The Fortune Most Likely To...

by Marie Ferrarella

* * *

  The restaurant she’d selected was normally barely a five-minute drive away from the Foundation. Even with the sluggish midday traffic, it only took her ten minutes to get there. Before she knew it, she was pulling into a space in the restaurant’s parking lot.

  Sitting there, thinking of what was ahead of her, Lila found that she had to psych herself up in order to leave the shelter of her vehicle and walk into the restaurant.

  To face her past.

  “No,” she contradicted herself through gritted teeth. “Not to face the past. To finally shut the door on it once and for all and start your future.”

  Yes, she had a life and a career, a career she was quite proud of. But she also needed to cut all ties to the woman she had once been. That starry-eyed young woman who thought that love lasted forever and that she had found her true love. That woman had to, quite simply, be put to rest once and for all.

  And she intended to do that by having lunch with Everett, the man who had taken her heart and made mincemeat out of it. And once lunch was done, she was going to tell him goodbye one last time. Tell him goodbye and make him realize that she meant it.

  Lila slowly got out of her car and then locked it.

  Squaring her shoulders, she headed for the restaurant. It was time to beard the lion in his den and finally be set free.

  Chapter Three

  This was absurd, Everett thought. He was a well-respected, sought-after physician who had graduated from medical school at the top of his class. Skilled and exceedingly capable. Yet here he was, sitting in a restaurant, feeling as nervous as a teenager waiting for his first date to walk in.

  This was Lila for God’s sake, he lectured himself. Lila, someone he’d once believed was his soul mate. Lila, whom he’d once been closer to than anyone else in the world and had loved with his whole heart and soul. There was absolutely no reason for him to be tapping the table with his long fingers and fidgeting like some inexperienced kid.

  Yet here he was, half an hour ahead of time, watching the door when he wasn’t watching the clock, waiting for Lila to walk in.

  Wondering if she wouldn’t.

  Wondering if, for some reason, she would wind up changing her mind at the last minute and call him to cancel their lunch. Or worse, not call at all.

  Why am I doing this to myself? Everett silently demanded. Why was he making himself crazy like this? So what if she didn’t show? It wouldn’t be the end of the world. At least, no more than it was all those years ago when Lila had told him she didn’t ever want to see him again.

  The words had stung back then and he hadn’t known what to do with himself, how to think, what to say. In time, he’d calmed down, started to think rationally again. He had decided to stay away from her for a while, thinking that Lila would eventually come to her senses and change her mind.

  Except that, when he finally went to see her, he found out that she was gone. Lila had taken off for parts unknown and no one knew where. Or, if they did know, no one was telling him no matter how much he asked.

  That was when his parents had sat him down and told him that it was all for the best. They reminded him that he had a destiny to fulfill and now he was free to pursue that destiny.

  Not having anything else to cling to, he threw himself into his studies and did exactly what was expected of him—and more.

  He did all that only to end up here, sitting in an Austin restaurant, watching the door and praying each time it opened that it was Lila coming in and walking back into his life.

  But each time, it wasn’t Lila who walked in.

  Until it was.

  Everett felt his pulse leap up with a jolt the second he saw her. All these years and she had only gotten more beautiful.

  He immediately rose in his seat, waving to catch her attention. He had to stop himself from calling out her name, instinctively knowing that would embarrass her. They weren’t teenagers anymore.

  * * *

  Lila had almost turned around at the door just before she opened it. It was only the fact that she would have been severely disappointed in herself for acting like such a coward that forced her to come inside.

  The second she did, she immediately saw Everett and then it was too late to run for cover. Too late to change her mind.

  The game was moving forward.

  She forced a smile to her lips despite the fact that her stomach was tied in a knot so tight she could hardly breathe. It was the sort of smile that strangers gave one another in an attempt to break the ice. Except that there was no breaking the ice that she felt in her soul as she looked at Everett.

  All the old heartache came rushing back to her in spades.

  “I’m sorry,” she murmured to Everett when she finally reached the table. “Am I late?”

  “No,” he quickly assured her. “I’m early. I didn’t know if there was going to be a lot of traffic, or if I’d have trouble finding this place, so I left the hotel early.” A sheepish smile curved his lips. “As it turned out, there was no traffic and the restaurant was easy enough to find.”

  “That’s good,” she responded, already feeling at a loss as to what to say next.

  She was about to sit down and Everett quickly came around the table to hold out her chair for her.

