“Damn it.” Lita knew things were going too well. For a day or two, she’d forgotten all the problems she’d left behind. “What did you tell him?”
“I’m running out of excuses and you know what a bad liar I am. I think he knows you’re avoiding him.”
Of course he knew she was avoiding him. She’d spent her whole life hiding in his shadow and trying to stay out of his way. “I’ll call him today.” Her gut twisted as the reality of it sank in. “I’m sorry I asked you to put him off for me.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t do such a great job of it. Lita, I wasn’t kidding when I said he scared me.”
“You can’t perform miracles, Sophie.” And unfortunately, neither could she. “I’ll get him off your back, I promise.” She heard Sophie sigh in relief. “Anything else going on I should know about?”
“Everything here’s great. With prom season coming things have really picked up and the buzz around the summer line is unbelievable. Oh my gosh!” she screamed into the phone. “With all my worry about your father, I almost forgot to tell you. Steve and I were at the gym the other night and I was on the exercise bicycle. You know I hate to ride those things without something to read. I’d forgotten my book and they had the new Southern Shopper magazine. We were mentioned in an article about Midtown shopping! They said, and I quote, ‘For one-of-a-kind, fabulous shoes, don’t miss Angelita Feet. From formal affairs to backyard barbeques, the custom-made sandals and footwear are a must buy on every girl’s list.’ Isn’t that awesome! And it was just a fluke I saw it.”
“Wow. I didn’t know we were even on Southern Shopper’s radar.” No wonder her father was so hot to talk to her. “It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to Google us every now and again to see if we’re getting publicity we don’t know about.”
“I never thought of that,” Sophie said with wonder. “Oh, I’ll do it right now.”
“Let me know if you find anything.”
“Lita?”
“Yeah?”
“Any idea when you’re coming back? I’m not trying to pressure you, things really are fine here, but…I miss you.”
“I miss you too, Sophie. But I’m also enjoying myself here like I never have before. I’ve made friends and…there’s this guy. I’m not saying I’ll never come home, but I’m not ready to commit to a date just yet.”
“I knew there had to be more to it than fresh air and nature walks. Tell me everything.”
Lita laughed and opened her mouth to speak when she realized she wasn’t ready to share her feelings for Jesse with anyone. That was a first for her, as Sophie had always been her sounding board in past relationships. She’d have to think about her reasons for not sharing another time. “I will when I have a better idea what’s going on. For now, let’s just say I’m enjoying getting to know someone new.”
“You’re not going to tell me about him? You’ve got to be kidding. What does he look like? What does he do for a living? Tell me anything, just one little scrap of information.”
“He’s mouthwateringly handsome and he owns his own rafting business. Now, you have to let me go so I can work up the courage to call my father back.”
***
It wasn’t the sound of his name when the secretary answered, “Davi Barros’s office” that had the hair on the back of her neck standing at attention. It wasn’t even the fact that she’d caught him at work at a quarter to six on a Thursday evening. It was his voice, the rich, elongated vowel sounds in the familiar cadence she’d come to know as her father’s distinct dialect. She’d met many, many people from Brazil over the years, but no one’s pattern of speaking seemed as deliberate as her father’s. So upon hearing it after only a moment’s hesitation, Lita found the muscles in her throat constrict to where her own voice came out as a whisper.
“Hello, Davi.”
“Angelita.” The sound of her own name had her nerves stretched to near breaking. “Finally, you call me.”
“I’ve been busy,” was all she would say. He didn’t deserve to know about her life or how his recent contact had affected it. “Sophie said you called.”
“For over a week now. I hope you treat your customers better than you do your father.”
Of course she treated her customers better. She respected them. “What do you want?”
“We need to meet. I have a business proposition for you.”
Why did she feel like she was speaking to Tony Soprano? “I’m not in town to meet with you. It’ll have to wait.”
He sighed with impatience. “When you return, then.”
“I don’t know when I’m coming home.”
“Angelita.” He spoke her name just as he had when she was a child, full of exasperation. “That’s no way to run a business. I guess I should have expected this kind of carelessness from you.”
“I’m not being careless. I’m simply not available to meet with you.” She sounded defensive and was angry with herself for letting him get to her after only a few minutes. “I’ll call you when I return and maybe we can set something up.”
“Where are you?”
“What?”
“You said you were out of town,” he said patiently. “So where are you?”
She didn’t want to have to look over her shoulder every few minutes like she would if he knew where to find her. “Not in town.”
