by Calista Fox
He shook his head as though irritated, then added, “Very good. I’ll see you then.”
He disconnected the call and tossed the iPhone onto the sofa as he swore under his breath.
Staci asked, “Something wrong?”
Evan spun around. The dread stamped across his face spoke volumes. The chill in the air seeped into her veins.
“Evan,” she said as she got to her feet, the sheet still wrapped around her.
“Everything is just…fuck.” He paced. Halted. Spun back to face her. “Everything is just seriously fucked.”
“Okay,” she said in a tentative voice. “Let’s start with a definition of everything.”
“Staci.” He pinned her with a look. “All of the work I’ve been doing with prosthetic prototypes has been set against a very tight timeline. But that timeline has been kicked into high gear and I’m falling behind. Way behind. So I’ve got one chance to present my theories in front of the hospital committee, and then I’ve got to follow through over the next couple of months. That means—”
He planted his hands on his waist. Gave her a dire look.
Staci’s stomach took a dive south. Everything inside her froze.
“Lay it on the line, Evan,” she said. Because she already felt the gloom and doom moving in on her.
“I can’t spend the weekend in Santa Barbara. As soon as my lecture is over, I’m flying back here to prepare for a presentation to the committee on Monday afternoon, and then—”
“Monday afternoon.” Her heart sank as low as her stomach, the two organs hanging out somewhere around her knees. “That’s Valentine’s Day.”
“I know.” He let out a long breath. “Jesus. Staci. I’m so sorry. I just…I can’t go to Paris. I have to be here. There are a few jaunts I have to make for speeches, but they’re now going to be cut short, and I’m going to have to turn around and come back to finish my work, and I…I just…I can’t deal with your shoe situation right now. Or for some time. A long while, actually. I’m so sorry. I know I said I’d help. But now everything’s just…Goddamn it.”
His fist balled again, and he stole a glance around the room as though he were looking for something to smash.
“Evan,” she said, her heart constricting, everything she’d put faith in recently because of him grinding to screeching halt within her. But what was he supposed to do? She knew why he’d worked so hard in the prosthetics area, knew what the project meant to him. It tore her apart to say so, but Staci told him, “You had plans and projects in the works before I came along. I can’t derail any of that, Evan. I wouldn’t want to.”
“Staci.” He stepped toward her.
“No.” She held her hand up. “It’s okay.” A huge lie. But damn it. What else was she going to do but bow out gracefully? She said, “I dropped into your life and made a plea for you to champion my cause. But you have your own cause. I understand that. And—”
“Staci, I wouldn’t just walk away from—”
“Evan.” Emotion swelled so fast and furious in her throat that it nearly choked her. “I get it, okay? You have plenty to juggle right now. Adding me and my shoe dilemma and Valentine’s in Paris…Christ…I mean, what were we thinking, anyway? We both have huge responsibilities. We can’t just go jetting off to Paris for dinner.”
Tears burned her eyes. Everything was suddenly crashing down around her, and Staci had no control over it. But she also couldn’t just stand here and let it all crush her.
Been there.
Done that.
She hitched her chin, fought back tears, and said, “I should be in Baltimore, anyway. That’s where my life is. My company. My everything.”
With one exception…her heart.
“I’ll figure something out,” he insisted.
“No,” she said, knowing that she had to extract herself now before they got in any deeper and the inevitable fallout worsened. “It was a whirlwind romance. Those never last.”
She dropped the sheet and stepped into her dress.
“You know that’s not true about us.”
Pulling on her boots, she said, “Evan, I can’t invest in we’ll figure it out. Neither can you. We’re too wrapped up in our own agendas. That’s not unusual…It’s life. So we should really consider ourselves fortunate that this happened sooner rather than later.”
Not that it didn’t shred her now to be walking out the door. But what was Staci going to do? Be a roadblock to him achieving his goals? Of course not.
“Staci.” He followed her to the foyer. “It can’t just end like this.”
“We’ll survive. We’re used to going it on our own.” She collected her coat and purse.
“Hey.” He grabbed her arm. “Don’t go. Let’s talk about this.”
“I can’t talk about this,” she said. And felt the heartbreak creeping in. “I don’t get involved specifically for this reason, Evan. I’ve been devastated before. I can’t go through it again.”
“I know I’m canceling everything on you all at once. I know how bad this looks, Staci. How shitty it is.”
“Evan, I’m not blaming you. Please don’t think that. It’s circumstance. But I don’t have to fall victim to it. I can’t. Please understand that.”
She wrenched free of him and walked out of Dr. Evan Hart’s life.
Just as all the tears started to fall.
Chapter Sixteen
Man, this is one massive Debbie Downer moment,” Maxi said.
“Yeah,” Staci concurred. She reached for another tissue and dabbed at the corners of her eyes. She’d done such a great job holding the tears at bay when she’d severed the ties with Evan. But as soon as the door had closed behind her, the floodgates had opened. And, two days later, she was still crying a river.
