Accidental Lovers (The Accidental Series, Book 3) (3 page)

“You’re welcome, Carter,” she said, turning
to head for the door and before she touched the knob, she turned
around and asked, “Should I order lunch today?”

“Yes…my usual from Just Fresh.”

“All right, Sir,” Julie beamed, glad that at
least he was eating something.

When she closed the door behind her, Carter
called Shayla from his desk phone, closed his eyes while the phone
rang and hoping by some miracle she would answer. She didn’t, and
he blew a frustrating breath, took a big gulp of his coffee, then
checked his Outlook calendar to see which conference room the staff
meeting was being held. The C.E.O., Chip Fargus, was going to be
there today and he didn’t want to miss it.

Chapter 5

Shayla crept out of bed around lunch time.
Sleep wasn’t easy for her, especially with this rift between her
and Carter. And his manly scent, embedded in the sheets and his
pillow case, made her yearn for him and dream about him the way she
dreamt about him the last few nights. Still, it angered her that
the man she was in love with was intentionally keeping things from
her. She was sure he had his reasons, but when a couple decides to
marry and become one, the other party can’t hide things. That’s not
the way marriages work. That’s how, and why, they usually end.

Shayla showered, threw on her robe then
descended the stairs with Jacob’s obituary and suicide note in her
hand. She ate a bowl of Grape Nuts for breakfast and just sat
there, reading the obituary.

Jacob and Carter are brothers.

She let out a stressful exhale and set her
bowl in the sink. Then she walked to the family room, laid on the
couch, closing her eyes and remembering Jacob. He was so lively, so
vibrant and fun-loving – a drastic change to the man he was before
the suicide.

Then her thoughts migrated to Carter. He’d
had this letter all along – all those nights he consoled her, told
her Jacob wasn’t her soul mate and that she deserved better – after
all that time, he was the man’s brother. How could he be so
deceitful?

She sat up when her cell phone rang. She
checked the display and saw it was Donovan calling. She sighed in
those seconds, trying to decide whether or not to answer. Donovan
had told her that he wanted to meet with her weeks ago, but given
the current crisis in her life, she didn’t want to meet with him
now. She had her own problems and whatever Donovan wanted would
have to wait for a better time and she would tell him this right
now.

“Hi, Donovan,” she answered.

“Hi, Shayla. How are you?”

“Um…I’m…I’m okay.”

“Why’d you hesitate?”

“No reason,” she responded quickly. “How are
you?”

Donovan thought silently, wondering if she
really wanted to know how he was or if she was just asking him
because he’d asked her. “I’m good. I told you a few weeks ago I’d
be in Charlotte.”

“You’re here?”

“Yep…staying at the Hilton in University,”
he said standing by the windows in his seventh floor room, staring
down at the boardwalk, the shops, and the ducks swimming in the
water. “So can you meet me for dinner?”

“No, I can’t.”

“I really need to talk with you,
Shayla.”

“Okay, well whatever it is, will have to
wait because this is not a good time for me. Or, we could just talk
now, Donovan, over the phone.”

“This isn’t the kind of news you give
someone over the phone,” he said, partly because he wanted to see
her so badly and her voice would do nothing to satisfy that desire.
It had been a while since he last saw her and he thought about her
often, especially her new marriage.

“Well, can you please try?” Shayla asked,
flustered. “My life is falling apart and…” she paused. “I really
can’t meet you. I’m sorry.”

Donovan frowned. He didn’t want to say this
over the phone, but in order to get her to meet him, he knew he had
to. “Shayla, I know your father and he wants to meet you.”

Shayla sat still, stunned. Did she hear him
correctly? “What’d you say?”

“I didn’t want to tell you over the phone,
but I found your father.”

Shayla grew quiet. The drama with Carter
seemed small in comparison to what Donovan had told her. Her
father? The man she didn’t even have a memory of?

“I would like to discuss it with you in
person,” Donovan added. “Can you meet me at…ah…what’s around here?
Chili’s?”

Shayla nervously nibbled her bottom lip,
thinking about it. Chili’s… “Um…okay. What time?”