The silence on the other end told her he was struggling to hold his temper. He didn’t like not being able to control every situation. “This really can’t wait.”
“For me it can.”
“You’ll want to hear what I have to say.”
He was harder to shake than a bad cold and she simply couldn’t put up with his daily phone calls. Now that she’d called, he’d have her cell number. “I doubt that, but you can put your proposal in an e-mail. I’ll take a look at it when I get a chance.”
“Angelita, business should be discussed civilly, not written about like a college exam. Tell me where you are and I’ll come to you if you can’t bother to come home.”
Giving him her location was out of the question. For him to suggest it made her worry even more about his motives. He was under a deadline that involved her company and she wouldn’t be squeezed into cooperating because she had a long history of giving in to him. “E-mail the proposal. That’s all I’m willing to offer.”
Again there was silence and what sounded like the ruffling of papers. He sighed once and then spoke. “E-mail is not an option. There doesn’t need to be a paper trail for what we have to discuss.”
What the hell was he talking about? No paper trail implied illegal activity and he wasn’t going to drag her good name through the mud. “It sounds like I’m better off not having this discussion in the first place. Why don’t we just forget you called?”
“You called me and I can’t drop this.” She heard a door close and when he spoke his voice was quiet, to the point of being intimate. “Angelita, I’m asking you for a favor.”
“Why should I do anything for you?”
“I’m your father, for one. And it may not be so good for your business if you don’t cooperate.”
She held the phone like a vise. Outside the car windows she could see two teenagers riding their bikes along the sidewalk. A mother and child walked hand in hand toward the ice cream store. “What the hell are you talking about?” she asked through clenched teeth. “Are you in trouble with the law?”
“The Brazilian government is considering closing the consulate here. If that happens, I will have to leave the country.” There was a pause so long Lita thought their connection had failed. “If I go back to Brazil, I’ll be…a marked man.”
“What does that mean? Marked man?”
“In the course of my position here, I’ve had to make…alliances that have alienated some very powerful people at home. I’m safe in the States, but if I were forced to leave…”
“What does this have to do with me or my business? And if they close the consulate, can’t you just
apply for a green card?”
“You need work to get a green card and the hurdles you must jump through to obtain one are numerous. I can’t risk my life waiting for a card.” He cleared his throat and changed his tone to one of authority. The father was once again speaking to his lowly daughter. “You’re on the brink of expansion, a wise decision I must admit. Your suppliers are many and from around the world. I can streamline your operation and get all of your product from Brazil. It would go a long way to keeping the consulate open and guarantee my safety. If I were to go home and be…eliminated, some things would come out that wouldn’t look so good for you.”
She refused to be intimidated by his threats. Not anymore. “Anyone who’s familiar with me or my company knows we have very little to do with one another. I don’t see how your problems can affect me or how my suppliers would affect the government’s decisions to keep the consulate open. You’re greatly exaggerating my output.”
“What you call exaggeration I refer to as prediction. If you expand, the sky is the limit for you. You’ll need to get your hands on a lot of materials very quickly. I can do that for you—at the best price. My safety would simply be a side benefit.”
“You can’t possibly think I’d trust you with anything to do with my business.”
“If you don’t, you’re signing my death warrant. Can you live with that, Angelita?”
***
Bryce expertly parallel parked the car in front of an old two-story stone building along one of Asheville’s many side streets. The gaslights burning on either side of the double doors and flower boxes in the long, narrow windows made Kerri Ann feel as if she were stepping into a fairy tale.
During the ride to Asheville, she’d been dazzled by the way Bryce looked behind the wheel of his high-end sedan. She’d ridden with him hundreds of times, but somehow tonight felt different. The car smelled of leather and man, a combination that had her head tingling with a mix of desire and nerves.
Their talk had been innocent enough. She told him about Ty’s grades and his exemplary performance at the last baseball game. The coach was already talking to her and Jesse about making some calls to college scouts. Somehow, it hadn’t felt real until she’d said the words out loud to Bryce. He’d smiled and reassured her by placing his hand over the one she’d rested on the soft black leather seat, as if he’d known how anxious talks of college and Ty’s leaving made her. It was several years away, but of course he’d understood, she thought as she watched him skirt the hood to open her door. He was the one man who knew her better than anyone. The one man who could make her toes curl with one smile from his handsome face.
