Chapter 11 – Eve
I stared up at Daniel, who was standing beside my table with a cautious smile on his face. I blinked once, twice, just to make sure he was here. I was too young to be going crazy, though I didn’t have any family medical history and there was no way to know what diseases ran rampant in my biological family. Schizophrenia could be one of them.
“Uh, hi?” I said cautiously. When was the last time I’d last slept? This could be a hallucination. I looked around the café and saw that we were mostly alone. Pete was talking to the cook through the pass-out window and paying us no mind.
“Hi,” Daniel said.
Tonight, he was wearing a slim-fitted grey suit with a white shirt and silver tie. His hair was parted and coiffed perfectly. The man looked like he belonged on the cover of GQ magazine. I suddenly felt self-conscious in my black leggings, black t-shirt, and red chucks. My hair was pulled into a bun to keep it out of my face. Who the hell would look at us and think we belonged together?
Not that I wanted to be with him. I absolutely did not. Okay, in my fantasies I did. In my fantasies, I also married Chris Evans and we had two beautiful kids. So, fantasies could not be relied upon.
“Hi,” I said again when I realized that I was just staring up at him and not saying a word.
“I hope you don’t think this is weird. A few of my colleagues and I were at a bar down the street. I was just walking back to my car and I saw you through the window, so I came in to say hi. And now that I’m saying this out loud, I am starting to understand why you think I’m stalking you,” Daniel said. His cheeks had turned a bright red and he cleared his throat.
“Sorry.”
I rolled my lips between my teeth to keep from smiling.
“For once, I don’t think you’re stalking me, although this does seem like the most likely stalker-y scenario,” I said.
“That’s exactly what I thought,” Daniel exclaimed.
“Do you want to have a seat?” I asked, waving at the empty chair across from mine.
“Are you sure? I don’t want to interrupt your dinner.”
“Trust me, you’ll be doing me a favor.” His being here will keep me from thinking about my recipes. Until he showed up, I didn’t realize how much I was hoping for a distraction so I wouldn’t have to wrack my brain for what I was doing wrong when the recipe was right. I closed my recipe book and slipped it back into my bag.
He pulled out the chair, unbutton his suit jacket, and sat down gracefully.
“So…are you hungry?” I asked. It was the only thing I could think of asking. I saw him and my mind just went blank. I wouldn’t be surprised if I had forgotten my name. What was this chemical reaction I had to him? I told myself I didn’t want to date him and I shouldn’t be attracted to him. Then I saw him, and all those thoughts left me.
“I’m starving,” Daniel said, looking directly at me and not even blinking. Was it just me or did his voice sound deeper and full of implications? I just about choked on my spit—how attractive. My cheeks heated with a blush and I made this very unattractive ‘uhhhh…’ noise as if I was a machine and someone had forgotten to put in the coins.
Daniel’s mouth lifted in a small smirk. His eyes held me ensnared, a la deer in the headlights. My heart sped up, thudding a mile a minute and I suddenly remembered why I had trouble maintaining eye contact with people. Because it was so intimate. It seemed to me that Daniel could see right through me and to my soul. And I was not in the position to feel comfortable with having my soul laid bare for this man.
Thankfully, he took mercy on me and his eyes dropped down to the tray in front of me. I took a deep, shaky breath. Oh my god. For a man I shouldn’t be attracted to, he did seem to possess some magic that I was drawn to.
“This looks delicious,” he said, nodding at my dinner. I blinked at him. My brain was still short-circuiting and it didn’t help when he used words like ‘delicious’. I loved the way he said it, each syllable a caress, his voice deep and throaty. Sigh.
“Uh-huh,” I said.
Daniel looked up, a small smile on his face.
“Do you mind if I have a bite?”
