Lily knew this was the only bowling alley in Monterey but come on! What were the odds that Mark would be here at the exact same time that they were? Had he noticed they were here and simply felt too awkward to approach or was she still safe?The next time Luke was up Randi was full of questions again, being nosy as always. That shared characteristic was probably a large part of why she and Lily normally got along so well but right now having it aimed at her was less than pleasant.“So why do you think Mark likes her?”Angel shrugged. “I’m not the only one. Eddie thinks so too. But we were talking about her the other day and he had this fond smile on his face and said ‘she left quite an impression’ when they knew each other in high school.”Lily was astounded. That guy was capable of smiling fondly? All of the smiles she had seen from him were totally businesslike! More to the point, what exactly did she do in high school that made him remember her in such detail all these years later?
Mark hadn’t expected to see Lily at the bowling alley tonight but he was even more surprised to see Angelina. Hadn’t she been glued to Edward’s side lately? He supposed she needed to be around people period and he happened to be available most frequently but still.He didn’t know how much she had said about her situation to Lily’s friends so he gave minimal detail when one of them asked how he knew the twins. He noticed that Luke referred to her as Angel so she must have introduced herself that way to be more inconspicuous.She certainly didn’t look like Miss California right now—she looked like a slightly less casual version of Lily since she was in a blouse and her twin was in a t-shirt—but someone might recognize her name if they were familiar with pageants at all. She had always been on the cautious side when it came to her identity considering Mark knew her for years and hadn’t been aware of it until recently.“I work with Angel’s fiancé but I also knew Lily in high school,” he e
Lily looked at Mark wide-eyed, unable to hold back her excitement. “No way! Can you do a heelflip 720?”He couldn’t help but laugh at her enthusiasm. “Yeah. I could show you sometime if you want.”He immediately wished he could take that back. She wouldn’t want to spend time with him that she didn’t absolutely have to. She obviously hadn’t even wanted him to come over when her friend offered for him to play a game with them.To his surprise her enthusiasm didn’t lessen in the slightest. “Really? No one has ever been able to show me that move! Can you teach it to me? Can you?”“I can try.”Mark was in a state of absolute disbelief by this point but he wasn’t about to say no. This might be the one chance he had of getting her bad impression of him to change. He would rest a lot easier knowing Lily Bennett didn’t hate him and he wasn’t entirely sure why.“Awesome, thanks!” she replied with a bright smile.He was inexplicably affected by it because she had never once smiled at him like th
Angelina would have to get over her awkwardness about that incident eventually. They did still live in the same house and she wasn’t able to sleep properly without Eddie because of her nightmares.Wouldn’t it be better to try and do things normal couples did? That might help her get over her hang-ups about the whole thing sooner. Maybe she should ask him about getting her a ring since she had been thinking about it anyway.When she arrived back at the house he was sitting in the living room reading a book. He looked up when he saw her with a tiny smile on his face. “Did you have fun?”“Yeah. Thanks for putting Aria to bed for me,” Angelina said trying to maintain her composure as much as possible. The very sight of him was bringing back humiliating memories of the night before.“No problem. What did you guys end up doing? All you said was that you were going to hang out with Lily’s friends.”“We went bowling and get this—Mark was there two lanes over from us! He ended up joining us fo
Angelina stood there awkwardly rubbing her arm in a self-soothing gesture. Eddie said they could get her a ring but didn’t seem particularly happy about it. Was he still upset with her?She wasn’t sure what she could do to make him feel better. She felt horribly guilty about everything that happened when they were in San Diego and then yesterday when she mortified herself by coming onto him.She didn’t want him to be upset though, especially since he had seemed so happy before that mess happened. To be that affected he truly did love her. And she wasn’t able to reciprocate properly even though she cared about him more than anyone aside from Aria.Her head was too much of a mess to even sort through any potential feelings. She needed time to figure things out. The real question was how much.Leaving Eddie hanging forever wouldn’t be fair. He had laid his feelings for her bare and what had she done with them? Said something nasty that got him feeling all insecure again after things were
“Thanks for indulging me,” Angelina said once they were back in the car.It had been entirely her idea to get a ring and Eddie was willing to get her one even though things were stilted between them again. Even if he was upset, he was still working with her and she appreciated that.“You’re welcome. I’m not done yet though. You said you wanted to go on a date so I figured we could go to the aquarium and then get lunch before going home,” he told her before looking over at her somewhat nervously. “Is that alright?”She had mentioned the other day that she was curious about the aquarium because of Lily. Monterey boasted one of the most famous ones in the world but she had never been to it because of the way she grew up and then being too busy.Angelina may have a serious fear of the ocean but it wasn’t like she could drown inside a building full of fish tanks. To be a good sister she needed to know more about what Lily liked. If she was willing to go to the Miss Americana competition, A
