The Girl He Left Behind

by Patricia Kay

  It wasn’t that he minded personally if people knew about Eve. But he knew how she felt. She did mind, because she had two children to consider. It would be one thing if the two of them were really a couple and committed to one another, but that wasn’t the case—yet. And maybe it never would be, especially if the paparazzi started hounding them. They might scare Eve off permanently.

  Adam was so fed up, he felt like decking someone. He could only imagine how Eve felt. He called her immediately after Austin had called to alert him about the photo, but the call had gone to voice mail. He wondered if she wasn’t picking up because she was busy or because she didn’t want to talk to him. He wouldn’t blame her if the latter were true. He kept trying to reach her all afternoon with no success, so he drove over to the newspaper office, but her car wasn’t in the parking lot. He finally resorted to calling on her mother.

  “Come on in, Adam,” her mother said when she opened the door.

  “I’m looking for Eve,” he said, “and thought maybe you’d know where she is.”

  “She went to San Antonio today to interview Kelly Simonson. You know, she’s the one running for the open state senate seat in November.”

  “Oh.” So Eve wasn’t trying to evade him. “Well, I’m sorry to have bothered you. I was just worried she was upset.”

  “About that picture?”

  “Yes.”

  Anna nodded sympathetically. “Why don’t you come in and sit down? I’ll give you something to drink, and we can talk. You look as if you need a shoulder.”

  Once Adam was settled in the living room with a glass of iced tea and Anna sitting across from him, she said, “That picture of the two of you is the talk of the town.”

  He sighed heavily. “Yeah.”

  “Eve is definitely upset.”

  “I figured. I wanted to apologize.”

  “Why? It’s not your fault it happened.”

  “I should have been more careful.”

  “If you and Eve continue to see one another, something like this was bound to happen sooner or later, Adam. No matter how careful you are.”

  “Is that how Eve feels?”

  “Well, not yet, but she will. She’s an adult, Adam. She knew what she was getting into.”

  “Did she? No one really knows until they’re in it. Hell, I didn’t know what it was gonna be like.”

  “There’s no privacy in public life.”

  “No, there’s not.”

  “And if Eve’s going to be a part of your life, she’ll have to get used to that.”

  Adam stared at Eve’s mother. She sounded as if she approved of his relationship with her daughter. His spirits lifted. If Eve’s mother liked him, if she approved of him, maybe there really was a chance for him and Eve.

  “Is Eve going to be a part of your life?” Anna asked after a long moment had gone by.

  “I don’t know,” Adam answered honestly. “I’d like her to be, but she seems to think our lives are too different.”

  “They are different, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, is it?”

  Adam smiled, feeling better by the minute.

  Anna’s blue eyes were warm with understanding. “I’ll tell you what I think, Adam. I think if you love her and want her, you’ll figure out a way to persuade her the two of you can make this work.”

  * * *

  Eve finally answered Adam’s messages by texting him late Tuesday, once she’d returned from San Antonio.

  Too tired to talk tonight. I’ll call U tomorrow.

  He answered immediately.

  OK. Been worried about U.

  Eve sighed when she read his response. Their conversation tomorrow wasn’t going to be easy.

  And it wasn’t. She was working at home, so she called him a little after nine. He answered immediately.

  “Sorry about yesterday,” she said. “I was bummed and just not in the mood to talk.”

  “I know. I wanted to strangle that photographer.”

  “He was just doing his job.”

  “Hell of a way to make a living.”

  “We should have been more careful.”

  “I know. I have to take the blame for it.”

  “It was my fault, too.”

  “When you didn’t answer my calls yesterday, I thought you were mad at me.”

  Eve smiled tiredly. “I was mad at myself. Besides, what happened was inevitable.”

  “Eve, look. Let’s table this discussion until we can see each—”

  “No, Adam,” she interrupted, “let me say what I have to say. I’ve booked a flight to LA for tomorrow. I’ll be gone five days. I need to see my kids and talk to Bill...and kind of get my head straight on some things. Then, when I come back next Tuesday, you and I can talk. That is, if you still want to.”

  “If I still want to? What does that mean, Eve?”

  She sighed heavily. “Just what I said. If you still want to.”

  “Of course I’ll still want to. I want to now. The question is, will you?”

  The weight of what lay between them had never seemed so insurmountable. “I don’t know. You have to give me some time.”

  As if he finally accepted it would be impossible to change her mind, he agreed with only token protests, and they ended the call with her promising to phone him the next night after she was settled into her hotel.

  She dreamed about him that night. But it wasn’t a happy dream, not like the one she’d had before where she and Adam and the twins were having that picnic. This dream was more like a nightmare, with Bill and Missy and little Will and the twins and Adam and her mother’s nosy neighbor and the mayor of Crandall Lake and that photographer who’d taken their picture all in it together.

  And the next morning, when Eve awakened, there were tears on her face, and she knew she’d been crying in her sleep.

  Unfortunately, she was afraid there were a lot more tears in her future, because no matter how she looked at her situation, she simply could not see a happy ending.

