CHAPTER SEVEN - DUNCAN
I anticipated my lunch date with Rachel all morning, while I watched her work her magic on the set. She had a real eye for detail, and it was apparent how she’d landed the job. She was very meticulous in the way she wanted things placed, and seeing her work with her team was impressive. She’d turned me on taking charge, and I liked seeing her taking the upper hand with a few of her bitching helpers.
She seemed to be close to the man she called her assistant, Jeffery. The more I watched him, he’d watch me right back, not being a bit shy about it. I wondered if he was in love with her too.
“You two have fun,” he’d said as Rachel and I left the set for our lunch date. He’d given her a warm smile but then given me a look that told me I better behave myself.
“What’s with him? Is there something more going on with you two?”
Suddenly I heard a sexy burst of chuckles from her lips. I was taken aback and also a little confused. “What?” I said while opening her car door.
“If I had to guess, I’d say he’s more attracted to you.”
I glanced back toward the door as I shut her inside and sure enough Jeffery was stepping out with his phone in his hand.
I hurried around to get in my car, sliding into the seat beside her as I asked, “He’s gay?” I could usually tell the type, but this man was not as easy to read.
“Breaking the stupid stereotypes, isn’t he? I like that about him. He’s one of my best friends next to your sister, so if you’ve got an issue—”
I held up my hands and shook my head. “I’ve got no issues. He’s protective of you. I give him credit. I just had no idea.”
She had lashed out at me like a whip cracking, and I had to admire her for the way she loved her friends. She’d always been the type to do that, even when we were kids.
As I started the car, her next words surprised the hell out of me. “I owe you an apology.”
“Me? Why’s that?” She settled into her seat as I headed out into traffic.
“Because of my father. I didn’t believe you. I should have known that he had something to do with it. He was just so supportive through everything after our breakup, and well, he was all I had, so I hated thinking he had something to do with it.”
“I’m glad he was there for you, it’s what dads do. Like I said Rachel, I already had guilt about us being together and he just helped me the hell man up about it, so I shouldn’t have thrown him under the bus. I should have just let you think it was all me.” I hated that I had done it and didn’t want her to think I was trying to paint her dad in a bad light. Everything else aside, I knew the old bastard loved her, even if he hated me.
“No, he shouldn’t have lied, and he shouldn’t have interfered. Look at all the time we’ve wasted. I’ve been angry with you for all these years.”
“It has been a long time.” Silence stretched out between us as we made our way across town to a nice little restaurant that Shauna had told me about.
“Did your sister tell you about this place?” she asked as we were driving up. I smiled and gave a little shrug.
“You caught me. It’s just I don’t know many good places on this side of the city.” I pulled my car into the small parking lot and took the first place I found.
“Well, I think you’ll like it if your tastes haven’t changed any.”
I had always been easy to please in the food department and would eat anything that anyone sat before me. She’d been the picky one, and there was a time I was trying to break her of that. Perhaps I’d make it my mission again.
We went inside and found a quiet little table in the back where the overhead light was burnt out, and the only light was coming through a tinted window and the votive on the table. She blew it out and moved it aside.
“You have a problem with flames?”
“Only old ones apparently.” She let loose a little giggle and then shook her head. “I’m only kidding. I hate the way they flicker. So, what have you been up to the past ten, eleven years, is it?”
“Yeah, something like that.” The waiter came and handed us our menus and took our drink orders and then as soon as he left, I finished my thought. “I went into the Navy, just like I told you.”
“Shauna gave me a picture of you in uniform. Your mother was so proud. I spent the next two years staring at it.” She wrung her hands on the table and then moved them to her lap.
In the silence that followed I decided to continue. “So, after two years, I began my SEAL training. I was a bit advanced, but I wanted it more than anything in a while at that point. I figured you were starting college and getting on with your life, so I didn’t have much else to look forward to.”
“Why didn’t you go back to your squad after your mother passed?” The waiter brought our drinks, and she immediately took a sip of hers, pulling the clear glass to her full, pouty lips. They were so soft when we used to kiss, and I couldn’t help but want to kiss them again.
I shook my head. “I didn’t want anything keeping me from being able to be there for Shauna. She was all alone in the beginning of mother’s illness with me having my last year kicking off. After I had served my sixth and final tour, I knew mom didn’t have much longer, so I went home to help Shauna. I hoped I’d see you, but your father had moved away. I didn’t ask Shauna where.”
She gave a little shrug and turned her head.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to know where you were, Rachel, it was that I didn’t want to hear that you were married, that you’d found someone, anyone else.” She rested her hand in front of her and stroked a finger along her glass, playing with the condensation. “What have you been up to?”
“I got a full scholarship to art school and then I had to convince my father to let me use it. We had a huge fight, and I left.”
My eyes widened. “You left?”
“Yes, I’m not afraid of my father like some people.” She pulled her lips in tight, and I would have been offended if it hadn’t been the cutest look on her beautiful face. She never could keep a straight face when she needed to, and I realized at that moment how much I missed her sense of humor. Her smile and laughter hadn’t changed.
“I guess I deserved that. So where did you go? After art school, I mean.”
“I moved out here. I’ve been here a while. My father eventually gave up and decided that he’d try Temecula to be closer. He bought a house and has been dating the same woman for a while. She’s nice.” She didn’t seem fazed either way by that, but then her mother had been gone a long time.
“Well, it sounds like you ended up in a good place.” I thought of all that time between us, and though it had been a long spell, it hadn’t killed that connection between us.
“That’s funny. You almost seem like it’s better this way when here I sit wishing we’d both done something different.”
“Any path that leads me back to you, couldn’t have been all that bad, but I do wish the road had been a tad shorter.” I reached across the table and took her hand, and she let me hold it long enough for the waiter to return.
I thought about how much I wanted to cut the lunch short and take her back to my car for some one-on-one like old times.
One step at a time. I’m barley even out of the dog house.