by L. M. Heidle
Meg: Nope I love you. Have fun I’ll see you later.
I jumped when he walked up behind me. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, just peachy.”
“Good. Any place in particular you’d like to go?”
“No, I’m just starving, so surprise me.”
He had a devilish grin, “Are you sure you trust me enough?”
“Sure, why not?” I was expecting to see Tony and the SUV but he was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Tony?”
He shrugged. “I gave him the day off. I thought you and I could take a ride by ourselves. My car is over here.” I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw his car. “H, what’s wrong?”
“That’s your car?”
“Yeah, what’s wrong? Don’t you like it?”
“Umm…wow. It’s just wow.” It was a beautiful blue and black car that looked fast, really fast.
He laughed. “Thanks. Cars are one of my guilty pleasures.” He kissed my hand before opening the door and helping me in.
“What is this?”
“It’s a Bugatti Super Sport,” he said with pride. Boys and their apparently expensive toys.
“Can I drive it?” He tried to cover his laugh by coughing. “What, don’t you trust me? I trust you with lunch. Why don’t you trust me enough to drive your car?”
“Well, lunch is a little different than my car.” I tried to make a hurtful expression. “I don’t want to insult you, but I mean this is my car. It’s like my baby. Plus, driving a manual is difficult.”
This was hilarious. He was trying so hard not to insult me. “I can drive a manual. My dad made sure of that. Plus, the guys I grew up with loved fast cars.” I pouted out my bottom lip, trying to play this up, “Please? It would mean so much to me. You said I had your heart. Isn’t that more important than your baby?” The look that crossed his expression went from impressed to worried. I could almost see the wheels turning as he tried to come up with another excuse. “Kip, I’m kidding. Not about the manual part, but about wanting to drive your car. I learned long ago not to come in between a man and his car.” He tried to hide his relief, but I heard the sigh.
“Well, okay let’s go eat then.” He couldn’t change the topic fast enough. I smiled and nodded. His smile was breathtaking. The rest of the ride was mostly spent in silence. Finally, he broke the silence. “I do trust you, by the way.”
“Kip, I was just messing with you about the car.”
“You asked if I trusted you and I do.” We went back to silence until he pulled in front of a small restaurant.
“Where are we?” I wouldn’t have expected him to eat in a place like this. It didn’t look like a five star restaurant.
“By the look on your face, I guess you’re surprised I picked this place. I used to come here with my dad before he died when I was little. It always reminds me that some things in life are worth more than money. Plus, the food is amazing.” Okay, I did not expect that answer.
“I’m sure it’s lovely. Lead the way.” It was a cute mom-and-pop restaurant. He put his hand on the small of my back to usher me through the open door. It was an interesting place. The restaurant was split. One side was very cheery, painted in blue with checkered table clothes. The other side was very romantic. It had red walls with candles on every table. Of course, the hostess took us to a back booth on the romantic side.
The waitress introduced herself as Amy—or she introduced herself to Kade. She tried hard to get his attention, but those blue eyes never left my face. Her face fell when he still didn’t look at her when she asked what he wanted to drink.
“I’ll take a sweet tea,” Kade answered.
“Make that two, please.” Amy made her way to the kitchen. “I’m also a little surprised you drink sweet tea.”
“You have no idea. I’m full of surprises. What are you getting?”
“I can’t make up my mind. I’ll just have whatever you’re having.”
“There’s that trust again.”
Once again Amy completely ignored me to focus on Kade. “Have you decided what you want?”
“Yes, we’ll both have the ultimate quesadilla with extra sauce on the side please.” My mouth dropped to the table. He looked over at me and laughed. “Full of surprises, remember?”
“That’s the understatement of the year. What happened to the neighborhood powerful, demanding businessman?”
“I’m not always that person”
“Interesting, so tell me about yourself?”
Amy interrupted the moment by showing up with our food. Once she left, he took a deep breath. “What do you want to know?” For the first time since I met him, he looked uncertain of himself.
