FEBRUARY
Chapter 8
Maya woke up and wiped away the bead of sweat on her forehead. She’d had the stupid dream again, as she had every night since New Year’s Eve. Except it wasn’t a dream. It was a memory.
Maya pulled herself out of bed and stumbled toward the shower. Her tiny apartment allowed her to only take a few short steps between the bed and the bathroom door, but she wouldn’t trade having a place of her own for the world.
As Maya brushed her teeth, another image from her dream-slash-memory flitted behind her eyes. She squeezed them shut and cursed the day she learned Everett was not who she thought he was.
Things were so much worse now. It had been easy to blow him off as the enemy, as a terrible mistake, when she believed he was a heartless bastard who’d used her. Trudy’s explanation of all the events that had occurred seven years ago—the death of Everett’s father, his mother’s needs in a time of darkness, Rebecca’s manipulation—had changed her perspective of what had happened between them. And in burning off her anger, it had left questions, so many questions.
Determined to find answers, she’d attempted to run into Everett accidentally-on-purpose. She’d managed it twice at the company, but both times Everett had quickly excused himself without much more than a mumbled ‘hello’ to her. Then she’d showed up at Trudy’s house when she knew he was over, but he’d snuck away before she’d even set foot in the house.
Everett was avoiding her.
Maya glanced at the clock that sat above her bathroom sink and sped up her routine. She always managed to get to work exactly on time, but today she wanted to be a few minutes early.
After rushing through a shower and throwing on her work clothes, Maya slipped out the door and drove her battered compact car to the factory rather than taking the bus. She managed to arrive with five minutes to spare.
She entered through the factory floor, as always, and clocked in using her digital code. She smiled as she entered ‘Daisy Fields’ into the machine. Everett didn’t believe in labeling people with numbers. Instead, each employee got to make up a fake name that would be their time clock code. She’d chosen Daisy Fields because it was her favorite Tranquility Candle scent, the very scent of candle Everett had sent to her seven years ago, the day after their fateful encounter.
Shaking off these thoughts, Maya took the stairs to the second floor. The stairwell was empty except for Alice, who also liked the exercise. “Hey, girl,” Maya called, seeing Alice’s slight frame a few steps ahead of her.
Alice stopped and waited for Maya to catch up. “You look good.”
Maya smiled. “Thanks. You look unhappy.” She examined her friend’s usually cheery face. Alice’s lips were turned down, her eyes sad with bags beneath them. “What’s up? Trouble with your dating mission?”
“I’m not dating, Maya. I am looking for a spouse. And, yeah, a bit.”
The double date with the twins had been a favor to Alice. One Maya hadn’t minded because she thought it would help take her mind off Everett. Not only had the date been a complete failure for them both, but since Everett had turned up at the bar that night, it hadn’t accomplished that goal either.
As they reached the metal door leading to the second floor, Maya put her hand on Alice’s shoulder. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re young. You’ve got lots of time. I don’t know why you’re so determined to get married by our next birthday, anyway.” That had been Alice’s wish. Maya couldn’t understand why anyone would want to be married so badly, not to mention to do it by twenty-four.
Alice turned to her friend and suddenly threw her arms around her. Maya rubbed her back. “Hey. You okay?”
Alice pulled back and wiped a tear from her eye. “I will be. Thanks. I needed a hug.”
Maya opened the door and ushered Alice through it. “You can have one any time. You know that.”
The statement earned a weak smile from Alice, and Maya considered it a small victory. The two women joined the rest of the crowd in the massive conference room on the second floor.
The room was designed to hold about seventy-five people. The oval, stadium style set-up reminded Maya of a college lecture hall. For now the entire staff of Tranquility Candles fit in there. Though it was no secret that more space would probably be needed soon as the company’s growth was taking off now that the lawsuit was over.
Once everyone was seated, Everett walked into the small space at the front. From where she sat in the back center, Maya got a good look at his broad shoulders, perfectly framed in a dark suit. He looked neat and put together, just as he had the first time she met him.
As he did at every one of these all-staff meetings, Everett started by welcoming everyone, thanking them for their hard work, and telling them all they are the reason for the company’s success. Then he got down to business. “I am happy to announce that we have officially changed the company name. The E.E.R. has been removed and it’s now just Tranquility Candles.” There was loud applause at his announcement. People who’d been around longer, those who’d known Rebecca and Elias, clapped harder and louder. Some hooted in appreciation.