Lily internally cursed herself for letting her desire to learn a cool skateboard trick win out over her desire to stay away from Mark Hanover. Why had she done that? How stupid could she get? She was trying to avoid him for crying out loud!But she had to admit that she had seen an entirely different side of him at the bowling alley. Every other time she saw him (aside from Angel’s birthday) had been in a work context. It seemed that when he wasn’t at work he wore jeans and t-shirts like anybody else. And here she had thought that he wore suits like they were his second skin.Both times she saw him outside of work his hair was styled more casually too. She also noticed that his bowling shoes were different than the kind you could rent at the alley. That meant he truly was a dedicated bowler; he had bought a pair for himself instead of continuing to rent them.Being a dedicated bowler was surprising enough but then she found out he was a dedicated skateboarder as well. That didn’t fit
Lily wasn’t able to say anything else because it was time for first class boarding. She picked up the baby so Eddie could grab all of their carry-on items. It was awkward checking in because the woman scanning their tickets totally assumed they were a family of three even though they weren’t. She couldn’t exactly explain herself either but the woman didn’t say anything.It was a direct flight but it would still take four and a half hours and she wasn’t looking forward to it. She had never been on a plane before since her family liked taking road trips and was a bit nervous about it.She was also nervous about dealing with a toddler the entire time. She loved kids but in a plane they would be stuck in an enclosed space and she could very easily end up with a headache if the baby decided to pitch a fit. Her noise-cancelling headphones were in her backpack just in case.As it turned out, Lily didn’t need to worry. Aria watched kids’ movies the entire time and Eddie dealt with her when sh
Lily and Mark had a small simple wedding at a garden venue. Angel convinced her to let her apply light makeup for the occasion with the rationalization that she would only be getting married once. It did make her stand out in the pictures so she supposed that was something.All of their friends and her family were there to support them. Aria was the most adorable flower girl ever and her nephew Hunter was the ring bearer. Angel was the matron of honor and Randi and Genevieve were her other bridesmaids. Mark’s best man was Eddie and two of his bowling friends rounded out the wedding party.They went on their honeymoon to Hawaii where they took another submarine tour and hiked what felt like every inch of the island of Maui. Lily was happy but exhausted by the time they got home.Despite experiencing a major life event, not much changed in terms of work or their general schedules for another year when she got pregnant with their son Damien. Her job was kind enough to let her take a year-
Lily inhaled deeply and let the smell of the salty air soak into her soul. It was impossible to worry about anything right now when she was this relaxed.“You certainly seem happy,” Mark noted with a smile as they bobbed in the water.“I am. No one ever wants to go swimming with me. Thanks, Mark. Today has been wonderful and it’s not even over yet. You spoil me too much.”“There’s nothing wrong with a little spoiling.”Lily knew it was pointless arguing with him so she let it go and closed her eyes as she floated there. The ocean was oddly tranquil today. There were hardly any waves at all, which was perfect for swimming.She wasn’t sure how long they stayed in the water like that enjoying the quiet and each other’s company but, eventually, they headed back to shore. He read a book on a towel while she took a nap and let the sun soak into her soul.When she woke up, she felt more at peace than she had in ages. Her boyfriend had planned the perfect day for her. At times like this, it w
Lily’s ongoing struggle trying to be okay with Mark not wanting to move forward in their relationship became more difficult as time went on. On the rare occasions she tried to bring it up, he would quickly change the subject so she gave up after a while.That wasn’t like her. She was so frustrated she was ready to blow a gasket but didn’t want them to fight.So she ambled along expecting nothing knowing that was all she was going to get. It didn’t help that Angel was pregnant with her second child and very excited about the fact. She would be having a boy this time and she and Eddie had already decided to name him Eli.Aria had hoped for a sister but was still looking forward to having a baby to play with even if it was a boy. She was a good kid and Lily had no doubt she would be a great big sister.As much as she looked forward to meeting her new nephew, it got her wondering if she would ever be able to have a child of her own. Her twenty-fifth birthday passed recently and Mark still
