by Kay Harris
“Your friend, Melissa. She owns an art gallery, dummy.”
Everett’s head snapped back. Why the hell hadn’t he thought of that before? “I could get her a show.”
“Yes! Of course.”
****
Maya nearly stumbled as her squinted eyes caught sight of the man leaned up against her car. She stopped, her feet planted on the asphalt, in the guise of pulling her sunglasses out of her purse and slipping them on.
When she looked back up, he was still there, staring at her from behind a pair of very expensive silver-rimmed shades. She cursed under her breath and continued on her path toward him.
He was like a statue. Not just because he was so still, but also because he looked like he’d been lovingly sculpted by a master artist. Despite her own very above average height, he was still a good half foot taller than her. His long legs angled steeply from where his perfect ass rested against the side of Maya’s car to where his expensive leather shoes hit the parking lot. His arms showed beneath the short sleeves of his blue dress shirt. Dark skin skimmed over sinewy muscle and bulging veins. The jerk had even left the top two buttons of his shirt undone, exposing the beginning of a toned chest and a little tuft of black, curly hair.
Before her eyes could work their way up his neck to the strong jaw, adorably crooked nose that came from a soccer injury, to the deepest, darkest, brown eyes that she’d ever swum in, Maya looked past him at her car and snarled.
“Hi, Maya.” She repressed a shudder as his deep, smooth voice washed over her.
“You gonna pay for the damage you’re doing to my car?”
Everett pushed himself off the battered vehicle and looked back at it. It was two decades old, covered in flaking red paint, and had several little dings that came with it when she’d bought it from an older couple with questionable driving skills. “Why don’t I just buy you a new one?”
Maya harrumphed and reached past him to open the passenger door. She shoved her bag roughly into the seat and slammed the door. Then she stood in front of Everett and looked up at him, determined not to be brought to her knees by his stunning looks. The sunglasses he wore helped, they hid those killer eyes.
Slamming her hands on her hips, she spit out, “What do you want, Mr. Evans.”
Everett threw his head back. “I know you hate me. But please, for heaven’s sake, don’t call me that.”
His exasperation made her smile. Turnabout was fair play. He exasperated her every time they ran into each other. He seemed to take annoying her as a personal challenge.
“Goodbye, Everett.” Maya moved to go around him toward the driver side of the car. Everett didn’t touch her, but he stopped her nevertheless by simply shifting his position so he was blocking her way. He planted himself between her car and the truck parked beside her. There was no way Maya was taking a step backward to go the other way around. This was a challenge, and she intended to meet it.
Since his shadow was literally blocking out the sun, Maya pushed her sunglasses up on her forehead and glared at him. “This is harassment.”
“I just want to talk. Just for a minute.”
She shifted her weight onto her back leg and folded her arms across her chest. “About what?”
His eyes shot down to the pavement and back up again twice. And for the first time, probably in his life, he looked like he was at a loss for words. Then he seemed to come up with something. He leaned toward her. “Did you hear that we’re going to do an intern program?”
“So what?” Surely he didn’t think she would apply. She wanted to get the hell out of there. Everett and everyone else knew it. It was no secret. She’d even told her boss, Kelly, when she’d been hired that this gig was temporary until she could make a living with her art.
“I thought maybe you’d have some friends who would want to take advantage is all.”
Maya couldn’t stop the grin that spread across her face. The confident, unflappable man who’d so easily seduced her and just as easily thrown her away seven years ago was nervous. “Maybe. Can I go now?”
He seemed to be lost again. She couldn’t see his eyes properly behind the shades, but it felt like they were planted firmly on her lips. That was confirmed when he said, “I love your smile.”
“Ugh!” Risking a set of stupid butterflies in her stomach, she pushed on his arm to move him out of the way. He gave in and shifted so she could squeeze past him.
Unfortunately, her body brushed against his. Hips, shoulders, and knees all touched for a brief and electric moment before she was free. She leaped toward the door handle like it held the secrets to the universe.
Maya scrambled into the car and drove away without another glance at the man she’d left standing in her dust.
****
Seven years ago…
The prick was engaged!
Maya stared at the social announcements in the local paper, her mouth agape and her chest tight. She read over it again, in case the whole thing was some sort of delusion. “Everett Evans of Sausalito is lately engaged to Rebecca Heath of Miami. The couple does not currently have a wedding date planned.”
In the two months since Maya had taken the scrumptious graduate student to her apartment for a night of incredible sex and explosive chemistry, she hadn’t seen him in person once. But they’d exchanged texts nearly every day.
Maybe it was stupid to think sending flirty messages and cute pictures meant they had anything at all. But this was still a blow. Maya slumped into the second-hand sofa she and Everett had shared heavy petting on that fateful night and blinked back tears.
She may not have seen Everett since. She may have refused all his suggestions that they meet up. But she still felt like she knew him.
Everett had grown up rich, at least compared to her own modest childhood. The only kid of two lawyers in the North Bay, he’d had a bit of a silver spoon in his mouth. But he was aware of it, and didn’t seem like a privileged ass.
