Second Chances: Novella One

by Jo Briggs

  Setting down Layla’s case, he left her at the door after bidding her a nervous goodnight, not daring to allow himself to enter her room. Evan knew that if he set eyes on the king-size bed, with Layla in reach of his arms, he could not be held responsible for what marvellous things he would do to her under the crisp, white sheets.

  Chapter Four

  Layla

  Closing the door behind her, Layla leaned against the wood with her heart still hammering against her rib cage. Taking a couple of swift, deep breaths, she tried to calm herself. There was no denying the fire was still there, but she could not let herself get too caught up in the moment this early on. She needed answers before making her ultimate confession.

  Before doing anything else she checked in with her son’s nanny, Lucy to see how he was behaving. She hated being away from him for more than a few days at a time. The original plan had been for Lucy to bring him up from London to join her at Ava and Cameron’s house but she was going to have to rethink that. She didn’t feel comfortable bringing Bennett to Evan’s home until they had talked more thoroughly.

  At four years old, Bennett had developed into an intelligent child despite residual issues arising from his traumatic birth and months that followed. He would probably never develop at the speeds as a similar age child but that just made her love him even more. He was a child any parent would be happy to have.

  Satisfied with the Lucy’s reassurance that Bennett remained content, Layla made plans for him to remain in London for a couple more days while she debated her next move with restoring her connection with Evan. She headed into the adjoining bathroom to turn on the shower. Waiting for it to steam up, she placed a few outfits inside the wardrobe, set out her daily skin-regime bottles on the dresser and her nightwear on the bed. Unzipping her dress, she let it drop to the floor before stepping into the shower.

  Images of him ran through her mind as she glided the lather over her skin, the hot water soothing her aching, jetlagged muscles. Layla sighed inwardly; she was certainly going to have to work hard not to think about him constantly or she would go insane before even one day passed. She had only been in Evan’s company for less than two hours and already she was panting like a schoolgirl at the mere thought of him.

  Drying herself off, she chose to wear a silk nightgown with a hem at the mid-thigh, beneath a full-length, thin-belted dressing gown, which was drawn tightly around her waist. Restless, she peered out of the window. It was a bright moonlit night. As she looked out over the familiar gardens, a tug of familiarity urged her to go downstairs and grab some air. It had become something of a ritual for her during those last tortuous months before her departure to New York.

  Opening the door into the hallway, she found it still dimly light. Layla was not sure whether Evan had gone straight into his own room after leaving her or back downstairs, but she felt he would not mind if she went out into the gardens.

  Making her way quickly down the stairs, through a couple of adjoining reception rooms and into a conservatory, Layla tried the handle of the French doors, but they were locked. Thinking back, she wondered if the key would be in the same place. She spotted two familiar vases sitting ornately on a large glass table; one had an arrangement of pale blue lilies with baby’s breath and heather, while the other remained empty. Slipping her slender hand inside the latter, she was not disappointed when her fingers laced around a key. Thank you, Evan, for not changing.

  Taking it, Layla opened the doors and stepped outside, where the crisp night air breezed over her. It was refreshing. Slipping the key into her dressing-gown pocket, she wandered along the paved path until she saw an old, stone bench ahead. Sitting down, she rested her back on the cool surface of the stone and closed her eyes, the slight wind on her face helping to clear her mind.

  With the scent of lilies still lingering in her nostrils from the vase, her memory recalled many significant moments when Evan had sent her the same flowers, knowing them to be her favourite. The last time had been the day on which he came to Keely’s house after discovering her farewell note. Since then, the scent of lilies left Layla with a stabbing pain that lanced her heart and she was unable to buy them. The mere memory of the smell brought a sting to her eyes as she tried to fight back the tears.

  Unbeknown to her, the object of her thoughts had had the same idea. Having gone out into the garden through another set of doors, Evan was now making his way back down the path to where she sat. Layla did not even hear the tap of his shoes on the ground, engrossed as she was in trying to clear her mind of him, so she could have a peaceful night’s sleep.

  Evan

  “Layla!” Evan blurted out in surprise as the moonlight and dim garden lights glistened off the woman’s bare skin. Gazing at her long legs, outstretched in front of her, and clearly visible through the sheerness of the dressing gown, he felt the old, familiar stirrings in his groin.

  Evan could not help but laugh inwardly at the cruelty of the situation. He had left the house to avoid thinking of Layla being just across the hall from him. The thought had been killing him, yet here she was, looking breathtaking, and testing his restraint to the fullest when it was already at snapping point.

  Startled to hear her name spoken, Layla’s eyes opened wide and she looked at him with a shocked expression. “Evan…” She breathed his name faintly, her eyes misting up unexpectedly, giving her a vulnerable radiance.

  Moving closer to sit tentatively next to her on the bench, Evan asked softly, “Are you all right?” Nervously, he reached out to take one of her hands in his, not trusting himself to wipe the tears from her eyes. Layla did not respond at first. Avoiding his gaze, she looked at his large hand, wrapped around one of her small ones, both resting together in her lap, and nodded silently.

  “Memories?” he asked.

