The Night We Met

by Rinyu, Beth

  The bells on the door rang, signaling a customer, and I silently scolded myself for not locking up. It was well after eight, and I should’ve been out of there and on my way home. Instead, I’d put on my best smile and hoped to at least make a sale out of it. “Hi, can I help—”

  I was speechless as I stood, staring into her deep blue eyes that seemed to be a little warmer than they were when I had first looked into them less than a week ago. I remembered rambling on and telling her the name of the boutique I had worked at, but she seemed so caught up in the one-sided conversation, I didn’t think she was even paying attention.

  “Emmeline, how are you?”

  “Actually, it’s Emme.”

  She cinched her perfectly plucked eyebrows together. I couldn’t help but notice how flawless her milky white complexion was.

  “Lukas, he calls me Emmeline…” I shook my head and let out a nervous laugh. “But I prefer to be called Emme.”

  “Oh, I see. Does my son know that?”

  “He does. It’s just a long story.”

  She nodded. “I wanted to see if you had a moment.”

  “Umm…” I felt like I was betraying Lukas by saying yes, but hearing what she had to say wasn’t any worse than what I was already doing. “Actually, I was just closing up.”

  “Please, Emme. I know how I came across that night at dinner, and I apologize for my impolite behavior toward you. I promise I won’t take up much of your time. I’m leaving in the morning, and I really need to speak with you before I go.”

  There was a kindness to her voice that had been lacking from the first time we met, humble and genuine instead of cold and uncaring. “Oh, yeah, I guess. If you want, we can meet across the street at the Starbucks in fifteen minutes.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  In the fifteen minutes it took me to close up, I thought about not showing up about twenty times. When I found myself walking into Starbucks and catching her attention, I knew it was too late to turn around. I grabbed a bottle of water and took a seat across from her. Her eyes peered over her steaming grande cup and a small remnant of a smile adorned her face.

  “So, what did you need to talk to me about?” I asked with apprehension.

  “Lukas.”

  Of course. What else did we have in common? “Okay.” I untwisted the cap on my water bottle and took a sip.

  “He won’t take my calls. He won’t answer my texts. I just really have nowhere else to turn.”

  “I-I’m really sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be much help to you.”

  She intertwined her fingers around her coffee cup and looked down at the table for a split second before locking eyes with me. “Emmeline…Emme.” She corrected herself. “I’m not really sure how much Lukas has told you.”

  My silence answered her question. I was in the dark completely.

  “Lukas was seeing a girl he was very serious with. He was going to ask her to marry him.”

  “Hannah?” I whispered.

  Her eyes widened, and she nodded. “Lukas always had a hard time letting people into his life. I’m not naïve in thinking that his upbringing didn’t have a lot to do with that. His older brother was okay with going to the expensive boarding schools and being seen and not heard when they were in my and their father’s company, but Lukas always seemed to crave more. More than his father and I were able to give. As a result, he tucked his emotions away and became very distant. The only person he was close with was his brother. The two of them were inseparable.” She smiled and stared straight ahead. “Lukas worshiped his older brother, and Alfred was beyond protective of him.”

  “What happened?”

  She put down her coffee cup and stared into space.

  “I mean, he mentioned him once and never really said anything else. So, I just assumed it was a sensitive topic for him.”

  “It is.” She sighed. “Hannah turned to someone else who could be there for her emotionally. That someone just happened to be Alfred.”

  I gasped and covered my mouth. “Oh my God. That’s horrible.” I wanted to hug Lukas. Tell him I was so sorry for what had happened to him. Tell him I’d never deceive him in that way, but then I remembered I already had.

  “It was for a while. He completely shut down, crawled farther into his emotionless cocoon and smothered himself in his work. He cut Hannah and his brother out of his life completely.”

  “Well, can you blame him?” I raised my voice, rushing to his defense.

  “No. I can’t. He had every right to be angry. But with that anger came a side to him that was cold and uncaring toward everyone. Despite what he thinks of me, I do worry about him. Then when I saw him with you at dinner, he had a spark in his eyes. One I never saw before, even when he and Hannah were at the happy point in their relationship. I may not have been the perfect mother while he was growing up, but I know my son, and I know he cares about you a great deal.” Her words were bittersweet, like a dull knife slicing straight through my heart.

  “I care about him too.” That wasn’t a lie. Nothing about the way I felt toward him was an untruth. When I told him I loved him back, I meant it.

  “I’m happy to hear that. Lukas needs that in his life.” She raised her coffee cup to her lips and took a long slow sip. “Alfred and Hannah had a baby, William. Lukas has never met him.” She sighed. “With the circumstances being what they are, I can’t say I blame him, but it’s still his nephew, his blood.”

  I struggled with the right words to say. I understood her sadness over the situation, but she was right, she couldn’t fault Lukas for not wanting to be in his nephew’s life. I really hoped that wasn’t the angle she was working by asking me to meet with her today. I had no power over Lukas’ decision, and if I was being honest, I would probably be the same way if I were in that situation.