When he helped her out of the car, she stumbled slightly into his chest. With the added height from the heels, they stood nose to nose. When his blue eyes darted down to her lips, her knees practically buckled. If he’d kissed her then, she’d have simply melted to the ground.
In the car, when she wasn’t forced to look at him, their conversation had been easy, like it always was. He’d listen and interject every now and again. He told her about his caseload and for most of the drive it seemed like just another evening with her old friend. Until he touched her and offered a steady hand to her as she got out of the car. Now she felt as if she were wading through boggy ground with no sure footing in sight. How the hell was she going to get through dinner?
His eyes returned to hers. “You okay?” He moved away and she stepped onto the curb.
“Yes, I’m fine.” She looked down at the glittering crystals on her feet and chuckled. “Lita’s shoes are going to take some getting used to.”
“I like them.” He grabbed her hand and led her to the restaurant’s door. “It’s kind of nice to see eye to eye with you for once.”
Their table was tucked in an alcove next to a huge stone fireplace. Bryce ordered the wine when Kerri Ann urged him to pick his favorite. She knew she’d never be able to choose a wine from the mile-long list, much less pronounce most of the names. Watching him in the elegant restaurant, comfortably asking questions about wine, was like being with someone she’d never met. It was another reminder of how different their lives were, how unsuitable she was for him.
She tried not to gawk at the prices on the menu and feigned indecision when Bryce asked what she considered. “I’m not sure,” she said. They were all too expensive and she’d feel like an idiot ordering a side salad—the only reasonably priced item. Bryce would see right through her. Lord knew he’d seen her bottomless appetite. “What are you getting?”
He closed his menu and smiled at her. “The halibut. I’ve had it before. You’d like it.”
Holy God. The halibut was twenty-seven dollars! And it didn’t even come with a salad or any sides—they were all extra too. The waiter returned with the wine and made a big production out of opening it. He poured a small amount in Bryce’s glass for him to taste. Jeez, what a show. Bryce took a quick sip and nodded. Kerri Ann felt glad he didn’t make a big deal of tasting the wine the way she’d seen people do on TV, swishing it in their glass and smelling it before taking a miniscule sip. The waiter poured both their glasses and proceeded to tell them the night’s specials in a hushed tone. The steak sounded good, but of course he hadn’t mentioned the price.
When he’d gone, to give them a minute to decide what to order, Bryce picked up his glass. “Cheers. To new experiences.”
Kerri Ann gently tapped her glass to his and took a small sip. “This is definitely a new experience.” She closed her menu. “I appreciate you taking me out tonight, Bryce. I know this wasn’t exactly your idea.”
“It should have been. I’ve wanted to take you out, Kerri Ann. For a long while now.”
Before she could respond, the waiter returned to take their order. She tried to concentrate on his questions and not read too much into what Bryce had just said. It was hard when her ears were ringing with sensation at the possible meaning behind his words. He was just being nice, is all. But when he looked up at her when the waiter left, his smile was so warm, so inviting, she had to keep reminding herself that he didn’t mean what he’d said. He was always giving her a hard time about working too much and not taking any time for herself. That’s all he’d meant.
It was Lita who’d orchestrated the evening. Kerri Ann couldn’t read anything into the way his eyes danced over her face, the way he looked in the firelight, how comfortable she felt with him despite the thrill of excitement that shivered along her spine. She was nervous and kept taking sips of her wine. She needed her food to come so her head would stop spinning and she could stop imagining that Bryce looked at her as if she were the only woman in the room. As if she were a diamond among a sea of rocks.
Over salad and French rolls, they drank and talked about town gossip, an old high school friend Bryce ran into a day or two ago in the courthouse for spousal abuse charges, and the new store going in on the corner of Sequoyah Fall’s main drag. Through it all, her stomach pitched as his eyes lingered, his straight white teeth gleamed in the firelight, and images of happily ever after paraded through her head.
Her steak was delicious and she tried to act lady-like and not clean her plate. Bryce suggested they share and he’d just slid half his fish on her plate and taken half her steak when an elegantly dressed woman approached the table. “Bryce.” She placed a manicured hand on his shoulder. “I thought that was you.”
“Colleen.” Bryce stood up. “How are you?”
Kerri Ann sat in her chair as her meal curdled in her stomach. The woman was beautiful, in the way that only well bred, highly educated women could be. Her dress looked to be made of silk and the strand of pearls at her neck looked antique. There wasn’t a hair of her auburn mane out of place.
Shoe Strings Page 13
