Catching Lucas Riley

by Lauren Winder Farnsworth

  Alex took a deep breath, glanced at Sealey, and nodded. She climbed from the car and began her walk toward the restaurant. It had been a long time since she had worn high heels, and she had forgotten the sense of confidence it gave her to be four inches taller. She felt very elegant and polished, walking toward the restaurant in her mermaid skirt and nude pumps. She straightened her shoulders, shook her hair out a little, and fearlessly entered the restaurant.

  Alex sat calmly in the rounded entrance of the restaurant, feeling Sealey’s ice blue eyes fixed on her back through the window behind her. She casually crossed her long legs and maintained the look of complete unconcern on her face. She pulled out her smartphone and began scrolling through her Twitter feed, looking as though she hadn’t a care in the world. Inside, she was in turmoil. Lucas would be there with his client in tow at any moment. And then her show would begin.

  Despite the fact that all she had to do was smile in a friendly way and wave vaguely in Lucas’s direction, she felt like every detail, from the brilliance of the smile to the angle of the wave would be criticized in full by Sealey. And she couldn’t help feeling that something was going to go wrong. In cases like this, where everything was supposed to be scripted and simple, unfortunate and unforeseen events had a way of cropping up.

  She felt Lucas’s presence before she saw him. It was as though her heart was aware that its perfect match was near and thumped away in furious joy. She forced herself to keep her head down and her eyes focused on her phone. After about thirty seconds of staring fixedly at the same word in her Twitter feed, she casually let her eyes drift up from the screen.

  They immediately met Lucas’s. He was talking to an older gentleman in a khaki-colored blazer, but his gaze kept drifting to her. When their eyes met, she smiled in cheery recognition, trying for all the world to look like seeing him was a complete surprise. She held up a hand in a discreet wave, and then pushed her eyes reluctantly back down to her phone. She felt her body relax. It was over. She had played her part, and now she just had to wait for his party to be seated, and she could leave.

  Within five seconds, though, she knew something was wrong. A pair of black dress shoes approached from roughly ten feet away and stopped directly in front of her. She stared at them for a second before allowing her eyes to travel up the legs encased in dark gray slacks, the muscular torso sporting a dark plum-colored button-up, and finally to a pair of sea-green eyes. What was he doing here standing in front of her? Sealey had assured her he wouldn’t approach her. She looked around frantically for his client, but the older gentleman had disappeared.

  “Alex,” Lucas’s voice was warm and enthusiastic. “It’s great to see you! You look fantastic.”

  “Ah, thanks, Lucas,” she said, clearing her throat to try to clear away the dismay as she reluctantly stood up. “As do you. You always look fantastic.”

  Lucas smiled warmly at her. “So what brings you here?”

  Crap. How had Sealey not instructed her to at least have a plausible backstory? It seemed very sloppy of him. “Um, I’m supposed to be meeting some family members here,” she said quickly. It was the first thing she could think of, but it was just about the worst possible story she could have dreamed up. Alex had only one family member living in Logan. He was a second cousin from a small town in Iowa, and she barely knew him. They hadn’t really said a word to each other since he’d moved out there a year earlier.

  “Oh, really?” Lucas said, cheerfully. “A little family get-together, huh? Siblings, parents, cousins . . . ?” he prompted.

  “Oh, um . . . ,” she began, trying not to panic. “I’m from California, so I don’t have any siblings or anything around here.”

  “Ooh, California,” Lucas said, his smile widening. “Winters here in Logan must be difficult for you.”

  “That’s an understatement,” she said, managing to smile a little. She began twirling a chunk of dark red hair around her finger, a nervous habit she had never been able to break.

  “So . . . cousin, then?” Lucas pressed again.

  Alex suppressed a groan. It was as though he suspected her subterfuge and was determined to entrap her in her own lies. “Well . . . um . . . I—” she began, but she was cut off by the sound of her name spoken in a hysterical British accent.

  “Alex!”

  She spun around to face the door, already suspecting what she would see. Sure enough, Eric Swithin stood there, looking frazzled, with a bemused Martin in his arms, wrapped in a blanket, despite the warm August temperatures.