Patience wasn’t Lily’s strong suit. Mark hoped Donovan got back to her quickly because he didn’t want to prolong this more than necessary. Mark didn’t want to ruin the surprise either though. If she knew what he was planning in advance, she might get suspicious.Thankfully, Donovan’s family was available two weeks from then. And so were two spots for what Mark was planning to take Lily to do. He booked the tickets immediately so now all he could do was wait.He already knew his girlfriend would accept his proposal but he was still anxious. Who wouldn’t be asking such a loaded question to the person that mattered to them most?At least she didn’t seem to have caught on yet. She chatted normally on their longer-than-expected drive down to L.A. due to traffic. They didn’t arrive until nearly 2 AM so it was a good thing Eileen told them where the spare key was kept in advance so they could let themselves in.An air mattress had already been set up for them. All they had to do was flop ont
Talking to Angelina about her seizure frequency being pregnant only made Mark feel worse because he knew Lily wanted multiple kids. She would be putting herself at risk more than once and he wasn’t sure he would be able to live with the anxiety. As it was, he wasn’t sure how Edward was able to do it.Maybe that was who he needed to talk to in order to ease his fears. Someone who had been in the position he would potentially find himself in twice.Mark knew that it wasn’t fair to leave Lily hanging forever. He wanted to spend his life with her, he truly did, but he needed to get his fears under control first.“How do you handle knowing your wife could have a seizure any time?” he blurted when he and Edward were in the car on their way to a meeting the day after his conversation with Angelina.He didn’t seem terribly surprised by the question. It seemed that she had told him what they talked about yesterday. “I don’t know. I guess I’m used to it by now. She did have one within five minu
They exchanged numbers and Angelina excused herself to get back to work. She should be able to focus now that she had gotten a bit of a break. It was nice knowing that at least one of her former associates was doing well these days. She hoped they were all able to find things that made them happy the way she had.Mark didn’t even look up when she came back in. He was that focused on his work. She wasn’t able to catch his attention at all until she called his name three times after finishing what she needed.“Sorry, I was in the zone. Are you ready to go?” he asked sheepishly.“Yeah. Thanks for sticking around.”Angelina felt a bit guilty to be inconveniencing him like this but at least he already knew Eddie was a worrywart when it came to her. That was why he wasn’t letting her drive on her own.He didn’t say anything until they were nearly back at her house. “Hey…um…do you always have seizures when you’re pregnant?”That was completely out of the blue. Why would he ask about that?“T
Over time, Taylored’s customer base did grow, if not as quickly as the owners wanted it to. Genevieve and Lita got a huge order to make costumes for a local theater company’s production of The Music Man and that kept them pretty busy for a while but that wasn’t the only big thing happening.After a few months of actively trying, Angelina found herself pregnant again. It was a much happier experience this time and everyone was excited about it. Particularly Aria. She was thrilled at the prospect of having a little brother or sister because a lot of her friends had them.She asked a million and one questions about what she dubbed “our baby.” It was adorable.Though her emotional state was much better, things weren’t too different physically than they had been with Aria because she had to change her medication again and that took getting used to. At least she was planning on it in advance this time and did it before getting pregnant rather than after.She was fairly miserable but hated b
Angelina had been rather busy preparing herself for the grand opening of their shop Taylored and didn’t notice her twin’s distress. Lita’s son was named Taylor so it was a sort of play on his name and the fact that they were tailors on top of designing custom clothes.By the time Genevieve graduated, everything was just about ready to go. Their grand opening was the week after and they had already gotten an impressive amount of advertising done so there should be a decent turnout. It didn’t hurt that they had a great location where they should get a lot of traffic.Having a real estate mogul for a husband could be surprisingly helpful. Before this, she never thought she would utilize his skills for finding great locations.Angelina went to the grand opening for a while since Aria was playing with Emma. Preschool was out for the summer and she missed her friends already. She was such a social little thing.She thought it went pretty well, all things considered. A lot of people came in
Genevieve caught a real break when Angel met Lita. She never would have suggested going into business otherwise but the three of them got on like a house on fire.Lily had been surprised to say the least and asked her twin about it. She smiled softly as she explained that all she ever wanted was to make a difference for people like her and this gave her the chance to do so without taking her away from her family for long stretches of time unlike her original dream.She certainly seemed excited about it. Talking about her potential business venture made her much more enthusiastic than usual. It was cute.Angel had made her own friends too in the various clubs and classes she had joined trying to figure out what she wanted to do so she joined Lily’s friends maybe once a month these days. Lily was happy for her. She deserved to have a life of her own after living someone else’s dreams for so long.Lily looked forward to seeing where this clothing business went. She had already commission