by Jenna Brandt
Bryce placed his hands on either side of Lana’s arms. “You’re welcome. I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He looked down into her hazel eyes and an urge to kiss her surged through his body. Her pink lips looked so tantalizing, just waiting for him to claim them with his own.
He moved in to close the gap between them. His mouth drifted down towards hers, but before their lips could touch, a voice behind him interrupted.
“Hey there, Bryce. What are you doing here?”
A thin man with auburn hair and blue eyes appeared at their side. He looked at Lana skeptically and asked, “Who’s your… friend?”
Bryce’s hands dropped from Lana’s arms as he stepped back and said, “George Willmont, may I introduce you to Lana Collins.”
Lana stretched out her hand to the other man. “Nice to meet you.”
George glanced down at her hand as if it were repugnant. Without taking it, he returned his attention back to Bryce. “We’re heading over to The Luxx. Roger will be meeting us there. Why don’t you come along with us?” Then giving a disdainful look to Lana, he added, “Perhaps after finishing—whatever this is—up.”
Bryce noticed that another acquaintance of his, Artie Frankhurst, was standing behind George with three women he recognized from local social events. The group was decked out in swanky outfits and dripping with jewels. None of them seemed to like the fact he was with Lana from the thinly veiled contemptible looks they kept directing her way.
“I won't make it,” Bryce stated with a shake of his head. He fought the urge to punch the dirty look off George’s face as he added, “I still have dinner plans with Lana.”
“Suit yourself.” George gave one last withering stare at Lana before he sauntered off.
The rest of the group trailed behind him, giving equally disdainful looks as they passed by. The final brunette that passed by, hesitated for a moment, placing her hand on Bryce’s arm. “If you change your mind, we’ll be there for the next few hours. I’d love to catch up. It’s been awhile since the last time.”
What is she talking about? I barely recognize her. The woman’s comment filled with innuendo confused Bryce. He didn’t want Lana to get the wrong impression.
“I’m not sure what you mean, miss, but I’ve only seen you a handful of times at social gatherings.” He glanced past her towards the group that was slowly disappearing. “You should probably catch up with the rest before you get left behind.”
She flipped her hair as she removed her hand, placing both hands in her fur coat pockets. “It seems you’re right. You seem preoccupied with less… significant things.”
Before he could form a rebuttal, the woman briskly walked away.
After several seconds, Lana stated, “My, my, are those your friends? With friends like that…” she didn’t finish the sentence.
“I’m sorry. They aren’t really my friends. They’re people I met at social events I attend to make business acquaintances. I barely know any of them.”
“The last woman seemed to imply otherwise,” Lana observed.
“Unfortunately, ever since that bachelor list came out, I’ve had many women try to stake a claim where there isn’t one. I’ve dated no one since my fiancée and I broke up six months ago and I was with her for two years before that.”
“Why did things end between you?”
Bryce stiffened under the question. He knew he would need to tell Lana what happened, and he was the one to bring her up. “I found her cheating on me.”
“Oh, no, I’m so sorry, Bryce.”
“Don’t be. We didn’t belong together, and I had known it long before the cheating. It gave me the final push to end things.”
“Are you over her?”
He nodded his head. “I’m ready to move on, and I hope you will be a part of that.”
"I would like that too," she admitted. "I want to make sure I’m not reading more into this than I should."
“Like I told you, I’m not into casual dating.”
“So this isn’t that?” she probed.
He shook his head as he moved towards her. “No, this is very, very serious wooing.” He pulled her into his embrace as his mouth descended to hers. The kiss was like a bolt of lightning, electrifying both of them where they stood. After a moment, he pulled back and implored, “Are you wooed yet?”
Her eyelashes fluttered for several seconds as she looked up into his eyes before a smile spread across her face. “Oh, yes, you’re doing an exceptionally good job of that.”
Lana looked up into Bryce’s deep blue eyes and her breath hitched in response to the desire she saw reflected. She loved the feel of his strong arms around her and she leaned against him for several seconds before he broke the silence.
“Are you hungry? I have reservations for us at a restaurant.”
She nodded. “I’m famished. I haven’t had time to eat since this morning.”
He took her hand and guided her over to his car that was waiting nearby. A half hour later, they were driving into the posh area of Queens and pulling up to an elegant Italian restaurant. The sign above the front door read Ristorante Traviata. Inside, the walls were covered with old Italian photos with sconces on every wall. There was a candle and rose on each table, completing the cozy ambience.
The hostess immediately recognized Bryce as she smiled and greeted them. “Good evening, Mr. Montgomery. I have your table right this way.”
They followed the blonde woman to the back part of the restaurant into a side room which had a single table set up in the center. Peony petals covered the table along with a vase full of the flowers in the middle. There were also small votive candles surrounding the vase.
“Your server will be with you in a moment,” she said as she handed them their menus.
“I assume she recognizes you because you’ve eaten here before?” Lana inquired.
