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Seeing the server approaching, she held her reply. When the server asked if he could start them out with a drink, Lila ordered a glass of sparkling water rather than anything alcoholic. Everett followed her example and asked for the same.
“And if you don’t mind, I’d like to order now,” Lila told the young server. “I have to be getting back to the office soon,” she explained.
“Of course.”
After he took their orders and left, Everett picked up the thread of their conversation. “I think you knew just what you wanted years ago,” he told her. “I’m the one who got it all wrong.”
Was he saying that out of pity for her, she wondered, feeling her temper beginning to rise as her stomach churned.
“On the contrary,” Lila responded. “You were the only kid who was serious when he said he wanted to play ‘doctor.’ If you ask me, ‘Dr. Fortunado’ achieved everything he ever dreamed about as a kid.”
Everett’s eyes met hers. Longing and sadness for all the lost years filled him. For the time being, he disregarded the note of bitterness he thought he detected in her voice.
“Not everything,” he told her.
This was an act. She wasn’t going to fall for it, Lila thought, grateful that the server picked that moment to return with their drinks and their orders. Everett wasn’t fooling her. He was just saying that so that she would forget about the past. Forget her pain.
As if that were remotely possible.
Silence stretched out between them. Everett shifted uncomfortably.
“So, tell me about you,” he finally urged. “What are you doing these days?”
Lila pushed around the lettuce in her salad as if the fate of the world depended on just the right placement. She kept her eyes on her plate as she spoke, deliberately avoiding making any further eye contact with him. She had always loved Everett’s dark blue eyes. When they’d been together, she felt she could easily get lost in those eyes of his and happily drown.
Now she couldn’t bear to look into them.
“I’m a manager of one of the departments at the Fortune Foundation. My work involves health outreach programs for the poorer families living in the Austin area.”
That sounded just like her, Everett thought. Lila was always trying to help others.
But something else she’d said caught his attention. “Did you say the Fortune Foundation?”
“Yes,” she answered. Suspicion entered her voice as she eyed him closely and asked, “Why?”
“Well, it just seems funny that you should mention the Fortunes. My family just recently found out that our last name might very well be ‘Fortune’ rather than ‘Fortunado.’” He pulled his face into a grin. “Crazy coincidence, isn’t it?”
Coincidence. Lila had another word for it. Her eyes narrowed as she pinned him with a look. “Is that why you wanted to get together for lunch?” she wanted to know. “To ask me questions about the Fortunes and see how much information you could get?”
He stared at her, practically dumbstruck. What was she talking about?
“The fact that you work for the Fortune Foundation has absolutely nothing to do with my wanting to get together with you,” Everett insisted. Thinking over her accusation, he shook his head. “I’m not even sure if the family is connected to the Fortunes. It could all just be a silly rumor or a hoax.
“And even if it does turn out to actually be true, my family’s not positive if we want to reveal the connection. It sounds like there are a lot of skeletons in the Fortune closet. Actually,” he confessed, backtracking, “maybe I spoke out of turn, talking about the possible connection. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything to anyone at the Foundation.”
Did he think she was going to go running back after lunch and act like a human recording device, spilling every word that had been said between them? Just what sort of an image did he have of her?
Lila found herself struggling to tamp down her temper before she said anything.
“Well, obviously not everyone at the Foundation is a Fortune,” she pointed out icily. “And anyway, the Fortunes are a huge family. I don’t think anyone would be surprised to find out that there’s another branch or two out there. There’ve been so many that have been uncovered already.”
Everett nodded. “Makes sense,” he agreed, even though he still felt a little leery about having the story spread around that the Fortunados believed that they were really Fortunes. Trying to steer the conversation in a different direction, he asked, “I’m curious—what do you think of the Fortunes?”
Lila’s smile was reserved. She remembered hearing a great many unnerving rumors concerning the Fortune family before she began working at the Foundation. But most of what she’d been told turned out not to be true. For the most part, the stories were just run-of-the-mill gossip spread by people who were jealous of the family’s success as well as their money.
“In my experience,” she qualified in case he wanted to challenge her words, “they’re a great family. A lot of people hold the fact that they’re rich against them, but the family does a lot of good with that money. The Fortunes I’ve met aren’t power hungry or self-centered. A great many of them have devoted their lives to the Foundation, to doing as much good as they can,” she emphasized.
“Power-hungry and self-centered,” Everett repeated the words that she had used. “Is that the way you think of most rich people?” he asked. Then, before Lila could answer, he went on to ask her another question—the question he really wanted the answer to. “Is that how you think of me?”
