Speak Now (14 page)

A minute later, s
he heard him greet Bryson. An impatient sigh on his part proved that she wasn’t completely oblivious to his presence. She giggled and told Bryson, “Your father is being a very impatient man. I think you should tell me all about your sand pile at home so he can practice sharing his friends, don’t you?”

Whatever Bryson said made her flush a little and wink at Jonathan. “Well, you are a very self-less boy!” A look of dismay flooded her face and she hurried to explain. “No, sweetheart, self-
less
. It means that you are
not
selfish, but it does sound a little like selfish, doesn’t it? Okay, well, I’ll go spend time with your daddy, but only because you’re such a thoughtful little boy. I’m very proud of you for sharing. Goodbye, sweetie and I’ll see you as soon as I can, okay?” She passed the phone back to Jonathan, crossed her arms over her chest, and threw him a look that challenged him to top that one.

“Son, what if I call Shelly and see if she’ll come and you three can go with us on our date? We’ll make a challenge of it. Sound good?” The smirk on Jonathan’s face was priceless. “I’ll tell Cara that you’re coming and that you think I share very nicely. I’ll tell her those exact words, son. Bye now.”

With a decided snap, the phone lay silent in his hands. Man and woman stood facing each other just inches apart. Cara’s arms were still crossed, one hip cocked as though amused but slightly bored. Jonathan, on the other hand, leaned one arm against a tree and let his hand rest in his pocket. He watched her grow self-conscious as she appraised him. Too soon for Jonathan’s taste, Cara lowered her eyes. He, on the other hand, couldn’t drag his eyes from her. Time froze long enough for him to enjoy gazing at her again—uninterrupted.

“I guess you have to go back,” he eventually whispered.

With an impatient toss of her hair from her face, Cara returned his gaze and nodded. “I guess.”

Jonathan brushed a stray tendril from her forehead and smoothed it into place. “Cara mia, your hair alone could be the death of me.”

“What are we, Romeo and Juliet? I was just about to tell you that if you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to forget to breathe.”

He turned her shoulders gently and untied the apron, slipping it over her head without mussing her hair again. Rolling it carefully, he handed it to her. “Let’s not do the tragic hero thing, okay? I’d rather do the fairytale ‘happily ever after’ thing. It just sounds more…” He paused searching for the right word.

“Realistic? I never thought I’d say fairytales are realistic, but in comparison with dying for love, I’d say so.”

“If I died, I’d want you to live
—live a long life—and find someone wonderful who could make you happy.” Even as he spoke, Jonathan realized what his wife had felt in her last weeks. “I guess that’s what Lily was trying to share.”

“That’s good,” Cara quipped.
“Because I don’t plan on suicide if you are so foolish as to off yourself.”

Their steps dragged through the park trails as they wandered toward Jonathan’s car side by side, hands nearly touching but never quite connecting. Just as they crossed the stretch of grass that separated the parking lot from the paths, Jonathan glanced at her curiously. “Ostentatious, huh?”

“It’s the first word that came to mind, okay! I loved the flowers, I adored that you bought so many. Think me self-centered, but I happen to love a little pampering and that was right up my alley. I may not be high maintenance in the gift department, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love to be spoiled as much as the next woman.”

“Ostentatious though. Interesting.”

~*~*~*~

When Cara arrived back at work,
Carly waited in her office with “reports” that turned out to be little more than memos. “So, where’d you go?”

“Just to the park. There’s this cool little place a few blocks from here. I’d never seen it before the other day, but it’s amazing. Trees, trails, benches…”

“What’d he bring you?”

Cara sighed. This was it. The moment she answered, Carly would buy bridal magazines and order fabric swatches. “Pastrami.”

“Did you tell him?” A smile grew as Carly spoke. “In the short time you’ve had to get to know each other, did you actually tell him your favorite sandwich?” She stared at Cara’s outfit. “There’s not a mustard spot anywhere.”