Everett smiled. “We’ll be changing the signs over the next week or so. We’re also starting a new ad campaign. And I’m pleased to present you with our new spokesperson. I’m sure you’ve all heard of him. He played big time Bay Area football until a knee injury changed the course of his career. Now he is one of the most sought after models in the country, and he’s just signed a contract with us. I present you with the new Tranquility Candles spokesman, Darius Fleck.”
As an impossibly beautiful man walked into the room and shook Everett’s hand, Alice groaned and rested her forehead against Maya’s shoulder.
“Alice?” Maya whispered.
“Fuck my life,” Alice replied.
The rest of the meeting consisted of a short speech from the very charming and articulate ex-football player turned model and another brief statement from Everett. The whole thing was wrapped up in less than half an hour and the staff was dismissed to start their day.
After giving Alice another hug, Maya made a beeline for the front of the room and Everett. It wasn’t easy to do since she and Alice had walked in the back door and taken seats as far from Everett as they could get. She had to fight through the crowds making their way toward her to get down the steps on the side of the stadium-style seating. When she reached the small open space that served, for all intents and purposes, as a stage, Everett was heading toward the room’s other door.
Julia and Darius stood in the center of the little area talking. But Everett, having just excused himself, was bolting toward the door. As soon as he was through it, Maya vaulted through the opening and caught up with him in the hall. “Everett.”
He didn’t stop. He walked stiffly toward the stairwell. Maya followed. Once they were in the quiet of the solitary stairway, Maya called out to him again. Again he ignored her, climbing the stairs two at a time.
“Ev!”
That stopped him. His feet paused in mid motion, one on one step, the other two steps above. Slowly, he lowered his upper foot and turned on the step. His chocolate eyes were guarded. “What can I do for you, Maya?”
“You’re avoiding me.”
“Yes.” His answer was simple, truthful. And it stung.
“Why?”
“I think that’s obvious. Don’t you?”
Maya let out a breath. “Maybe things aren’t as…simple as I made them sound at Christmas.”
“I don’t know what you mean. But you definitely made yourself clear that day.”
Maya ran a hand through her hair. “We should talk.”
“Maya…I…” His eyes snapped up.
Maya twisted her head toward the stairwell door behind her. Carlos moved into the stairwell, still talking to someone behind him. When he saw them, he stopped, the person behind him not able to clear the doorway.
“Uh…sorry,” Carlos stuttered.
“No worries, C. Come on up to my office, would you?”
“Sure thing.” Carlos looked back at whoever was behind him. Then he stepped into the stairwell, shutting the door and hiding his companion. He smiled at Maya and moved past her to join Everett on the stairs.
Maya backed up and moved through the door. She expected to see the mystery person who had been behind Carlos on the other side, but whomever it was had disappeared. Maya huffed out a frustrated breath and made her way back toward the factory floor.
****
“Thanks for taking my call.”
“Elias, you don’t have to sound so…”
“Grateful?”
Everett shifted the phone on his shoulder, put his feet up on the desk, and leaned back in his chair. “Yeah.”
“Well, I am. I’m well aware of my role in all this as the bad guy, E.”
“Maybe it’s not so cut and dried.” Everett had been reexamining everything lately with fresh eyes. It was easier to do now that the company was solely his and any threat to take it away had been mitigated. “I did some things wrong. Four-year engagement. That’s pretty fucked up, man.”
“Maybe,” Elias admitted. “But that’s not my part.”
“Well, the company was as much as yours as it was mine. We built it together. And now I own it alone. So maybe you don’t owe me anything anymore.”
“The money from the settlement means I can train again. I appreciate that.”
Everett was glad to hear Elias was back to fencing. “A little late for the Olympics, don’t you think,” Everett teased.
Elias chuckled. “We’ll see. Anyway, I’m doing good. But how are you?”
It was both strange and familiar talking to Elias. “I changed the name of the company.”
“I saw. It was dumb to have our initials on there anyway.” It had been Rebecca’s idea, and like with most things, Everett and Elias bowed to her wishes. “I saw you hired some hunk to be the spokesman, too. You could have done it yourself.”
“Me? A model? No way.”
“I’m certain the ladies would say you could do it.” Elias chuckled.
“I’m not so smooth with the ladies these days,” Everett admitted.
“What? I heard you were quite the playboy after we left.”
“Who did you hear that from?”
“Not important. Is it true?”
Three years ago, when Elias and Rebecca first took off, Everett had drowned his pain by living a wild life. He’d gained quite a reputation for his exploits. There were parties, crazy nights out, and lots of women. The encounters were consensual, the women were on board with using him, just as he used them. But all of it felt so empty. And now…now he had no interest.