“God,” she said with sufficient angst. “It’s like I’m in love with him or something. I mean, I feel like someone just shoved their fist into my chest and squeezed the hell out of my heart until the blood ran dry. And there’s just…no fucking use for it anymore.” Her fingers shook as she pressed the tissue to her eyes and sopped up more moisture.
“Jesus, honey. I’m so sorry. I mean, damn it. One minute you’re on cloud nine and spending Valentine’s in Paris—shit, what woman wouldn’t be delirious over that prospect?—and the next…”
“I’m back to square one.” Staci groaned. “Maybe that’s what hurts the most. I knew not to get involved with Evan. But I couldn’t help it. He’s just so…everything. And now I’m just so…screwed.” She blew her nose. And more tears fell.
“Stace, isn’t there some way to work it out?”
“Maxi, the man happened to have two days out of his busy schedule to spend with me and he thought, Okay, this’ll work! Then reality came along and slapped us both in the face. I don’t blame Evan. Not at all. We both got caught up in the moment, in each other. Whatever. It was irrational and impractical and just plain stupid. So fucking stupid. Who just drops everything for romance?”
“But you weren’t dropping everything. You’re both committed to the things in your lives. The real question here, Stace, is whether you want to figure out how to work one more component into your life: Evan.”
She pushed away from the breakfast table at her home, where she and Maxi had hashed this all out over bear claws and coffee.
“It hurt so much to go through this with Jeremy,” Staci said. “And it hurts even more right now. I don’t know what that means.”
“Except that maybe you did fall in love with Evan?”
“No one falls in love in two weeks, Maxi.”
Her brow jumped. “Don’t be so sure. It happened practically overnight for me and Ryan.”
“That’s different.”
“How?” Maxi gently demanded.
“I don’t know. It just is.”
Maxi sighed. “So what are you going to do now?”
“It’s too late for the family cruise. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just suck it up and go to Paris on my own.”
/>
“For Valentine’s Day? Are you masochistic?”
“Jean Marquis got me a reservation at Le Jules Verne. It would be so wrong of me to cancel.”
“I’m sure they’d understand.”
“Maxi, I’ve spent the last ten Valentine’s Days alone.” Staci hitched her chin. “I’m resigned to the fact that I’m going to spend the next ten or more alone.”
“So you’re giving up?”
“I’ve told you before that romance wasn’t my thing. Besides, a shopping spree soothes the sting over a breakup, and where better to max out my credit cards than Paris?”
“Stace…”
“I’ll be fine.” She hugged her friend. “This too shall pass. Right?”
* * *
It was definitely an insane idea to keep her dinner reservation in Paris.
What the hell was I thinking?
Staci sat at the bar, asking herself that question for the millionth time. Sure, she’d shopped till she’d nearly dropped. And had shipped a dozen dresses back home. That had perked her up a tiny bit.
She’d scarfed down some French pastries and decadent chocolate, and that had provided a modicum of relief.
Now she was sipping a wonderful Bordeaux while taking in the gorgeous lights of Paris.
This is facing one’s demons.
If Staci had stayed in Baltimore, she would have spent the evening curled on her sofa ripping through yet another box of tissues. At least in Paris, she could drown her sorrows in a breathtaking setting, with some lively music and great wine.
You will survive.
It was a motto she’d adopted long ago.
The downside was that three days had passed since she’d seen and spoken with Evan, and it felt like a goddamn eternity.
How could she miss someone so terribly? It was like she was missing a part of her soul or something.
Her head dipped, and she studied her cocktail napkin, not exactly up for making eye contact with the other patrons gathered around the bar. Most of them were on dates, though there were two or three single men sucking down wine and scotch.
Staci blinked. A tear fell from her eye and splashed onto the little burgundy square beneath her wineglass.
Oh, fuck.
She was going to have a “perfect-sister meltdown” right here at the bar in Le Jules Verne.
Come on, Stace. Pull it together.
Another tear splattered. Then another.
Her eyes squeezed shut.
No, no, no!
She sucked in a shaky breath.
Time to make a beeline for the ladies’ room and collect herself. Then call it an evening. To hell with the reservation Jean had scored for her.
“Excuse me, mademoiselle.” The bartender interrupted her meltdown. “I have a glass of champagne for you.”
Not daring to glance up because she couldn’t get the tears under control, Staci said, “I didn’t order champagne.”
“It’s from the gentleman at the end of the bar.”
Staci sat on the opposite end. She sniffled, sucked it up, and raised her head. “Please tell him thank you but, no tha—”
Her gaze landed on Evan.
Her breath caught. Her heart launched into her throat.
The bartender popped the cork on a bottle of private-reserve Dom Perignon and he poured a glass as Evan slid off his barstool and came around to join her.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, her heart stammering as she kind of wondered if she was hallucinating, imagining that she was seeing the gorgeous, blue-eyed, dark-haired surgeon come her way.
“I heard the food is fantastic,” he said in his sexy bedroom voice. “That this is the most romantic city in the world. That a stunning redhead was having dinner here on Valentine’s Day. All alone. Couldn’t have that.”
More tears threatened her eyes and a lump of emotion swelled in her throat. Still, she managed to ask, “Who would tell you such a thing?”
