They found Matt and Kevin’s table, and Lanie grinned when she saw the couple sitting next to Matt.
“Aiden,” Tyler said in surprise, trying to keep his voice light and friendly, but it was hard. The woman he loved was moving to work with the bastard, and while he knew Lanie didn’t have romantic feelings for Aiden, he wasn’t sure if Aiden could say the same.
Aiden stood and leaned across the table, and shook Tyler’s hand. “So you’re the man who finally captured Lanie’s heart.”
Tyler locked his gaze with Aiden’s. Son of a bitch. He was jealous. And Lanie was going off to live with the guy—literally, since Aiden had offered to let her stay with him until she found a place to live.
The glance Matt shot Tyler confirmed he’d noticed.
But Lanie walked around the table to give Aiden a hug. “What in the world are you doing here?”
He held his hands out at his sides. “Thanks to you, I was invited.”
“But you don’t even know the bride or groom.”
“But I know one of the most beautiful bridesmaids in the world.”
Lanie laughed. “Save it for the clients, Aiden.” She glanced at her assistant in the chair next to him. “Stephanie, I see you two found each other.”
“It wasn’t hard,” Stephanie said with a grin. “He was the only guy asking for a folding chair to sit in the aisle, since he wasn’t a friend of the bride or the groom.”
“You didn’t!” Lanie said
Aiden smirked.
After they ate dinner, the bride and groom had their first dance, then the wedding party joined them on the dance floor.
Tyler took Lanie into his arms and held her close as they swayed to the music. He looked over at the bride and groom, who were smiling at each other. “They look happy.”
Lanie turned to watch them. “Being in love will do that.”
“I told you I loved you and four days later, I had to fucking ruin it,” Tyler said.
“Hey,” she said, placing her index finger lightly on his lips. “None of that.”
“Lanie, closing your store is the single biggest greatest regret of my life, and that’s saying something, after some of the stunts I’ve pulled.”
She gave him a soft kiss, and he felt that the sadness he’d seen for the past several days had returned. “I know.”
“Why aren’t you beating me up for doing this?”
“Because you’re already beating yourself up enough for both of us.”
* * *
“Can I cut in?” a male voice asked behind her.
She glanced back to see Kevin, wearing a big grin.
Tyler mock-scowled. “I don’t think so. Who knows what you’ll tell her.”
Kevin moved closer. “Come on. I promise to be on my best behavior.”
“Tyler,” Lanie said. “It’s okay.”
Tyler dropped his hold, and Kevin took his place.
Lanie let him lead her around several measures before she said, “I’m kind of surprised you cut in.”
“Because I risked losing a limb with Tyler?” he teased. “I can take him.”
“No, because I kind of got the impression you don’t like me.”
“Really? Why?”
“Maybe because you’re worried I’m going to hurt your best friend.”
Kevin’s grin faded. “Yeah. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I know you’ve been talking about ending things with him when you leave next week.”
“Kevin, I’m sorry. You have to know this is killing me.”
“I know. I guess I don’t understand why you have to end it. Can’t you at least try it and break it off later if it doesn’t work?”
She shook her head. “I’m trying to be optimistic. But honestly, I just don’t think it’s going to work.”
“He loves you, Lanie, and losing you is going to kill him.” He paused. “Are you punishing him for shutting down your store?”
“What? No.” She glanced over at her table and spotted Tyler. He looked like he was ready to cut back in at any moment. “I don’t want to leave, but I don’t have a job here, and there’s a great one in Atlanta. And as far as trying a long-distance relationship, I’ve seen too many fail to do that to him.”
“Lanie, please don’t just leave him like this.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I don’t want to, Kevin.”
Tyler broke in moments later, and Kevin took off, while Tyler pulled her back into his arms. “Lanie? Are you crying?”
“No. I’m fine.”
She forced a smile, then, when the song was finished, she suggested they go sit with his friends. But as they left the dance floor Britt stood by another table and motioned Lanie over.
Tyler gave Lanie a quick kiss. “You go see what she wants, and I’ll get us something to drink.”
“Thanks.” She closed the distance between her and her cousin, sad all over again. It wasn’t just Tyler whom she was leaving.
“You look beautiful, Britt,” she said. “You look happy.”
“I am,” Britt said. “What’s this I hear about you leaving?” When Lanie didn’t respond, Britt pressed on. “How can you leave after falling in love with Tyler? Do you know what a great guy he is?”
“I lost my job, Britt, but I’m lucky to have found a new one. I tried to find a way to stay here in Kansas City, but it didn’t work out.” Her voice broke. “You have no idea how badly I wanted it to work out.”
Britt pulled her into a hug. “I know, Randy told me about Tyler and the injunctions. I’m sorry.”
Lanie kissed her cheek, then headed for the front door. She needed a moment to clear her head.
She stood outside, looking up into the stars for a couple of minutes, when she heard the door open behind her. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was coming outside,” she said. “But I just needed a moment.”
“Then maybe I should go back in,” Aiden said.
Lanie turned around in surprise. “Aiden. I thought you were Tyler.”
“You needed a moment from Tyler?”
“No, I needed a moment from all the people trying to tell me that moving to Atlanta is a bad idea.”
