Catching Lucas Riley

by Lauren Winder Farnsworth

  Alex’s gasp caught Lucas’s attention. He turned to see what had her transfixed and froze.

  “What the?” she heard him breathe as he watched Sealey and Ashley pull apart.

  “Did you know anything about this?” Alex asked him.

  “No,” Lucas said, his surprise evident on his face. “I know Ashley’s had a crush on Sealey forever, but I never thought Sealey was interested. I never really asked him, but it always seemed like he saw her more as a little sister than anything else. Maybe he’s finally changed his mind.”

  Alex couldn’t tell whether Lucas considered this possible change in his best friend as good news or bad news. She wasn’t sure how she herself felt about it. She knew she was angry. That was obvious. But she wasn’t sure if the anger resonated on Ashley’s behalf or on her own. How could Sealey not tell her about something like this?

  But . . . then again, when did Sealey tell her anything, really? At least without her pressing him about it? He wasn’t one to volunteer information. It was perfectly consistent with his personality for him to have told her nothing. So why did that irritate her so much? Was it because she had laid her entire life bare for him? He knew everything about her deepest wishes and feelings, with regard to her career, with regard to Lucas . . . and she knew nothing. Nothing except that he was supposedly in love with a missionary he’d known all his life. But was that even true anymore? And if it wasn’t, what did that mean for Alex and Lucas?

  “So, are you ever going to voluntarily speak to me again?” Sealey’s voice came from her left as she sat in the bleachers the next day. The football game had not yet begun, and excited shouts, cheers, and conversation surrounded them on every side. Thankfully Ashley had not yet made an appearance, so they had the chance to talk unobserved and unheard.

  The night before had ended on a somewhat awkward note. Lucas had wasted no time in razzing his best friend and sister about what he and Alex had seen, and Alex’s lack of lighthearted conversation had made it clear that she didn’t agree with Lucas’s favorable opinion of the development. She wasn’t sure why she cared, especially when she saw that Ashley was much more smug than excited at the new turn of events, which made Alex like her even less.

  If things truly were turning romantic between Ashley and Sealey, then Ashley didn’t even seem to realize how lucky she was. Sealey, although intimidating to those who didn’t really know him, was truly a catch. But Ashley just seemed to care that she had finally emerged victorious. And for some reason, she kept giving Alex self-satisfied grins, as though she knew something Alex didn’t. It was infuriating.

  And through all this, Sealey continued to act as if nothing of real importance had happened. That was worse than infuriating.

  “Why do you care?” Alex replied to Sealey’s question. “It’s not like you fill me in on the details of your life when we are talking.”

  “Oh, come on. Don’t be like that.” Sealey nudged her. “I tell you stuff. Actually, I probably tell you more than I tell anyone else.”

  Alex gave him an incredulous look. “If that’s the case, then why didn’t you tell me that your feelings for Ashley were changing? It would’ve been nice to be forewarned, given that”—she lowered her voice to a stage whisper—“this entire project was based on the idea that you wanted Lucas’s old girlfriend for yourself.” She gave him a significant look. “I assume that’s no longer the case?”

  “Alex, what does it even matter anymore?” Sealey said, and his voice sounded tired. She almost couldn’t even hear it over the noise of the crowd. “You got what you wanted. Luke is head over heels for you.”

  “Maybe, but without you there to distract Olivia when she gets home, who’s to say that he’ll stay head over heels for me?” Alex asked pointedly.

  “A little lacking in confidence, aren’t we?” Sealey said, his eyes on the football field, which was emptying as the beginning of the game drew near. “Look, why don’t you just abandon this whole scheme and let the chips fall where they may?”

  “What do you mean abandon this whole scheme?” Alex nearly screeched. “Olivia gets home in three weeks and you want to just forget the whole thing now? Have you really fallen so fast and so hard for Ashley?”

  “Ashley has nothing to do with this,” Sealey retorted. He still wouldn’t look at her.

