Vivacia Ahwen - Finding Lily

A division of HarperCollins Publishers

www.harpercollins.co.uk

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are

the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to

actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is

entirely coincidental.

Mischief

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

The News Building

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.mischiefbooks.com

An eBook Original 2016

1

Copyright © Vivacia K. Ahwen

Cover image from Shutterstock

Vivacia K. Ahwen asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Ebook Edition © February 2016 ISBN: 978-0-00-814882-9

Version: 2016-02-03

For my sister

Misfortune had made Lily supple instead of hardening her, and a pliable substance is less easy to break than a stiff one.

Edith Wharton

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page VIVACIA K AHWEN Finding Lily A division of HarperCollins Publishers www.harpercollins.co.uk

Copyright This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. Mischief An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers The News Building 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.mischiefbooks.com An eBook Original 2016 1 Copyright © Vivacia K. Ahwen Cover image from Shutterstock Vivacia K. Ahwen asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. Ebook Edition © February 2016 ISBN: 978-0-00-814882-9 Version: 2016-02-03

Dedication For my sister

Epigraph Misfortune had made Lily supple instead of hardening her, and a pliable substance is less easy to break than a stiff one. Edith Wharton

Prologue: Weathering the Storm

Chapter 1: Room for Discussion

Chapter 2: Reflections

Chapter 3: Heart of Glass

Chapter 4: The Weighting Game

Chapter 5: The Iron Horse

Chapter 6: Just Desserts

Chapter 7: Hit the Wall

Chapter 8: Morning Glory

Chapter 9: Meeting of the Minds

Chapter 10: Coitus Interruptus

Chapter 11: Head Over Heels

Chapter 12: The Red Line

Chapter 13: Walk of Shame

Chapter 14: Bane of My Existence

Chapter 15: The Trojan Horse

Chapter 16: Nobody Puts Lily in the Corner

Interlude: The Courtesy of Strangers

Chapter 17: An Officer and a Gentleman

Chapter 18: Like Water for Chocolate

Chapter 19: The Do-Over

Chapter 20: No Turning Back

Chapter 21: Lie to Me

Chapter 22: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spyder

Chapter 23: One Ring to Find Them

Chapter 24: It Takes Two

Chapter 25: Lend Me Your Ear

Chapter 26: Jack of All Trades, Master of None

Chapter 27: Same Old Song and Dance, My Friend

Chapter 28: Confessional

Chapter 29: He Had It Coming

Chapter 30: Meeting Lily

Chapter 31: Recovery

Chapter 32: The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere

Chapter 33: Six of One

Chapter 34: Becoming Grounded

Epilogue: Reaching Lily

Acknowledgements

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Ow! My head smacks hard against the cold window, jarring me back to the present. The one in which our plane is wobbling? Yes, that present. My eyes, which are rarest glasz, according to my once-upon-a-not-boyfriend, pop open and I take it all in. The sky is grey, and Virgin Airlines flight 169 is no longer just a big bird soaring above the clouds. We are in the thick of something dreadful. It so makes sense that, when I finally almost escape from Dorian Holder’s enormous, far-reaching grasp, my plane’s going to crash.

Yikes.

Hey, what happened to Mr and Mrs Green, the lovey-dovey newlyweds who were annoying me so much with their joy and fondling when I first boarded? I would appreciate any company right now. They must’ve gotten bumped up to first class while I was busy ruminating. How’d I miss that? Hope their complimentary champagne just spilled all over their laps on this last lurch. Holy hell.

‘Ladies and gentlemen.’ The pilot’s voice is supposed to reassure us, I know, but there’s enough of a quaver in his tone to make me even more concerned, especially now that the plane has started to quake in earnest.

Also, the intercom is crackling more than it ought to be.

Like I know, though. This is, after all, my first flight.

Why am I so calm, then? Obviously, if we’re going down, I’m not going to heaven. Which would make Dorian right, as usual.

You can’t get away, Lily.

Also, I wasn’t paying close attention when those two bookend attendants went over the emergency procedures. Would they go through them again? Please say yes. That interpretive dance with the entrances, exits, et al? What if I couldn’t figure out how to put on my oxygen mask, or if I got the only flotation device that wouldn’t expand?

Que sera, sera.

Perhaps ‘disappearing’ would be a relief, a blessing in disguise. Everything comes to an end.

Oh, well. It was a good run. Things got interesting in my final month of life. That’s what they’ll say at my eulogy. She was generally a mousy little thing, never known to rock the boat. But things got interesting in Lily Dewitt’s final month of life …

Our plane bucks in agreement with my grim fantasies. Rather than screams and panic, there is a stillness among us humble passengers as we await our collective fate.

You don’t fuck with the gods, and you sure as hell don’t distract the Virgin 169 flight staff when they’re trying to keep you mellow.

‘We’re experiencing some turbulence,’ Captain Peterson explains, stating the obvious. ‘Please do not panic. You’re in good hands, people.’

How comforting.

Never heard that one before.

My stomach drops, and I suck in my breath as we start losing altitude. No, I’m not trained in the comings-and-goings of all things airplane, but I’ve seen enough movies.