“Your friend Maxi. Who is just as diligent about getting ahold of me as you were.”
“Goddamn her…” Staci muttered under her breath.
“Don’t be mad. I’m glad she called. And just in time so that I could fly over first thing this morning in order to make it here in time. While it’s still officially the most romantic day of the year.”
“Evan—”
“Just listen,” he said quietly, though insistently. “Hear me out.”
Her eyes squeezed shut to keep the heavy drops at bay. As best she could, at any rate.
He told her, “I freaked out over the drastic change in plans this week and the coming months. I’ll admit it. I’ve worked so hard on documenting all of my ideas and theories, and I needed to present them. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”
Her eyelids fluttered open. “Then why are you here? You were supposed to present this afternoon.”
“Well, the thing is…” He swiped away a few of her tears, appearing a bit tormented by the sight of them. “While I was in the middle of my lecture in Santa Barbara, it occurred to me that I was searching all of the faces in the crowd, looking for yours. And then it dawned on me that I’ve been spinning my wheels with my prosthesis concepts because it simply isn’t my area of expertise. I have good ideas, but I’m not the one who can take the hodgepodge and turn it into something concrete and useable. So I turned over all of my documentation to the committee for someone better qualified to take my base models to the next level.”
“Evan, I—”
“Staci,” he urged. “I’m completely behind your shoe revolution. That is an area where I can prove invaluable—and I want to. I want to help you.”
“And you came all the way to Paris to tell me that?” She was shocked. Reeling. Confused.
“Actually, I came all the way to Paris to tell you that I love you. Well, to Paris by way of Beverly Hills.”
“Beverly Hills?”
“Rodeo Drive, to be exact. Cartier, to be even more specific.”
“Evan.” Emotion seized her. “What are you rambling about?”
“Staci. I love you,” he repeated with conviction in his eyes. “I think it’s a very clear and distinct case of love at first sight, as a matter of fact. I saw you in that hallway at the Four Seasons in Baltimore and that was it. I couldn’t get you out of my mind…and I certainly won’t ever be able to get you out of my heart.”
“Oh, God.” She choked on a sob.
“So I was wondering…” He pulled a small black box from his pocket and knelt on one knee before her. “If you’d marry me.”
Staci’s heart nearly burst from her chest.
Evan flipped back the lid, and her knees threatened to buckle.
“Jesus Christ!” Her hand flew to her mouth. Her eyes popped. She dropped her hand and said, “Good Lord, Evan. That’s the size of a goddamn skating rink!”
“It was the biggest ring they had in the store. They actually offered me a bodyguard to bring it to you.”
“Evan!”
“I told you I wanted to give you the moon and the stars. You deserve them.”
He’d rendered her speechless.
“Come on, Staci. Stace. Sweetheart. Sometimes life throws you a curveball, and you have to adjust your priorities. I did. I know exactly what I want. You.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Evan said, “Say ‘yes’ already so that I can kiss you.”
“Oh, my God,” she said on a rush of air. “Yes. Evan. Yes!”
He slipped the ring onto her finger, stood, and took her in his arms, laying on her yet another stellar kiss that rocked her to the core of her being.
The crowd around them erupted.
Staci barely noticed…
Epilogue
Two months later…
Just keep walking forward,” Evan instructed as he gripped Staci’s arm, holding her steady. “A few more steps.”
She felt ridiculous with a blindfold over her eyes, but Evan had insisted.
; “Where are we, and what are we doing here?” she asked.
“Just have a little faith, baby. There are a couple of steps. Let’s take them one at a time.” He helped her ascend the short set of stairs. Then he said, “All right. Cross over here with me and…voila.”
“Voila, what? I can’t see a damn thing.”
He whisked off the blindfold, and it took a few seconds for Staci’s eyes to adjust to the sight surrounding her: a warehouse.
“What the…?” She shook her head, perplexed.
A warehouse.
A heartbeat later, a large crowd yelled, “Surprise!” as they sprang from just about every nook and cranny of the first floor of the building.
Staci jumped, startled. Pressed her hand to her heart as it thundered.
“What is going on?” she asked Evan as Maxi, Ryan, Lola, and several others rolled out a long table with sheet cakes covering them.
“This is your early wedding gift,” Evan told her. “I found you a secondary building for your operations.”
“Evan! Oh, holy cow!” She scanned the area, taking it all in. The right size, the perfect layout…A thoroughly beautiful setup. “This is amazing. But how…?”
“You put the bug in my ear when you were at my apartment a while back, remember?” he asked. “So I put out feelers to my friends and associates. And eventually, I heard of someone who was planning to unload this building, but he was waiting on the market to improve. I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse and, well…Here we are.”
“He ran all of the specs by me, Stace,” Maxi said as she and Ryan joined them. “This place fits the bill to a T. And my team has already laid all of the groundwork to get us moved in so that there will be absolutely no disruption of service in production or distribution as we transfer manufacturing to this facility. Our main building will be able to temporarily pick up the slack so that we keep our production levels stable.”
“I have graphs and project Gantt charts if you’d like to see them,” Ryan offered in his Australian accent.