Wordlessly, I handed him my fork. His grin widened. It had to be the suit. That’s it. Because we had met before and I hadn’t taken leave of my senses. Daniel picked up a bite of my mac and cheese, and raising his eyes to mine, he slowly put the fork into his mouth. His lips wrapped around the plastic fork and I forgot how to breathe. Eating was not supposed to be sexy. Though, I suppose most things could be made sexy if the right person was doing it.
Daniel removed the fork from his mouth and offered it back to me. I took it wordlessly, still staring at him.
“Eve, are you going to say anything?” Daniel asked, laughing.
“Uh-huh.”
“Eve.”
“Why are you wearing a suit?” I asked.
“Do you like it?” Daniel asked. The corner of his delectable mouth tilted up in amusement. “I always wear one to work.”
“And is it appropriate to look so,” I stopped and waved my hands towards him, “GQ?”
Daniel leaned across the table.
“What you’re saying is, you like the way I look?” He asked in a low voice, making it a secret. I could see the shadows from his long lashes across his cheekbones. I felt my cheeks and ears burning. It had to be noted that I was not a blusher. I had been in a lot of competitions and they toughened my skin. With him? There was this magnetic pull. The way he asked this innocent question made it a secret, our secret. And having a secret I shared with him caused a shiver to chase down my spine.
“I plead the fifth,” I said.
“Eve,” he said, placatingly. “There’s no shame in admitting you’re attracted to me.”
I shrugged. “I know that. If I was attracted to you, I wouldn’t have any problem admitting it.”
“Oof,” Daniel winced. “For someone who bakes sweets all day, you are quite sharp.”
“Like a scalpel,” I said, saluting him with my fork.
“I know a thing or two about those.”
“Not this one.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive.”
Daniel hummed, eyes twinkling with magic or something equally intoxicating.
“Can I have more of the mac and cheese?”
“You absolutely can. When you order it.”
“That will require me walking to the counter, placing the order, waiting for the food to be made. I could perish by then.”
I shrugged again, my mouth lifting in a small, teasing smile. “More mac and cheese for me.”
I dug into my mac and cheese and moaned at the sharp tang of three different kinds of cheese. It was one of the best-tasting mac and cheese and I wasn’t surprised Daniel wanted another piece of this. His eyes tracked my hand as I lifted it to my mouth once again.
“I better go and place my order, then,” he said.
“Have an empanada for the walk,” I said. “That way you won’t perish. And tell them you want the same thing as me if you want the best dishes.”
He grabbed it off my tray and saluted me with it before walking to the counter. A group of women, giggling and laughing loudly walked into the cafe. They all appeared to be my age, maybe a little older or younger. And they all honed in on Daniel like a group of hornets.
I watched them watch him, bending their heads together and whispering about him. I wanted to know what they were saying. What did they think of him? I shouldn’t have been interested. He was my friend’s brother and he was just too many things I didn’t want. We could be friends. Yes, that’s exactly what we will be. Easy-peasy. I will put my attraction to him in a tiny little box, lock it up, and throw it into the ocean where no one could ever find it. I’d done the same with my childhood memories and traumas and well…that hadn’t worked out very well. But this would.
My mind was made up.
Daniel picked up his tray of food and when he turned, the women
followed him with their eyes until he reached me. I waved just to mess with them. They were too drunk to notice, though I was sure one of them tried to flip me the bird.
“Fans of yours?” Daniel asked, looking over his shoulder.
“Yes, I’m the thirty-something doctor they want to be the father of their offspring.”
Daniel threw me a sardonic glance in the middle of taking off his coat and loosening in his tie.
“You sound jealous,” he said, taking his seat.
“Oh yes, I’m planning on following them home after and getting rid of the competition.”
Daniel stopped in midway to rolling up his shirtsleeves and sat back against the chair. He gazed at me in surprise, amusement, and a little bit of suspicion.
“You’re in a much better mood since we saw each other last,” he noted. “Are you high?”
