A Trusting Heart (2 page)

“So where’s your husband? I’d like to meet the man who could take on the brain of the century.”

Brenna snorted, nodding over to the buffet table.

“They’re serving shrimp—where else would he be? He’s addicted to seafood in the very worst way. But I do love him. Oh, you know him! Don’t you remember Jack Harrison? No? Well, I remember he used to have the most enormous crush on you! It used to make me so mad since I always knew I was going to marry him someday and you didn’t even know he existed.”

Jack Harrison. Megan had absolutely no clue, so she just nodded her head and smiled.

Brenna’s mouth quirked up on one side. She had always been able to read Megan like a book. Everyone else had only seen what Megan had wanted them to see, but Brenna had always enjoyed looking deeper. She‘d been rewarded for it by discovering a very kind, genuine person.

“Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t you supposed to marry Dylan Carlisle? I think I even got a wedding invitation in the mail. I would have come, but I had just accepted a job as a nanny for the summer in New York. So what happened?”

Megan cleared her throat uncomfortably, glancing around the ballroom, wishing desperately for an interruption. Nothing.

“We didn’t get married.”

Brenna frowned at Megan and raised an eyebrow. “Yeah.”

Megan’s shoulders relaxed and she laughed. She really laughed.

“Oh, Brenna. Take me to lunch some time and I promise to spill my guts for you.”

“I’m already planning on it. You’ll have to settle for McDonald’s though.”

Brenna grabbed her planner out of her purse and wrote down Megan’s phone number and address. They only lived twenty miles away from each other.

As Brenna made her way back to her husband, Megan smiled and turned away to continue her escape. Dress and Dylan aside, running into Brenna had made tonight worth it.

Megan scanned the crowd for any more potential delays or obstacles and then, once again, headed for the exit. She didn’t feel the overwhelming urge to start screaming and running at the same time, but she still felt very uncomfortable. She should have assumed Dylan would be here. At the very least, she should have come up with a date. Not that she was having the best of luck in that area lately. It had been three and a half months since her last date and there wasn’t any sign of that pattern changing anytime soon.

An unexpected hand on her arm made her jump, as tense as she was. Embarrassed, she nevertheless forced herself to relax and smile as she turned toward the next classmate to seek her attention. Immediately, she felt her cheeks burn. Dylan again. She wasn’t even surprised.

“Ah, Megan! Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to scare you. Feeling a little nervous tonight perhaps? Afraid no one will recognize you? You remember all of our old crowd, don’t you? Let’s see if they remember you.”

Dylan laughed as he pulled her toward a group of people standing nearby. This was almost more than she could stand. It had been over for years now. He was married. She wondered if he was still active in the church. Or had her rejection of him at the last moment caused him to fall away entirely from his beliefs? Their beliefs.

“Hi, Mark. Hi, Kurt. Connor, Dan, Nick.” She did her best to smile at the men and their wives.

Mark, who had always been kind to her in school, reached out his hand and shook hers politely.

“Hi, Megan. It’s good to see you again. This is my wife, Cleo.”

Megan felt her hands begin to shake and knew she was very close to crying. She had to leave quickly, but with Dylan’s hand still on her arm, she was imprisoned. Thinking quickly, she stomped on Dylan’s foot as hard as her high heels would allow and smiled in relief as he let go of her arm quickly.

“It was nice to see all of you guys again,” she said. “Enjoy the rest of the evening.”

She turned blindly and headed in the opposite direction of Dylan. She had to get away from him. But she wasn’t quick enough to out-distance his voice.

“Hey, Megan, where’s your date tonight? Or did you stand him up, too?”

Megan stopped in her tracks, stunned by Dylan’s rudeness.

She turned to stare at Dylan, her mouth gaping open. How could anyone be so cruel? The crowd of ex-cronies dispersed quite suddenly from around Dylan, leaving him gloating. It was clear he was enjoying himself. He evidently wanted to humiliate Megan in front of an audience, and he was doing a fine job of it. Taffie gave her an apologetic glance before grabbing her husband’s arm and pulling him away. Megan stood by herself, stunned by the verbal attack. She couldn’t move. If she did, she felt like she would break into a thousand pieces.

