Evan didn’t know what to make of that but he had an idea that might help her and he definitely wanted to help. He could donate money to the charity that ran the place. All it would take was a quick internet search and an anonymous donation and she could maybe lighten her load. He tried to avoid getting caught watching her for the rest of the evening but he failed epically.
“Would you like to get a coffee with me?” he asked as she turned off the lights.
“I can’t,” she replied, giving him a look that he couldn’t decipher.
“Maybe tomorrow?”
“I won’t be here tomorrow and I have plans already,” she said.
“Can I call you?” he asked, feeling increasingly further from his goal.
“No,” she said but her voice was quiet.
He watched her open her car, rub her face, and then drive off without glancing back. He had blown it and she had made it clear that she wasn’t interested in him. The best he could do now is to make her and her daughter’s life easier by injecting a little cash and that was something Evan had plenty of. It was impersonal but it could make a difference and not just to her but to the patrons who lined up eagerly to be fed each night.
****
When Evan woke the next day, he was full of optimism. He took care of his most pressing concerns and then shelved the rest for another day. He had a great team who could take care of most of the business and that had previously freed him up to work on his playboy reputation but now he could be of actual use to someone.
He did a Google search on the soup kitchen and found that it had been started by Scarlett’s mother and when he saw her name he felt familiarity wash over him. Hetty Robinson was a name that he associated with his past but he had buried so much of it because it was painful.
There was a link on the website he found that allowed him to make an anonymous donation and he did so, generously. He quickly found that the soup kitchen wasn’t the only project the small charity was running with. It was no wonder that Scarlett had turned him down on his offer; she was running herself into the ground with her charitable deeds, along with a paid day job and a child. What was he thinking? She wasn’t one of his frivolous girls who wore designer everything and spent half their existence in salons.
When his phone rang a short while later, he jumped, having been so absorbed in his web search. He knew the area well because he’d grown up there and he had been poor; both with his parents and his grandmother had been poor but he hadn’t realized just how poverty had affected the neighborhoods: the schools, the businesses and the people.
“Hello,” he said into the phone.
“I can do lunch,” a sharp voice said.
“Okay, where?” he replied.
He knew her voice, it was distinctive, and he’d somehow managed to memorize every tone she used. Scarlett wanted to meet him for lunch at a small burger place in his old neighborhood. He jumped up and ran to the closet; his shirt and tie were too formal for lunch in a burger joint and this was his chance, probably his only chance, at making an impression.
He was a bag of nerves but he parked outside his grandmother’s house and walked the short distance to the restaurant. There was no way he was going to rub his sports car in her face. He had just enough time to walk the few blocks there and he wanted to be five minutes early. There was nothing worse than showing up late to a restaurant and leaving a girl waiting.
He waited outside in the crisp cold air and saw her as she exited what looked like a vet’s office. The fact that she was wearing scrubs told him that she worked there and his heart did a nervous flip. She really was the perfect citizen. With all his success and wealth, what had he given back to society? He was starting to feel a little inadequate around her.
She looked beautiful in the dark green cotton utility clothes and her voluminous braids were tied with a silky green ribbon. The color set off her skin making her look a stunning picture with the winter sun streaming behind her. He had the feeling of déjà vu and when she smiled at him it melted away into the fluttering in his stomach before he could grasp its meaning.
*****
She was playing with fire and would probably get burned. Her life was busy enough as it was without adding the boy who’d haunted her dreams when she was a kid. And now he stood in front of the burger joint looking like the sexiest thing that had ever graced the pavement with the sun sparkling over him. She was a fool. He was grinning at her and it did nothing to calm her nerves. In fact, the tingling inside was making her sweat even though it was a cold day.
“Hi,” he said shyly and the blush on his cheeks made that warmth spread lower in her tummy.
“Hi,” she replied.
They went inside and he ordered the biggest burger on the menu with all the trimmings. She went for her usual and one of the famous chocolate milkshakes that they’d both coveted as kids. He frowned when she ordered it and then called the waitress back to get one for himself. She wondered what was going on in his mind because he wasn’t sharing it.
“This place has been here for years but I don’t think I ever came here,” he said but his face looked far away.
“We could never afford to visit a place like this and those milkshakes were a big, fat tease,” she said.
“You grew up not far from here?” he asked.
“Evan, what the hell is wrong with you?” she said.
He looked up sharpl,y turning pale in the soft lighting of the booth. His eyes were so blue they were lighter than the sky and she could drown in them if she wasn’t careful. He started to bite his lip and she remembered how he used to do that when he was worried and before she knew it good sense was out of the window and she had reached across and grabbed his hand.
“I didn’t mean to snap Evan but, seriously, do you not remember me at all?”
He was now frowning, but they were still hand-in-hand and when the food arrived, he didn’t even acknowledge it. She was starting to worry that maybe he had a brain injury or something and really had forgotten everything.
