Something Old Something New (Lost Love Series) (Erotic Romance) by Danielle Lewis Page A

trash bag to focus on her friend.
    “William is coming to the wedding,” Emily said. Mia felt her heart skip a beat, but struggled to stay calm. She did not need to ask who Emily meant. There was only one William who had ever mattered.
     
    “He’s back in the country?” asked Mia, forcing her voice to remain light.
    “He came home about six months ago,” Emily told her. “He was honorably discharged after he got hit by an IED. He’s all right,” she added quickly, seeing the look on Mia’s face. “He only lost his right leg below the knee. The doctor’s say he was lucky.”
     
    Mia did not respond. Honestly she was not sure what to say.
    “I know we should have told you sooner, but given your history, Matt and I thought it might be best if you didn’t know.” Emily looked concerned. “Are you all right?”
     
    “I’m fine,” Mia assured her, lying through her teeth.
    “If you want, we can still tell him not to come,” suggested Emily.
     
    “Don’t be silly,” Mia shook her head. “He and Matt are old friends. Will should be at his wedding.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “I’m sure.”
     

Chapter 3
    As she got dressed for the Rehearsal, Mia’s stomach was filled with butterflies. After 8 years, she was going to see Will again. She could still remember the day he told her he was enlisting with perfect clarity.
     
    “I’m scared, Will,” she told him, clutching him to her as if they would make him stay. They were alone at his parents’ house. He was holding her in his lap as they sat together on the couch.
    “I have to do this, Mia,” he said firmly. “You know that.”
     
    “I don’t know that! Why should I?” she argued, looking up at him with tear filled eyes.
    “My country needs me,” he said.
    “I need you!” she cried.
     
    “I need you too,” he told her, kissing her lightly on the top of the head.
    “Then why are you signing up to get yourself killed?” she demanded.
    “We’re at war, Mia,” he said. “I can’t stay home and pretend nothing’s happening when I know men just like me are fighting and dying in the Middle East.”
     
    “Why not?” she asked bitterly. “Everyone else does.”
    “I am not everyone else. I have to do this, Mia.”
    “What about me?” she asked. “How will I bear it, living my life, everyday dreading that I’ll hear from your family that you’ve been killed?”
     
    “I will be all right,” he promised her. “I’ll come home. I’ll come back to you.”
    “Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder.
    “Please, Mia,” he said. “Don’t make this harder.”
     
    “You’ve made up your mind then,” she said softly. Her tears were gone, replaced by a feeling of grim acceptance.
    “I have,” he said.
    “I don’t like it,” she warned him.
     
    “I know.” They sat on the couch for a long time, their bodies curled around each other. Mia held him close, trying to soak in every last moment they had together.
     
    Mia could still remember how she had felt that day. She had been so frightened. She had tried to be strong for him, but the thought of him dying out there so far from home was breaking her heart.
     
    Will had been the great love of her life. They had started dating in high school, when she was fifteen and he was seventeen. They were only together for a year before he had enlisted. In the years that had passed, she had not loved anyone else. Every time she thought of him, she was filled with regret. She understood the choice she had made eight years ago. It had seemed sensible at the time. Now that she had lived a bit longer in the world, however, she wished she could go back in time and change her mind.
     
    Her musings were interrupted by the sound of her doorbell. Emily must have arrived. The two of them were going to drive over to the church together.
     

Chapter 4
    “Sarah, you start walking first, then Mia will follow, then me, then Emily. Everybody got it?”