“It was. Not so much anymore.”
“That’s right. There’s the girl from the past. How are things with her?”
Everett closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. It made no sense that he wanted to spill his guts to Elias. He was the last person in the world Everett should trust. But he couldn’t talk to Carlos about this because he was too close to it. Elias was several states away and didn’t know any of these people.
“So I kissed her at Christmas.”
“Yeah? That sounds promising.”
“It wasn’t. She said she could never forgive me.” Everett could hear the sadness in his voice.
“You shouldn’t take that at face value.”
Anger kicked in Everett’s gut. “Why the hell not?”
“You’re talking to me right now, man. Forgiveness is a funny thing.”
Elias had saved Everett from a huge mistake. Sure, he caused a lot of turmoil in the process. But the end result was Everett’s freedom from Rebecca, the company as his own, and himself as the ruler of his own destiny. “It’s not the same.”
“We’ll see.”
****
Being trapped in the same house with Maya was inevitable. There was no escaping her. He’d known it for weeks, tried to prepare, but it hadn’t helped. As a result, Everett was one grumpy fuck.
Trudy Fallow Evans was born on leap day. So this year they were celebrating on the last Saturday in February. Despite his pleas for a party at a fancy restaurant, country club, or some other public venue, Trudy had insisted they hold it at her house. She also didn’t want to invite a lot of people. She said she wanted just an intimate setting with her, him, and the McDonalds.
Great.
Maya looked incredible, of course. She wore a pair of jeans that hugged her curves so closely he wondered if they’d be difficult to get off, and that idea brought up new thoughts he wanted to avoid. A V-neck light purple blouse complimented her olive skin, and her hair was down, billowing around her shoulders like soft clouds. To top it all off she was wearing a pair of glasses. Apparently, her contacts were bothering her so she’d donned a pair of tortoise shell frames that made her look like a sexy librarian.
Everett was in hell.
“Maya, your mother tells me you have an art show at a gallery this summer,” Trudy said.
Everett froze. If Melissa came up, he was screwed. Trudy knew Everett and Melissa were old friends. If she let the cat out of the bag Maya would know he had pulled strings to get her the show. While he wanted Maya to stop hating him, and ultimately getting her the show was part of that strategy, he didn’t think he was in any position to gain her appreciation from that acknowledgement now.
Maya proceeded to tell Trudy about the show in August, her voice filled with unbridled enthusiasm. Sitting beside her on the sofa, Maya leaned in and talked with her hands flailing quickly around them both.
Trudy responded with “oohs” and “aahs” but never said a word about knowing Melissa. Everett relaxed back in the large recliner his father had loved as the conversation turned away from the art show and back to Maya’s social life. Maya talked about her art friends and the three women at Tranquility she shared a birthday with.
Maya kept her focus on Trudy, so Everett hadn’t been mindful of the way he so intently watched her until he felt a tap on his shoulder. He whipped his head around to see Roger, perched in the other recliner beside him, smirking. “I know that look.”
The two matching chairs sat a little away from the others and Roger’s voice was low, but it still caused Everett to make a sweep of the room with his eyes. Convinced no one was paying them any attention, he turned back to the tall, lean ball player.
There was no point denying it or pretending he didn’t know what Roger was talking about. So he tried for defensive instead. “Maybe you’re wrong.”
Roger shook his head and leaned over the arm of his chair so his head was closer to Everett’s. A lock of curly hair fell into his eye. “No, man. The face you’ve been making for the past ten minutes, I have to be super careful about not looking at Mica like that in public.” He nodded his chin toward Mica, who sat between his parents on the couch perpendicular to Trudy and Maya. “I know all about that.”
“How’s that working out? I bet hiding out is tough.”
Roger chuckled. “You wanna change the subject? Okay. I could stand to talk about it. Let’s get a beer.”
Everett followed Roger to the spacious kitchen and told him to take a seat at the island while he went to the refrigerator and dug out two beers. He opened them, and because this was his mother’s house and not his own, poured each one into a tall glass.
He settled himself on the barstool beside Roger and stretched out his legs. He slid one of the beers over and took a long drink of his own. “So, talk to me.”
Sometimes talking to a virtual stranger, especially one that was in on your deepest, darkest secret because of some strange family connection, was copasetic. Perhaps for Roger this was similar to the way Everett seemed to open to up to Elias when he never really planned to. But the floodgates definitely opened up.