“How about your family?” His demeanor changed instantly. His face went from carefree to stone in seconds. “Or about your business. I shouldn’t have brought them up. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I’m just not used to talking about them. I didn’t exactly have the perfect upbringing.”
“Kip, we don’t have to talk about it. I didn’t mean to pry.”
He snapped, “I said it was fine.” I looked down at my lunch. Why had I brought it up? It didn’t take a genius to realize it was a touchy subject with him. He put a finger under my chin to force me to look at him. “H, I’m sorry. I just never talk about them.”
“Okay.”
“I was three when my mom walked out on us. She never even said good-bye. She just left a note saying she couldn’t do it anymore.”
“Kip, I’m so sorry.”
He didn’t respond; he just kept talking. “I don’t remember a whole lot about her. I remember she used to sing to me. When I was eighteen, I found her living in Arizona. I went to see her to demand answers. I wanted to know why she left, but more importantly I wanted to know why she didn’t take me in when my dad died.” He took a deep breath. I could tell this was hard for him. I reached across the table to hold his hand. “She had remarried and had a new family. I have a brother and sister that know nothing about me. She couldn’t push me out of the house fast enough. She said she didn’t want to ruin her new life with her past mistakes.” My heart broke for him.
“I have no idea what to say besides ‘it’s her loss.’” He gave me a sheepish smile. “Don’t start feeling bad yet. You haven’t heard about my dad yet. Before my mom left, he was a prominent member of society, but once she left all hell broke loose. My dad took my mom’s leaving hard. His form of coping was drinking himself into oblivion. Let’s just say he was a mean drunk. He used to take his grief out on me because he blamed me for her leaving. They got married too young and had me shortly after. I used to be grateful for the nights he would stay at the bar. Sometimes, the emotional abuse was worse than any physical abuse. Professional failure shortly followed personal failure. He made some very bad investments and ended up almost four million dollars in debt. We lost everything. My home for a while was a homeless shelter.”
That’s why he fought so hard for the homeless and orphanages. I couldn’t even imagine how hard this was for him to relive.
“When I was seven, he committed suicide.” I gasped. “From then, I bounced from foster home to foster home. Then when I got older, they sent me to the city orphanage, which was nothing more than a room overflowing with children. I think the city pound had better living conditions.”
That was all my heart could take. I crawled over to his side of the booth and threw my arms around his neck. He used his free hand to cup my face, turning it to look directly into his eyes. He wiped the tears that had started to fall with his thumb. “H, please don’t cry. There’s always a silver lining. The drive to never be homeless again got me to where I am today, which has allowed me to build homeless centers and decent orphanages.” It also explained why he needed such control in his life. I understood it now.
I started to reply, but he put his finger over my mouth, “Shh, my heart, you don’t need to say anything. You being here is enough.” I rested my head against his chest as
he pulled me closer. I wasn’t sure what this meant for our relationship, but right now it felt like he needed me, so I wasn’t going anywhere.
We sat there in complete silence as he held me. Finally, he broke the silence by chuckling, “Well, I didn’t expect lunch to be so serious.”
Amy appeared with the check and he handed her his credit card without even looking at it. He helped me out of the booth after he signed the receipt, but kept me close until I was in his car. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves while he walked around the car. We sat in silence again until he pulled up outside my apartment complex. “Thank you for today, H.”
I had no idea what to say to that. “No need to thank me; I didn’t do anything.”
“You listened to me and that means more to me than you could know.”
I didn’t want him to be alone right now, “Kip, would you like to come up for a little bit?”
“Thanks, but I think I’m going to take a drive.”
“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for lunch.”
“It was my pleasure, trust me. I know I have no right to ask this, but will you promise me you’ll be careful with Andrew?”
