Chapter Four

      Despite the fact that the restaurant was enjoying a healthy amount of business with most of the tables taken, the silence at their table seemed to wrap tightly around Everett and Lila.

      Lila realized that Everett was waiting for her to answer him. And unfortunately, the floor hadn’t opened up and swallowed her, so she was forced to say something. At a loss and wanting to stall until something came to her, Lila played dumb.

      Clearing her throat she asked, “Excuse me? What did you say?”

      Everett had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he repeated, “I asked if it would be all right with you if I called you the next time I was in Austin. You know, so we could get together again,” he added and then watched her, waiting for an answer.

      Again? Lila thought, astonished. I’m barely surviving this time.

      She debated just shrugging her shoulders and saying, “Sure,” with the hopes that if and when Everett called, she would have been able to come up with some sort of a viable excuse why she couldn’t see him again.

      But if she didn’t put him off now, there was the very real possibility that she’d be doomed to go through another uncomfortable meeting in the near future.

      Gathering her courage, Lila told him, “Um, I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea.”

      If he were being honest with himself, Everett had half expected her to react this way. Still, actually hearing Lila say the words was very difficult for him.

      Nodding grimly at her rebuff, he told her, “I understand.”

      But he really didn’t understand because he didn’t think it was a bad idea. He thought it was a perfectly good idea, one that would allow him another chance to convince her that they should try making their relationship work again after all these years.

      Because they belonged together.

      “Well, I really need to get going,” she told Everett, rising to her feet. When he began to do the same, she quickly said, “Oh, don’t leave on my account. Stay,” she urged. “Have that dessert,” she added. And then she concluded coldly, “I wish you luck with the rest of your life.”

      Then, turning on her heel, she quickly left the restaurant without so much as a backward glance.

      Lila didn’t exhale until the restaurant doors closed behind her.

      Her heart was hammering hard and the brisk walk to her car had nothing to do with it. Lila didn’t come anywhere close to relaxing until she reached her vehicle and got in.

      Then she released her breath slowly.

      She’d done it, she thought. She’d survived seeing him again.

      She really hoped that Everett hadn’t realized just how affected she was by his presence. With that in mind, there was just no way she could see him again, Lila thought. She was certain that she wouldn’t be able to endure being face-to-face with Everett a second time, even if it was only for a couple of minutes.

      But she’d done it. Lila silently congratulated herself as she started up her car. She’d sat across from Everett Fortunado and she hadn’t bolted. She’d held her ground until she announced that she had to be getting back.

      And now, having made it through that and gotten it out of the way, she could go on with the rest of her life.

      * * *

      Everett left the restaurant a couple of minutes after Lila did. There seemed to be no point in staying. He’d only mentioned having dessert because he remembered how fond of sweets she had always been. The thought of dessert had no allure for him, especially now that Lila had left. So he paid the tab and walked out.

      He had barely managed to get into his car and buckle up before his cell phone rang. His first thought when he heard the phone was that it was Lila, calling to say she had changed her mind about having him call her the next time he was in Austin.

      But when he answered the phone, it wasn’t Lila. It was Schuyler.

      “So how was it?” his sister asked in lieu of a hello.

      Trying hard not to sound irritated, he asked her, “Why are you calling? I could have still been at the restaurant with Lila.”

      “I took a chance,” she told him. “If you were still with Lila, I figured you wouldn’t have answered your cell. But you did,” she concluded with a resigned sigh. “So I take it that she really did have a short lunch break.”

      He didn’t have it in him to lie or make something up, so he just said vaguely, “Something like that.”

      He should have known Schuyler wanted to know more. “What was it like exactly?” she asked him.

      Everett sighed. There was no point in playing games or pretending that everything was fine. He’d been pretending that for the last thirteen years and it had just brought him to this painful moment of truth. And he knew that Schuyler would just keep after him until he told about lunch.

      “I think Lila might hate me,” he said to his sister. He’d said “might” because stating it flatly just hurt too much.

      “Hate you?” Schuyler questioned in surprise. “Why? What happened at lunch?” Then she chuckled. “Did she try to set you on fire?”

      Everett laughed dryly. “No, she stopped short of that. But when I asked if I could call her again the next time I was in Austin, she told me she didn’t think that was such a good idea.”

      “Wait, back up,” Schuyler told her brother. “You asked her if you could call?”

      “Yes.” Schuyler was making it sound like he’d done something bad, but he had just been trying to be thoughtful of Lila’s feelings. He didn’t want Lila thinking he just presumed things. He was proud of the fact that he was first and foremost a gentleman.

      He heard his sister sigh in disbelief. “Everett, you are a brilliant, brilliant doctor and probably the smartest man I know, but what you know about women could be stuffed into a walnut shell with room for a wad of chewing gum. You don’t ask a woman if you can call her. You just call her.”

      He didn’t operate like that. “What if she doesn’t want me to call?”

      “Then you’ll find that out after the fact,” Schuyler told him. “Believe me, if she doesn’t want you to call, she’ll let you know when she answers the phone. But if you hold off calling because she said she doesn’t want you to, then you might wind up missing out on an opportunity.”

      This was making his head hurt. “Nothing is straightforward with you women, is it?”

      “That’s