She hesitated, stared at the phone across the room for a moment, begging it to ring.
It didn’t.
Her last chance was telling Jeff. He at least seemed to like her unlike Danielle and he was there to apologise. Maybe he wasn’t the jerk she thought he was.
“Come on up Jeff,” she said and buzzed him in.
She had to leave in five minutes. She had her bags packed and at the door and while she was waiting for Jeff, she called the doorman to hail a cab for Heathrow.
There was a knock on the door and Lily moved to it to let him in. Jeff saw her bags immediately and his head snapped from them to her, his eyes alight.
She was too wired, trying to fight the tears crawling up her throat and her frenzy at needing to get word to Nate or Laura, to notice.
“What’s happened Lily?” he asked softly.
She stared at him and then it happened. The dam broke; she could hold it back no longer. She burst into tears. He pulled her into his arms and stroked her back.
“Tell me, Lily, tell me what he’s done,” he whispered encouragingly.
She just shook her head and said in a broken voice, “It’s not Nate. It’s my parents. They died in a plane crash yesterday. Both of them.”
His arms tightened.
“Oh Lily,” Jeff murmured and she could swear he actually sounded upset for her.
She pulled away, dashing her hands on her tear-stained cheeks.
“I have to go,” she announced urgently and looked at her watch. “Now!” she cried in panic. “I haven’t been able to get hold of Nate or your mother. Jeff, you must phone Nate. Tell him. You must. Please. Tell him I’ll call him later, in a few days. Promise me.”
His hand reached up and touched her cheek where a tear was sliding down.
“I promise,” he whispered.
She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight, “Thank you.”
Then she grabbed her bags and tore out the door to go home.
To Fazire.
Jeff watched the door slam behind Lily and saw the note on the table.
He calmly walked over and read it.
He thought, vaguely, that it was rather sad.
Then he bunched it in a ball and put it in his pocket.
Nate, he knew, was moving in a few days.
Lily just told him she wouldn’t call for a few days.
There wasn’t much time.
He walked through his brother’s posh flat and searched for anything that she may have left behind.
He found a bottle of perfume on a bureau, a pair of earrings on the bedside table and a lone nightgown, the only thing in an otherwise empty drawer.
That was it.
He shoved these in a trash bag, carried them out of the flat and deposited them in the first dustbin he found.
Then he called his sister.
Chapter Eleven
Nate’s “Death”
“I think we should do it.”
Nate was at his desk and Victor was sitting across from him. They were going over some figures for a proposed deal that Victor very much wanted to do.
Nate was staring out the window and wondering what was wrong with Lily.
She was guarded, she was being secretive and there was something she wasn’t telling him.
He didn’t want to push her. After Jeff cornered her, she could have forced Nate to bare his soul about his past but she told him she’d wait until he was ready. Although he wanted to force her to share with him whatever was bothering her, he thought it best to take her cue and wait until she was ready to share.
Nate had no idea how to behave in a healthy relationship. He could easily cope with dysfunction, indifference, malice and greed but he was hopelessly out of his depth with Lily.
He knew she wanted more from him but it was something he couldn’t give. He didn’t want to do anything that would make her turn away, make the shining light that blazed in her eyes whenever she looked at him even dim, much less go away.
He had stood behind Lily and Jeff listening to Lily chose him, feeling for the first time in his life a fierce pride in himself that this magnificent creature would want him, would chose him. At the same time he wished for Jeff to tell her, tell her whatever it was he knew, tell her so it would be out in the open.
Jeff didn’t do it which was both a continued burden at the same time it was an immense relief.
Nate even entertained thoughts of packing her up, taking her away, going back to Indiana with her and leaving his past behind forever. He didn’t want to hang onto who he was anymore, he didn’t want it to destroy his life and what he hoped to build with Lily.
But he couldn’t do that, he could never leave. He owed everything he was to Victor and Laura and that came with Jeff and Danielle.
Nate was existing on borrowed time when it came to Lily.
Therefore, as always, he had a plan.
“Nathaniel?”
Nate’s head jerked around to look at his father and Victor lifted up the papers they were supposed to be going over as a reminder to his distracted son.
“No,” Nate stated flatly.
“You don’t want to do it?” Victor asked in disbelief.
“It’s too much of a risk.”
“Ho, ho, hoooo…” His father drew out his last “ho” grandly. “You’re getting soft.” He stared knowingly at Nate and Nate knew he meant Lily.
“Not soft, Victor. That deal’s a train wreck,” Nate responded calmly.
“Two weeks ago, you would have been all over this,” Victor volleyed.
“Two weeks ago, those papers were on my desk. I read through them and tossed them in the bin,” Nate returned.
Victor’s eyes rounded. “Jeff brought this to me two days ago.”
“Jeff wants the deal and I also told Jeff no.”
No more needed to be said about Jeff or the deal. Jeff had lost the company enough money making foolish decisions, not taking advice and not thinking things through
Nate, however, had been the driving force behind their success and both Victor and Jeff knew it. Victor was always a ruthless risk taker but it was Nate who assessed their options and advised the route. Victor always took Nate’s advice. Nate, in turn, had never been wrong and Victor had never been sorry.
Furthermore, Jeff was a sore subject for Nate especially after dinner the other night and Victor knew that as well. Knew it well enough to make certain that Nate didn’t see Jeff anywhere, not at the house or at the office.
Victor threw the dismissed papers on Nate’s desk and then sat back.
“So, no deal. Let’s talk about something else. How’s Lily?”
The phone rang in his outer office and no one answered it. His secretary was out sick and HR was having troubles getting a temp to replace her.
Nate ignored it and told his father, “She’s fine.”
“You gonna marry her?” Victor asked.
At this blunt query, Nate decided to turn his attention to the window again.
“Son, I asked you a question,” Victor said quietly but kindly. He was never menacing to Nate, as he still could be, very much so. Firstly, Nate wouldn’t respond to it. Secondly, Victor held Nate in too much esteem. Thirdly, Nate was not the type of man who could be menaced.
“I think Lily needs things to slow down,” Nate finally answered.
“Take my advice,” Victor said and Nate’s eyes shifted to him again, “get the girl pregnant. It worked for me with Laura.” After saying this, he grinned cheekily.
Nate nearly flinched at his words but he stopped himself.
“Victor, you’ve been married thirty years and Jeff’s twenty-eight.” Nate didn’t believe his father and thought he was being purposefully shocking to get his point across.