“I swear on my life I’ve never fallen for anyone so fast and so hard.” Roger wiped at his eyes as if he were wiping away the disbelief. “I like both men and women, you know?”
Until recently, Everett hadn’t ever had a close friend who was bisexual. But a couple years ago, an employee had confided in him that she was bi and struggling. Everett had researched everything about it for days after that, learning that some bisexual people felt as though they didn’t belong in either the hetero community or the gay community. He had gained an incredible amount of respect for that employee and had vowed to make her life easier, becoming a sort of confidant and cheerleader.
“I understand.” Everett nodded his head, encouraging Roger to continue.
“But I’m a Major League ballplayer. Attractions aside, the plan was always to end up with a woman. That’s the easy way, you know?”
“I get that.”
Roger ran a hand through his curly hair. “And then he happened.”
Everett smiled. “Love is a crazy bitch.”
Roger laughed, his eyes sparkling. “Ain’t that the truth?” He held up his glass and they clinked before they each took a long swig. As soon as his glass hit the counter, though, Roger’s face fell. “Mica’s not one to live in the shadows. I can’t do that to him.”
“Has he said what he wants to do?”
“He won’t push me. He doesn’t even bring it up. But I can see it, you know? When I pretend I barely know him in public, when I pull away from him in front of the guys I play with, when I freak out about the paparazzi. He hates it. But he won’t say anything.”
Everett took another drink, mirroring Roger’s actions. “That’s because he’s crazy about you.”
Roger’s eyes met Everett’s “I know. And I’m crazy about him. He left someone stable for me. He changed his whole life, turned it upside down…for me. I gotta return that, only I don’t know how.”
Everett patted the man’s ample bicep. “You’ll figure something out. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Time and talking to Mica, that’s what you need.”
Roger smiled. It was a little sad and definitely knowing. “What about you and your unrequited lust for Miss Maya? What are you gonna do?”
“I thought we were talking about you?”
“You deflected long enough. Mica says you two had a fling like a million years ago.”
“Seven.”
“Jesus. I was just starting high school back then.”
Everett reached out and tapped the back of Roger’s head. “Punk.”
“So. What’s the deal? You regret not hanging on to her back then and now she won’t give you the time of day?”
“You’re smart for a young punk.”
“That’s it? Really?”
Everett laughed. “That’s exactly it.”
“Why don’t you go after her, man?”
“She hates me.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.” Everett took another long pull on his beer and sat in utter dejection.
After finishing his beer and attempting to give Everett an MLB-style pep talk about getting back out there, Roger left to go back to the party. Everett promised to join them after finishing his own beer and cleaning up the dishes a bit.
He had just finished filling the dishwasher and started it up when soft footsteps hit the tile making Everett turn to see Maya standing a few feet away from him.
“Can we talk for a minute?”
Everett glanced past her. They were alone. He chucked the towel hanging over his shoulder onto the counter and stepped toward the island, moving away from her. “Sure. What’s up?”
Maya followed him, stepping closer until his hip was pressed against the island and Maya was so close to him she could reach out and touch his upper arm with her warm, soft hand. “I want to ask you something.”
Everett’s head was swimming. He couldn’t seem to get a hold of his emotions. He was filled with all things Maya. Her scent, her touch, her beauty so close to him was overwhelming. At the same time her words always had the potential to slay him. After Christmas he’d learned his lesson.
“I don’t know, Maya. Maybe we should head back in to join the others.” He slipped to the side, putting more space between them. Her hand slipped off his arm.
“Just give me one minute.”
Everett’s eyes darted to the kitchen entrance. “They’re probably wondering where we are.”
When his gaze landed on her face again, her eyes were pleading, her lips turned down in a frown. And he lost his fight. He stepped back to her. Tilting his head down, Everett looked into her eyes. “Okay. What is it?”
Maya’s smile was soft and sweet. “Will you go out on a date with me?”
Everett struggled to speak. Long moments ticked by. Maya waited patiently. Finally, he managed to say, “Come again?”
Maya reached out and touched his arm. “I want to know if you’ll go out on a date with me. How about next Saturday? I like daytime dates that might turn into nighttime dates. So I was thinking we could go to the park and start our date there.” She tilted her head to the side. It was freaking adorable.
“You want to go out with me?”
“For a guy who’s supposed to be super smart, you sure are having a hard time catching on.”
“What about me not being forgiven?”
“Things change.”
Holy Shit.
“If this is real and I’m not dreaming—Yes.”