“Excuse me,” said an unfamiliar, though not unpleasant voice.

Megan closed her mouth slowly, wondering who in the world would want to talk to her after witnessing such a scene. She looked around.

“Yes?”

He was a little over six foot with broad shoulders. Lean, but not wimpy. His hair was either dark brown or black, and his eyes were dark, too. He looked furious, as if he wanted to hit someone. Megan thought he seemed hard, as if life was aging him faster than it should. But then he smiled at her, cracking the severeness of his face and putting her at ease. He was actually very striking, once you got past the scary part.

“I was wondering if you would like something to drink? You look like you could use one about now.”

Megan took the glass he held out to her gratefully. She downed the liquid quickly and looked up to see the stranger’s sympathetic gaze still on her.

“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help overhearing what just happened. I’m a little confused. Did I hear Dylan Carlisle say you were Megan Garrett?”

Megan looked at the stranger more carefully. Did she know this man? She must if he was here for the reunion.

“Among other things.”

The man’s kind eyes looked her over more carefully, shaking his head in confusion. She felt like a scientific experiment gone wrong.

“Thanks for the drink. Goodbye.”

Megan shoved the glass back into the man’s hands and attempted to walk away. But he reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her back to face him. He quickly placed the glass on the floor beside him and put two fingers in his mouth, whistling as loudly as a train, successfully getting everyone’s attention in the room. Megan wasn’t sure what was going on, but life was starting to get too weird. She instantly took back all her kind thoughts about the man. He was definitely a convict.

Suddenly, he moved in closer and took her face in his hands, leaning down as if he was intent on getting something out of her eye. His smooth, firm lips came as a complete surprise to her. She pushed at his shoulders with all the strength she had, but he was a brick wall. The man didn’t seem in a big hurry to end the kiss either. Not that it was a bad kiss, but something had to be done. Megan brought her knee up as swiftly and as accurately as she could, but was blocked by his quick move to the side. He had been anticipating her. She had missed her target, but had successfully ended the kiss.

“If you ever touch me again, so help me, I’ll . . .” Megan panted as she tried to catch her breath and finish her threat. The man grinned crookedly down at her and then cleared his throat theatrically.

“She may have a reputation for standing men up, but with a kiss like that, I’d say she’s worth the risk!” His voice carried quite well in the large room.

Hearing the laughter and cat calls that surrounded her, Megan took a deep calming breath and then slapped him as hard as she could. Then she turned on her heels and practically ran for the exit. What did she need her dignity for now? She was getting out of here if she had to fight her way out. She was mere seconds from freedom when she heard the announcement.

“Attention ladies and gentlemen. We’re going to go ahead and begin. Don’t worry, the buffet will be open all night. We’re going to hand out a few awards now, but the kicker is, at the end of the awards ceremony, we’re going to auction off the winners! If you ever wanted to dance with the prom queen or king, here’s your chance. All the proceeds will go to help buy new textbooks for Jefferson High School.”

Megan paused in her flight at the door. All she had to do was walk through it, and she was free. But an invisible chain had wrapped itself around her ankles. She reminded herself that she hadn’t mingled with everyone as she had originally planned to. And she was still curious as to how everyone had changed. Who had become successful, who had gained twenty pounds. It couldn’t hurt to just stand in the doorway and watch. She was safe now. No one would notice her here. Dylan and the insane stranger weren’t even in sight. Maybe she could stick around for a few more minutes.

“We’ve had our spies out and about tonight, getting all the goods on everybody, so don’t be surprised if we call out your name. Along with your award tonight, you’ll receive a gift certificate for two for dinner at The Roof! And for those people who proved us right, they get a free carriage ride around Temple Square. So let’s get started; we want to have plenty of time for dancing later. All right then, does everyone remember who was voted most likely to get plastic surgery?”

Megan giggled along with everyone else but felt bad for Taffie when her high school picture was plastered on a tall screen in front of everybody.

“According to our sources, Taffie did have a little augmentation work done, but you’ll have to ask her where. Come on up, Gorgeous, and get in line for the auction!”

