Remembering You
Sandi Lynn
Remembering You
Copyright © 2014 Sandi Lynn Romance, L.L.C.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used factitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover Design by Cover It Designs
Photography: Kelsey Keeton of K Keeton Designs
Model: Kaleb Romero and Jaclyn Rutland
Editing by B.Z. Hercules
I believe in the immeasurable power of love, that true love can endure any circumstance and reach across any distance.
~Dr. Steven Maraboli
When it’s time for souls to meet, there’s nothing on Earth that can prevent them from meeting, no matter where each may be located.
~Kushandwi Zoom
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
About The Author
Prologue
They say young love isn’t real. It’s only our bodies, full of raging hormones, and our minds filled with lust that make us think we are in love. I can tell them they’re wrong. Young love is real; it can, and it does exist, at least in my seventeen-year-old life.
“You are not to see that boy anymore!” Corrine yelled as she followed me up the stairs.
“Mom, stop! You don’t even know him.”
“I know enough not to like him.” She chased after me.
I stepped into my bedroom and turned towards the door. “You don’t like him because he’s not rich, and he doesn’t live in a big, fancy house,” I snapped.
Corrine followed me into my room. “He’s not good enough for you, and I don’t want you seeing him.”
“Really, Mother? Are you worried that I’ll tarnish your reputation, give your friends something to talk about, or, better yet, that I’ll disgrace the Montgomery name?”
“Claire, that’s not fair!” she snapped.
“Not fair?” I yelled. “What’s not fair is you judging Sam for where he comes from instead of getting to know him as a person.”
“This discussion is over and so is your relationship,” she yelled as she turned on her heels and stomped out of my room.
Tears started to sting my eyes as I lay on my bed, looking at the picture of us on my phone. Sam was perfect to me and I loved him. I just wished I could make my mother and father see that.
Chapter 1
Harry and Corinne Montgomery. What can I say? Harry was a doctor, a plastic surgeon, to be exact, and he was the best in Orange County. Corinne, my mother, spent her time, when not trying to run my life, doing charity work for different charities. Sometimes, people mistook us for sisters. She didn’t look like she was forty-five, but more like thirty. I guess it helped when your husband was a plastic surgeon. Her best feature was her long, dark auburn hair, which complemented her emerald eyes. Harry and I had the same eyes: icy blue like the sea. Both of my parents were snobs in every sense of the word. They judged people based on what they didn’t have instead of seeing them for who they were. I kept asking them if I was adopted because I was so different. I was not materialistic, and big expensive things didn’t matter to me as much as they did to my parents and Zoey.
My sister, Zoey, was a Mini-Me of Corinne; they shared the same color hair and emerald eyes and, at the age of twenty-one, she was engaged to a senator’s son. She’d had her eyes set on him since she was sixteen years old. The Desmonds were one of the most influential families in California, and Zoey was making sure she became a part of that. What Zoey didn’t know was how Dylan Desmond, her beloved fiancé, tried to have sex with me last year. I told him, for his sake, I wouldn’t tell my sister, but he’d better never come within six feet of me again or I would start a scandal, not only for what he tried with me, but with all the other women he had on the side. I had pictures of him that he didn’t even know about. Half the time, he wouldn’t even look at me anymore, which was the way I liked it.
Zoey spent a lot of her time criticizing me for the way I dressed; apparently, jeans and a t-shirt weren’t her thing. She didn’t like to tell people we were sisters because she was embarrassed of me. Corinne didn’t stick up for me either; she would just tell Zoey to be nice and then the two of them would start to discuss the wedding. I didn’t really care, though; my family was from a different world and it was a world I didn’t belong in.
I was the quiet type. I had two best friends, Ally and Rachel, whom I’d known since kindergarten. My passion was reading and I liked to get lost in a good book. It was my escape from my family. Another one of my passions was Sam Snow.
Sam and I met when my car broke down and I was standing on the side of the road trying to call Corinne or Harry, but neither one answered. Sam was driving a tow truck when he saw me and he pulled over to ask if I needed help. The moment he opened the door and got out of his truck, I knew my life would never be the same. He was the hottest guy I’d ever seen. He stood about six-foot-two with a muscular build. He wore his sandy brown hair short and spikey in a messy kind of way, but very sexy, and his eyes were a blue-gray that were mesmerizing to look at.
“Hey, do you need some help?” the handsome stranger asked me as he walked towards me.
“Um, my car broke down, and I’ve been trying to call my parents with no luck.”
He smiled at me and my knees started shaking. No one should ever be this beautiful.
“Looks like it’s your lucky day. I can give you and your car a lift to my garage. It’s over in Irvine.”
I really had no choice but to go with him. Should I have been scared? Maybe I should have been, but I wasn’t. There was something about him that made me feel safe. I felt things in my body that I’d never felt before when he looked at me.
“Thank you. I really appreciate it.” I smiled.