  Alex, confused, studied the practiced lack of expression on his face. “Ahhh,” she sighed as realization began to dawn. He was right. Ashley really did have nothing to do with it. “It’s finally happened. You’ve actually sprouted a conscience, haven’t you?”

  “I’m sorry, what?” Sealey said, turning to look at her. His face was finally displaying an emotion, and it looked a whole lot like anger.

  “You’re starting to feel guilty about going after your best friend’s girl,” Alex stated bluntly, nodding at him with narrowed eyes. “I wasn’t sure it would happen, but your guilt finally overcame your self-serving nature. I guess I should be proud of you for that, but I have to admit, your timing could be better.” She gave him a scornful look.

  “It’s not about feeling guilty,” Sealey defended vehemently. “I don’t feel guilty. Not yet. I’m just trying to stop before I get to that point. We’ve gone far enough, don’t you think?” Sealey gestured widely around them. “Luke’s crazy about you. He now, officially, considers you an option. You are on equal footing with Olivia. Now, let’s leave it that way. Let him make a fair, informed decision between the two of you.”

  “Since when was the point of this a fair, informed decision?” Alex spat. Her white-hot panic was forcing the words to exit her lips before she actually had the opportunity to consider them. “The point was to make Lucas want me more than he wanted Olivia so I could have him and you could have Olivia! That was the entire goal! So now that you’ve decided that maybe you don’t want Olivia as much as you thought, you’re just going to leave me hanging? Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, Sealey. After all, when do you ever do anything for somebody other than yourself?”

  The noise of the crowd pushed in on them as Sealey shook his head disbelievingly, his eyes narrowed. “You are a piece of work, Alex Foamer. Do you hear yourself? You are trying to make me feel guilty for wanting to spare my friends potential heartache, while you sit there scheming a way to cause it. You lecture me about being self-serving, while you happily doom everyone around you to impending misery, just so you can have what you want.” He made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat.

  “Oh, don’t act all innocent. It doesn’t suit you,” Alex said with a matching look of contempt. “Let’s not forget that you were the one who dreamed up this whole scheme in the first place.” She emphasized the word with her fingertips.

  “I know,” Sealey said forcefully, and he even looked as regretful as he sounded. “I know I did. And I thought it would be worth it. But now . . .” He trailed off, looking away from her.

  Alex watched him silently for a minute. “Really?” she asked, her voice clearly indicating her mystification. “Have you really lost all interest in Olivia? Just like that?”

  Sealey glanced at her as the tone of her voice changed from anger to bewilderment. “I just want to be fair,” he replied quietly. “I want her to have a choice. I want him to have a choice. A real one.”

  “What changed your mind?” Alex asked, and she tried to keep the distress of what she was hearing out of her voice and off of her face. She didn’t want to admit to Sealey that without his help, she felt she was at a significant disadvantage. “You were all gung-ho to control the situation a couple of months ago. Why are you suddenly so willing to give it up?”

  “I never had control,” Sealey said with a humorless laugh. He looked at her earnestly, his expression a startlingly unhappy one. “Not for one second.”

  He looked away, and Alex knew the conversation was closed.

  Alex drummed her fingers nervously on the steering wheel as she headed south on I-15 toward Salt Lake City. In less than thirty minutes, she would be
trying to convince one of the foremost researchers on childhood obesity that she was worth hiring. But Alex had done her research too. She had practiced in the mirror. She knew her stuff. Now if she could only get her hands to stop shaking and her salivary glands to start working again so she could actually speak, she’d be in business.

  She was set to meet with Dr. Welch in the downtown Salt Lake City Marriott, where the researcher was holding her latest symposium. Alex had hoped to arrive early so she could sit in on a bit of the lecture, but she had spent too much time in front of the mirror trying to make herself look like an experienced nutritional lecturer. Now she was almost running late.

