Page 56 of Just One Look
The Chickens Come Home
Elizabeth cameout of the toilets. So did Piper. Was he doomed to have Elizabeth meet his exes on every single occasion?
There was no way Piper was going to wave and walk on by, either. Her eyes were shining with tears and her mouth was trembling, but she’d lifted her chin like she was determined to be brave.
Seriously? She still cared that much after all this time? He was good, but he wasn’tthatgood.
As for Elizabeth, he didn’t know what to call the look on her face, other than “resolute,” as if he were a task she was getting through. What, Piper had cornered her in the toilets? And told her what? It was over. It had been over for a long, long time.
It was like a film, was what it was. Something where a fella had skated blithely through his romantic life, free as a bird, until one day, his chickens came home to roost.
And, yes, here came both his chickens. Neither of them looked one bit happy, either.
Sofia said, “Well,thisshould be interesting.”
He handed Elizabeth the little bag he’d been carrying. “Here. Bought it for you.” It would be obvious anyway from the logo, and even if she stormed off in the next thirty seconds, what was he going to do? Offer the next woman down the line her perfume, the one they’d chosen together after the sexiest, sweetest, most surprising half hour he’d spent in a long time? That would just be pathetic.
She hesitated, then took the bag and said, “Thank you. I was going to buy it myself, though. I hope you kept the receipt, because I suspect you’re going to want your money back.”
He looked at Piper, then. He had to. “Hi,” he said, and kissed her cheek.
Yes, those were tears, welling up in the pretty blue eyes in the way that had always devastated him. Her pink mouth was trembling, and so was her voice when she said, “Hi, Luka. It’s … good to see you again.”
He didn’t say, “You, too.” Yes, it had been a long time, but he wasn’t a forgiving man. Also, hewasn’tthat happy to see her. He said, “How ya goin’?”
“Oh, you know,” she said. “Fine. You’re doing well. Still playing, eh.”
He could feel his face harden like concrete setting, and he couldn’t do anything about it. “Yeh. Reckon you bet on the wrong horse.”
“Luka.” Her hand was on his arm, and a couple of those tears had escaped. “Itoldyou I was sorry. I told you andtoldyou!”
“Hang on,” Elizabeth said. “Back up. I’m sorry, but the suspense is killing me.Whatwas so long ago? I need the backstory. And, yes,” she said to Luka, “I should have told you before. I didn’t. I was wrong. There you go. I was wrong.”
“Wait,” he said. “What?”
Sofia said, “Surely all of this would go better over drinks.”
“There are women taking your picture,” Elizabeth informed him. “Again. They’re probably taking videos, in fact. So unless you want this recorded for posterity, we should probably take it someplace more private.”
* * *
Was thereanything more uncomfortable than an endless walk through a shopping mall with three women and an enormous cloud of unsaid things hanging in the air above you? He couldn’t think of anything to say, and nobody else was helping, other than Sofia, whose contribution was, “Well, this’ll be an interesting report at home.”
He didn’t say, “Don’t report this at home.” She wouldn’t listen if he did, and what did it matter? He held the door for all of them as they trooped into the steakhouse, where he was apparentlynotgoing to be having another intimate dinner with Elizabeth, hopefully featuring a more positive outcome. He found a table in the bar and said, “Right. Drink orders. Go.”
“I don’t know if I should,” Piper said. “But—oh, well. Champagne cocktail, please.”
“Dirty martini,” Sofia said. “Always makes me feel sophisticated. I could need more than one, if this is complicated.” He gave her a stare that was meant to convey,No, because you’re leaving after one,and she smiled like she knew exactly what he was thinking and didn’t care. Was he going to have to buy them all dinner, too? This was bizarre. Why was this happening?
“Red wine for me,” Elizabeth said. “Or, you know what? Scotch on the rocks. I definitely need a Scotch right now. But tell me what you want, Luka, and I’ll go get them. I’m in the wrong here. That makes me the one who buys the drinks.” With that, she got to her feet and hovered there. “Tell me. And don’t say the ‘expensive’ thing again. You bought me dinner. You bought me perfume, too. And as I mentioned, I’m—”
“Extremely well compensated,” he said. “I remember. And how could you possibly be in the wrong? I’ve noticed that you seem to have an outsized sense of responsibility, but for this? How?”
“Because I’m Piper’s stepsister,” she said, and then, while he was still picking his jaw up off the floor, “and I knew who you were as soon as I saw your name on your chart, and as you’ll notice, I didn’t tell you. That was clearly because I was attracted to you. I was extremely attracted, in fact. You’re used to that, I’m sure, but I’m not, and it’s embarrassing. I wasn’t inappropriate about you,” she told Piper, “or not exactly, because you obviously aren’t with him anymore, but it still wasn’t my most shining moment, character-wise. The whole thing was completely inappropriate, in fact. And, yes, I’ve had a bit of a … a shakeup in my life lately, but that’s no excuse.”
You could call him “gobsmacked.” He sat there a minute, tried to make it make sense, shook his head, said, “I’m ordering the drinks,” and headed over to the bar to do it.
Elizabeth followed him. Of course she did.