I was speechless for a moment. What do you say to that? Normally I would say you’re right, you don’t have the right, but after lunch, it just didn’t feel right, so I nodded my head. “I promise I will.” He squeezed my hand before he got out to open my door. Before turning to leave, I stood on the balls of my feet to kiss his cheek. “Thank you, Kade. It means a lot that you shared that with me.” I turned and walked towards the apartment without looking back.
Meg pounced on me as soon as I walked in the door. “Tell me everything!” She didn’t even give me a chance to sit down.
“For starters, you should sleep with one eye open.” She dramatically rolled her eyes. “We had a great lunch. He told me about his parents. It’s such a horrible story.” I continued, once she finally let me sit down. “After hearing about his parents I can see his side of it now a little better. His control is a coping mechanism. He had it tough and he refuses to let anything like that happen again. I can see now how a relationship would be a scary thing for him. His dad was in love with his mom, but that didn’t stop her from walking out on them.” I didn’t want to tell her everything since it wasn’t my story.
“Wow, that sucks.”
“Yeah and you don’t know the half of it. I didn’t figure you’d be back so soon. How’s Derrick?”
Confusion crossed her face. “Oh he’s doing great!” She was a little too energetic with that response.
“You didn’t go see him, did you?”
“Oh yeah, well, umm. About that.”
“You were so obvious.”
“It wasn’t my idea. Kade gave me some money to shop with if I skipped lunch.”
“He what?! I don’t even know why that shocks me. Come to think of it, I don’t know how we would have all fit in his car since it doesn’t have a backseat.”
I shook my head as I made my way to my bedroom. Although everything I knew didn’t change our relationship, it did help me understand him a little better. I can’t imagine what it was like for him growing up.
Chapter 25
Monday, October 7
“What in the hell is that noise?” I sat up, wiping the sleep from my eyes. I groaned when I realized that horrid sound was my alarm clock. I don’t even remember falling asleep. After I’d dragged my sorry butt out of bed, I made my way to the bathroom to get ready for another day. An hour later, I was ready to go, standing in the kitchen, drinking coffee with Meg.
“Liz, don’t take this wrong, but aren’t you going to do anything with your hair and makeup?” I faked a hurt look. “I mean, you’re naturally beautiful, but you’re meeting Andrew for lunch.”
Shoot. “I completely forgot about him. All right. Let’s go do your worst.” She jumped off the counter, clapping her hands and skipping down the hall. “I seriously hate morning people, just so you know.” She ignored me as she dragged me into the bathroom.
After thirty minutes, she finally set me free, “There you go. Don’t forget to call me after lunch.”
“Uh huh,” I said as I ran out of the bathroom. I loved Meg to death, but sometimes I felt like a life-sized Barbie.
It felt like months since I’d been at work. For some reason, I was nervous when I walked in but as soon as I saw the familiar surroundings, I instantly felt better. Danny gave me his usual ‘Hey, what’s up?’ greeting. It was oddly comforting to be at work after the crazy weekend.
“Hey, Danny. Anything new going on today?”
“Nope, same ol’ same ol’. How was your weekend?”
“It was pretty crazy. How about yours?”
“Too short. The guys and I went out every night, so I’m still pretty exhausted.” Our conversation was interrupted when the phone rang, “Guess it’s time to get to work.”
As usual for Mondays, the morning went by fast. I felt like I was running in circles all morning. Before I knew it, it was time for lunch. I hadn’t had time to think about lunch yet, but as soon as it crossed my mind, I was instantly nauseous. Everybody’s warnings kept flashing through my head. Then I thought about Kade. I don’t know why, but I had a feeling I was cheating on him by going out with Andrew.
I walked towards the front doors after getting off the elevator and noticed Andrew. He was leaning up against one of the massive pillars in the lobby. He was dressed in faded jeans and a green dress shirt. My attention left him when I saw Kade walking towards me. His eyes darted between Andrew and me. At first, he didn’t say anything when he stopped in front of me. I looked up to see his business demeanor change into the relaxed one I saw yesterday. “Hey H. Remember what I said about being careful, please. If you need me, you know how to find me.” His demeanor instantly changed when Andrew put his hand on his shoulder. His eyes went from thoughtful to anger in a split second.
