“You realize we haven’t gotten into a single argument in the last five minutes?” she asked, her eyes growing wide. “If I’m not mistaken I do believe that is a new record, Almeida.”
“Maybe you should stop starting stupid arguments,” he said, softly.
Lila’s eyes widened. “I never start them."
He didn’t miss a beat. “You start them all.”
“You’re insane. You can’t be serious.”
“I’m always serious.” He said seriously, before a smile began to work at his lips.
“As much as I would love to engage in a battle of wits with a graduate from Harvard Law, I don’t have that kind of time on my hands. I have to be at the school in twenty minutes.”
“But school doesn’t start for another hour.”
She shrugged. “It’s my day with the kids. I like to get there a little early.”
An silent moment passed. “The kids from your club, right?”
“Yep. Every Thursday morning.”
Jack could feel the way the air in the room had thickened, how the mood had completely changed. One minute she’d been almost joking with him, something they never did, and now she was rapidly closing off. He knew why. She didn’t trust him enough to talk about those kids. Not after what he’d said to her the other day. “Do you have time for a cup of coffee?”
She nibbled her lip and gripped the bottom of her blazer, watching as his eyes fell helplessly to her mouth. She released her bottom lip from the confines of her teeth and he licked his own as she did. Her stomach jumped.
“I don’t know,” she said, somewhat anxiously. “You are the same age as me, after all. Apparently I’m more inclined to accept coffee dates with the fifteen and sixteen year old variety.”
Jack clicked his tongue and craned his neck to the side, holding her eyes. “Don’t bite,” he whispered.
“You started it.”
He hadn’t started it, not at that very second, but in a way he really had. He’d started it the day he’d accused her of ever hurting one of her kids, and now that he had her in his house he longed to return to that night on her doorstep and do everything differently.
As she began to look back to that night Lila was suddenly wondering what in the world she was doing in a house with a man who could so easily say something so awful to her-- and lusting after him while in his house, at that.
“I can see the wheels turning in there.” He reached out and tapped her forehead before putting his hand right back in his pocket. “Stop it.”
She shook her head and wished every distressing thought would fly right out of it. If she could stop her mind, even for just one day, she would do it in a second.
His mind grew frantic. This conversation was taking a quick turn that he didn’t want it to take. They’d been having such a nice morning together and he knew what was in order, but apologizing had never been his strong suit. In fact, he hated it more than anything, even if it was desperately overdue. At that point he was sure he owed Lila a million apologies, having racked up his fair share over the years. He wouldn’t even know where to start giving her his very first one.
She opened her mouth to speak but he beat her to it. “I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I didn’t mean them.” He sighed and ran his hand down the back of his neck. “I really didn’t, Lila.”
“So why did you say them?”
“I was pissed off.”
“Why?” She demanded.
“I don’t know.” He tasted the lie on his tongue. “But I take it back.”
“You can’t un-say what’s already been said. That’s Lawyer 101. What the hell did they teach you over there at Harvard, anyway?”
“So do you just want to fight now, or what? There is no right answer is there? You just want to fight.” He turned his head to the side and tapping his cheek, inviting her.
She raised her dukes and threw a couple of fake punches into the air between them before dropping her hands. “Yeah I wanna fight,” she admitted, before sighing softly, allowing the smile she’d been fighting to begrudgingly appear. “Coffee sounds good.”
Jack’s eyebrows rose.
She adjusted the purse on her shoulder and moved past him to the door. “Let’s go, I don’t have a lot of time.”
He watched the back of her head as she passed him. “So now you’ll have a cup of coffee with me? Is this how you like it? I have to start a fight with you every time I want something?”
Lila opened the door, flooding the foyer with light. She turned to him as she threw her sunglasses on.
“Don’t bite,” she whispered, waiting until he turned his back on her to lock the door before. “And don’t make this all about you. People trust me with their kids and if I attempt to walk into Dalton without my morning coffee they might not come out alive.”
“Spoken like a true guidance counselor.”
Ten minutes later Jack was holding open the door of the Starbucks right down the street from Dalton and Lila was begrudgingly accepting his chivalrous offer. As they walked up to the register, she adjusted her glasses on her face. “Did we have to come to the one right down the street from the school? I’ve told you how weird they are about parents and faculty.”
“What are they going to do? Sue me?”
Lila cocked her head at him as they approached the register. “Did you just make a joke?”
Jack feigned offense. “Hey, I’m a pretty funny guy.”
At that, she laughed out loud.
Jack stared at her in serious offense. What the hell was so funny about that? He waited for her hysterical laughs to subside with his mouth agape even as the barista on the other side of the counter approached, eventually having to clear her throat to catch his attention. Jack and Lila both looked to the blonde barista at the same time and only Jack’s smile remained as she handed him the dark roast coffee that she’d taken the liberty of making him. “Good morning Mr. Almeida, here’s your usual, on the house.” She winked.
Jack took his coffee and smiled brilliantly at her. “Thank you, Jessica.”