His eyebrows rose. “People think you shouldn’t move?”
“Not because of the job. Because I’m leaving Tyler.”
“Why are you leaving Tyler?”
“Come on, Aiden,” she said. “You know why. I need a job.” She pushed out a sigh and rubbed her temple. “That sounded bad. I’m really excited about working for you and with you. I believe in what you’re doing.” She gave him a sad smile. “If only I could pick up your business and move it to Kansas City, it would be perfect.”
“Lane, I’m so sorry you’re facing this choice. I’m not going to lie—I’m excited you’re coming—but I hate to see you so torn.”
“It’s part of growing up, right? You have to make the hard choices.” She wiped a tear from her cheek.
“Yeah. I guess so.” He motioned to the door. “Now, let’s get you inside before Tyler comes out here and kicks my ass for keeping you away from him in the short time he has left.”
Lanie gave him a hug. “Thanks, Aiden. You’ve been a godsend.”
He laughed. “I like the sound of ‘godsend.’”
She shook her head with a grin. “Don’t let it go to your head.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Lanie stayed over at Tyler’s condo after the wedding. When she told him she needed to go in on Sunday to take care of some final paperwork that had to be done before her last day, he almost told her to tell them to screw it. But this was her fifteenth store opening, and he was the cause of it being an epic failure. So he convinced her to stay in bed an hour longer while he showed her how much he loved her, then he took her to a local coffee shop for coffee and a pastry before he dropped her off at her office around eleven.
“This is going to take me all day,” she said as she opened the car door. “So why don’t you call Eric? You missed your standing Wednesday-night dinner,
so why don’t you hang out with him today while I’m working?”
He had to admit it was a good idea. It would take his mind off the fact that Lanie was leaving in a few days. He called Eric on the way home and invited him to his condo for pizza and to watch the Chiefs game.
While he waited for his brother to show up, he started gathering Lanie’s things to make it easier for her on Tuesday, then set them on the kitchen table. He’d just laid a couple of dresses over the back of one of his dining room chairs when he heard a knock at the door.
Eric looked worried when Tyler opened the front door. “Dude, you look like shit.”
“Didn’t you ever hear, if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all?”
“Yeah,” Eric grinned. “You should hear the mean comment.”
Tyler laughed in spite of himself and let his brother in.
“I take back all the shit I ever said about your condo,” Eric said, walking around the living area.
Tyler felt like an ass for never inviting him over before. Just one more thing to add to his pile of shit-head moves. “Wait. You never talked shit about my condo.”
Eric gave him a knowing grin, and Tyler laughed. Who knew his kid brother was exactly what he needed to feel better? He never would have even considered it a month ago. But since that night at IHOP, he had a connection to his brother he hadn’t felt before.
He owed that to Lanie.
He couldn’t believe he was losing her. And it was his own damn fault. Why hadn’t he put things together sooner?
His eyes burned, and he walked into the kitchen to buy time to get himself together. “Want a drink?” He opened the fridge. “I’ve got beer and…Diet Coke.”
Eric laughed. “You drink Diet Coke?”
“No. Those were Lanie’s.”
“Were?” Eric noticed the dresses hanging over the chair and the partially filled box on the table. “You dumped her.” He sounded disappointed.
“The person responsible for the dumping is in question.”
“How did you screw it up?”
“Who said I screwed it up?” Tyler asked. It burned even more that he had, but dammit, he’d just been doing his job.
“Please, you’re a Norris. It’s what we do best.”
Tyler grabbed a beer and handed his brother a Diet Coke. To his surprise, the boy popped it open and took a drink. Tyler took his own generous gulp.
“So tell me how you came up with your theory,” Tyler said as he sat down.
“That Norris men screw up?” Eric plopped down next to him. “Look at me and the mess I was in at school. Alex has his own girlfriend issues. Dad…he’s practically a lost cause. Then there’s you. Never had a girlfriend until Lanie. That’s pretty sad for an old dude.”
“I object,” Tyler said. “I’m not an old dude.”
A grin spread over Eric’s face. “I knew that one would get you. But there’s no denying you never had a girlfriend, and Matt said to tell you that the stalker didn’t count.”
“Matt?” Tyler asked with raised eyebrows. “You’ve been talking to Matt?”
Eric lifted his shoulders into a lazy shrug. “I thought we were going to watch the game.”
Tyler grabbed the remote and flipped on the TV. The game had just started, and not much was going on, yet Eric seemed glued to the screen.
“How are things going at school?”
Eric shrugged again. “Pretty good. I went on a date last night.”
“Really? Who is she?”
Eric laughed. “Now you sound like a girl.”
“Guilty as charged. Who is she?”
“Someone from band. Now that I have my shit together, I get to march again. Want to come see the game on Friday night?”
“Yeah,” he said, surprised he meant it.
“Maybe you could bring Lanie.”
“Eric, Lanie won’t be here. She’s moving to Atlanta.”
“Why?” he asked, his gaze still on the screen.
“Because she took a job there…It’s complicated.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
He was starting to smell a rat. Grabbing the remote, he flipped off the game.
“Hey!” Eric protested.