  Breathing a sigh of relief as she pulled into the Marriott parking garage with five minutes to spare, she quickly parked and headed for the elevator to the lobby. Within minutes, she was seated outside the ballroom where the lecture was just finishing up. Her knees bounced nervously as she watched the room slowly empty. Finally, she caught sight of Dr. Fiona Welch talking earnestly to a young blonde woman holding a clipboard and pen.

  The master dietitian looked just like her picture. Medium height, very fit (a characteristic which Alex considered job security for someone in her line of business), with short, dark brown hair and black-framed glasses. As the blonde girl Alex imagined to be Dr. Welch’s assistant walked away, Alex took a deep breath. Rising unsteadily to her feet, she silently mouthed what she planned to say to the intimidating woman.

  “Dr. Welch?”

  The woman looked up from a pile of papers she was shuffling through and smiled in a friendly way at Alex. “Are you Alex Foamer?” she guessed.

  “I am,” Alex replied, gratefully acknowledging the woman’s smile. “Do you still have time to meet with me?”

  “Of course!” Dr. Welch exclaimed. She gathered the papers and deposited them in a black leather bag on a nearby chair. “Let’s head out into the foyer. I saw a sitting area out there where we can chat.”

  Alex followed her toward a cluster of chairs near the stairs to the lobby, mentally running through all the points she wanted to make about her experience, her goals, and her enthusiasm for raising awareness about childhood nutrition. She felt like all her hopes were riding on this one conversation and she was terrified she would forget the one key point that would make her dreams a reality.

  “So, Alex, tell me about yourself,” Dr. Welch asked once they’d gotten settled. “Karen mentioned that you currently work for her at the hospital?”

  “Yes,” Alex confirmed. “I’m the primary dietitian in the maternity ward. I spend most of my time working with new mothers on their own nutrition and how it translates into their baby’s nutrition. I also work as a certified lactation specialist.”

  “So what interests you about our childhood nutrition symposium coming up?”

  “Oh, everything!” Alex cried. “Really, absolutely everything. It’s exactly what I’ve always wanted to do with my life, but I’ve had no idea how to get started. I feel very strongly about starting nutrition education early in a child’s life, especially in areas where childhood obesity is rampant. I feel like most parents don’t fully realize how unhealthy and processed most foods available today are. They intend to feed their children healthy foods, but instead provide a diet that is low in nutrients and high in sugar, all because they are uneducated on how to recognize and locate healthy options.”

  “And that is exactly what this symposium is meant to accomplish,” Dr. Welch commented with a nod. “We want to bring nutritional education to those who don’t have access to it. The classes and lectures we’re offering are mostly free to anyone who wishes to hear them, thanks to some government funding we have received. We will be providing these classes in twenty cities across the United States. We’re doing most of our advertising for the event in low income areas, as those tend to be where obesity is at its highest.”

  “How many classes are you planning on providing?” Alex asked excitedly.

  “Twenty to thirty per city,” Dr. Welch replied. “We are planning to spend three to four days in each city with, hopefully, about fifteen lecturers. Which means that each lecturer will likely be presenting their topic—or topics—multiple times, so as to provide people multiple opportunities to attend each lecture. Ideally, we’d like each attendee to be able to make it to each lecture they’re interested in.”

  “Say I was lucky enough to get the job,” Alex asked with a sheepish grin. “How many lectures or classes would I personally be responsible for?”

  “Three, most likely. Possibly more if we can’t fill our open lecturer positions.”

  “And would I come up with them myself, or would I choose from a list of acceptable topics?”

  “I have a list of topics I’d like to cover,” Dr. Welch answered. “But once you have your topics, your class is completely yours to create. I only ask that you provide me with a transcript beforehand so I can be prepared to answer any questions that may come my way, whether it be from media outlets, interested parties, potential sponsors, or what have you.”

  “This sounds amazing!” Alex said, clasping her hands together. “I’d really love to be a part of it.”