  “Thank you,” she murmured, feeling even more awkward as she took her seat.

  Having pushed her chair in for her, Everett circled back to his own and sat down opposite her. He could feel his heart swelling just to look at her.

  “You look really great,” Everett told her with enthusiasm.

  Again she forced a quick smile to her lips. “Thank you,” she murmured.

  At least all that time she’d spent this morning fussing with her makeup and searching for the right thing to wear had paid off, she thought. Looking good, she had once heard, was the best revenge. She wanted Everett to be aware of what he’d given up. She wanted him to feel at least a little pang over having so carelessly lost her.

  The years had been kind to him, as well, she reluctantly admitted. His six-foot frame had filled in well, though he was still taut and lean, and his dark hair framed a handsome, manly face and highlighted his dark-blue eyes. Eyes that seemed to be studying her.

  “But you do seem a little...different somehow,” Everett said quietly a moment later.

  She wasn’t sure what he meant by that and it marred her triumph just a little. Was that a veiled criticism, she wondered.

  “Well, it has been thirteen years,” she reminded Everett stiffly. “We knew each other a long time ago. That is,” she qualified, “if we ever really knew each other at all.”

  He looked at her, wondering if that was a dig or if he was just being extremely touchy.

  It seemed there were four of them at the table. The people they were now and the ghosts of the people they had been thirteen years ago.

  The moment stretched out, becoming more uncomfortable. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Everett asked her.

  “Just an observation,” Lila answered casually. “Who really knows who they are at that young an age?” she asked philosophically. “I know that I didn’t.”

  He sincerely doubted that. “Oh, I think you did,” Everett told her.

  Seeing the server approaching, she held her reply. When the server asked if he could start them out with a drink, Lila ordered a glass of sparkling water rather than anything alcoholic. Everett followed her example and asked for the same.

  “And if you don’t mind, I’d like to order now,” Lila told the young server. “I have to be getting back to the office soon,” she explained.

  “Of course.”

  After he took their orders and left, Everett picked up the thread of their conversation. “I think you knew just what you wanted years ago,” he told her. “I’m the one who got it all wrong.”

  Was he saying th
at out of pity for her, she wondered, feeling her temper beginning to rise as her stomach churned.

  “On the contrary,” Lila responded. “You were the only kid who was serious when he said he wanted to play ‘doctor.’ If you ask me, ‘Dr. Fortunado’ achieved everything he ever dreamed about as a kid.”

  Everett’s eyes met hers. Longing and sadness for all the lost years filled him. For the time being, he disregarded the note of bitterness he thought he detected in her voice.

  “Not everything,” he told her.

  This was an act. She wasn’t going to fall for it, Lila thought, grateful that the server picked that moment to return with their drinks and their orders. Everett wasn’t fooling her. He was just saying that so that she would forget about the past. Forget her pain.

  As if that were remotely possible.

  Silence stretched out between them. Everett shifted uncomfortably.

  “So, tell me about you,” he finally urged. “What are you doing these days?”

  Lila pushed around the lettuce in her salad as if the fate of the world depended on just the right placement. She kept her eyes on her plate as she spoke, deliberately avoiding making any further eye contact with him. She had always loved Everett’s dark blue eyes. When they’d been together, she felt she could easily get lost in those eyes of his and happily drown.

  Now she couldn’t bear to look into them.

  “I’m a manager of one of the departments at the Fortune Foundation. My work involves health outreach programs for the poorer families living in the Austin area.”

  That sounded just like her, Everett thought. Lila was always trying to help others.

  But something else she’d said caught his attention. “Did you say the Fortune Foundation?”

  “Yes,” she answered. Suspicion entered her voice as she eyed him closely and asked, “Why?”

  “Well, it just seems funny that you should mention the Fortunes. My family just recently found out that our last name might very well be ‘Fortune’ rather than ‘Fortunado.’” He pulled his face into a grin. “Crazy coincidence, isn’t it?”

  Coincidence. Lila had another word for it. Her eyes narrowed as she pinned him with a look. “Is that why you wanted to get together for lunch?” she wanted to know. “To ask me questions about the Fortunes and see how much information you could get?”

  He stared at her, practically dumbstruck. What was she talking about?

  “The fact that you work for the Fortune Foundation has absolutely nothing to do with my wanting to get together with you,” Everett insisted. Thinking over her accusation, he shook his head. “I’m not even sure if the family is connected to the Fortunes. It could all just be a silly rumor or a hoax.