“Wow, you run a pretty tight ship around here don’t you?” Lila asked, forcing herself to shut up when she heard the jealousy lacing her voice.
Jack could obviously hear it, too, because he was now giving her a look as he handed over his credit card. “What do you want to drink?”
“Triple-tall soy hazelnut latte, extra foam, half the sweetener, cocoa powder on top.”
“Are you serious?” Jack asked, before looking back to Jessica. “Did you get all that?”
“I got it.” Jessica winked, again, dropping his receipt before proceeding to make Lila’s drink.
“Are you positive? Because I’m not even sure that was English.” Jack looked back to Lila. “You’re something else, Lila James,” he said, softly, leaning down to sign his receipt.
Lila watched him sign. “Did I mention that I get homicidal when I don’t have my coffee and that I work in a school full of young children? I like my coffee the way I like it.”
His eyes widened as he completed his signature before sliding it across the marble counter.
Lila turned the receipt toward her, eying it softly. “Explain to me how this signature says Jack Almeida in any way, shape or form. And you’re talking to me about my English skills? You can’t even spell your own name.”
“The weirder your signature is, the harder it is to fake.” Jack said matter of factly. “There are some instances where it’s actually an advantage that people not be able to recognize your name in your signature.” He tapped his temple. “Think about it, baby.”
“So I guess they did teach you a thing or two at Harvard. Worth every penny, that degree of yours.” She thought for a moment, and added, “don’t call me baby.”
He looked into her eyes and smiled.
Lila’s knees took on that all too familiar Jell-O texture and she had to place her hand on the counter to steady herself.
“Why are you being so nic
e to me?” she asked.
“I’m a nice guy.”
She laughed out loud, again, throwing her head back as the cackles overtook her.
“Okay,” Jack said, dryly, staring off into space and snapping back to reality to take Lila’s drink from Jessica. “Why do you always have to bust my balls?” he asked, following Lila out of the Starbucks and into the parking lot.
“I’m sorry, I’d hate to have to embarrass you in front of Jessica,” she said the poor girl’s name with distain.
It was Jack’s turn to laugh.
“You just piss me off,” she said, leaning against the side of his truck and crossing her arms. “And I have no idea why.” Her eyes traveled across the lot and caught sight of a blue pick-up truck with the window rolled down. The man sitting behind the wheel was leaning out of the open window, watching she and Jack intently. At first Lila gave the man in sunglasses just a passing glance, but when she saw he was staring at them, her eyes immediately snapped back.
The man behind the wheel jolted at Lila’s sudden and, clearly unexpected, attention. He immediately started the truck and raced off. Lila watched him go, confusion covering her face.
Jack leaned next to her, unaware of what had just transpired, and held out her coffee. Lila took it, absently, still watching the blue truck as it disappeared down the street. Weird, she thought. With a shake of her head she brought the coffee to her lips and wrapped them around the plastic opening, sucking softly as her long eyelashes tickled her cheeks. She kept her eyes closed for a long while, savoring it, and Jack drank her in, imagining his cock in place of that drink. “You don’t want to have a seat inside?”
Her eyes popped open, and she stood tall. “No, I should really get down to the school. I wanted to get there early today to look in on a meeting that the principal is having. She promised she would bring up the funding for a school trip I’m planning, and I want to poke my head in and make sure she keeps her word.”
“A trip?”
“Yeah,” Lila said, absently, staring off. “I like to take the kids somewhere every year and I might have gotten a little too excited this time around…” She waved her hand as if it wasn’t a big deal, but Jack could see that it was.
He hesitated. “You really love those kids, huh?” he asked, softly, opening her door for her.
Lila climbed in without answering.
As Jack pulled out of the Starbucks he proceeded to take the longest possible route to the Dalton school, driving a little below the speed limit. He could tell that he had almost overstepped his bounds in the parking lot by bringing up the kids, but the fact that she hadn’t completely ripped his head off was a good sign. He didn’t want this morning to end, couldn’t get enough of her, and he was now unable to hinder himself from speaking to her freely, especially since he had no idea when he’d see her again.
“I never knew you had a sister,” he said, looking over to her in the passenger’s seat.
Lila was snapped out of her revere at the comment and tossed her head to the side to look at him, not sure how to respond.
The car came to a stop light and Jack couldn’t help but fill the silence. “You know, it’s my grandmother’s wedding anniversary today. She called me this morning and left a very shrill voicemail message telling me how excited she was—then she told me the only gift she wanted was that I visit my parents.”
“Do you not visit them often?” Lila asked, unable to fight her curiosity.
Jack was silent for a long while. “No.”
Lila nodded.
“But I’m glad I did today.”
She lowered her eyes, not realizing that she’d been clawing her nails into her jeans since the moment he’d started talking. She relaxed her hands and took a deep breath.
Jack rested his elbow on the window as he ran his fingers through his short hair, watching her out of the corner of his eye. “Is that why you were crying at the wedding? Because it's Danielle’s birthday today?”
“Is this a cross-examination?” Lila teased, softly. “Should I have a lawyer present?”