  Layla nodded once more, tilting her head slightly to one side, so her raised eyes met his on a level. She turned her head to rest it against his shoulder briefly, as she admitted that being back in this house had raised some old ghosts.

  Evan could read her like a book, even after such a long separation, and he wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and offer comfort. But, he knew it would scare her into raising emotional barriers that might take him months to defeat. His inept handling of Layla’s emotions in the past had led to the end of their relationship just as he was about to propose marriage, so he needed to handle the current situation differently.

  Evan had spent the time since their break-up savouring any news of Layla’s life, although any information during the first few years had been exceptionally sparse, due to the estrangement between her and Ava. Later, Evan found out that Layla had given birth to a son during her time in New York, but he did not know the identity of the father.

  Caggie had tried to convince him that it was Layla’s ex, Dylan Matthews, whom he knew to have been living in New York at the right time, but he refused to believe Layla would get involved with such an idiot a second time. That was until Layla had turned up at her niece’s christening with said moron. Since then he had not known what to believe.

  It had killed him to think of Layla having a child with someone else, especially after the pain of losing their own. The knowledge of it had been the turning point for Evan, when he gave up any hope of her suddenly returning.

  That was when Caggie had pounced on his vulnerability, and used it to convince him to give her a chance. In a weak moment of loneliness he had given in, much to his regret as his life became consumed with the misery of her unplanned pregnancy and drug addiction. Despite the fact that Layla had been with Dylan at Jess’ christening, the sight of her had reminded Evan what it felt like to be happy, causing him to realise he was being taken for a fool by staying with Caggie for the sake of her child.

  Evan had been seriously hurt by Layla’s coldness at the christening. He had hoped they could at least be friends, and her sudden disappearance that day troubled him tremendously. It was only weeks later, when he broke up with Caggie
, that he finally uncovered some of the truth as to why Layla had been so cold.

  While Caggie would not tell him everything, she had confessed to deleting certain voicemail messages on his mobile, which Layla left a few months after leaving him. Caggie claimed she never listened to them and didn’t know what they contained, but Evan felt sure she was lying, even though she stood firm in her denial.

  Once he had broken things off with Caggie, Evan had ached to find Layla and try to sort out whatever misunderstanding had occurred between them, but she was always flittering around the world, publicising her new fashion label. He had almost given up all hope of an opportunity when he saw some photographs of Layla, taken in several cities, holding hands with the same man repeatedly. Pride kept him from seeking her out after that. Instead he took his bruised and battered heart to Chile to recover, escaping any familiarity that would remind him of her, or Caggie’s deception.

  While these thoughts spun around in his head, Evan circled his thumb over the back of Layla’s hand. Keeping his touch to the tiniest amount, unless she initiated something more, was his decided course of action for now.

  “Do you want to talk about it? I can go and get some wine, and we can sit here for as long as you need,” he offered, hoping they might finally be able to begin clearing up all their misunderstandings.

  “Wine would be great, thank you, but I’m not ready to talk things through tonight. It’s much harder being here than I thought, and I need to get my thoughts in check. Is that okay?” Layla asked, nervously.

  He squeezed her hand, understandingly. He knew they would be undisturbed for a few days until Ava came out of hospital, and before Layla could move into the new house that Cameron had mentioned. Evan had waited five years, so he could cope with one or two more days, being able to enjoy the woman’s company in the meantime and show her how improved he was. “Let me get the wine. I’ll just be a moment.”

  Evan returned with two wine glasses in one hand, a bottle of red in the other, and a blanket hanging from his forearm. Layla took them from him and began to pour two generous helpings while he unravelled the blanket and placed it around her shoulders. Handing him a glass, she moved closer to him so that his back would be covered as well.

  “So, what should we toast to first?”

  “Familiar places and old friends,” Evan suggests

  They both clinked glasses, before each took a large sip of the ruby liquid to calm their nerves.

  “So, what have you been doing with yourself, since I last saw you?” Layla asked.

  “Well, I don’t know if Cameron told you anything, but I’ve only recently returned from a year in South America. I was working for a charity, helping to teach English in deprived areas, and doing other projects.”

  Layla

  Layla was burning with curiosity as to why Even had split with Caggie so suddenly after seeing her at the christening, and then heading out into the middle of nowhere. It made her wonder if Caggie had come clean about deleting the messages she had left him all those years ago. Then again, if he already knew something, she was surprised he had allowed her to put off discussing it. The old Evan would have demanded they talk about it at once, rather than giving her time. She certainly preferred this side of him.

  “It’s rare for you to take a long break from work,” Layla observed.

  Evan nodded in agreement. “Yes, it was, but it came at the right time – when I needed some time-out from life here, to assess what direction my life was taking.”

  Layla remained silent. It was not that she didn’t have a thousand questions to ask about why he went, but she was wary of pushing him into answering, considering he had given her time to reply to his. Deep down, she knew that she had to be a factor in him taking time out.

  “So, how are Amber and Felix?” Layla asked about Evan’s younger siblings mostly out of politeness than real interest, especially in the case of his sister, to whom she had once been close.