Bryce nodded. “It’s one of my favorite restaurants.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t buy it then,” she said in jest.
“I don’t buy everything I like,” he said with a chuckle. “Besides, the owner takes pride in running the place himself.”
A young man in a black shirt and slacks arrived a few moments later carrying two glasses of water and a basket of bread and butter. “Can I get you anything else to drink?” the server asked.
“Would you like to share a bottle of wine? They have a fine selection here,” Bryce explained.
“That would be nice,” she agreed.
“We’ll take a bottle of the 2005 Pinot Noir.”
The server scurried off, returning with a silver bucket which he placed in a stand beside the table along with the requested bottle of wine. He opened it and poured them each a glass before placing the remainder in the bucket.
“Would you like an appetizer?” the waiter inquired.
“Yes, thank you, I’d like a house salad,” Lana stated.
“I’m fine with just the bread.”
“And for your main course?”
“What do you suggest?” Lana asked Bryce.
“Everything is great. You can pick anything off the menu and you can’t go wrong.”
She glanced down at the list of choices and finally settled on one. “I will take the Pancetta Carbonara.”
“And I would like the Melanzane Imbotite.”
The waiter left the room once again, and Lana turned her attention to Bryce. “So, you told me on our last date you’re from Queens. Is that how you found out about this place?”
“You could say that,” Bryce stated rather cryptically. He stood up from the table as he said, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Lana thought it rather odd he left the way he did but refrained from commenting. Perhaps, he needed to use the restroom, but didn’t want to say.
She sipped her glass of wine while she nibbled on her bread and waited, trying to keep her mind from drifting back to how rudely the people from Bryce’s world treated her. She tried to tell herself it didn’t matter.
She had dealt with rich snobs before, but being treated as an inferior still stung.
The rich kids at her high school were exactly the same, and they had teased Lana mercilessly for months when she first started. Luckily, a teacher had seen an incident involving a nasty note and had told her she should try out for the school play. When they cast her in the chorus, she fell in love with the theater, finding refuge from the mean girls at school.
She thought she had left all of that behind her, but if she continued to date Bryce, would the people from his social circle continue to treat her that way? And if they did, could she handle it?
Before she could contemplate it further, Bryce returned with an older grey-haired man wearing an apron. As she looked at them, it was uncanny how much they looked alike. She wondered who he was.
“Lana Collins, may I introduce my father, Harry Montgomery.”
Bryce’s father. Well, that explains a lot. They have the same face and eyes.
“Pleased to meet you, Miss Collins,” the older man said as he reached out his hand to her.
She took it and shook it back. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Montgomery.”
“Please, call me Harry.”
“Then you must call me Lana.”
Bryce pulled up a third chair to the table for his father, then took his seat across from her. “I hope you don’t mind. I asked him to step out from the kitchen and talk with us.”
Lana shook her head. “No, of course not. I’m delighted.” She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Bryce. “So, tell me how he was as a child, Harry. Was he shy? Funny?”
“Oh, Bryce was a ham growing up. He loved making people laugh and constantly pulled practical jokes.”
“Really?” this time she looked directly at Bryce with disbelief. “He always seems so serious.”
“Well, Bryce has his reasons for being how he is now,” Harry stated as he looked at his son. “That’s his story to tell.”
As if on cue, Bryce’s phone rang, prompting him to pull it out of his jacket pocket. He glanced down at it and then up at Lana and his father. “I need to take this. It’s business.”
Lana nodded and watched as Bryce stepped out of the room.
Harry leaned forward and patted Lana’s hand. “You know, Bryce has never brought a girl here, so when he called me up and asked me if I could arrange all this, I knew you had to be something special.”
“He never even brought his fiancée?” Lana asked with shock.
He shook his head. “They had a volatile relationship, and I think he knew it wasn’t a good match. He couldn't figure out how to end it which is why she did him a favor by doing what she did.”
Harry’s words reiterated what Bryce had already told her earlier in the evening, but it was good to hear it confirmed by someone else.
“I noticed the cross necklace you are wearing,” Harry observed. “Are you a Christian?”
She nodded. “I go to Journey Church in the city.”
“It does me good to know that. I think that was the biggest problem with his fiancée. She wasn’t a believer. Even though Bryce has fallen away some years, he needs a strong, Christian woman to encourage him in his faith.”
Before she could contemplate what that meant, Bryce entered the room. “Sorry about that. I told my assistant to forward all my calls to voicemail for the rest of the evening.”
“I need to head back into the kitchen and check on the food,” Harry stated with a smile. “Make sure to say goodbye before you leave.”
Bryce took his seat. “What were you to talking about when I came back?”
“We were talking about God.”
“Oh, well, I’m sure he was glad to hear you’re a Christian. It was his biggest complaint about my ex.”
“He mentioned something like that. You know, he only feels that way because he cares.”
“I know, and he’s right. I had no business dating a non-Christian, let alone proposing to one.”
“So, your father mentioned you had a story to tell me about why you are the way you are.”