Her eyes narrowed again as she looked at Everett intently. Rather than answering his question, she turned it around and asked Everett a question of her own. “Did I say that?” she asked pointedly.
“No,” he was forced to admit. She hadn’t said it in so many words, but he felt that Lila had implied it by the way she’d structured her sentence.
“Then let’s leave it at that, shall we?” Lila told him.
It was obvious to Everett that he was going to have one hell of a rough road ahead of him if he ever hoped to win her over. And despite what he had told his sister to the contrary, he really did want to win Lila back.
He admitted to himself that Lila was the missing ingredient in his life, the reason that every triumph he had had felt so hollow, so empty. It felt that way because Lila wasn’t there to share it with him.
For now, he changed the subject to something lighter. “You know,” he said as he watched Lila make short work of her Caesar salad, “as a doctor I should tell you that eating your food that fast is really not good for your digestion.”
“And being late getting back from lunch isn’t good for my job approval,” Lila countered tersely. Finished, she retired her fork.
Was she really serious about needing to get back so quickly? Initially, he’d thought it was just an excuse, a way to terminate their meeting if she felt it wasn’t going well. Now she seemed to be waving it in front of her like a flag at the end of a marathon.
“I thought you said that you were the manager of your department.”
“I am. And as manager, it’s up to me to set a good example,” she told him.
If she really wanted to leave, Everett thought, he couldn’t very well stop her. “Can’t argue with that, I guess.”
“No, you can’t,” she informed him, a stubborn look in her eyes as they met his.
He gave it one last try. “I suppose this means that you don’t want to order dessert. I remember that you used to love desserts of all kinds,” he recalled.
“I did,” she acknowledged. “But then I grew up,” she told him crisply. “And right now, I’m afraid I have no time for dessert.”
He nodded. “Maybe next time, then.”
Lila was about to murmur the obligatory, “It was good seeing you again,” but his words stopped her cold. “Next time?” she echoed, surprised and stunned.
She sounded far from happy about the prospect. Everett did his best to ignore the coolness in her voice. Instead, he explained his comment. “I might be spending more time in Austin over the next few months.”
“Oh?” She could feel the walls going up around her. Walls meant to protect her. She could feel herself struggling with the strong desire to run for the hills. She forced herself not to move a muscle. “Why?”
“Well, with Schuyler engaged to Carlo Mendoza and living here, I thought I’d be the good brother and visit her from time to time to make her transition here a little easier for her.” This was harder than he thought it would be and it took him a few moments before he finally said, “I was wondering if it’s all right with you if I call you the next time I’m in Austin.”
His question was met with silence.
Chapter Four (#u87ac6494-0466-5ccd-81c7-c6a2115ac6e2)
Despite the fact that the restaurant was enjoying a healthy amount of business with most of the tables taken, the silence at their table seemed to wrap tightly around Everett and Lila.
Lila realized that Everett was waiting for her to answer him. And unfortunately, the floor hadn’t opened up and swallowed her, so she was forced to say something. At a loss and wanting to stall until something came to her, Lila played dumb.
Clearing her throat she asked, “Excuse me? What did you say?”
Everett had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he repeated, “I asked if it would be all right with you if I called you the next time I was in Austin. You know, so we could get together again,” he added and then watched her, waiting for an answer.
Again? Lila thought, astonished. I’m barely surviving this time.
She debated just shrugging her shoulders and saying, “Sure,” with the hopes that if and when Everett called, she would have been able to come up with some sort of a viable excuse why she couldn’t see him again.
But if she didn’t put him off now, there was the very real possibility that she’d be doomed to go through another uncomfortable meeting in the near future.
Gathering her courage, Lila told him, “Um, I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea.”
If he were being honest with himself, Everett had half expected her to react this way. Still, actually hearing Lila say the words was very difficult for him.
Nodding grimly at her rebuff, he told her, “I understand.”
But he really didn’t understand because he didn’t think it was a bad idea. He thought it was a perfectly good idea, one that would allow him another chance to convince her that they should try making their relationship work again after all these years.
Because they belonged together.
“Well, I really need to get going,” she told Everett, rising to her feet. When he began to do the same, she quickly said, “Oh, don’t leave on my account. Stay,” she urged. “Have that dessert,” she added. And then she concluded coldly, “I wish you luck with the rest of your life.”