  * * *

  Adam waited two days. Two days of pacing around, wondering what was happening in California, two days of unsatisfactory phone calls with Eve, two days of inaction.

  He hated inaction.

  He was a person who acted. He didn’t believe in leaving his fate in someone else’s hands.

  So on Saturday he booked a first-class ticket to LA, told his brothers and his mother he’d be gone for a few days but would see them early next week, and then drove to the Austin airport.

  Six hours later he landed at LAX. Unfortunately, someone had alerted the local paparazzi—probably tweeted from the plane—and camera shutters whirred around him as he exited the airport and saw his limo driver waiting for him. As the driver navigated the heavy traffic on the 405, Adam thought about where and how he should tackle the problem of Eve and her fears.

  Maybe he should just call her ex. Talk to him frankly, man-to-man, to allay any fears Bill might have that Adam’s relationship with Eve would disrupt their lives in negative ways.

  But doing that might upset Eve even more.

  And Adam couldn’t afford to upset her any more than she was now.

  Instead, he would have flowers delivered to her the next morning, with a card saying he was in the hotel restaurant and would she please join him. And if she didn’t, if she ignored him, he would wait in the lobby until she emerged. She couldn’t hide from him forever.

  He had just ordered his breakfast and was drinking a cup of coffee when his phone buzzed.

  You’re here? In California?

  Rather than texting her back, he called. “I’m sorry,” he said when she answered, “but I couldn’t just sit in Crandall Lake and do nothing. I had to come out. Please come down here and talk to me.�
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  She finally agreed, but it took her an hour. He’d eaten his breakfast and had several cups of coffee before he saw her walk into the restaurant. His heart lifted. Although she looked way too serious, he could see the two days with her children had agreed with her. She looked beautiful and more relaxed, dressed in tapered white pants with a bright blue crop top and blue sandals. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and secured with a blue ribbon. She looked years younger than she actually was.

  “This is not a good idea, Adam,” she said once she was seated. She still hadn’t smiled.

  “I’m not good at waiting.”

  She didn’t answer as their waiter handed her a menu, then poured her a cup of coffee. But when he walked away, she met Adam’s gaze levelly. “I just don’t know what you think coming here is going to accomplish.”

  Adam knew he had to go all in. There was no other reason for him to have taken this gamble. “I guess I hoped you were missing me as much as I was missing you.” He lowered his voice so that she had to lean closer to hear him. “I’ve been missing you for too many years, Eve. Don’t you think it’s time we did something about that?”

  To her credit, she didn’t look away. “I just... Our lives are so different, Adam. I’m not free. You know that. I—I have two children. And you haven’t...you haven’t even met them yet.”

  “That’s another reason I’m here. I want to meet them. Why don’t you give them a call? Tell them you want to take them to Venice Beach today.”

  “What am I supposed to do? Lie to Bill?”

  “No. I know you’re not comfortable lying. So tell him the truth, that you’re meeting me, that I want to meet your kids. Make it clear that I’m a part of your life now and he’ll just have to get used to it.”

  Her face had flushed as he talked, and he could see how conflicted she was. For some reason, she was terrified. Her mother had been right. It was up to him to make Eve see her fears could be dealt with, that a future between them wasn’t an impossibility, that whatever she imagined the obstacles to be, they could surmount them.

  “I—I don’t have a car,” she said.

  “That’s not a problem. I’ll call my driver and send you to Bill’s in the limo. Luther will wait while you go in and collect your kids. We’ll meet at the Ferris wheel at Santa Monica Pier.”

  She swallowed. “I don’t know...”

  “Don’t make this such a big deal. We’ll have a great time.” What was she so afraid of? “Your kids know we’re friends. Didn’t you tell me your daughter was disappointed she hadn’t met me yet?”

  After a deep sigh, she finally said, “Okay.”

  Adam grinned. “Call Bill now.”

  “I’ll go out to the lobby and do it while you take care of the bill.”

  Five minutes later, check paid and phone call to Luther made, he walked out to the lobby and saw her just finishing her phone call. “Everything okay?” he asked as he approached.

  She nodded. “I didn’t tell him yet.”

  “Why not?”

  “I didn’t want to do it over the phone. I’ll tell him when I get there.”

  He nodded. “Do you think he’s going to make a scene?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  Adam squeezed her shoulder. “It’ll be okay. Once you tell him, the worst will be over.”

  “Will it?” The worry in her eyes was still there.

  “Look, if it’ll make it easier for you, I’ll go with you.”

  “No! That’ll make it worse. I’ll do it.”

  “All right. Whatever you say. Want to go outside to wait? Luther should be here any minute.”

  “Okay.” She opened her purse and took out a pair of sunglasses.

  When they walked outside, Adam saw there were several photographers gathered along the curb.

  “Oh, God,” Eve said.

  “They’re not here because of me,” Adam said, taking her arm and leading her away. “That’s one of the Kardashian girls over there.” He put on his own sunglasses.