Megan felt her own cheeks turn red on Taffie’s behalf, but was surprised when Taffie strutted up to the stage grinning and winking at everyone. She was loving the attention. It reminded Megan of when they were cheerleaders. Back then Megan herself wouldn’t have been fazed by the attention. Now, strutting anywhere, least of all on stage, was the last thing she wanted to do.

“Next, who remembers the most likely to end up in jail? No one? Troy Stafford!”

Troy’s picture was plastered on the wall. Even though he did look a little rough in his high school picture, she remembered Troy as being one of the few sincerely kind people in high school. Megan searched the crowd looking for Troy.

“Ah, hah! There you are, Troy!”

The spotlight hit Troy right in the face as he was trying to look invisible.
Poor guy,
Megan sympathized.

“Our sources tell us that we were dead wrong on that one. Troy not only did not end up in jail, he has never even had a speeding ticket. He teaches special education classes at Addison Junior High. He’s been married for six years and has three children. Let’s all give Troy a hand for proving us wrong.”

Troy had turned practically purple in mortification. Megan wondered if they were going to be tasteless and actually announce the classmate who had ended up in jail.

Indeed they were.

“Jared Runion,” the announcer called out. “You win the prize for jail time. We won’t say what for—we’ll let everyone keep guessing. But it’s your lucky night, buddy, because you just won yourself and a date dinner at The Roof! I’d take my parole officer if I were you.”

Jared sauntered uncaringly up to the stage, seemingly untouched by the public knowledge of his downfall. Amazing. Megan hadn’t known Jared all that well in school. All she could remember about him was that he had always been extremely worried about grades and deadlines. It most likely had something to do with taxes.

“This next one is good. The most likely to succeed. Who can forget Dylan Carlisle? Running back for the football team and class president. Hmm. According to our sources, Dylan has done very well for himself working in his father’s advertising firm; however, we feel the most successful member of our class would have to be Trevor Riley. Trevor was president of his seminary class and a member of the karate club. Why don’t you head on down to the stage while I make everyone jealous of you, Trevor.”

Megan watched Dylan’s spot-lighted face as it became a mask of diffidence. She knew he was furious behind his bland smile.

“Trevor started his own company eight years ago, after his mission to Guatemala. He is now worth—now, I’m not making this up, guys—eleven million dollars. We got that little tidbit of information from Forbes magazine, by the way. So I hope all you single women will start counting your money for the auction, because as of now, he’s still unattached, too.”

Megan tore her gaze away from Dylan and glanced up on stage to see the man who had defended her so audaciously just minutes before. Who was he? Megan racked her brain for any memory at all of this guy and still came up blank. Had she been that oblivious to the people around her in high school? He was very interesting to look at; she was sure she wouldn’t have forgotten a face like his. She turned her eyes towards his yearbook picture emblazoned on the wall. Quickly, all of the forgotten memories resurfaced. Trevor. Of course. The seminary president. But he had been off limits. She could still remember the crush she’d had on him so long ago. They had both been so different back then.

He had been in a completely different social circle than hers. He had been attractive back then, but there was a different quality about him now. She didn’t remember him being so tall either. She recalled how she used to catch him staring at her in the hallways and cafeteria. She couldn’t help returning the favor now.

Megan let the announcer’s voice drone on and on as she stood there like a mannequin and stared at Trevor. He looked very uncomfortable by all of the attention. Why hadn’t he ever gotten married? What was his story? If he was as rich as they said, she wouldn’t mind selling him a house, that was for sure. She’d take a commission from anyone these days. Even someone like him.

When she heard the category for the most popular girl and boy, she knew that was her cue to leave. She had been voted most popular her senior year; she still had the CD player her father had given her as a reward. She hadn’t meant to stay so long, but now it was too late. As the spotlight blinded her, she closed her eyes and tried not to listen to the announcer’s words.

And to think she could have been halfway home by now.

“According to our sources, Megan isn’t the party girl she used to be. She sells real estate for Western Realty, she’s still single, but she does have a dog, ladies and gentlemen, so don’t feel too bad for her. At least it’s not a cat.