Then, turning on her heel, she quickly left the restaurant without so much as a backward glance.
Lila didn’t exhale until the restaurant doors closed behind her.
Her heart was hammering hard and the brisk walk to her car had nothing to do with it. Lila didn’t come anywhere close to relaxing until she reached her vehicle and got in.
Then she released her breath slowly.
She’d done it, she thought. She’d survived seeing him again.
She really hoped that Everett hadn’t realized just how affected she was by his presence. With that in mind, there was just no way she could see him again, Lila thought. She was certain that she wouldn’t be able to endure being face-to-face with Everett a second time, even if it was only for a couple of minutes.
But she’d done it. Lila silently congratulated herself as she started up her car. She’d sat across from Everett Fortunado and she hadn’t bolted. She’d held her ground until she announced that she had to be getting back.
And now, having made it through that and gotten it out of the way, she could go on with the rest of her life.
* * *
Everett left the restaurant a couple of minutes after Lila did. There seemed to be no point in staying. He’d only mentioned having dessert because he remembered how fond of sweets she had always been. The thought of dessert had no allure for him, especially now that Lila had left. So he paid the tab and walked out.
He had barely managed to get into his car and buckle up before his cell phone rang. His first thought when he heard the phone was that it was Lila, calling to say she had changed her mind about having him call her the next time he was in Austin.
But when he answered the phone, it wasn’t Lila. It was Schuyler.
“So how was it?” his sister asked in lieu of a hello.
Trying hard not to sound irritated, he asked her, “Why are you calling? I could have still been at the restaurant with Lila.”
“I took a chance,” she told him. “If you were still with Lila, I figured you wouldn’t have answered your cell. But you did,” she concluded with a resigned sigh. “So I take it that she really did have a short lunch break.”
He didn’t have it in him to lie or make something up, so he just said vaguely, “Something like that.”
He should have known Schuyler wanted to know more. “What was it like exactly?” she asked him.
Everett sighed. There was no point in playing games or pretending that everything was fine. He’d been pretending that for the last thirteen years and it had just brought him to this painful moment of truth. And he knew that Schuyler would just keep after him until he told about lunch.
“I think Lila might hate me,” he said to his sister. He’d said “might” because stating it flatly just hurt too much.
“Hate you?” Schuyler questioned in surprise. “Why? What happened at lunch?” Then she chuckled. “Did she try to set you on fire?”
Everett laughed dryly. “No, she stopped short of that. But when I asked if I could call her again the next time I was in Austin, she told me she didn’t think that was such a good idea.”
“Wait, back up,” Schuyler told her brother. “You asked her if you could call?”
“Yes.” Schuyler was making it sound like he’d done something bad, but he had just been trying to be thoughtful of Lila’s feelings. He didn’t want Lila thinking he just presumed things. He was proud of the fact that he was first and foremost a gentleman.
He heard his sister sigh in disbelief. “Everett, you are a brilliant, brilliant doctor and probably the smartest man I know, but what you know about women could be stuffed into a walnut shell with room for a wad of chewing gum. You don’t ask a woman if you can call her. You just call her.”
He didn’t operate like that. “What if she doesn’t want me to call?”
“Then you’ll find that out after the fact,” Schuyler told him. “Believe me, if she doesn’t want you to call, she’ll let you know when she answers the phone. But if you hold off calling because she said she doesn’t want you to, then you might wind up missing out on an opportunity.”
This was making his head hurt. “Nothing is straightforward with you women, is it?”
“That’s where the aura of mystery comes in,” Schuyler told him with a laugh. And then her voice sobered. “Are you planning on seeing Lila again?”
Lila had as good as told him not to—but he couldn’t bring himself to go along with that. Not yet. Not while he felt that there might be the slimmest chance to change her mind.
“I’m going to try,” he confessed.
“When?” Schuyler questioned. “Now?”
“No.” He was still smarting from Lila’s rejection. “I think I’m going to give her a little time to mull things over. I’ll probably talk with her the next time I’m in Austin.”
“Talk with her about what?” Schuyler wanted to know.
“I want to make things right,” Everett explained simply. “Maybe even tell her—”
Schuyler cut him off before he could say anything further. “Ev, not even you can bring back the past, you know that, right?”
“Yes, I know that,” he said impatiently, “but I just want Lila to know that I wish I’d handled things differently back them. Schuyler, you have your happy ending in the works,” he pointed out, “but I wound up driving away the best thing that ever happened to me and I’ll do anything to get her back.”