  He was right. No one bothered them as they waited in front of the boutique next door. Eve kept biting her lip, and Adam wished he could think of something to make her relax, but he’d done all he could. So he said nothing and was grateful when he saw Luther pull up to the curb a few minutes later.

  After helping her into the limo, he said, “It’s all going to be fine, Eve.”

  “Is it?” Her eyes were hidden behind her dark glasses.

  “Yes.” He leaned over and kissed her briefly. “I’ll see you soon.” He wished he had the right to say he loved her, but that would have to wait. First he had to meet her children and win them over.

  Then, and only then, would he be free to put all his cards on the table.

  Chapter Twelve

  Eve told Luther to park across the street from the cottage Bill and his family were living in rather than in front of it. She didn’t want Adam’s driver to hear what Bill had to say when he found out what she and Adam had planned.

  Her stomach was jittery as she walked up the path to the front door. She hated confrontations, especially with Bill. She always seemed to come out the loser. But that was preordained, wasn’t it? From the moment you accepted his proposal of marriage, you agreed to his terms. You have no one but yourself to blame for any of it.

  “How’d you get here?” Bill asked when he opened the door.

  “Where are the twins?” she countered.

  “They went to the store with Missy.” He was frowning, squinting against the bright sunlight reflected off the ocean beyond. “They’ll be back any minute.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  “So how did you get here?”

  “Um, that car across the street.”

  “That limo, you mean?”

  “Yes.”

  “You rented a limo?”

  “Um, no. Um, can we go inside?”

  “Oh, sure. Sorry. C’mon in.”

  As she walked into the small entry, she could see the baby in his playpen in the living area beyond. She smiled. He really was a doll. “Will’s getting so big.”

  Bill smiled proudly. “He is, isn’t he?” Leading the way into the living room, he invited her to sit down. “The kids’ll be excited to ride in a limo.”

  “Yes.” Eve took a deep breath. She had to tell him now, before Missy and the kids got back, before she lost her courage. “Bill, there’s something I need to tell you. Adam is here, in LA. The limo is his. The kids and I are going to meet him at the Santa Monica Pier.”

  Bill stared at her. “What do you mean, he’s here? Didn’t we talk about this? Didn’t you promise to come alone?”

  “I didn’t know he was coming. He just showed up. Came in late last night and didn’t tell me until he was already at my hotel.”

  “Christ, Eve, he’s not staying there?”

  “No, no, he’s not. He has a house in Malibu. He just...came to the restaurant this morning.”

  “You know, he has one helluva lot of nerve. If I were him, I wouldn’t want to show my face in public today. But I guess his kind don’t care how much gossip there is about them. Just as long as you get your name plastered all over the place.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “So he hasn’t told you, huh?”

  “Told me what?”

  Bill got up, walked to a table near the front window and picked up a copy of the Los Angeles Times. He riffled through the pages, then shoved a section in front of her. At the top of the page, under the header News & Notes, there was a big picture of Adam and a beautiful redhead. The caption read, “Adam Crenshaw and his baby mama?” Eve’s heart began to pound. The brief story said the woman pictured was Bethany D’Angelo, Adam’s publicity manager and recent girlfrien
d, who had just announced she was pregnant with Adam’s child. “He’d better not try to deny it,” she’d told the reporter, “because the proof is right here.” So saying, she’d patted her stomach and smiled. “He can’t just walk away from this the way he’s tried to walk away from me.”

  Eve felt sick.

  “I don’t want you taking the twins with you today,” Bill said coldly. “I think you need to do some hard thinking, don’t you? Is this the kind of thing you want them exposed to? First the tabloid stories about you and now the stories about this woman and their baby? What’s next?”

  “I—I didn’t know,” Eve whispered. Had Adam? He couldn’t have. He would have told her, wouldn’t he? Of course he would have. He wasn’t a liar. Not like you are. “What will we tell the kids?”

  “You won’t tell them anything. You’re going to go out and get in that limo and get out of here before they come back. I’ll tell them you called and aren’t feeling well. That you said to tell them you’ll see them tomorrow when you’re better.”

  Because Eve really did feel sick now, she didn’t argue. Anyway, Bill was right. The kids didn’t need to be there when she and Adam talked about this.

  Luther looked at her quizzically when she got in the car and told him to take her to the Santa Monica Pier. Because he was obviously trained not to, he didn’t question her about the whereabouts of her twins or why they weren’t coming with them. He just pulled away from the curb and headed down the street.

  Just before they turned the corner at the end of the block, she saw Missy and the twins approaching. Nathan was pulling a red wagon loaded with grocery bags, and Natalie was skipping ahead. They took no notice of the limo, but even if they had, the windows were tinted so dark they would not have seen Eve.

  Tears rolled down Eve’s face and she angrily wiped them away. She was sick to death of crying over Adam. Disappointment lodged in her belly, but along with the disappointment was gratitude. Because she’d been lucky. She’d found out the truth of what her life would be like if she spent the rest of it with Adam, and the discovery had come before she’d made the second biggest mistake of her life.