Love by Design (Crystal Falls Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

Rachel and Angie been Lily’s support after the breakup Noah, they’d been witness to the actual Big Fight themselves. Along with about a hundred other people who’d happened to be enjoying themselves nearby and who’d overheard the fight. Noah and Lily had gone with Noah’s friend Rick to stay on Rick’s boat at Lake Mead for spring break and they’d invited Angie and Rachel along with a few other friends. The first few days had been relaxing for everybody, but when Lily accused Noah of sleeping with another woman who was on the boat with them it had gone downhill very fast. Of course all the sun and drinking hadn’t helped, but Lily still swore that she hadn’t overreacted. To Angie and Rachel’s credit, they never doubted her. At least not to her face.
    Angie returned with another chardonnay and leaned against the table, ready to hear more. Lily took a careful sip, promising herself to switch to water next.
    “So did he talk to you?” Rachel asked.
    “He tried. I put him in his place though. I told him to stay away from me.” Lily frowned and fiddled with the bar menu. “Of course he’s looking better than ever. The bastard.”
    “Oh, no you don’t. Don’t you dare fall for him again! Not after everything-” Rachel began.
    “Ha! No worries there. I’m never going to forgive him, no matter how gorgeous he is.”
    “And the job? What happened with that new client?” Angie asked.
    “The unbearable woman proceeded to act like I wasn’t supposed to be there and completely ignored me.” Lily felt tears welling up suddenly and took another drink. “She had the nerve to tell me to come back tomorrow and meet with her assistant. So, basically the whole thing was a waste. I could have slept in and gotten my nails done.”
    An older couple wandered into the bar and Angie gave her a worried look before squeezing her hand. “Things will get better. Tomorrow you can get to work. It’s going to feel so good when you get this job done. Just think of the pictures you can add to your portfolio.”
    “Thanks, Ange.”
    Angie left to help the new table and Lily gazed absently around the room, starting to feel the wine relax the knots that had troubled her shoulders all day.
    Rachel gave her a smile and Lily tried not to laugh. Seems the straw wasn’t all that effective after all.
    “You’ve got a little something,” she pointed to her own teeth and couldn’t keep the laugh in any longer. Rachel scowled.
    “You’re more trouble than you’re worth sometimes, you know that?”
    Lily laughed again and tried to dodge away from Rachel’s foot that was jabbing at her from under the table.
    “Speaking of trouble, mom wanted to talk to me about your new piercing,” Lily said, hoping to distract her sister from revenge.
    “Uh oh.”
    “Why did you tell her?”
    “You know how mom is. She pried so hard I thought my teeth were going to fall out.”
    Lily laughed and then frowned.
    “Don’t you dare tell mom about Noah. You know how she is about him.”
    “I’m not going to tell mom.”
    Lily scowled at her. “You are going to tell, I know you. You have the backbone of a jellyfish. The last thing I need right now is mom calling me, trying to get me back together with him.”
    Their mother had been crushed when Lily had finally had the courage to tell her that she and Noah broke up. She’d adored Noah and thought the two of them were perfect together, hinting more than once, to both him and her, that she expected them to get married and give her grand-babies. She refused to believe that Noah could be in the wrong, even when Lily explained what happened between them. It took weeks for her to move on to another topic of conversation during their phone calls. Lily couldn’t imagine opening that can of worms again.
    “So, what’s going on with you,” Lily asked, feeling only a little guilty for making the conversation all about her. “How are things in the land of animals?”
    Rachel was the town’s only