Page 10 of The Second Ending
The next meeting between the two sides was the following Tuesday morning. Marcus dressed with a bit more care than usual, and trimmed his beard. Some women preferred a clean-shaven face, he knew, but he wasn’t about to go that far for anyone. He made sure he had a good strong coffee before the meeting began, and arranged for Peter to bring in hot drinks for everyone. Get them on his side. What would Lana like? Did she drink coffee, or did she prefer tea? He’d find out.
Ashleigh used to like her morning coffee with lots of milk and sugar, sweet and gentle like her. Did she still? Or had her tastes changed to something harsher, black, dark and bitter?
She surprised him by requesting an unsweetened cappuccino, one of the items in the list Peter recited. Not that Marcus cared. Lana accepted a cup of tea, with milk and sugar. He’d have to remember that.
Time to start the flirtation, see where it went.
“This is a lovely blend. I have it brought in from the UK. That’s where I discovered it,” he said to Lana. “I was there for a while on business a couple of years ago, and one of my associates introduced me to it. I’m not a big tea drinker—or, I wasn’t before—but I found I really liked this one.”
Lana’s dark eyes lit up. “Where were you? My grandmother was born in Birmingham, and she taught me to drink tea when I was a kid. A little bit of tea, lots of milk, and lots of sugar!”
Stifling a triumphant smirk, Marcus smiled as he answered. “I never made it to Birmingham. I was in London for some meetings, but spent most of my time near York, where the development project was. Have you been there?”
“Only once, but it was amazing. The countryside is so beautiful, and the people are amazingly friendly. I didn’t want to leave.”
Ha! This was exactly the enthusiastic response Marcus had hoped for. Perhaps he could suggest meeting sometime over a drink—tea, of course—to talk more about their impressions of England.
He was just about to open his mouth to speak when Lana continued.
“I love being in different places. We learn so much when we embrace different experiences. Don’t we, Ash? You spent quite a bit of time in South America, didn’t you?”
“South America?” Marcus spoke before he could stop himself. His eyes darted to Ashleigh, who sat back in her large leather chair, hands cradling her mug of hot milky coffee. Her lips twitched into a small smile and something lit her eyes—a good memory, perhaps?—and for a split second, he saw the remarkable woman she once had been.
Try as he might, he couldn’t pull his gaze away, and the twitch broadened into a full smile. How long had it been since he’d seen such a radiant smile? Not that he cared.
“I went there after I finished law school,” she explained. “I did a course in Chile one summer… the summer after…” The words faded, and she seemed about to fade back into the void with them, before she took a breath and went on. “I did a course in Chile one summer and fell in love with the country. I did my paper on water rights for small communities, and when I finished my degree, went back to work with some of the villages as they strove to improve and manage their access to clean water. It’s a completely different system to how things are here, with private companies and government all taking very different roles. I learned a great deal from them.”
“Including Spanish!” Masako burst out.
“Spanish?” Marcus slammed his mouth closed only after the word was out. He was starting to sound like a trained bird, repeating the last word he heard.
“Si, claro.” Ashleigh gave another too-rare radiant smile. “I had to learn if I wanted to spend time there. It’s their country. I was the interloper. I had to learn their language. Besides, I already spoke French, so it wasn’t so terribly difficult to learn.”
Marcus corralled his whirling thoughts and forced some of them into a sentence. “Interesting. How long were you there? A few weeks?”
Ashleigh shook her head. “No, that wouldn’t have been nearly enough time. I first went down for eight months, and then when I began working here in Toronto, I arranged to be able to work remotely for six weeks a year, so I could return. I’ve been doing this every year since then.”
His mouth dropped open a bit, and he forced it shut. This didn’t sound like the faded creature he thought she had become. It was almost… stimulating.
Not that he cared.
“Tell him about the music,” Masako urged. “He might find that interesting.”
Music? At least he didn’t repeat that.
But now Ashleigh softened her smile into a tight and faded grin, and the light in her eyes dimmed.
“Not now. We really should get to work on this set of plans.” She straightened her shoulders and put on her Lawyer Voice. “I think we should discuss the implications of this aspect of the zoning as it relates to the contract…”
What was that pang of disappointment? Had he really wanted to hear more? Nonsense. Of course, he hadn’t. He just wasn’t looking forward to nagging at each clause and term in the papers in front of him. He didn’t have the first bit of interest in whatever it was that Ash had done while she was in Chile.
He forced another grin at Lana, who beamed back at him, and tried to pay attention to Masako as she expounded on some idea she had that might work for this aspect of the development.
For the next five days, Marcus tried to think about Lana. He made himself remember her pleasant face and engaging smile, her friendly dark eyes and excitement about travel. He refused to think about anyone else. He would turn the conversation back to England at their next meeting, and hopefully there would be some way he could suggest meeting outside of school without making it seem creepy.
The next meeting was the following Tuesday, the day after Thanksgiving. Once more, Marcus dressed with care, and made sure there was a nice selection of tea available for Lana’s perusal, all from his favourite British company. He should ask what Lana’s grandmother preferred. That would be a good way into a nice chat.
The Playground Contingent, as he’d mentally termed them, arrived together as they had before, and were seated in the conference room when he walked in. Peter followed in his wake, and once more took the orders for hot drinks. Ashleigh asked for a doppio, a double espresso, with just enough hot water to fill a mug. Interesting. Masako requested a cappuccino, and Lana, once more, wanted tea.