  “And even if it does turn out to actually be true, my family’s not positive if we want to reveal the connection. It sounds like there are a lot of skeletons in the Fortune closet. Actually,” he confessed, backtracking, “maybe I spoke out of turn, talking about the possible connection. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything to anyone at the Foundation.”

  Did he think she was going to go running back after lunch and act like a human recording device, spilling every word that had been said between them? Just what sort of an image did he have of her?

  Lila found herself struggling to tamp down her temper before she said anything.

  “Well, obviously not everyone at the Foundation is a Fortune,” she pointed out icily. “And anyway, the Fortunes are a huge family. I don’t think anyone would be surprised to find out that there’s another branch or two out there. There’ve been so many that have been uncovered already.”

  Everett nodded. “Makes sense,” he agreed, even though he still felt a little leery about having the story spread around that the Fortunados believed that they were really Fortunes. Trying to steer the conversation in a different direction, he asked, “I’m curious—what do you think of the Fortunes?”

  Lila’s smile was reserved. She remembered hearing a great many unnerving rumors concerning the Fortune family before she began working at the Foundation. But most of what she’d been told turned out not to be true. For the most part, the stories were just run-of-the-mill gossip spread by people who were jealous of the family’s success as well as their money.

  “In my experience,” she qualified in case he wanted to challenge her words, “they’re a great family. A lot of people hold the fact that they’re rich against them, but the family does a lot of good with that money. The Fortunes I’ve met aren’t power hungry or self-centered. A great many of them have devoted their lives to the Foundation, to doing as much good as they can,” she emphasized.

  “Power-hungry and self-centered,” Everett repeated the words that she had used. “Is that the way you think of most rich people?” he asked. Then, before Lila could answer, he went on to ask her another question—the question he really wanted the answer to. “Is that how you think of me?”

  Her eyes narrowed again as she looked at Everett intently. Rather than answering his question, she turned it around and asked Everett a question of her own. “Did I say that?” she asked pointedly.

  “No,” he was forced to admit. She hadn’t said it in so many words, but he felt that Lila had implied it by the way she’d structured her sentence.

  “Then let’s leave it at that, shall we?” Lila told him.

  It was obvious to Everett that he was going to have one hell of a rough road ahead of him if he ever hoped to win her over. And despite what he had told his sister to the contrary, he really did want to win Lila back.

  He admitted to himself that Lila was the missing ingredient in his life, the reason that every triumph he had had felt so hollow, so empty. It felt that way because Lila wasn’t there to share it with him.

  For now, he changed the subject to something lighter. “You know,” he said as he watched Lila make short work of her Caesar salad, “as a doctor I should tell you that eating your food that fast is really not good for your digestion.”

  “And being late getting back from lunch isn’t good for my job approval,” Lila countered tersely. Finished, she retired her fork.

  Was she really serious about needing to get back so quickly? Initially, he’d thought it was just an excuse, a way to terminate their meeting if she felt it wasn’t going well. Now she seemed to be waving it in front of her like a flag at the end of a marathon.

  “I thought you said that you were the manager of your department.”

  “I am. And as manager, it’s up to me to set a good example,” she told him.

  If she really wanted to leave, Everett thought, he couldn’t very well stop her. “Can’t argue with that, I guess.”

  “No, you can’t,” she informed him, a stubborn look in her eyes as they met his.

  He gave it one last try. “I suppose this means that you don’t want to order dessert. I remember that you used to love desserts of all kinds,” he recalled.

  “I did,” she acknowledged. “But then I grew up,” she told him crisply. “And right now, I’m afraid I have no time for dessert.”

  He nodded. “Maybe next time, then.”

  Lila was about to murmur the obligatory, “It was good seeing you again,” but his words stopped her cold. “Next time?” she echoed, surprised and stunned.

  She sounded far from happy about the prospect. Everett did his best to ignore the coolness in her voice. Instead, he explained his comment. “I might be spending more time in Austin over the next few months.”

  “Oh?” She could feel the walls going up around her. Walls meant to protect her. She could feel herself struggling with the strong desire to run for the hills. She forced herself not to move a muscle. “Why?”

  “Well, with Schuyler engaged to Carlo Mendoza and living here, I thought I’d be the good brother and visit her from time to time to make her transition here a little easier for her.” This wa
s harder than he thought it would be and it took him a few moments before he finally said, “I was wondering if it’s all right with you if I call you the next time I’m in Austin.”

  His question was met with silence.

  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.”