He looked down as if he were embarrassed, as the smile never left his face. “Okay, let’s get your car hooked up. You can wait in the truck.”
I nodded my head and got in. Once he had my car hooked up, he climbed in and sat beside me. He turned and looked at me with those amazing eyes and held out his hand, “Hi, I’m Sam Snow.”
I bit my bottom lip as I smiled back. “I’m Claire Montgomery.”
The charge that went through my body when we touched was amazing; it was like I came alive. He started the truck and headed towards Irvine. The radio was on and the song “Yellow” by Coldplay played through the speakers. “I love this song,” I said.
Sam looked at me as he turned it up. “I do too. Coldplay is my favorite band of all time.”
“Shut up!” I exclaimed as I looked at him. “They’re my favorite band too.”
He laughed softly and the rest of the ride to Irvine was made up of us talking about all the other music we had in common.
When we reached Cal’s Towing and Fixit Place, I got out of the truck as Sam backed up the car into an empty stall and unhooked it. I walked around, trying to call Corrine and Harry again, but still no answer. So I tried, against my better ju
dgment, Zoey.
“Hello, Claire. What do you want?” she asked in an irritated manner.
“Can you come get me? My car broke down. I had to have it towed and now I need a ride home.” I heard a sigh.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“I’m at a place called Cal’s Towing in Irvine.”
“Irvine!” she yelled. “Listen, I’m with Dylan right now and we are looking at invitations for the engagement party. You’ll have to wait a couple of hours or call a cab.”
“A cab? I’m not calling a cab. You’re my sister, and I can’t get a hold of Mom or Dad.”
Sam was standing in front of me, listening to my conversation with my stuck up, self-absorbed sister. He motioned to me that he would give me a ride home.
“Claire, stop being a baby,” she proceeded to say as I hung up and sighed.
“You don’t have to worry. I can give you a ride home.” He smiled as he looked down and lightly kicked the dirt with the toe of his boot.
Every time he smiled, I felt weak in the knees. “I don’t want you to go out of your way; you’ve done so much for me already and I don’t want to be a burden.”
“It’s not a problem at all, and you’re no burden. Please don’t think like that.”
I looked down in embarrassment. “It’s just that my family is really busy with their lives and, well—”
Sam bent over so his face was looking at mine. “I want to drive you home, Claire.”
I gave him a small smile. He wasn’t the only shy one here. “Okay, then I accept.”
I filled out some paperwork for the repairs on my car as Sam grabbed his keys.
“Hey, Cal, Claire doesn’t have a ride, so I’m going to give her a lift home. I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay, Sam. It was nice to meet you, Claire.” Cal waved.
“Nice to meet you too.” I waved with a smile.
****
Sam’s car was a black 1967 Chevy Impala. He walked over to the passenger’s door and opened it for me. So far, he seemed to be a perfect gentleman.
“Nice wheels you have here.”
“Thanks. This baby is my pride and joy.” He smiled.
“Is there a story behind it?”
“I’ll tell you on the way home, but first, you need to tell me where you live.”
A sick feeling settled into my stomach. I didn’t want to tell him I lived in Newport Beach for fear he would think I was one of those stuck-up rich girls. I started sliding my teeth along my bottom lip as I whispered, “Newport Beach.”
He leaned a little closer to me and whispered, “What did you say?”
I let out a little laugh. “Newport Beach; please don’t judge me.” The words fell out of my mouth.
Sam cocked his head to the side. “Why would I judge you?”
I let out a sigh. “Because people normally judge people from Newport Beach.”
The corners of his mouth turned up slightly. “Sounds like you’re ashamed of living there.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Let’s just say I’d rather live somewhere else. Now tell me about this baby of yours.”
I needed to change the subject. It was bad enough he was going to see my mansion of a house and how I lived. I could see his blue-gray eyes light up as he was about to tell me.
“Someone had it towed to the garage. It hadn’t run in years and it was rusting out. Cal told me if I could fix and restore it, the car was mine.”
“Wow, that was very generous of him,” I said.
He showed a small smile. “Yeah, he’s kind of been like a father figure to me for a few years.”
I could see a hurt in his face when he said that, but I didn’t ask any more questions because it wasn’t my business.
“Open the glove box,” he said.
I pushed the button and opened it. Inside, there was a CD in a case that was labeled “Coldplay.” I looked over at him, and we both smiled at each other.
“You can put it in,” he said.
I took the CD out of the case and popped it in the CD player. “Fix You” was the first song to grace the speakers of the 1967 Chevy Impala. We drove, listened, and sang all the way to my house.
When Sam turned into the long, winding driveway of the house, I could see the look on his face as he pulled up to the mansion.
“Wow, this is really nice, Claire,” he said as he hunched over the steering wheel to get a better look.
I shrugged. “It’s okay.”
He got out, walked around, and opened the door for me. That was the one thing that amazed me most about Sam.