  “Alfred was in a horrible car accident about a month ago. He was touch and go for a while. There was some mild brain injury and now he’s paralyzed from the waist down.”

  “Wow, I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

  She grabbed a napkin and carefully dabbed her eyes. “After being placed in a medical coma for days, the first person he asked for when he woke up was Lukas. He wants to make amends with his brother, but Lukas wants no part of it. His doctor thinks Lukas would be an integral part of his recovery.” She shook her head and her bottom lip quivered. “Lukas, he can be so stubborn, and once he’s crossed that’s it. He doesn’t forgive.”

  Ouch. That was like a bullet right through my heart. A reality check of what I had to look forward to.

  “Maybe he’ll listen to you.” She reached over the table and grabbed my hands, making her desperate plea.

  “I-I really don’t see how. He’s only mentioned his brother to me once, and it was very brief when he did.”

  “Emme, please, you’re our last hope.”

  Our? Who else was depending on me to come through? Certainly not this Hannah person who broke Lukas’ heart. Imagine that? The girl who cheated on him and the girl who totally deceived him with a big fat lie, working together behind his back. “I do hope your son gets better, but I can’t make any promises where Lukas is concerned. I myself was a victim of being cheated on. The situation was actually somewhat similar, but the girl wasn’t my sister, she was one of my best friends. I know how I felt about forgiving them for what they did, so I can totally see where Lukas is coming from.”

  I sucked in a deep breath. It had occurred to me that up until that moment, I couldn’t remember the last time I thought about David and Monica. I remembered those days of pining over him, wishing things were different. Wondering what I could have done to have made him choose me over her. Hating them both beyond words and imagining the awful things I’d say to them if I ever ran into them again. But now, they were both just a distant memory. I didn’t hate them anymore. I didn’t want to punish myself by keeping up with what was going on in their lives through our mutual acquaintances because I didn’t care. I wasn’t seethi
ng with anger over the thought of them one day getting married, having a child and living happily ever after. I felt nothing, as if they never existed. Did that mean I was finally over it, and was Lukas the one who helped me get past it?

  “Well, the best you can do is try, right?” She got in one last plea.

  I gave her a hesitant nod, not wanting to get her hopes up, but in the back of my mind hoping Lukas could form some type of reconciliation with his brother for his own peace of mind.

  I started to get up then sat back down, turning my attention back to her. “Can I ask you a question?”

  She gave me a wary nod.

  “Do you remember what time Lukas was born?”

  She was probably thinking I was a total freak for asking, and even if she didn’t, what would be the chances she’d remember anyway.

  “Seven fourteen p.m.,” she replied without hesitation. “I remember it so well. Like it was just yesterday.” She continued, staring straight ahead, getting lost in a memory. “His father and I were supposed to be meeting up with business clients for dinner. They were dreadful people. We had a seven o’clock reservation.” She smiled at me and shook her head. “That morning, the first snow of the season had fallen, and I just had this feeling that I wasn’t going to make it to that dinner. I really didn’t want to go anyway, but my job was to keep up appearances and play the dutiful wife for my then husband. I remember looking at the time on his birth document and thinking, my little boy came through for me, allowing me to skip that dinner.”

  Her eyes softened, no doubt seeing the tears forming in mine. I remembered once asking Lukas about the time difference between here and Germany. Six hours ahead of New York time.

  “One eighteen p.m,” I whispered, always remembering the time of my birth as well as Bridgette’s because my father would play those numbers in the lottery religiously. Number 118 and 1247. Bridgette would always tease and say that her winning numbers were worth more because there was four of them. My mother had told me about that cold snowy day I was born a million times, like she was hoping that maybe I’d have some memory of it. Lukas and I were born only minutes apart a world away. Him, on a snowy winter evening, me on a snowy afternoon.

  “I’m sorry, what was that?” she asked.

  “I was born on the same day as him only four minutes after.”

  I pulled in my bottom lip and stared straight ahead, unable to hold back the tears any longer when she whispered, “Birthday soul mates.”

  _______________

  There was a method to my madness in breaking the news to Lukas about my meeting with his mother. Timing it precisely to the moment we were lying in each other’s arms after making love and just before he was about to drift off to sleep. “Your mother came by the boutique to see me earlier,” I whispered into his bare chest.

  “What?” He sat up, his face reddened with anger. My plan of springing this on him while he was in a more relaxed state of mind was backfiring. “What the hell did she want, and why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I think I just did.” I sat up next to him and grabbed his hand. He took me a little off guard when he yanked it away.

  “You know what I meant, Emmeline.” The irritation in his voice was evident.

  “I don’t know, I just thought that maybe—”

  “Don’t think where she’s concerned. She had no business coming to see you, and you had no business talking to her.” He stood up and slid on his pants. How did he go from almost asleep to now pacing across the floor in two seconds flat?

  I raked my hand through my disheveled hair and covered myself in the sheet, dragging it off the bed along with me as I stood up beside him. “Lukas, please, will you just listen—”

  “I don’t want to hear anything she has to say. I think it’s probably best if you just leave tonight.”

