His gaze traveled over her face and she loved the way he appeared to be memorizing everything about her.
    It had been six years. She wasn’t as young, or as skinny as she had been back then. There were a few wrinkles at the corner of her eyes and her skin didn’t glow like it used to. Did he notice?
    “I...” they both said at the same time, stopped and then said it again before they laughed.
    “You go,” Lauren said.
    Marc shook his head. “No, you.”
    They were at a stalemate and Lauren loved it. Happiness flooded her soul and she couldn’t believe he was here, in the flesh. That it was his skin touching hers, his presence that filled her up...him.
    Her hungry stomach beat them both as it growled loud enough to fill the room. Lauren winced before she looked behind Marc at the table and noticed the basket of bread there.
    “Are you here to have dinner with me?” What a silly question, and yet...she was afraid to take anything for granted right now. It felt like a dream come true, having him here. But not all dreams ended with a happy ending.
    “I thought that would be a nice way to end your day, if that’s okay?”
    She felt a bit tongue-tied. What was she to say? Ask him how he’d been? Why he’d been silent for six years? Why he stood her up and never contacted her? Why he was here, now?
    “I’d love that,” was all she said.
    Marc pulled out a chair for her and she caught the brief scent of his aftershave. Still smelled the same. When he sat beside her, there was a brief lull between them that carried a sense of awkwardness.
    She watched him, as he buttered his bread, poured their wine and did anything else at the table that would normally be considered mundane. She memorized the way he moved, the way he held his knife, cocked his head and even smiled at her. Everything she would need to get her through the next six years.
    As much as this seemed like a dream come true, even she knew princesses woke up from their slumber. If they’d ended right there and then, with things being on the surface between them, she could have gone back to her room in a state of bliss, excited about what tomorrow would bring.
    But then Marc had to ruin it.
    “I couldn’t believe it when Lexi showed me a photo of the two of you on the beach.”
    Lauren almost sputtered the wine she’d just sipped and ended up coughing instead.
    “You know Lexi?” she managed to squeak out after her extreme coughing fit.
    She asked the question again, despite his nod. It wasn’t possible. How could he know her best friend? How?
    “I’ve known her for a few years now. Since she started to date Paul.”
    Her heart sunk. He knew both her best friends. How, in God’s green earth, could they have gone six years and never once mentioned Marc to her?
    “They never mentioned me before?”
    He shook his head and then shrugged. His posture was suddenly rigid and he pulled away from her a bit.
    It was only a slight tilt, but it spoke volumes.
    “I don’t understand. They’re my best friends.” Marc heard the solid emphasis on my. “Lauren and I went to school together, and I met Paul during my trip to Europe, after...”
    Marc nodded. “After you left me in Paris. I know. He told me all about it.”
    “Paul told you...when? When did he tell you all about