Burn Out (13 page)

They followed Dom
and Lena into the private room the resort staff had decorated for the occasion.
Evan had to admit it was stunning, everything he would have wanted to give
Erika on their wedding day.

He led her to the
head table and Evan noted he and Erika were seated beside each other instead of
at opposite sides of the head table. He caught Dominic’s eye and his best friend
winked to let him know he’d orchestrated the seating arrangements.

“Everything looks
so beautiful,” Erika whispered.

Evan nodded in
agreement as everyone stood to watch Dom and Lena share their first dance as
husband and wife.

“They look so
happy,” she said, reaching for a napkin to dab at the tears streaming down her
face. She laughed as she waved a hand in front of her face. “I don’t know what
it is about weddings that makes me cry.”

He settled his
hand on her lower back and smiled. “You’re a romantic. You want to believe in
the fairy tale ending.” When she continued to stare straight ahead, watching
their friends circle the dance floor, he knew his words hurt her. “I’m sorry.
Somewhere along the way, I forgot how important that was to you.”

She shook her
head, refusing to look at him. “It’s ancient history, Evan.”

The Master of
Ceremony invited the rest of the bridal party to join them on the dance floor
and Evan took Erika’s hand, leading her toward the center of the floor.

She settled into
his arms effortlessly and he felt the tension melt away as she rested her head
on his shoulder with a contented sigh. They danced for several minutes without
speaking before he said, “Do you ever wish we’d had a night like this?”

Tipping her head
back to look at him, she said, “I used to plan everything about our wedding.”
She smiled. “I’d even tear pictures out of bridal magazines and paste them in a
scrapbook.”

His heart twisted
at the thought of her indulging her fantasies that way.
How could I have
been so clueless?
“Do you still have that scrapbook?”

She shrugged as a
pink stain covered her cheeks. “It’s probably buried at the bottom of one of
the boxes in my basement. I haven’t looked at it in a long time.” She met his
eyes. “It was just too painful.”

The raw emotion he
saw in her tear-filled eyes left him breathless. Needing to change the subject
before he made a fool of himself, he said, “So, how does it feel bein’ a
homeowner?”

“I like it.” She
lowered her gaze to his chest. “It’s a nice little house. I like having my own
space and the freedom to plant flowers. I have a fenced-in backyard, so I have
a place to play fetch with Chloe when I don’t feel like taking her to the dog
park.”

She’d always felt
so confined living in his luxury condo that didn’t allow pets. She wanted a
backyard, a garden, a dog to keep her company, but he insisted it was the wrong
time to sell. He told her to wait a year or two until the market had recovered.
Little did he know their relationship wouldn’t survive that long.

“You ever take her
to that dog park across from your clinic?” If he wanted to prove to her that
her life was perfectly compatible with the life he intended to build for
himself, he had to know what her habits were.

“Sometimes.
There’s a little park around the corner from my house. We go there a lot too.”

“I’ve been
thinkin’ it’s time for me to get out of that condo. In fact, I was talkin’ to
Sela about my options just yesterday. She’s got a couple of buyers who have
been lookin’ for units in my buildin’, so she doesn’t think it’ll be a tough
sell.”

“Are you sure
you’re ready to own a home?” she asked. “I mean, given how much you travel?”

“I’m gonna be
makin’ some changes in my life. Like I said the other day, it’s time for me to
start slowin’ down, give more attention to other areas of my life.”

She stiffened in
his arms. “Right, like finding a wife and having a couple of babies. I remember
you saying something about that. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to see that to
believe it.”

Erika had every
right to question him, which was why he had no intention of forcing the issue.
He could claim he was willing to change, but until she saw it with her own
eyes, her heart would never allow her to believe he was sincere.

“You wanna help me
find a dog when we get back home?” he asked, knowing he had to tread carefully
so he didn’t scare her away. “I’d really like to adopt a rescue, but I know
they can have a lot of issues that I’m not equipped to deal with. I thought it
would help to have someone with me who knows what to look for.”

She frowned.
“You’re not allowed to have dogs in your building.”

Evan smiled. “I
already told you, I don’t intend to stay in that buildin’. I’m buyin’ a house,
remember?”

“Yeah, but these
things take time. You have to sell your place, find something else, pack, arrange
the movers…”

He laughed.
“Sweetheart, money has a way of expediting the time table to suit you. If I
find somethin’ I like, I’ll make an offer contingent on an immediate closin’. If
I like their furniture, I’ll buy it. If not, I’ll get an interior designer to
furnish the place a.s.a.p.”

“What if you can’t
sell your place right away?”

He lifted a
shoulder. “It sits empty until it does sell. No big deal.”

“I’d forgotten how
easy it is for you to make things happen when you make up your mind about something.”

“I’ve had a lot of
practice makin’ things happen.” He tightened his grip around her waist as he
struggled with the urge to kiss her glossy lips. He told himself he just had to
be patient and wait for her to fall in love with him all over again.

***

The plane was dark
and quiet as everyone settled in to get some sleep, listen to music, or watch
TV on the return flight.

Erika leaned over
and caught Marisa’s eye. They shared a smile before Marisa snuck past her
sleeping husband to make her way into the aisle.“I can’t sleep. How about you?”

“No,” Erika said,
smiling. “I’m too wound up to sleep.”

“Why don’t we
venture into the back so we don’t disturb anyone? Things were kind of hectic
this week. We didn’t get much of a chance to catch up.”

“I’d love that,”
Erika said, standing up. Marisa had been a second mother to her during the
years she’d spent with Evan. When they broke up, she’d missed his family almost
as much as she missed him.