  “Alex, I can’t do it!” Eric moaned in distress. He approached Alex, holding his little son out toward her. “He needs his mother! I am not cut out for this fatherhood business! He keeps saying your name! I’ve never heard him say anything even close to ‘daddy.’ It’s as though he knows that he needs a woman to care for him! I’m rubbish at this. Please, help me!”

  Eric stood there, his small boy extended toward her as though he expected Alex to take him and raise him as her own. She stood bewildered, her eyes flicking between Lucas and Eric, taking in both expressions. Lucas looked stunned at the exchange but quickly hid his reaction.

  “Hey, little guy!” he said cheerfully to Martin. He reached out a hand to the little boy as though to stroke his head, but Martin grabbed his arm and began attempting to climb it. Lucas laughed and pulled the toddler from his father’s arms. He began talking quietly to Martin, as though trying to distract him from Alex and Eric, to allow them to talk.

  “What’s going on now?” Alex hissed at Eric. She couldn’t believe he had actually shown up at the restaurant, especially when Martin didn’t appear to be in any kind of distress or danger.

  “He’s not getting hungry!” Eric protested. “You said eventually he would get hungry!”

  “Eric,” Alex replied, rubbing a hand across her face. “You have to give it more than four hours. It might take twenty-four before he becomes hungry enough to give in. You need to exhibit a little patience.”

  She was about to scold further when she happened to catch what Lucas was softly saying to Martin, who appeared to have become mesmerized by one of Alex’s earrings. He was reaching for it, and Lucas was trying to keep him out of range of her ears.

  “Oh, you see your mama, don’t you?” Lucas said in the little boy’s ear. “She’s pretty, isn’t she? I know those things hanging from her ears are tempting, but I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t like it if you got a hold of them. Why don’t you just stay with me till she’s done talking to your daddy?”

  Lucas didn’t appear to be paying any attention to Alex, so he didn’t notice all the color leave her face. Lucas had somehow come to the conclusion that Martin was her son. That she and Eric had created the little body in his arms. Obviously, he knew her current marital status as she had saved his bacon at a singles date auction, but still, how on earth could he have gotten the idea that she had produced a child first? She was vaguely aware that Eric had started talking to her again, but she wasn’t listening. She skimmed through the past five minutes in her head, trying to figure out what the trigger had been. When she realized that she herself had told Lucas she was meeting family, just in time for Eric to show up and make it sound like the whole reason for his presence at the restaurant was because Martin had needed his mother, everything clicked into place in her head.

  “Oh, no . . . no, no, no, no, no,” she began to say to Lucas, wasting no time disabusing him of the notion that she had mothered a child with a British psychopath before age twenty-four. “Martin isn’t—” but it was already too late.

  The client had returned. He approached them from the direction of the restroom, and Alex realized the eventuality that neither she nor Sealey had anticipated.

  “Bill,” Lucas greeted. “This is Alex and Eric, and their son, Martin.” He introduced them as he handed Martin to Alex. She attempted to keep his little fingers from grasping her earring at the same time she opened her mouth to make sure he understood his mistake. But the fates se
emed to be conspiring against her.

  “Riley, party of two,” came the voice of the hostess behind them.

  “Right here,” Lucas hailed her. He turned back to Alex. “It was so good to see you, Alex. Good luck with the little guy.” He winked at Martin, who grinned at him. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

  He smiled brilliantly at Alex, nodded at Eric, and then turned to follow the hostess, his client at his side.

  ALEX COLLAPSED INTO the passenger seat of Sealey’s car, her mind still reeling from the last ten minutes. Slamming the door, she scrunched down in her seat and refused to look in his direction.

  “So, uh, what happened?” Sealey asked with a deadpan look on his face. “Who was the scrawny dude with the kid?”

  “I really don’t care to discuss it,” Alex answered, a hand over her eyes. “Can you just take me home, please? I have a life to terminate. A couple, actually.”

  “I doubt Lucas would be interested in dating a murderer. You might want to rethink your diabolical plan,” Sealey pointed out, and Alex could almost hear his eyes roll.