  Tears pricked my eyes. I was being dismissed. A precursor of the wrath that was yet to come my way after my big secret was revealed. My stomach tossed and turned just imagining it. He stepped out on the terrace, and the thought of following him out there to plead my case did cross my mind, but then I thought better of it. Instead, I quickly dressed, and without a word or even a goodbye, I made my exit, so much like I had on that morning after our very first encounter. The only difference being this time it was with a cloudier conscience and a much heavier heart.

  Chapter 26

  Lukas

  THE FOUL MOOD I had been in after Emmeline had sprung the news on me followed me right into the next day. I was more pissed at my mother than Emmeline, but she should have told me right away or better yet, refused to speak with my mother. My mind was reeling, wondering exactly what it was she wanted to speak to her about. Although I had a hunch as to what it was. I was fairly certain that my mother painted me out to be the villain to Emmeline, and Alfred and that bitch he was married to the saints.

  We didn’t mean for it to happen. He was the only person I could turn to, to try and get in your head. He knew you better than anyone. He was there for me emotionally when you couldn’t be. Hannah’s wretched voice played over and over again in my thoughts. The tears that rolled down her face, not over what she did, but because she was caught.

  Then there was my brother, the one and only constant in my life. It didn’t mean anything, Lukas. My relationship with you is so much more important than anything with her. I promise, I won’t see her anymore. It was the one and only time I had seen him grovel for forgiveness and the sight of it sickened me just as much as what he had done to me.

  I stared into space while Bridgette rambled on about something in detail. I couldn’t begin to guess what it was because I hadn’t been paying attention from the moment she sat down and began talking, refusing to come up for air. She stared at me and her eyes widened. She was quiet. This was my cue to speak? To answer her? But what was the question? I cleared my throat, trying to wipe the ridiculously dazed expression I was certain was plastered across my face. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

  She let out an annoyed huff over having to repeat herself. “This weekend I will be unreachable by phone, so if there’s anything that needs to be taken care of before then, can we please make sure it’s addressed within the next three days?”

  “Yeah, that’s fine. I’m out of here for the day.” I stood up, sensing a hint of relief spreading across her face. I wasn’t sure where I was going or what I wanted to do, but I couldn’t sit there any longer, allowing those old ghosts to haunt me once again.

  “Lukas,” Bridgette called as I reached the doorway.

  “Yeah?” I turned around to face her.

  “I don’t want to get accused of prying again, but are you okay? You seem kind of out of it.”

  “I’m good,” I mumbled. Heading back on my way, I stopped dead in my tracks and did an about-face. “Thanks for asking.”

  She nodded, and her eyes lit up in surprise, as a gentle smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Imagine that, I actually thanked her for asking about my well-being. But the truth of the matter was, I was feeling lonelier than ever. So just to know that there was someone who maybe cared a little, even if she really didn’t, meant a little something to me. Over the past few months, Emmeline had been the only constant in my life, and I hated being at odds with her. It was as if a huge piece of me was missing. I thought that maybe I would have heard from her throughout the day, but there was nothing. I couldn’t say I blamed her. The way I pushed her out the door last night was a little harsh on my part, but she couldn’t begin to understand my feelings on the situation with my brother. I was so angry with my mother for using her in that way and dragging her into this mess.

  My mind was going at warp speed, not knowing what to do or where to go when I walked out of Bridgette’s office. I wanted to call Emmeline, see her, but then I’d be admitting weakness by giving in and apologizing when I was still so pissed. Even if that anger was misplaced at Emmeline, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to admit that to her just yet. Katie, Bridgette’s assistant, c
aught my attention, breaking me from my inner turmoil. She was sitting at her desk, visibly shaken as a man I’d never seen before glowered at her, shouting, “Get her on the damn phone and let her know I’m coming to get them. They’re my sons, and you and your damn family will not keep them away from me!”

  Katie stood up, trying to remain calm. “Damon, you’re drunk. Please leave, and I’ll bring the boys to you later.” Her voice quivered, but he wasn’t relenting, moving closer and grabbing her roughly by the arm.

  “Katie, are you okay?” I asked.

  She looked my way, giving me a hesitant nod before breaking down in tears.

  “Everything is fine here,” the man barked. “This is between my wife and me, so mind your own damn business.”

  “What’s going on?” Bridgette rushed out of her office after hearing the commotion, taking a step back when she locked eyes with the man. She swallowed hard, looking down at his hand still gripping Katie’s arm tightly.

  “Katie, why don’t you go and have a seat in my office,” Bridgette suggested, trying to steady the apprehension that was apparent in her tone.

  “She’s not going anywhere, Bridgette,” the man answered, his voice laced with disgust as her name rolled off his tongue. “She took your advice once and because of you I lost my wife and my kids, you dumb bitch.” His eyes were flat, lacking all emotion, his face red with anger as he glared at Bridgette as if he wanted to hurt her. He took a step away from Katie and closer to Bridgette.