He was starting his own business with his best friend, Elias. They were thick as thieves those two, their friendship going back to elementary school. Everett was loyal, ambitious, and capable, not to mention smart as a whip.
Maya knew he had a girlfriend. But he’d also said the relationship wasn’t serious and it was open on both sides. Maya had never understood the concept of an open relationship. It might have been the result of being raised by parents who were so happy and in love, from beginning to present. Or maybe it was because every no good guy who’d cheated on her had left her feeling like a pile of warm dogshit.
And that was the main reason she had refused all of Everett’s suggestions that they meet up and hang out again. She hated the idea of being “something on the side.” But it would only be a matter of time before she gave in because Everett was getting under her skin.
And now…now he was fucking engaged? He hadn’t said a word about getting serious with Rebecca. And he sure as shit hadn’t mentioned asking her to marry him in between his texts to Maya begging her to have dinner with him.
She tossed the paper roughly onto her coffee table and threw her head against the back of the couch. Uninvited tears slipped down her cheeks.
Fucking Everett Evans.
OCTOBER
Chapter 2
Maya stared at her friend. Julia smiled back as if the world hadn’t just come to a stop. “Say that again.”
“I said, Melissa Mancini wants to see your art work. She’s actively looking for new artists to showcase at her gallery. She books these things out way in advance, and if we want to get you a show before our next birthday, we need to get over there with some of your pieces and—”
“Wait.” Maya held up her hand to put a stop to Julia’s incessant enthusiasm. “Just wait.” She got up from the couch where she was sitting beside her friend and walked to her kitchen.
Small as it was, Maya was proud of the tiny apartment she shared with no one. And being able to have a friend over on a Friday night for wine and cheesecake was on
e of her favorite advantages.
But this conversation required a second bottle of wine. Julia managed to stay quiet while Maya fetched another bottle of California red, uncorked it, and brought it back over to the coffee table, where she filled both their glasses.
“Back up and explain how, exactly, I came up in conversation with Melissa Mancini.” She sat back down beside Julia, shifted so she one foot was bent under her thigh and she was able to face her friend.
Julia took a long, slow sip of her wine. She seemed to be measuring her words. “I was telling her about how the four of us share the same birthday, and we got to talking about all of you. We talked about what everyone did, and one thing led to another. Next thing I knew I was talking about your artwork and showing her the picture I have on my phone of that piece you gave me for my office.”
Maya couldn’t explain her unwarranted suspicion, but it was throwing up red flags she couldn’t ignore. “How do you know Melissa Mancini, anyway?”
“I met her at something a few years back, a fundraiser or something. I don’t really remember. But we hit it off, and we’ve kept in touch ever since.” Julia’s face was so smooth, so perfectly unflinching, it had Maya narrowing her eyes. But before Maya could make another inquiry, Julia continued. “What difference does it make? Maya, she wants to see your work. This is your chance.”
Maya leaned back in the couch. Julia was right. This was an opportunity she’d be a fool to pass up. Melissa Mancini had been known to help artists’ careers take off. She set aside her skepticism and smiled at her friend. “Thank you, Julia. What’s my next step?”
****
“I don’t understand, Mom. You’re in some sort of adoption program?” Everett set the delicate teacup on the coffee table between him and his mother and leaned back in the floral-print couch.
Across from him, Trudy Evans perched leisurely in her favorite light pink chair and smiled indulgently. “Sort of.”
As far as Everett was concerned, Trudy was literally the greatest human being alive. After having a successful career as a lawyer, she had become pregnant with him, accidentally, at the age of forty-three. Taking the unplanned and unexpected in stride, she quit her job and stayed home to take of the new baby.
It wasn’t a financial hardship. Everett’s parents were wealthy. But after living a life planned out with no children, he had no doubt that raising one in midlife had been challenging.
“I’m lonely, Everett.” Trudy’s lips turned down in that way he’d come to associate with sadness in his mother.
A pang of regret struck him in the chest. He only lived a short twenty-minute drive from her across the bridge. And he did get up to the North Bay to see her a minimum of once a week. But he was busy with his business and his life.
“Your father has been gone for seven years now. And I don’t really have as many friends as I used to.” Trudy looked down sheepishly, examining the teacup that sat on her lap.
Everett looked at the top of her head. The wisps of gray hair in the dark curls were sparse for a woman over seventy. “Why not? You used to have all kinds of friends. What happened to the ladies in the lunch group or the book club?”
“I still go to book club, but other than that…”
“Mom, look at me.” He waited until she lifted her head and met his gaze. “What happened to all those ladies you used to hang out with? Lunches, teas, charity events?” His mother had lived the social life fitting of her wealth and station. Now she was telling him it was all gone.
Trudy lifted her head. “The election.”
Everett was shocked. “All those nice ladies…?”
She nodded. “Not all. But some. And politics is all they talk about anymore. I just can’t…”
“Okay. So you get involved in some new activities. Meet new people.”
Trudy moved her teacup from where it sat on her pressed turquoise slacks to the coffee table beside Everett’s empty cup. “That is precisely what I’m doing. This organization was recently started by staff and volunteers at the hospital.” Her voice was infused with energy, her eyes bright.