Jack gave her a look. She was playing it off like a big joke, but he wasn’t joking. After spending the morning with her he knew that if he had to go another day without answers there was a strong possibility that he would call off work and follow her into that damn school.
Lila didn’t want to talk about it, but she found herself unable to be nasty to him. He’d been so good to her that morning and for the first time since she’d met him she found herself trusting him. “It was a celebration. I didn’t want to darken anyone’s doorway with my problems. Well, except yours…” She smirked at him.
“You didn’t darken my doorway.”
Lila remained silent, staring ahead.
“You could have talked to me about it…”
“I don’t talk about it. I drink it away, or fight it away, or fuck it away.”
Jack’s eyebrows rose.
Lila pretended to be looking out of the window as she jammed her eyes shut. She couldn't believe she'd just said that to him. Had Jessica spiked her coffee?
“So that’s all you wanted that night? To fuck it away?”
She looked back to him with desperate eyes, but she’d never seen him more stubborn or determined. He was not going to be talked or tricked out of this conversation. It was happening, whether she liked it or not. She’d never seen him in a more open and honest state than he was right then, his golden eyes gentle and completely undefended. He’d dropped every last shield and she’d have to be a complete monster to take a swing at him now. All she could say was what was true. “I’m no angel, Jack.”
The knowledge behind his eyes when he looked at her left her feeling a little too exposed, so she turned to look out of the window. “I’ve tried the whole ‘talking about it’ thing. Doesn’t work. People get uncomfortable, and I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable.”
Jack understood what she was saying so completely that all he could do was remind himself to breathe, watching her so heavily that he only knew the light had turned green when the car behind him began to honk. As he accelerated he continued to glance over at her.
He wanted to tell her that she could never make him uncomfortable because he understood. He wanted her to know that he would never judge her, and if she wanted to fuck the pain away he’d be happy to be of service.
Instead he rode the rest of the way in silence. As he was pulled his car up onto the curb next to The Dalton School he was wishing he could circle the corner one more time, ask her to meet him for lunch. Something. Anything. But he couldn’t. Nothing seemed right or worthy.
“Thanks for the ride, Harvard.” She opened the door and began gathering her things.
He clutched the steering wheel in a death grip as she jumped out of the truck and slammed the door. It had all gone by so damn quickly, and now she was sauntering away from him, her sexy hips swinging as she took the steps to the open doors of the school. He could see kids gathered in the halls, many of them waving to her as she walked in.
She made it to the doors and looked back to see if he was still there. Their eyes met just as Chase came up next to her and took her arm in his.
Jack’s heart stopped.
---
Lila turned to Chase, her mouth dropping open in shock at the sight of him. She hadn’t seen him since the moment they’d had in the closet the day before, and had expected him to be very angry, but he was actually smiling at her. She returned the gesture, feeling extremely relieved that there wasn’t going to be any bad blood between them.
“Hey,” he said, releasing her arm and placing his hands in his pockets.
“Hi,” Lila said, looking out onto the street and feeling strangely disappointed when she saw that Jack’s truck was gone. Had he seen Chase? Closing her eyes, she told herself to focus. “What are you doing here so early?”
He motioned around him. “There are tons of kids here, why wouldn't I be?”
“Because the only kids
who get here an hour early are the ones who have to take the bus from the Bronx,” she said, breezing past him, knowing he would follow.
“Are you implying that the Bronx kids make bigger sacrifices than I do just because they have to take a bus?”
Lila thought long and hard. “Yes.”
“Well,” Chase began, taking her arm, again until she stopped walking and looked at him. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m not going to be at the group sessions anymore.”
Lila’s eyes widened. “But—“
“I have a uh…” He smiled down at her. “I can’t really afford to miss another second of Calculus. I’m already drowning as it is…”
Lila almost told him to come by her place later so she could help him could catch up but realization hit her before she could. Her eyes fell to her feet. “Okay…” she said softly.
“Okay.” Chase’s smile widened. “I’ll see you later.” He touched her shoulder and walked away from her, making sure that he was completely out of eyesight before the smile disappeared from his face. His chest heaved as he took the breath he felt like he’d been holding since the moment she’d walked in the door. Even as he took a much needed deep breath, he did not feel releif when he exhaled. All he could feel was pain.
---
“And I’m just absolutely devastated.” Ashley, a pretty red-headed sophmore, rolled her eyes into the top of her head as alligator tears welled up in her blue eyes. “Mitsy was such a good little snail. So sweet and considerate. I simply don’t know what I’m going to do without her.”
Lila took a deep breath and looked around at the faces of the many kids she’d grown to know and love. All fifteen of them had shown up today, and they’d all settled in the middle of the football field, having decided to take advantage of the beautiful day. Some of them were cross-legged and listening to Ashley intently, others were lying on their backs staring up at the sky. Most were texting on their cellphones, something that Lila usually vehemently reproached when someone was speaking, but would make an exception for that morning.
Lila's Thunder: The Almeida Brothers, Book One Page 6