“Thanks, Kip.” He smiled a little. I guess it was because I used his nickname in front of Andrew. “I haven’t forgotten. I’ll see you this afternoon.”
Andrew didn’t seem to notice his attitude change, or maybe just didn’t care. “All right, Kade. That’s enough chitchat. This beautiful lady and I have a lunch date.” He put a lot of emphasis on the word ‘date’. As I walked around Kade to take Andrew’s outstretched hand, I discretely gave Kade’s hand a squeeze. I heard him sigh as he squeezed me back.
“I’ve missed you. I can’t stop thinking about you.” Huh? What did he say? I need to forget about Kade right now, or I would never hear a word Andrew said. “Hello? Calling Liz.”
“Yeah, sorry. It’s just been one of those Mondays. How has your day been?”
“It’s been okay. You look lovely, by the way.”
“You must be going blind. There’s not much lovely about a uniform.”
“When you’re the one wearing it, yes there is. I don’t think you realize how attractive you are. Why do women always do that? Is it so hard to take a compliment and believe that you’re beautiful? There are beautiful women all over the world, but you’re different. You just have this intoxicating aura around you. You have this way of drawing people to you and making them want to be a better person.”
Wow, what do you say to that? Maybe he wasn’t as bad as everyone thought. I pulled him towards me and kissed him on the cheek, “They say flattery will get you pretty much everywhere.”
He put his hands around my waist to pull me closer. He whispered in my ear, “Then, let me say when I saw you earlier, you took my breath away.”
I ducked my head after I blushed scarlet. “Well, we better get to lunch before I’m late.” He smirked at me before offering his arm.
“All right then, let’s be on our way.” We walked in silence the rest of the way. He pulled my chair out for me when we got to the café. “Liz, can I ask you a question?”
“You can always ask, but that doesn’t mean I’ll answer.” He smiled at me, but I was serio
us.
“Is there something going on between you and Kade?”
“Ummm, no. We’re somewhat friends.”
“Somewhat friends? What exactly does that mean?”
“It’s hard to describe. Let’s order.” I wasn’t going to go into details with him about Kade.
All through lunch, I couldn’t stop questioning everything he said to see if there was a double meaning. We were going nowhere if I couldn’t trust him.
“Andrew, I thought it would be fun to get a group of us together and go out.”
“Who did you have in mind?”
“Well, I thought your sister and Brent, of course. I was going to ask Meg and her boyfriend Derrick. Then us of course.”
He winked at me, “Of course. Is that it?”
“Yeah, that’s all I can think of unless you wanted to invite some people.” He shook his head no. “Okay, sweet! I know you’re busy at the club, so what time works for you?”
“You give me a time and I’ll make it work.” This is what relationships should be like, well, if there were no ulterior motive.
“Don’t be silly, Andrew. You have to take care of work first. How about this Friday night? Is that enough notice?”
“I can’t this Friday. For some reason, that’s the night all the bachelorette parties are coming in and I’m going to be down a bartender. How about Saturday?”
“That sounds great. Where do you want to go? I’m sure you want to get away from Gotcha for a little bit.”
“Ha. Yeah, that would be nice. Lately, I feel like I live there. We better start back or you’re going to be late.”
“Oh crap, you’re right. How about Meg and I pick the place?”
He offered me his arm again. “That’ll work. Just don’t make me regret it.” He tried to say it with attitude, but he couldn’t hide his smile.
“I promise we won’t go to a male strip club or anything.” We both started laughing. “Well, thank you for lunch. I’ll text you the information about Saturday. Hope you have a great afternoon.”
“I doubt anything is going to top the last hour, but I’ll try.” He pulled me to him and kissed me softly on the lips. He turned and walked away before I could say anything.