“Evan Mandelson, what an honor to have you here,” the waitress said, lingering with her flirty smile.
He looked up and gave her a confident grin and then looked back at the food. He might have been an enigma but what in the hell was the waitress talking about? Unless he’d taken his grandmother’s name which was something she’d never even considered. She let go of his hand and grabbed her knife and fork, willing the damn waitress to disappear.
“I do recognize you, well, you’re familiar but I don’t know where from,” he said taking a huge chunk out of his burger.
“I was your neighbor for the first ten years of your life but I also thought I was your best friend,” she replied.
He dropped the burger and his head snapped up. She ignored him as he studied her because she only had an hour for lunch and she wasn’t planning on leaving any food on her plate. She heard a low rumble of laughter and forced herself not to look up.
“I never forgot you, I just didn’t realize that you were her. She was skinny and bossy with different hair and Scarlett we were ten,” he said laughing. “How do you remember me?”
“I loved you,” she moaned. “You were the stupid cute white boy with the yellow hair and a knack for making me laugh. You were my best friend and I could never forget you.”
“I missed you when I left but I put it all behind me. My grandmother told me to move on; she said always look forward never back and it worked,” he said, remembering the pain but shutting it down before it could touch him.
“So, what are you doing back?”
“I felt like something was missing in my life and I started walking, I ended up at the church hall,” he said, shrugging. “You have a daughter, I hear.”
“Stu has a big mouth,” she said. “Yes, she’s five years old.”
“That’s cool, I don’t,” he said.
“What do you do for a living?” she asked and he cringed as the waitress stepped up.
“Evan
Mandelson is our local self-made man,” she said with the flirty smile aimed directly at Evan.
Scarlett glanced up at the waitress and noticed that there were fewer buttons done up on her tight uniform. She scowled at the woman until she was called to another table. Some things didn’t change in this town and the waitress, whose name was Susan, although her name tag had her down as Suzie, had always leaned towards the slutty side of the dress code. Her school uniform had been quite a sensation if Scarlett remembered it correctly.
“I’m a software engineer, or at least I was. Now I’m the CEO and I don’t really dabble with the software anymore,” he replied, and she noticed that he’d nearly finished his burger and had just picked up the shake. “Damn, this is good.”
“We always knew it would be,” she said, and he leaned over to squeeze her hand.
Touching him felt better than looking at him and looking at him was pretty good. She was a sensible woman, and she knew that he was used to Suzie’s reaction. He was probably swamped with women. The cute little blond boy she’d grown up with was now a man and he was hot, obviously successful, and strangely having lunch with her in a downtown diner.
“Why are you serving soup to people you left behind years ago?”
“I need more from my life,” he replied. “Can I take you to dinner?”
“No,” she said.
“Please,” he said.
“Nope,” she sucked her shake through the straw and he watched her lips with dedication.
“Pretty please,” he said without taking his eyes off her lips.
“Not this week,” she relented.
“Yes!” he yelled doing an air-punch, and she laughed.
*****
Evan walked Scarlett back to work after the most enlightening lunch ever. How he could have buried Scarlett’s memory so deeply he had no idea but now that she was back in his life he wasn’t about to let her go. He had a new mission and his money and fancy cars were not going to be of any help to him. He waved goodbye to her and then walked away smiling. He was no longer bored with life. It had, quite suddenly, become very interesting.
When he reached his car, the renovation team was standing in his grandmother’s garden and, after a quick chat, he had instructed them on exactly what he wanted them to do. He wanted the house livable and he wanted to rent it to a family who needed a good home. It wasn’t anything special but it was better than some of the properties he’d seen in the neighborhood and it was ten times better than the apartment he’d spent his first years in with his parents.
His next trip was to the local real estate agent. By using the local amenities, he would bring money and business back into the area and because he had every intention of buying up some of the local empty, dilapidated properties for renovation it made sense to use a local firm. His accountant might not agree with what he was about to do but making money had become a soul-sucking exercise and spending it had been just as dull after the first couple of years. At least now he had a solid plan for his finances and maybe a chance to improve the lives of others, for once.
The next few days were a blur of action but, throughout it all, he had one thought: Scarlett. He had no idea where to take her or what to do on their date but he knew she wouldn’t be blown away by expensive restaurants which meant he had to try harder than he’d ever tried before. When the day finally arrived, he was still at a loss for what to do and he was more nervous than he’d ever been in his life. She mattered more to him now that his memories of her as a child had tied together with the woman she was now. She was the prized goal and he had to earn her love.
Scarlett was the one to make the plans when she telephoned him to let him know that she couldn’t go out because her daughter was sick. She assured him it was just a cold and then suggested a takeout at her place. He jumped at the chance and in a way it took the pressure off him to find the happy medium between cool date and extravagant turnoff.
