Patterns - An Academy Story

Part 34 - When The Past Comes Back To Haunt

Thank you so much for sticking with me and reading my story. All of your reads, votes, and comments mean so much to me. In this chapter, I have taken liberty and given Lily's fourth mystery husband a name: Jack. This chapter picks up after the movie date with Kota and Nathan.

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(Sang's POV)

My hands were too full to open the door, so I nudged the doorbell with my elbow. I could hear footsteps approaching the door and it swung open to reveal William standing there with a broad smile on his dark features.

"It's about time you got here, girlie!" he said. "We were thinking you forgot about us. Here, let me take that. Smells good, whatever it is."

I laughed as William took the covered dish of sweet potatoes so that I could step inside and hang up my coat. "It's twice baked sweet potatoes with bacon." I told him. "I know you and Liam think everything is better with bacon.

He laughed. "You know we do, that is a fact. Maybe I'll just keep ahold of this dish then."

"No sampling. It has to finish baking. You know I'd never forget about you guys," I said as we walked to the kitchen. "Besides, it's only 12.15, and you didn't need to send out the cavalry for me."

"Well, you know we would if we needed to," he said.

"I do know that, and I appreciate that very much," I told him.

"Hey, baby girl!" Lily called out as we entered the kitchen.

William set the covered dish on the counter and ruffled my hair. "I'll leave you to it and get out of here before she has me peeling more potatoes."

"Hey, Lily. What can I help with?" I asked as I slid my handbag off of my shoulder and hung it up on a hook. I walked over to where Lily was dicing potatoes and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

She nodded with her head towards the bunch of onions and celery on the counter. "If you want to jump right in, how about you start with chopping the vegetables for the cornbread dressing?"

I grabbed an apron, slipped it on over my head and fastened it before reaching for a cutting board and knife.

Lily paused from her peeling and looked at me. "You look tired. Late night?" she asked.

"Way later than I'm used to. I don't know how people do it."

"And what were you up to that caused you to be out so late?" Lily asked.

"And I went out to dinner and to the movies with Kota Lee and Nathan Griffin last night. After the movie we met up with Gabriel Coleman. Gabriel's one of the guys you met at the cooking store. I didn't get home until almost 2am," I said, trying to stifle a yawn.

"Well no wonder you look tired, sugar. Do you want to go take a nap? I can finish this up."

"No, I'm good. Besides, I like being here with just the two of us," I told her. "It's like old times."

"I hope you didn't just call me old," Lily teased. The pretend stern look she gave me made me laugh.

"You'll never be old," I told her.

"Good. I'm glad we have that straight." She nodded and turned back to her work. "Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah, I really did." I said. "I didn't have a panic attack either, so that was a plus."

I paused chopping the celery. "When they dropped me home, Nathan walked me back to my apartment. He asked if he could kiss me good night."

I could feel Lily's eyes on me, so I turned to look at her. I could feel my cheeks blush.