“I’m not high,” I said. I was in a much better mood than I had been forty-five minutes ago. That was concerning. He couldn’t be responsible for my good moods. I was happy when I saw my girls, and even they don’t have this effect on me. I needed to control myself. I needed time to evaluate my feelings and the next time I saw Daniel, I had to make sure I didn’t feel any of those feelings.
“Really? How’s work?” Daniel asked.
“Meh.”
“How’s life?”
“Bah!”
“Okay, so you have no reason to be happy.”
“Things aren’t that dire. I am just in a good mood. It’s the full moon, it affects me strangely.”
“It’s not a full moon tonight.”
“Do you secretly work for the CIA? Is the whole doctor thing a front? So many questions tonight.”
“You’re concerning me.”
“I’m…choosing to be in a good mood,” I said. Daniel had gotten two empanadas like me, and he put both of them on my tray. I looked down at the empanadas and some unknown emotion unfurled in my chest.
“Can I ask you a question?” I asked.
“Sure.”
“Do you like being back? Being close to your family?” I asked.
“No,” he replied immediately. “That’s why I moved to San Diego instead of Los Angeles. Reids’ never leave Los Angeles.”
“But you’re here, and so is Sienna,” I pointed out needlessly.
He sighed and took a sip of his water. “We’re here, for now. In my family, we follow tradition. We don’t believe in boundaries so everyone knows everything. We’re all doctors except for three people and the kids. We have lots of kids and never with one person. We always go back home. We leave, we go back to Los Angeles, live out the rest of our lives, and get buried in the ginormous fucking family plot because even in the afterlife, family is still family and you have to deal with them.”
“They sound amazing,” I said, smiling.
“We’re a novelty. We’re the crazy family other families avoid.”
“But you like being back. You like being close to them,” I said. I could hear it in the way he spoke about them. That even though they frustrated him, it was in the best, loving way possible.
Daniel’s eyes softened and he lifted his shoulder in a half shrug.
“It’s nice to be around people who understand your particular brand of crazy,” he said. “And in this case, they’re responsible for the crazy.”
“I stand by my previous judgment. They sound amazing,” I said. I liked hearing about his family. He might have thought they were messed up; that’s what I appreciated. My family was so quiet and my parents managed to adopt kids just as competitive and predictable as them.
I shifted in my chair and my knee knocked against his.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
Daniel looked up at me. He didn’t say anything, just watched me silently. The sounds of laughter and the bowling alley fell away. I let myself be lost in his gaze; it felt nice. I couldn’t remember the last time I had enjoyed talking to a man I wasn’t related to. Why did I never feel this way for the men I had dated? I enjoyed their company; I just didn’t feel this rush of excitement from talking about anything.
“This is…nice,” he said after a while.
“It is,” I replied, nodding. “I hope we can…” I wanted to say I hope we can be friends. The words got stuck in my throat. “I hope we can do this again.”
“Yes, and next time we should plan. San Diego is a big city. We probably won’t keep running into each other.”
I sat back and stared at him. Did he just…? No, he couldn’t have. Surely not. It must be my auditory imagination. Daniel was not asking me on a date.
“That’s probably not a good idea,” I said.
He wiped his mouth with the paper napkin and rolled it into a paper ball. He tossed the ball on his tray and crossed his arms. He licked his lips, took a deep breath, and looked up at the ceiling.
“How do you do it with your girls? Do you just hope to run into them so you can hang out?” He asked, looking back at me. His clear eyes held me in my place. I felt my cheeks burn.
“No, we have a group chat. I have their numbers.”
“Right, because they are your friends so you message them and make plans,” Daniel said. “Do you see where I am going with this?”
“I don’t know, I might be too blonde to understand,” I said.
Daniel tilted in his head, a dry look on his face.
“You’re a smart woman, Eve. Maybe one of the smartest I’ve ever met.”
My heart slammed against my ribcage. “You don’t even know me all that well. I could be really bad at math. I know I’m bad at math.”