“What did you hear and whom did you hear it from?”
Eric leaned over, trying to snatch the remote from Tyler’s hands. “Now you really sound like a girl.”
Tyler held the remote out of reach. “I’ll turn it back on if you talk.”
“Fine. Matt. And Kevin.”
“Both of them?” Traitors.
“They’re worried about you. Why haven’t you answered your phone?”
They’d each called him a couple of times that morning, but he’d been with Lanie, and he hadn’t felt like talking. “I needed a break.”
“So you figured you’d hang out with me?”
“Yeah.”
Eric looked surprised, then grinned. “Now, turn on the game.”
Laughing, Tyler obeyed.
They settled in and watched two quarters, but when it turned into a slaughter, Eric said, “I’m hungry. Let’s go get something to eat.”
“It’s two thirty, and we just had a pizza an hour ago.”
“So?”
So, indeed.
Tyler drove them to the Plaza. After they parked in a garage, they walked a couple of blocks to Brio.
“That’s it, huh?” Eric asked, flicking his hand toward the tarp covering Lanie’s store.
He saw no reason to hide it. “Yeah, that’s it.”
“So she told you she her job was the time management thing, but she was really opening a designer clothes store?”
“Yeah, that’s the bottom line, I guess.”
“And your law firm was trying stop her store from opening.”
Tyler’s eyes narrowed. He knew what the boy was up to, but he saw no reason not to go along. The fact that it ate at his soul was penance. “Yes.”
“Lanie must hate your guts.”
“She doesn’t hate me. She said she knew I had no idea it was her.”
“So if you don’t hate her, and she doesn’t hate you, what’s the problem? Why are you breaking up?”
“Sometimes things are complicated, Eric.”
“I call bullshit.”
“Language.”
Eric stopped on the sidewalk. “You want me to tell you more about my date last night?”
Tyler was getting whiplash. He pointed across the street. “How about we have this conversation at the restaurant? I thought you were hungry.”
Eric grinned. “Good idea.”
After they were seated in a booth and had placed their orders, Tyler thumped the table with his index finger. “Okay. I ordered you food, now I want to hear about the date.”
Eric grinned. “Claire Hoffstetter. She’s the one I wrote the poem for.”
“Wait. The one who showed it to the entire school?”
“Yeah, only Claire didn’t do it.”
“Then who did?”
“Her friends, but they weren’t her friends. Turned out they were jealous that I wrote a poem for her, so they made fun of it.”
“And Claire let you think she did it?”
“She knew I was hurt either way, and she had let her friends read it. She thought it was her fault it happened so she deserved the blame. She figured I’d never want to go out with her after all the hell I went through.”
Tyler scowled, smelling a setup. “And how’d you find this out?”
Eric held his gaze. “She wanted to date me, so she found the guts to tell me the truth.”
The waiter showed up with their appetizer, and as soon as he left, Eric continued talking. “You know what’s really pathetic? A sixteen-year-old girl has more guts than you.” He took a sip of his drink and grinned.
Fuck you, Eric was on the tip of his tongue, but given Eric’s age and the fact that he’d just pointed out that a sixteen-year-old girl was more mature than him, h
e held back.
“My situation is different than yours,” Tyler said. “Sure, we both have the whole misunderstanding issue, but neither one of us was mad at the other. We were just both very upset that I hurt Lanie’s store opening.”
“But now she’s leaving, and you’re letting her go.”
“I’m not just letting her go. I’m respecting her decision. She’s losing her job and she can’t find another one here. So she’s moving to Atlanta to work with an old friend. She says she doesn’t know if or when she’d move back, and we both know I’ll be here. So we’re ending it when she leaves.”
“So?” Eric said, unimpressed “Bill Messing’s girlfriend moved to Raytown, so he got a job at Wendy’s to be closer to her.”
“Adult careers are a whole lot harder to change than teenagers working at fast-food joints.”
“You said Lanie can’t find a job here, but attorneys are a dime a dozen. You could find a job there.”
“Wouldn’t it bother you that I just started hanging out with you and then I moved away?”
Eric shrugged. “Yeah, but I don’t want you to let her get away, either. It took you over thirty years to find a girlfriend. You’ll be really old in another thirty. And maybe I could come visit you.”
The food arrived soon after, and Tyler watched in amazement as his brother plowed through his own fettucine, then moved on to to half of Tyler’s salmon. But Eric was so busy chowing down, he didn’t have time to talk, which gave Tyler plenty of time to think.
It might not be that hard for Tyler to get a job in Atlanta. At the very least, he could put out a few feelers.
“So…” Tyler said as Eric shoveled in the last of his broccoli. “Let’s say I wanted to tell Lanie that I’m considering moving with her. What do you suggest?” He felt like an idiot, but so far, the kid’s advice had been sound. Why not listen to him?
“You need a grand gesture.”
“A grand gesture?” Tyler asked. “You mean like Say Anything?”
“What?”
“You know, the eighties movie with the boom box.”
“What’s a boom box?”
Tyler groaned. “Never mind. I get it. A grand gesture. Like what?”
“How big are you willing to go?”
It only took a second to come up with the answer. “Big.”
Until You Page 25