“Thank you, Sam, for helping me today. I want to repay you somehow.”
He put his hands in his pockets and looked down at the ground. He did that quite a bit.
“You could have dinner with me sometime,” he whispered.
I leaned into him and whispered, “What did you say?”
He looked up at me and chuckled. “I said you can have dinner with me sometime.”
A huge smile beamed across my face. “I would love to have dinner with you.”
He smiled back as he fidgeted. “How about tomorrow night? I can pick you up at seven o’clock.”
“Sounds great. I’ll be ready.”
The smile never left his face as he walked over to his car, gave me a wave, and drove away.
As I watched him pull away, my phone rang and Zoey’s name appeared. “Hello,” I snapped as I walked up the walkway.
“Do you still need us to pick you up?”
“No, I’m home now. Sorry to have inconvenienced you,” I said as I hit the end button.
I walked into the mansion and started walking up to my room when I heard Corrine call my name.
“I saw you tried to call me a billion times, Claire. What was so important?”
I abruptly stopped in place and turned around to face her. “Why didn’t you answer, Mother?”
“I was in a charity meeting, and I couldn’t talk.”
“Well, my car broke down, and I was stranded on the side of the road. But don’t worry. A nice man stopped, offered me some candy, and when I accepted, he gave me a lift to a garage.”
Her eyes widened. “Claire, you could have been raped or kidnapped. What have I told you about strangers? Why didn’t you call your sister?”
“I did call Zoey, but she was too busy with her dog of a fiancé to pick me up.”
“Claire, that isn’t nice to say about Dylan.”
I stomped up the stairs because this conversation was over as far as I was concerned.
“Where’s your car?” she yelled.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s being repaired, and I can pick it up tomorrow.” I went to my room and slammed my door, then fell across my bed and fell asleep.
Chapter 2
I awoke a couple of hours later to someone banging on my door.
“Claire, it’s dinner time,” Zoey yelled.
Another wonderful family dinner; the four of us sitting around the table talking about our day. Oh wait, the conversation would be between Corinne and Zoey and about the engagement party, wedding, or a new clothing designer they just discovered. I rolled my eyes and headed down the stairs. I walked over to Harry, who was already seated in the dining room and kissed him on the cheek.
“Hi, Dad.” I smiled.
“Hi, Claire. How was your day? Sorry I couldn’t answer your call, but I was in surgery all day.”
“It’s fine, Dad. No worries.”
“I didn’t think you were home. I didn’t see your car in the driveway,” he said.
“It broke down today. I had it towed and it’s being fixed.”
“Broke down? See, Claire, that’s why I wanted to buy you a new car and not have you drive that old one.”
“Dad, the car is only six years old, and I like my Volkswagen Bug.”
Harry rolled his eyes as Corinne and Zoey walked in and set dinner on the table. I glanced at Zoey and turned away. I had nothing to say to her ever
again for leaving me stranded, not that I minded, because Sam wouldn’t have driven me home and we probably wouldn’t be going on a date tomorrow night, but it was an excuse for me to be mad at her.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that, Claire. If you would have let Daddy buy you a new car, you wouldn’t have been in that predicament.”
“Shut up, Zoey. You sound stupid,” I snapped.
“Mom, are you going to let her call me that?” she whined.
Corinne sighed. “Claire, what is the matter with you? Why can’t you get along with your sister? I’m sorry your car broke down, but she has a point. If you had a new car that wouldn’t have happened.”
I looked down and didn’t say another word. I learned that it wasn’t worth it when it came to Zoey. Harry spoke up. “The point is, Claire made it home all right and she’s safe.” He winked at me.
“How did you get home?” Corinne asked.
“The man from the garage overheard my bitchy sister refusing to come get me and offered me a ride home.” I smiled because I knew that would get under Corinne’s and Zoey’s skin.
“Well,” she mumbled. “I’ll have to thank that man for seeing you got home safely but he could have been a murderer, Claire.”
Okay, ready? Here’s where Corinne’s going to flip.
“You can thank him tomorrow. He asked me to go out to dinner with him.” I smiled.
Corinne put down her fork and glared at me across the table.
“Did you put a spell on him or something?” Zoey laughed.
“Zoey, shut up!” I yelled.
“Claire, I don’t think it’s a good idea. How old is this man?”
“He’s nineteen, Mom, and before you ask, he did graduate high school.”
“Does he work at that garage for a living?”
I could see the disgust in her face as she asked me.
“Yes. He’s a mechanic, and he’s going to fix my car.”
Zoey rolled her eyes. “Ew, a grease monkey.”
I balled my left fist because I was going to jump across the table and deck her right in her pretty little face. Harry looked at me and saw what was going on. He yelled at her to be quiet. Corinne looked down and didn’t say another word. I quietly got up, grabbed my plate, and put it in the kitchen sink.