“He brought me an apron and no, I didn’t tell him. Mom did.”

“
He’s met your mom!”
Carly frowned. “Right. He came yesterday when she brought your outfit. Forgot.”

The office buzzing ceased. The general low toned discussions ended, no one swiveled in a chair, printed anything, or clacked a computer keyboard. The room sat as if frozen, waiting to hear more. Cara, tired of the drama, shook her head, rolled her eyes, and strode purposefully toward the door and opened it.

“Hear ye, hear ye. Will everyone give me their full attention?” She glanced around the room, waiting for a few heads to rise above the cubicles. “Yes, I am seeing someone—” A cheer rose from the room, interrupting her. She waved her hands to silence them and continued. “His name is Jonathan, he lives in Atlanta, and he’s here, with his two children, until Monday. Then he’s going home and I don’t know when or if I’ll ever see him again.”

A collective murmur of disappointment touched her deeply. Cara smiled through unexpected tears of gratitude for the interest shown in her life, her happiness, and herself as a person. “He sent me that huge bunch of roses today and yes, I swooned. That was kind of his goal and it worked. And yes,” she continued, knowing rumors had already made the office rounds, “he chose lavender for a reason. Apparently they mean love at first sight.” She took a deep breath. “I can’t tell you what it means to me that you’re all so invested in my happiness. I can see the desire to tease…” she gave the youngest male in the room a pointed look. “… the prayers of dear friends…” she smiled gratefully at Carly. “… the curiosity, the hope and the joy in so many of you. I appreciate it. I don’t know if this’ll go anywhere. It won’t be easy with us hundreds and hundreds of miles apart but—” She swallowed, realizing she’d just made up her mind. “I do plan to give it everything I’ve got. Even if he wasn’t more than worth it, and he is, his kids certainly are.”

Without another word, she did an about face to return to her office, but an exuberant round of applause stopped her. The room, filled with standing, clapping co-workers, couldn’t have made her feel any better if they’d tried. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Carly started to return to her office but Derek stepped from his and beckoned her. “Can I see you a moment?”

With an inward groan that could have deafened the room had it been audible, Cara followed him into his immaculate office. “Yes?”

“Shut the door.”

A sense of dread swept over her. What had she done? Was he upset about her announcement? They kept a well-disciplined but still casual air in the office. Everyone worked hard, but unlike a library or classroom, the employees felt free to joke, call across the room with a question, or tease a fellow coworker about a mistake. Perhaps he thought it inappropriate for the assistant CFO to mingle so casually with the rest of the finance office.

“Um… did I—”

“You like this man.”

“Yes.”

“More than you thought yesterday, I presume?” The lack of accusation in his words brought welcome relief.

“He pretty much laid his heart at my feet last night, but we don’t know each other well enough to make the huge changes in our lives that we’d have to if we wanted to be together on a regular basis.”

“What a jumbled mess of nothingness. I swear people don’t take any kind of reasonable or unreasonable risks anymore.” At her shocked expression, he hastened to add. “Not that I’m complaining. That’s why I called you in here. If it turns out that you want to go to Atlanta to be with him, I can get you in the finance department of the southeastern corporate offices opening there. It’d be a step down…” He watched her carefully to see if she balked. “I mean, the CFO gets to pick his own assistant since they’re being groomed for Comptroller after all, but I could definitely get you into Chan’s position down there if you wanted. Just say the word and I’ll call Wes Marley and get the ball rolling.”

Overwhelming temptation washed over her. Yes, she’d make a little less money, but being hired as a CFO’s assistant right out of college had been an extremely unusual situation. She’d interviewed with Chan for Chan’s position and impressed Derek so thoroughly that he’d hired her on the spot. Her salary was twice what she’d hoped for, and while not wealthy, compared to her contemporaries, she did quite well for herself.

“I can’t. You do not know how badly I want to throw my arms around you, thank you from the bottom of my heart, and beg you to make that call, but I can’t. I can’t uproot my entire life, leave my dream job, and move almost a thousand miles away—where I only know one person— just in case I might fall in love with him.”