  “Let’s talk about your prior experience,” Dr. Welch suggested. For the next twenty minutes, Alex walked her through the internships she’d done while working on her degree, her experience at the hospital, and the volunteer work she did in the community, which mostly involved classes taught at the community center. She even included some examples of when she had consulted with personal acquaintances, eager to overwhelm Dr. Welch with examples of how qualified she was to participate in the symposium. Dr. Welch responded enthusiastically to many of Alex’s points of experience, even going so far as to share similar experiences that she had had in the early days of her career.

  “Well, this is all very impressive,” Dr. Welch replied after Alex had finished. “I admire all that you’ve tried to do in your own community to encourage nutritional education.” She smiled warmly at Alex. “Now, I have a few more people I need to meet with for the childhood nutrition symposium before I can make any kind of offer. But I should have an answer for you within the next couple of weeks. Does that work for you?”

  “Yes, absolutely,” Alex replied immediately, nodding. “I’ll be waiting to hear from you. It was so good to finally meet you, Dr. Welch. I’ve read so much of what you’ve written and I’ve always wanted to work with you.” Alex stopped, knowing she was on the verge of gushing. She didn’t want to be remembered as a groupie, she wanted to be remembered as a competent candidate and possible colleague.

  “I enjoyed meeting you as well,” Dr. Welch said, smiling as she rose to her feet. “I will let you know one way or the other as soon as I can. But I hope you’ll keep in touch, regardless of whether or not I’m able to include you in the symposium. I’d love to hear about your work in your own community.”

  Alex enthusiastically agreed and bade farewell to her role model. Nearly skipping down to her car, she allowed her mind to go over and over the conversation. She felt that the interview couldn’t possibly have gone better. She didn’t want to be overconfident, but if she were being completely honest with herself, she suspected that she had totally nailed it.

  Great big world, here I come, she thought with a sigh.

  Alex twisted her fingers anxiously in her lap as Lucas turned the Toyota a sharp right and they began driving up the abrupt incline. As they ascended the curved driveway, Alex could see the huge house towering over them from above, surrounded by trees and a stone wall. It clung to the side of the mountain, stone and brick, looking impenetrable. The structure reminded her of a version of Beauty and the Beast she had seen a long time ago, and as she looked up at the rounded third-floor balcony, she almost expected to see the hulking figure of a hairy beast glaring down at her.

  Lucas stopped the car in front of a stone fountain merrily trickling away, and Alex noticed all the other cars lining the driveway in front of them. Her nerves kicked up a notch. So m
any people. How many of them would see her as the imposter she was, attempting to displace Olivia? In the months she had been engineering this relationship, she had never felt like more of a fraud than she did at that moment. Perhaps Sealey’s accusations from the weekend before were still stuck in her mind.

  “You ready?” Lucas asked, trailing his fingers down her arms and entwining his fingers through hers.

  “Sure!” she said. She had been going for bright and cheery, but instead her tone registered as an anxious squeak. Lucas laughed.

  “Little nervous?” he squeezed her hands. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anyone eat you.”

  “Literally or figuratively?” Alex asked, attempting a brave smile.

  “Either one,” he answered. “As long as you promise to return the favor when the time comes for me to meet your family.”

  At his confident smile, her nerves quieted. She followed him up to the heavy oak front door, taking a deep breath as he pushed it open.

  The house was deathly quiet. It occurred to Alex to wonder if the party was actually a surprise party and they had been mistaken for the guest of honor, but as Lucas guided her quickly through the professionally decorated house, she realized that the party was actually taking place in the backyard. As they emerged on the massive back patio, Alex saw the fire pit blazing to combat the early November chill, as well as the strategically placed outdoor heaters. People were spread everywhere, talking and eating, lounging in a hot tub, playing horseshoes, badminton, and even dancing in a grassy area where a DJ had been advantageously positioned.

  “Wow,” Alex breathed. “Ashley certainly does know how to throw a party.”

  “Yeah, she missed her calling. She should’ve been an event planner.” Lucas chuckled. “She’s wasted on accounting.”

  “A DJ? Really?” Alex whispered.