His mother had been volunteering at the hospital for as long as he could remember. She did all kinds of odd jobs, rocking babies in the NICU, taking flowers to old people with no family, playing with kids in the cancer ward.
He leaned back and threw an arm over the back of the couch. “So tell me about it.”
Her face became animated, her eyes, several shades lighter than his own, glowed. “It’s called Adopt-a-Senior. And the concept is that older seniors, mostly single ones, can sign up to be adopted by younger people. They have dinner together and socialize, but also, they can help with yard work or errands, things like that. It’s kind of like Big Brothers and Big Sisters for adults.”
“So you are an organizer or you signed up to adopt someone, or what?”
“I’m helping to organize it all. But I also put myself up for adoption.”
“What?” Everett’s arms flopped down to his sides and he sat forward.
“Sure. Why not? I could use some companionship.”
“What about me?” He suddenly felt like the shittiest son in the world while at the same time feeling defensive as hell.
“Sweetie.” Trudy gracefully stood and shifted around the table so she sat beside him on the couch. “You are not being replaced.”
“That’s not what I…I just meant that I could do things with you…for you…”
Trudy placed her hand on his knee. “And you do. But what’s the harm in more friends. The couple that adopted me, they live nearby. They both work at the hospital. She’s a nurse and he’s a maintenance man. They’re sweet and fun, and they like me.”
She looked like a kid with a new set of friends. It made him want to melt into the floor. “How long have you been at this?”
“Just a couple weeks. I don’t know why I didn’t tell you about it before. I guess…”
“You thought I’d be an ass.” He squeezed her hand.
She smiled at him and didn’t reply.
Everett sighed. “Okay, so. What are their names, your new family?”
She ignored the sarcasm. “Henny and Bert. Henny and Bert McDonald.”
It was a common enough last name. And besides, the McDonald that made his heart clench at the mere mention of the name had grown up on the other side of the bridge. It had to be a coincidence. But just to be sure, he asked, “Do they have any kids?”
“They have twins, a boy and a girl.”
Everett’s body stiffened. “Where are they from?”
“Oakland. They moved here a few years ago. Henny worked at Children’s for years, and Bert used to commute to General. But they both got positions at our little hospital a few years back. They love it here.” She looked all dreamy when she said it, like she was caught up in what made these two people happy in the same way she was caught up in her own happiness, or his.
“Um…their daughter…she’s…” He swallowed hard.
“About your age, maybe a couple years younger. I’ve met the son, but I haven’t met her yet. They speak highly of her. She’s an artist. She has a day job, though…Oh, how silly of me! I completely forgot! She works for you at the candle company.”
“Oh, hell.”
****
Maya McDonald. She had completely rocked his world. He’d been ready to ask her to marry him that night seven years ago. Instead, he’d left her apartment the next morning before she was awake.
He hadn’t lied to her about Rebecca. Their relationship was an open one. In fact, he’d told Rebecca about the one-night stand the very next day. And while Rebecca had a few lovers, he hadn’t ever done anything like that before. In fact, it was always Rebecca’s idea that they be open. He’d never liked it or taken advantage of it until he’d laid eyes on Maya.
At first Rebecca had been completely blasé about the whole thing when he told her. So Everett didn’t feel guilty about continuing to communicate with Maya by text or trying to t
alk her into meeting up with him again. But Rebecca started getting stranger and stranger as the weeks went by. She started suggesting he should feel guilty about the one-night stand.
He didn’t regret his night with Maya. He did, however, feel bad about how desperate he was to see her again. He also disliked Maya’s discomfort with the whole open relationship thing. And that made him seriously reconsider it. But it wasn’t necessarily Rebecca he wanted to make an exclusive commitment to.
Then all hell had broken loose. His father had died suddenly of a heart attack. In the middle of the chaos and stress his texts with Maya increased. He didn’t tell her about the turmoil in his life. Instead, they went back and forth about dream cars, comfort foods, and the best and worst movie quotes. It was his escape from what was happening around him.
When he was picking out caskets with his mother, he was texting Maya about her broken refrigerator and the strange meals she and her roommate had been forced to consume as a result. When he was waiting for Rebecca to finish dressing for the funeral, he was engaged in a guessing game about where Maya planned to go with her friends that night.
But it had been nothing more than an escape. He had responsibilities to live up to. His mother was set financially, but he was all the family she had. All her hopes and dreams rested on him. She was aging and in desperate need of something to bring her joy, perhaps a wedding followed by grandkids. Her doctor had even suggested it as he prescribed an antidepressant.
So when Rebecca pressed him to get engaged one night in front his mother, and his mother ran to her safe to retrieve her grandmother’s antique ring, the joy on her face palpable, Everett reluctantly got down on one knee.
He’d had no idea how to tell Maya. So he’d avoided her for a couple days. When she texted, he wrote back saying he was busy and would contact her soon. And then the announcement had been in the paper. And he knew she’d seen it, or more likely the online version of it. It had gone a little viral locally, thanks to a big boost from Rebecca and Everett’s best friend, Elias.