“Might?”

“Okay, might
stay
in love with him. If the offer is still good in a year or so, I might ask, but I don’t expect it.” She rested her hands on his desk and deliberately met his eyes. “The fact that you offered means so much to me though. I really appreciate it.”

“I can’t say I’
m sorry you said no.”

“Good,” she retorted as she left his office. “I wouldn’t want to discover you were eager to get rid of me.”

Fairy lights lit the Chesterfield Greenhouse, sending Riley and Shelly into rhapsodies over their date. Cara didn’t know they’d opened the maze at night, but Jonathan assured her that their food
would be delicious and he’d discovered that for the month of May, instead of a mystery dinner, they offered a scavenger hunt through the maze. They were free to stop and eat when they reached the middle dining area and continue before they left, but if they managed to find everything on their list before they left or before closing time, they had prize baskets from area merchants. Cara considered it a brilliant advertising move. It didn’t cost the greenhouse anything extra, the businesses wrote off their prizes and got new customers, and the patrons loved the hunt. She wondered exactly what Jonathan thought of it, but his voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Okay. This is how this works. You’re going to start in that corner, and we’re going to start here.” Jonathan spoke
primarily to his children, but his words were clearly meant for Shelly. “Your radio is for help. If you even feel a tiny bit uncomfortable, call for help immediately. When you get to the dining area, call my phone if we’re not there yet.”

Cara zipped a silent question to him and then smiled. “The first one to get all the things on their list wins. If you guys beat us, you can go with us tomorrow to pick up the prizes you have to get from the stores. If you don’t beat us, we get to go by ourselves.”

“On your mark,” Shelly’s desire to win almost radiated from her.

“Get set?” Cara loved a challenge.

“Go!” Riley clearly loved to tell everyone what to do.

Just inside the archway leading to their corner of the maze, Cara grabbed Jonathan’s hand, jerking him to a stop. “Okay, I need to know before I start this, do you want to win or are you giving your kids an advantage so they can come?”

“Competitive?”

“You’re wasting valuable time with stupid questions like that. Answer my question.”

“My mom has a trip to the renaissance faire planned for tomorrow. She won’t like it—”

He didn’t have a chance to finish. Cara tore through the maze, stopping at every remotely hidden item, scanning the list to see if they needed it. “Yep. Competitive,” he muttered without any attempt to disguise his delight.

Their mesh sack filled rapidly. Before they reached the center of the maze, she had crossed off over half the items on their list. Jonathan protested that he felt utterly useless. Before he could glance at the shrubbery after a new turn in the maze, she’d have it in the bag and spot three more. Though she tried to give him a chance to find something, the drive to win overrode all other intentions. Meanwhile, Jonathan laughed at her frustration of finding things and then having to return them to their place after realizing it wasn’t on their list.

After she dropped one near the base of the hedge, he laughed. “You’re helping them.”

“We’re bigger… we can see better.”

He shook his head. “They’re lower to the ground. They will see it better.”

“Two-thirds of the list done—oh, and there’s the dining area. Do you know what Shelly wants to eat?”

He flipped open his phone, punched Shelly’s number, and handed it to Cara. Smiling at his obvious need for her to handle the meals, Cara read the menu to Shelly and patiently reread several sections until the girl decided on grilled shrimp and scallops. Cara handed the phone back to him, smiling. “Okay, rib eye it is. Let’s order. I’m starving.”

“I thought she wanted shrimp.”

“No, that’s what I thought you were getting.” She smiled at the question in his eyes. “I know you better than you give me credit for.”

Once again, they sat simply enjoying each other’s presence without benefit of words. The waiter hovered, obviously fascinated by the air of tranquility around them. After several awkward attempts to provide a higher level of service, he bent low and asked Jonathan quietly, “Is there anything I can do for you, sir?”