Bryce’s eyes drifted to the glass in front of him. He rubbed the edge of the rim with his thumb for several seconds before he spoke. “I told you my mother died, but I didn’t go in to detail. She passed away from breast cancer when I was in high school. I was in the middle of finishing my first app which she had inspired. She loved helping others.”
“I’m so sorry, Bryce. That must have been so difficult.”
“It was, but not just for me.” His eyes moved up to meet Lana’s. “My dad was beside himself. He didn’t get out of bed for weeks, then the medical bills rolled in and he couldn’t keep up with them. My father had to sell this place to cover the bills.”
“How horrible.” She looked around the room, then over at Bryce with confusion. “But if he sold it, how did he get it back? Does he work here now?”
“No, when I sold my app, the first thing I did was buy this place back for my father as a present for all he and my mom did for me.”
Lana’s heart melted at Bryce’s thoughtfulness. “You’re a good man, Bryce Montgomery.”
“That’s kind of you to think so, but not being able to stop the loss of my mother or this place changed me. For a long time, all I cared about was making money. I didn’t want to be in a place where we could lose everything again.”
“Is that why you focused on ventures that made money rather than ones that helped others like your first one?”
A look of hurt crossed Bryce’s face for a moment before he covered it up. She immediately regretted saying it. “I’m sorry. I have no right to judge how you handled your loss.”
He shook his head. “No, you’re right. I did exactly what you said, and what’s more, I let that focus take the priority over my relationship with God.” He reached out and took her hand, “Something I realize is a mistake now. I want to get right with God.”
Lana liked the sound of that, but she knew better than to get her hopes up. People said a lot of things in the heat of the moment, and she wanted to see the change in Bryce’s lifestyle rather than just have him say it.
“I think it’s great. You should also consider going back to your roots and come up with a project that helps others.”
“Aren’t you full of ideas,” he reached out and took her hand in his. “I love it.”
“That makes me glad. I want to encourage you like you have me.”
“We’re good for each other,” he said with a grin.
“We are,” she agreed returning his smile. “I’m glad God brought you into my life.”
9
Bryce could hear the music for Roger’s 28th birthday celebration from outside the nightclub he rented out for the occasion. Bryce had asked Lana to go with him, but she informed him she had to work at her catering job. Against his better judgement, he went on his own to the party. He felt he owed it to Roger to be there.
As with most parties thrown in their social circle, Roger decked the place out with all the bells and whistles. Elaborate lighting filled the room, along with the hippest DJ spinning the latest music. The decorations were extravagant, including an ice sculpture of Roger’s face in the center of the room, and a flower arrangement of his monogram at each table.
The party had only been going on an hour, but it was already in full swing with guests adorned in their best outfits, picked and worn strategically to impress.
“Why if it isn’t Bryce Montgomery. I’m surprised to see you here.”
Bryce turned to find Raef Howard, one of the most obnoxious and gossip-mongering people around New York, staring at him. Great, I have to put up with him first thing. This isn’t a promising start to the night.
“Why are you surprised to see me here? Roger and I are good friends.”
“Are you still? I hear you’ve been ducking out on everyone because of the new interest you’ve gained.”
“And what interest might that be?”
“George Willmont told me you were slinking a
round town with that Soho waitress; that you blew everyone off to spend the evening with her rather than be with your friends.”
Bryce stiffened under the rebuke. He didn’t like being gossiped about, and even less that the talk involved Lana. “It’s no one’s business who I spend my time with, and for the record, she’s an up-and-coming actor.”
The man snorted. “Lana Collins, right? I looked her up, and she’s not even a blip on the internet. Quite a step-down from Gabrielle, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t,” Bryce stated with a steely tone and a narrowed glare. “If you will excuse me, I need to go give my congratulations to Roger.”
Without waiting for a response, Bryce moved away from the annoying man and worked his way through the crowd. After several passes and casual greetings from acquaintances, he decided he needed to head to the restroom. He could find Roger later. It wasn’t like he was going anywhere, since it was his party.
He adjusted his shirt and blazer in the mirror, then pushed the edge of his hair back into place before leaving the restroom. Just as he turned the corner to head back into the main room, he saw Gabrielle come into focus.
“There you are, Bryce. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
He let out a heavy sigh and shook his head. “What are you doing, Gabrielle? I thought I made it clear I want you to stay away from me.”
“Oh, you were just still upset the other night because of that tiff I had with the other woman. You hate public spectacles, but I promise, I will be on my best behavior tonight.”
“I don’t care what you do tonight, as long as you understand it won’t involve me.”
Her lip came out in a pout as she placed her hands on her hips. “Why do you have to be like that, mi amor? It hurts my heart when you pretend like you don’t care.” She moved towards him and placed her hands on his chest, then added, “But we both know that’s not true. You still love me.”
He took her hands and removed them. “No, I don’t. I’m not sure I ever did, and I’m certain you never loved me. You don’t even know how to love someone because you’re too busy loving yourself.”