Settling into a
pair of oversized seats a few aisles behind the other passengers, Marisa asked,
“So how have you been? Really?”

Erika knew where
this was going, but since Marisa’s concern was coming from a place of love, she
didn’t resent it. “I’ve been okay, busy with work.”

“You and Jeff… is
it serious?”

Marisa had never
been subtle, especially when it came to her children and their happiness, so
Erika wasn’t surprised by the direct question. “No, it’s not. In fact, I’m
thinking this is probably the end of the road for us. It’s been tense between
us this week and things at work aren’t going well either. He has his own ideas
about how I should run the clinic and I don’t share his vision.”

“Hmm,” Marisa
said, glancing at the man in question. “Interesting. I can’t say I’m surprised.
He seems a little over-bearing.” She chuckled. “Of course, my husband and sons
seem to share that trait, so I can’t very well condemn him.”

Evan was
definitely a man used to getting what he wanted, but for reasons Erika couldn’t
explain, his attitude didn’t seem to bother her as much as Jeff’s did. Perhaps
when you loved someone as much as she loved Evan it was easier to look past
their faults.

“How has it been
for you guys since Luc retired? It must have taken some getting used to, having
him around all time?” Luc and Marisa were as close as any couple Erika knew,
but she could say the same for her own parents and retirement had been an
adjustment for them.

“It’s been great.”
She laughed. “Most days. That’s not to say we don’t get on each other’s nerves
from time to time.”

“That’s what
married life is all about, right? Taking the good with the bad.”

“Yes, it is,”
Marisa said, looking at Erika. “It’s not always going to be everything you
hoped it would be, but if the good outweighs the bad it’s usually worth it to
keep fighting.”

Erika knew Marisa
wasn’t referring to herself and Luc anymore. “I guess you’re right.”

“Were things
really that bad between you and Evan?” Marisa asked, quietly. “That you were
willing to just walk away and give up the fight?”

Erika couldn’t say
anything at first. The emotion welling up in her throat seemed to make speech
impossible, but once she was able to pull herself together, she said, “You
don’t know how hard it was.”

“Yes, I do,”
Marisa said, squeezing Erika’s hand. “Believe me, I know better than anyone.
Luc was a workaholic when we met. His career was the only thing that mattered
to him.”

Shifting in her
seat to face Marisa, Erika asked, “How did you handle that?”

“It wasn’t easy,
but once we got married and the boys were born things changed. Luc missed out on
so much of Nikki’s childhood. He didn’t want to make the same mistake with his
sons.”

“That makes
sense.”

“Evan wouldn’t
make that mistake either, Erika. I know he wouldn’t. Family means everything to
him. The only reason he’s working so hard at Titan is because he wants to make
his father proud.”

“I understand
that, and I don’t begrudge him a career he loves, but you can’t sustain a
relationship when you’re working all the time.”

“I know, honey.”
Marisa looked across the aisle at Ryan, who was sleeping with Brianna’s head on
his shoulder. “Evan has had to bear so much of the burden on his own for so
long, but that’s starting to change. And I know he realizes now that it wasn’t
worth losing you.”

Erika wanted to
believe that Marisa was right, but she knew Evan’s mother couldn’t offer an
unbiased opinion. “I’ll always love him, but-”

“Do you want to go
through your life feeling that way?”

“Excuse me?”

“You want to marry
someone else when in your heart you’re still in love with my son?”

“It’s not that
simple, Marisa.”

“Yes, it is,” she
said, quietly. “We can’t pick the men we fall in love with. The heart wants
what it wants and our head eventually has to come to terms with that.”

“Even if it’s not
what’s best for us?”

“Isn’t it?”

Evan walked past
and glanced at the two women huddled together, raising an eyebrow in question
until his mother shooed him away with her hand.

“Can you honestly
tell me that meeting Evan wasn’t the best thing that ever happened to you?” Marisa
asked.

Erika sighed.
There was no right answer to that question. “There were days during our
relationship when I would have said yes, but there were also other times when I
wish I’d never laid eyes on him.”

Marisa laughed. “I
feel that way about my husband sometimes, but so what? It dosen’t mean I don’t
love him. It just means that we’re human.”

To hear Marisa
talk, it sounded as though she thought Erika and her son were merely going
through growing pains in their relationship, but Erika knew it was more than
that. “I can’t be happy with the way things were.”

“That’s not what
I’m proposing.” Marisa sighed. “People change, honey. They learn from their
mistakes. Hopefully they grow, mature, and move on to different phases in their
lives. Evan’s not the same man you walked out on. Are you going to give him a
chance to prove that?”

Erika smiled when
Evan turned around to look at her. “Maybe. I’ll think about it, Marisa.”

“That’s all I
ask.”

Erika was
exhausted by the time she staggered out of her office, ready to call it a day,
but the sight of Evan leaning over the counter, flirting with her receptionist,
quickly infused her lagging spirit.

“What are you
doing here?” she snapped. She frowned at the young woman behind the desk before
turning her attention back to Evan.

“I was hopin’
you’d be willin’ to go to the animal shelter with me tonight?”

They had only
returned from Bahamas a week ago. Surely he couldn’t have moved already. “You
bought a house?”

He smiled at her
shocked expression. “I told you I would.”

“Yeah, but…”

“I moved in
yesterday. Turns out it was vacant. I don’t have a lot of furniture yet, but I
have the interior designer workin’ on that as we speak.”

“Huh.” She had to
admit she was surprised that he actually seemed to be following through with
his plans. The Evan she used to know would take immediate action when it came
to business, but his personal life always took a backseat, relegated to another
day, when he had more time. “I’m afraid I’m tired and hungry, Ev. It’s been a
long day. Rain check?”