Donovan smiled, relieved that he would get
to see her. He glanced at his Rolex and said, “Well, it’s almost
one o’clock now. How about you meet me at five-thirty? Is that
good?”

“Yes. I’ll see you then.”

“All right, Shayla. Later.”

Shayla set her phone on the table with her
trembling hand. How had Donovan found her father? She hadn’t been
able to, and Carter seemed as if he didn’t want her to look for
him, but Donovan had found him.

She arrived at Chili’s at their agreed upon
time and after parking, she walked in and saw Donovan standing in
the lobby, looking just like she remembered him – handsome, tall,
physically fit and dressed sharp. He appeared to have a fresh
haircut, was freshly shaven.

He smiled when he saw her approaching,
studying her walk, remembering her face, those bouncy, curly
strands of hair he’d become fond of and those petite, pouty lips
that forced his attention every single time he laid eyes on
her.

“Hi, again,” she said, walking up to him,
extending her hand for a shake, to keep things on a professional
level with him, but when he embraced her, suctioning her into his
grasp, she knew there was no more professionalism between them. She
should’ve known that after the time she spent with him on Virginia
Beach – the night they enjoyed dinner at Ocean Eddie’s. She shared
so much with him about her life, then and he in turn confided in
her about his wife who had died, something he rarely talked about
but felt comfortable enough to share with her. And at the end of
the night, they’d played in the chilly water like children, he
picking her up and lowering her in it, then before the night ended,
she asked for permission to hug him, feeling grateful to him for
being a distraction from all the chaos she was going through with
Carter at the time. And coincidentally, he was here again, at
another chaotic time in her life, only this time, Carter wasn’t
some guy she was head over heels in love with and couldn’t have.
She had him. He was hers as indicative of the rock weighing down
her ring finger. But he was causing her pain. Again.

Shayla felt weird being in Donovan’s arms
which is why she wiggled out of his grasp. And while they followed
the waitress to their seats, she looked around, feeling nervous
about being out to dinner with a man who wasn’t her husband. A man
who she knew may have had some feelings for her.

They got comfortable at a corner table, then
ordered drinks. He wanted a beer and Shayla had asked for
water.

Donovan rested his elbows on the table and
interlocked his fingers and gave her his complete attention. “So
how far do you live from here?”

“Um…about twenty-five minutes.”

“I would’ve picked a closer restaurant if I
knew you had to drive that far.”

“It’s fine,” Shayla responded. She had a
lesser chance of running into anyone she knew on this side of
town.

“Well, I’ll remember for next time,” he
responded.

Next time
, Shayla thought.
Is he
really making plans to see me again?
She looked at him a little
closer, waiting for a smirk or something to indicate he was joking,
but she didn’t find such a clue.

“So you’re okay?” he inquired.

“Yeah,” she said.

“Then why is your life falling apart?”

Shayla frowned. “Huh?”

“When we spoke on the phone earlier, you
said your life was falling apart.”

How did I let that slip?
“Oh, um it’s
nothing,” she said tight-lipped. “Anyway, you said you know my
father.”

He stared at her before answering, not
liking the way she changed the subject. Yes, he wanted to talk
about her father, but that’s not all he wanted to talk about. He
wanted to play catch up with her, talk about her for a moment, then
ease into a discussion about her father. But as he looked at her,
he could feel her uneasiness. And why did he feel like she was in a
hurry and didn’t want to talk much? The week she’d spent in
Virginia, she was transparent about her personal life, but now, he
noticed she wasn’t so forthcoming.

“You remember I told you I knew some Klines
from Virginia Beach?” he asked her.

“Yeah.”

“Well, it just so happens that one of them
is your father. His name is—”

“Jack,” she said. “I know his name.”

“He owns a construction company…did some
work on my house last year.”

Shayla didn’t respond. She thought about how
if Jack owned his own company, why didn’t he bother to help her out
as a child, or even look for her in her adult years? Did he not
have a desire to know her? His own flesh and blood? Were men
capable of having a strong connection with their children? Their
legacy? Or was it so easy to walk away and not look back?