****
He arrived with flowers and kissed her on the cheek. He didn’t know what food she liked but when he produced the menu for a local Chinese takeaway she nodded and smiled. Her home was small and clean, homely but with less chintz than his aunt’s house. She liked modern clean lines and strong colors. Everywhere he looked there was evidence of her daughter and, instead of frightening him, it intrigued him. He was starting to match up his memories of Scarlett as a child with the stunning woman in front of him, a mother no less.
“I can’t believe it, Evan, after all those years of not hearing a word from you and you were just across the city,” she said.
“My grandmother said I should get out as soon as I could and so I did. I put every hour, every minute into my job and within a short time they saw my skill and my paycheck took a hike up. After that it just seemed to flow until I owned a company and I wasn’t doing the job I loved anymore, I was telling others to do it,” he said.
At some point, he’d grabbed her hand because he was now stroking the soft skin on the back of it. When he looked up at her face, she was closer so he closed the gap and planted his lips on her full, sweet ones. He hadn’t been prepared for the thrill that ran through him. Her tongue found his and somehow her hands were in his hair; it felt divine.
The knock on the door stopped them and she answered it. He was relieved he’d paid over the phone because her effect on him had meant that he couldn’t risk standing up. They ate and he asked her about her life: how she had come to have a child, how she started the soup kitchen and what her plans were for the future. They’d finished their meal by the time she told him about the recent sizable donation and he just smiled at her.
“That’s got to make a difference right?”
“Evan, was that you?”
“Not me exactly; my company often donates to charity. I figured it should be yours,” he said.
“You can’t buy your way into my life, Evan. Money is at the root of people’s problems here; you can’t just throw it at people and expect to solve everything,” she said, surprising him with her anger.
“No, you can solve their problems with the money,” he said. “I saw what you wanted to do in the future and for that you need capital. I just wanted to help.”
That was when they heard the crash of broken glass and his car alarm just seconds after. They ran to the window to find his lights flashing and everyone in the neighborhood twitching their curtains. Scarlett’s face fell, and he had the feeling he was fighting something with the wrong tools. She looked disappointed in him and closed off.
“You should go,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Why?”
“Because you don’t belong here,” she said, pointing back at his sports car.
“I don’t belong anywhere Scarlett. You are my only link to the past. You’re the only person who grounds me. I know who I am with you,” he said.
“But I don’t know who I am with you,” she replied.
“Mommy,” a small voice said.
A tiny pink-clad child walked into the room hugging a stuffed elephant. His heart did a little back flip. She was like a carbon copy of her mother, the one he’d grown up with just blocks from where he was standing.
“Please leave,” Scarlett whispered, and he closed the door behind him.
*****
When Evan walked to his car he was hit with the unfairness of it all. He had everything and yet everything wasn’t enough. He wanted a woman who wanted nothing to do with his wealth. It was the complete opposite from everything he’d experienced over the past few years. He didn’t know what to think. He knocked out the rest of the glass that still clung to the rear window and got in. He was still aware of the neighbors and their twitching curtains but Scarlett’s house wasn’t one of them. He started the engine and drove to his grandmother’s house.
The maintenance team had begun the work but his grandmother’s things were still there, albeit packed into boxes for the most part. He flopped onto the sofa and remained there staring into space i
n the dark. He wasn’t happy with his old life, the life he’d built from scratch but he hadn’t been happy with his life before that, the poor kid who couldn’t walk through a mall without the staff eyeballing him like he was going to steal their goods. He needed to create something in between, something that made him happy. Maybe even something that made Scarlett accept him.
****
He woke when the maintenance crew turned up and he didn’t know who felt more awkward, them or him. He drove the car straight to the garage and walked back to his penthouse suite. He wasn’t needed at the office; his input just wasn’t required. His job had been more of a formality and it was time someone else handled it because, if he was honest with himself, he’d checked out of that lifestyle weeks ago.
With his business skills, along with his computer programming genius, he could start something new and that was exactly what he was going to do. His first stop was to secure premises and he was taking his new business and his money back to where it all started, Scarlett’s neighborhood. He put the penthouse suite up for sale and put an offer on a Victorian house near his grandmother’s place. It was much larger and had the beautiful hardwood floors that his grandmother had coveted.
He turned up at the soup kitchen a few days later with a stack of fliers and placed them on the tables before grabbing a tray of rolls and beginning the rounds. Scarlett watched him but didn’t say anything and he didn’t want to push her but when she picked up one of his fliers and read the text he was secretly thrilled.
The fliers outlined the business that he had begun. He would secure funding from big corporations and match skills to jobs. He also wanted to provide funding for the young people in the area who wanted to go to college or learn a trade but couldn’t afford to live as students. He wanted to give the area a future and that meant creating jobs, providing better housing and tackling every issue that fell below the state’s radar. He couldn’t do it alone because he didn’t know the people or their problems; he needed Scarlett and he hoped that his involvement in her favorite cause would at least win her friendship, if nothing else.
The Abduction Page 62