  “I doubt he’d be interested in a deceased person too, which is why Lucas is no longer part of my diabolical plan,” Alex muttered. “From now on, my sole aim is to put myself out of my own misery and to take Eric Swithin with me.”

  “Eric Swithin?” Sealey asked. “Was he the panicky-looking guy with the toddler?”

  “Yes,” Alex confirmed, glaring out the windshield. “And he will die.”

  “Where’s the kid’s mom?” Sealey asked, ignoring the drama in Alex’s tone.

  “She’s dead . . . which is why I will never actually go through with my plan to annihilate Eric. Martin doesn’t deserve to be an orphan so young.” Alex sighed. “However, if you were to ask Lucas who Martin’s mother is, he would say ‘Alex Foamer.’ ” She cringed, knowing she was seconds away from a hefty dose of Scorn a la Sealey.

  He was silent for several seconds. Alex waited, dreading the barrage of insults she was sure was forming in Sealey’s mind.

  “I’m sorry, what?” Sealey said finally, his voice dangerously soft.

  “Lucas thinks that Martin is my son,” Alex almost wailed. “I tried to correct him, but everything just got away from me!”

  “I . . . you . . .” Sealey seemed to be having a difficult time forming a coherent sentence. “How does a miscommunication that massive even happen?”

  “I don’t know,” Alex said with a groan. “Seriously, the powers that be are combining against me. Everything is going wrong, and in the weirdest ways possible. First, I’m a tuna fish klutz, and now I’m an unwed mother.”

  “Well, luckily for you,” Sealey said, his voice still tight but regaining some of its assurance, “you have me.”

  “Pardon?” Alex asked, sounding wilted.

  “Well, if Lucas mentions to me that he ran into you tonight, I have no doubt that he’ll mention your ‘son.’ ” Sealey emphasized the word with his fingers. “I’ll just make sure he knows that he’s wrong about the kid. And if he doesn’t bring it up, I’ll find some way to introduce you into the conversation.”

  “Really?” Alex said in relief. “You would do that? Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

  “Stop groveling,” Sealey grunted. “I’m not actually doing it for you . . . by all accounts, you haven’t earned my help. But I have a stake in this thing too, so . . . ,” he trailed off.

  Ah, yes, Alex thought. Olivia.

  Alex contemplated her conversation earlier that evening with Meredith about Sealey’s romantic prospects. It would take a special kind of woman to steal Sealey’s attention and keep it. She felt very curious about this Olivia. What kind of a girl could capture the heart of the kindest and most handsome man Alex knew and also nab the interest of the most frightening? Olivia must be a force of nature. The thought made Alex nervous. How could she ever be successful in distracting Lucas from such a woman?

  In the following week and half, Alex made three more contact points with Lucas, the final two of which she hadn’t even had to acknowledge him. Just make sure he saw her. And they went blissfully without incident. The first of the three had been much more stressful, but thankfully just consisted of Lucas approaching her at church to apologize for assuming that Martin was her son.

  “I don’t know why that was the first explanation to occur to me,” Lucas said, his cheeks slightly pink. “I feel really stupid about it. Sealey told me that you were a pediatric dietitian or something like that, and suddenly everything just kind of made sense. I hope you’re not upset with me.”

  Alex silently blessed Sealey’s name as she smiled kindly up at Lucas. “Not at all,” she replied. “It was definitely a bizarre situation, and it was easy to draw the wrong conclusion from it. But I have to admit, I’m glad it’s all straightened out now. I wasn’t really sure how to correct the misconception without making things awkward.”

  “’Cause I can make things awkward enough for both of us.” Lucas laughed. “Thank heaven for informed roommates.”

  You can say that again, Alex thought as she laughed with him.

  Now, displaying her wardrobe choice for her first official date with Lucas, she was once again grateful for Sealey’s opinion.

  “So? What do you think?” she asked as she turned in a circle for his inspection as he sat on the couch in the apartment living room. He studied her thoughtfully from head to toe, his eyes pausing on certain parts of her ensemble.