Shayla glanced out the window, remembering
when she’d told Carter about how she wanted to look for her father
and he had insinuated that it wouldn’t be good for her, especially
if her father turned out to be some jerk. But jerk or not, everyone
deserved to know who their father was, no matter what his
personality flaws
might
be.

“Shayla,” Donovan said to take her out of
her trance.

“Oh, sorry,” she said, her cheeks turning a
shade of red. “Um…I don’t know what to say. I mean, how’d you find
him?”

A smile touched his lips.

“Why are you smiling?”

“Because you get so flustered sometimes, so
worked up that I don’t even think you realize your face is turning
a shade. I think it’s cute, but I don’t want to overwhelm you.”

She was flustered and overwhelmed as anyone
would be at the thought of meeting a long, lost parent. It was
exciting, scary and nerve-racking all at the same time.

Shayla took a sip of water and regrouped.
“So how did you ask him about me? How did you approach him? Did you
seek him out or did you just so happen to run into him one day
or—”

Donovan grinned at all the questions. “No. I
sought him out.”

“You did?” she asked, surprised.

“Yeah. I did.”

“Why?”

He gave her a hard, targeted stare and said,
“Well, Shayla, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since
you left Virginia.”

Shayla swallowed hard and looked away from
his intense stare. And why did he have a smirk on his face?

He continued, “When you mentioned to me that
no one
wanted
you…remember that conversation from the
beach?”

She nodded.

“I wanted to do something to help you. So I
went home, ransacked my office to find the business card for Jack’s
construction company and when I found it, I called him up, asked
him if he had a daughter named Shayla and he was elated that I knew
you. Said he would love to see you but he wasn’t certain whether or
not you wanted to see him.”

Shayla felt tears forming in her eyes but
she would not cry in this restaurant in front of these patrons.

Donovan saw her sitting quietly, noticed her
batting her eyes and could kick himself at the thought of upsetting
her. “Um, you still want to get food, or would you prefer not to
now?”

She took a deep breath, pushed all her
feelings to the side and said, “We can eat.”

The waitress came by moments later, took
their food orders. In addition to her entrée, Shayla ordered a
jumbo, lime margarita.

“Are you okay with talking about Jack, or
should I change the subject?” Donovan asked because he did not want
to upset her any further.

“Well, since he’s the reason we’re meeting,
I suppose we should talk about him.”

He ain’t the only reason we’re
meeting,
Donovan thought as he took a long swig from the beer
bottle. Setting the empty bottle on the table, he said, “So Jack
would like to meet you on Saturday.”

Shayla looked stunned. “This Saturday?”

Donovan smirked. “Yes, Shayla. This
Saturday.”

She took a sip of water, then stared out the
window. Why was Jack in such a hurry to meet her now when they’d
been distant for as long as she could remember? What was so
urgent?

Their food arrived, along with her
margarita, and she was so nervous about this news, as well as being
at the restaurant with Donovan, that she drank the margarita before
she touched anything on her plate and ordered a second one soon
after.

“How do you feel about meeting him?”

“I don’t know yet,” she said honestly,
looking around for their waitress to see if she had her drink
coming.

“I think it’ll be good for you.”

“How so?” Shayla asked with the furrow of
her brow.

“It will give you a chance to establish a
relationship with him. That
is
what you want right?”

“I think so.”

“You’re not sure?”

“I don’t know. I feel like he’s been missing
for so long. Do I want to meet him? Yes. But still I feel like
it’ll be pointless.”

“Why?”

“Because he wasn’t there for me when I was
growing up…when I needed him the most. I’m an adult now. I can take
care of myself…don’t need him anymore.”

The second margarita arrived and Shayla
drunk it faster than the first one, practically inhaling the
drink.

Donovan studied her. Had he ever seen her
drink alcohol before? This evening, she had two jumbo size
margaritas in under an hour.

“Shrew,” she said fanning her face with her
hand. “It’s gettin’ warm in here.”