“As am I. Thankfully, there are other things to be smart at.”
I tapped my foot against the floorboards. Okay. Okay. What he said made sense. This is what I wanted, to be friends. I did it with my girls, it wouldn’t be a hardship to do it with him.
“Give me your phone,” I said with determination. I held out my hand between us. Daniel didn’t even hesitate a moment before pulling his phone out of his coat pocket, unlocking it, and putting it in my hand. Taking a deep breath, I brought it towards me and without even giving it a second thought, I entered my phone number into his contacts list.
I reached out to put the phone in front of him. Daniel lifted his hand at the same time, about to take the phone from me. His fingers brushed against mine and my stomach swooped as a spark shot through my arm and down my spine. His fingers were long, his skin tanned, his hand looked strong and sinewy and capable. My entire body burned just imagining that hand on my body.
Suddenly, his phone rang between our hands and I jumped. I looked down at the phone, seeing the name Cecily on the screen just before Daniel took it and silenced the call.
His shoulders had tensed and when he smiled, it was small and tight. He put the phone face down on the table only for it to ring again. We both looked down at his phone. I knew that whoever this Cecily woman was, she was calling back. And from the look of dismay and exhaustion on his face, so did Daniel. He silenced the call again and this time, he put the phone back in his coat pocket.
“So,” he said, turning back to me. “You know any place that sells dessert?”
The tension in his shoulders was still visible. Whoever she was, there was some story with this Cecily woman. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him what was going on. I held my words because if the tables were turned, I wouldn’t want him prying into my business.
“I know the best place in the city,” I said. The grateful smile he gave me more than made up for me keeping my mouth shut.
Chapter 12 - Daniel
Cecily was calling again. It had been a day since her last call and I had let myself believe she had given up. I had forgotten how tenacious she could be. I had forgotten that her tenacity was something I found attractive once upon a time.
It started with a text. About a month and a half after our break-up—making it a month since I moved back—I had woken up to a message from her. It was a basic greeting and wondering what I was
up to. Back then, when the break-up was recent, I had immediately let my emotions cloud my judgment. Then, I let myself imagine moving back to Chicago and picking up where Cecily and I left off. The thought left me cold.
It had been almost five months since the break-up and memories of her were becoming distant and faded. For example, I couldn’t remember how she took her coffee. Most of it had to do with time and distance. Some of it had to do with me blocking her out of my mind. She wasn’t making that easy by constantly calling.
“Are you ever going to tell me why you broke things off with Cecily?”
I took a sip of my beer from the bottle and looked at my best friend, Ian. He had come down from LA for the weekend. It was Saturday and we had spent the afternoon surfing. It was well past nine at night now and we were at a bar. I didn’t want to tell him that it was coming close to my bedtime because what respectable, single, thirty-two-year-old went to bed at ten? Forget a relationship, at this rate, I wouldn’t even have a single date.
“Nope,” I said, scratching at the beer label with my thumb.
“Because the last time we spoke, you were ready to propose,” Ian said. The downside of telling your best friend everything was that sometimes it ended up backfiring. I hadn’t expected to come here and talk about Cecily, but I should have known Ian was gearing up for it the whole day.
“Dude, what part of my nope did you miss?” I asked. I flagged down a waitress and asked her for two more beers.
“The part where I know you’re hiding something and I want to know what it is,” Ian said.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re worse than my sisters.”
Everyone, and I do mean everyone in my family—aunts, uncles, cousins, my grandparents, my father, my step-mother, and my sisters—wanted to know why I had suddenly broken up with Cecily.
Given that everyone in my family had divorced their husbands or wives at some point and married other people—yet still kept in touch with their exes because they were the father or mother of their children—that was a lot of curious people. The good thing was they weren’t surprised we had broken up.
Sienna always said that there was a curse on our family; none of the first marriages lasted. I thought our family was just terrible at relationships.
Not My Type : Golden Girls 1 Page 9