  “Are you sure you want to wear those to go miniature golfing in?” he said, pointing at the strappy sandals on her feet. “They look horribly uncomfortable.”

  “Beauty equals pain.” Alex shrugged. “Besides, these sandals look fabulous with my capris.”

  Sealey inclined his head with a “can’t argue with that” kind of expression. “Just don’t whine to him about the pain portion of that equation, okay?”

  “No problem,” Alex said, wiggling her toes and admiring her new pedicure. “Let me just grab my jacket and I’ll be ready,” Alex said, heading for the stairs.

  “Don’t take a jacket,” Sealey said, stopping her. He rose to his feet, checking his watch. He had to be long gone by the time Lucas arrived to pick her up.

  “No jacket? Why?” Alex asked. It was the second week of September, and already the temperatures in Logan were beginning to decline, particularly at night. “We’ll be outside all night. I’m going to freeze.”

  “I know,” Sealey said, yawning as he reached for his own jacket. “But Lucas will almost certainly have a jacket. When it starts to get cold, make sure you let it show. Don’t complain about it, but don’t try to stifle your shivers or teeth chattering or anything.”

  “We’re being sneaky and manipulative again, aren’t we?” Alex said, biting her lip.

  “Yes,” Sealey confirmed. “Lucas is a gentleman. When he sees how cold you are, he will offer you his jacket. Turn him down once or twice, express concern about him getting cold, talk about how silly it was to forget your own jacket, blah, blah, blah. He will insist you take it anyway. Feel free to do so at that point.”

  “Okay . . . ,” Alex said, giving him a puzzled look. “And this helps the mission . . . how?”

  “It’s a couple of things, really,” Sealey explained, sliding his hands into his pockets. “First of all, it wouldn’t hurt for Lucas to see you showing a little weakness. You have an aura of confidence, and that tends to intimidate men sometimes. But allow him to see you in an uncomfortable situation and some of that intimidation will go away.”

  Alex nodded, seeing the logic behind Sealey’s words.

  “Second, guys tend to appreciate the things they sacrifice for. So let him sacrifice a little for you. It’s not going to be erroneous enough that he’ll resent you for it, but it will be uncomfortable for him, which means he’ll have some invested effort in you.”

  “You have much wisdom,” Alex said, eyebrows raised. “I’m lucky I have you on my side.”

  Sealey looked
surprised at the comment as he reached for the door. “Thanks, Foamer,” he replied. “I try to earn my keep.”

  Giving her a quick smile, he nodded and left.

  “So . . . why don’t you tell me about yourself?” Lucas said, smiling at her across the table. He picked up his cheeseburger and tried to keep all the fixings from falling out of it. “I feel like I’ve seen you all over the place these past few weeks, but I still don’t know anything about you except that you’re a Californian, a dietitian, and an enemy of canned seafood.”

  She laughed. “Well, I grew up in Malibu. My dad is a professor, my mom is a homemaker. They’re both over six feet tall. It’s a miracle I ended up an inch under.”

  Lucas laughed, and the sound sent a surge of warmth through Alex. This was the first time they’d actually had a full, non-scripted conversation. Alex was astounded at how easy it was. “I have three siblings. Two younger brothers, ages twenty-two and seventeen, and a younger sister, age nine. She was a surprise.”

  “Based on that age gap, I believe you,” Lucas laughed. “Bet she’s cute, though. Kind of like a miniature you.”

  Alex blushed. “She does look like me,” she said with a self-conscious smile. “And, therefore, she’s adorable.”

  Lucas laughed again. “So what are your brothers up to?”

  “My brother Aaron served a mission to Puerto Rico. He got home in March of last year and married last September. His wife, Emily, is the cutest little blonde thing you’ll ever see. Emphasis on little. She’s nineteen.”

  “Wow . . . ,” Lucas replied. “That’s . . . young. But she must have been worth it to him.”

  “They’re nuts about each other,” Alex agreed. “And Emily’s great. They live in Florida now, where Aaron’s going to school.”

  “What about your other brother?”

  “Austin,” Alex replied. “He’s a senior in high school and a basketball star. Naturally.”