  Evan sipped slowly from his glass and replied, “Well, Amber is almost twenty-five now. She finished at Cambridge, and now lives mostly between Vienna and Berlin. She has a German husband, Seb Hoffman, and a two-year-old child. And she helps Felix to run the hotel chain.”

  “Wow, Amber’s a mother.” Layla tried to sound genuine, but it made her wonder how Evan felt about being an uncle. Did he spoil the child, as a replacement for the one they’d lost, since she wasn’t even sure he was the father of Caggie’s child? “Keely has mentioned that Felix is based in Rome,” she added.

  Aged thirty, Felix was older than Amber. As the second son in the mighty Carter lineage, he had worked his way through Cambridge as well, before taking on the responsibility of the chain of exclusive hotels all over the world that the family owned.

  “Yes, he has been in Rome for a couple of years. I heard a rumour from Amber that Felix and Keely have been frequent dinner partners lately. Were you aware of that?” he asked curiously.

  Layla's perfectly plucked eyebrows arched in surprise. “No, she said she’d done some work projects with him, but nothing social.”

  She began to wonder if her friend had been silent on the matter for her sake, not wanting to risk hurting her until she was sure the relationship with Felix was serious. Keely would be considerate to Layla’s sensitive feelings of having another potentially permanent link to Evan’s family.

  “I’m sure she has her reasons for not saying anything at the moment. I’m due to see her in a few weeks, so perhaps she is waiting to see me in person,” she said in a matter-of-fact way. “How are you enjoying being an uncle?”

  Evan smiled brightly, “Louie is cute; he has certainly enlightened me on the delights of Lego, which I had long forgotten. Unfortunately, because they live in Berlin the majority of the time, I don’t get to see him as much as I’d like, although I try to make a trip over there at least once every six months. I normally do the same with Rome to see Felix.”

  They discussed briefly how Layla’s modelling career had encouraged her to study for a degree in design in both Florence and New York, before speaking about all the fashion boutiques she had opened. Evan listened with pride and enthusiasm as Layla told him how she loved creating clothes, and how in the beginning she had read the society pages to see if one of her designs was mentioned at a swanky party.

  He laughed at the image as he took a last swig from his glass, leaving just the final dregs in the bottom. The chime of the clock in the hallway echoed through the night air, intruding upon their thoughts and bringing them back to reality. It was one o'clock.

  Layla stood up. Looking down at him, she stretched out her hand to encourage him to slip his own inside hers. “Shall we go back inside?” she asked.

  Evan raised himself and took Layla’s hand. She had not moved, so his body was mere inches away from hers. As they stood facing one another, she could feel his breath in her hair. The wine had fired up a brave determination in her blood, giving her the confidence to tilt her head upwards and give him the smile that she used to save for him only, during their most private time.

  Evan

  That smile of hers used to make Evan’s heart miss a beat, and it continued to have the same effect now. Catching him by surprise, Layla went up on tiptoes and kissed him gently on the corner of his lips. “Thank you for the wine, and understanding,” she said gently.

  Spurred on by her sudden display of affection, Evan couldn’t hold back the urge to return the kiss on the corner of her lips before replying, “Any time.” With one hand still enclosing hers, he moved the other to rest on her hip, feeling the warmth of her body radiating through her nightclothes towards his skin, almost burning him in the process.

  “I guess we should go to bed,” Layla said softly. “Do you have to work tomorrow?”

  “No, I’m totally free to entertain you, if you wish,” he replied, half playfully.

  “I shall have to give some thought to what we can do.”

  Evan laughed, his palm still rested on her hip and the
tips of his fingers gently moving against the material beneath. He heard Layla expel a slow breath of air as her body reacted to his teasing touch. Resting his forehead carefully against hers, he said honestly, “I guess I need to let you go inside, and up to your own room, so you can get a decent night's sleep after your plane trip.”

  Layla lifted her head off his and looked at him, her eyes searching, as they both sighed. “I guess that would be best,” she agreed, giving his hand a light squeeze.

  Parting, she followed him back into the house through the same double doors that she had opened earlier. Removing the key from her dressing gown pocket, she handed it back to him.

  “You know all my little secrets, Miss Keyes,” said Evan with a twinkle in his eye, as he returned the key to its usual resting place in the vase.

  She grinned in return.

  After walking up the stairs, they said goodnight on the landing, before Layla slipped into her room once again. Evan stood staring at her closed door for some moments before he pulled himself together and entered his own bedroom.

  For him, sleep was elusive, his mind teasing him with thoughts of making love to her in their bed. When Evan finally drifted off, his thoughts merged into a sequence of memories from the first time he brought Layla to this house, shortly after she had agreed to front an advertising campaign for his company at the beginning of their relationship.

  Throughout the evening Layla had been drinking more champagne than he suspected she was used to. The excess alcohol seemed to act as a springboard, blasting away any final inhibitions as she placed her body in his lap and proceeded to reignite their earlier tongue dance.

  As the heat between them built up to a volcanic status, Evan suggested they retire to the private cosiness of the library. It was his favourite room and he had yet to show it to her. He would have taken her straight up to the soft comfort of his bedroom, but he thought that might send her running, and he wanted to savour this uninhibited Layla for as long as possible.