All Night Woman: A Contemporary Romance (17 page)

Holly talked to her frequently, he knew, but she didn’t share any details with him, and he couldn’t exactly ask.  Her eyes would narrow and laser in on him, and she would want to know
why
he was interested.  He wondered what her reaction would be if he actually told her the truth.

Miles chuckled.  Despite his initial reservations, he liked Holly more and more every day.  Oh, he still thought she was Trouble with a capital “T”, but she was crazy in love with his brother and a fierce, loyal friend to Liz.  She doted on Brandon, and she and his mother had become as thick as thieves. 

In any event, he had some serious thinking to do before he approached Liz.  He had to get all of his ducks in a row, leave nothing to chance.  Because when he finally did show up on her doorstep, he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. 

I
t was a gorgeous mid-May day – blue skies, a few wispy clouds, and plenty of sunshine.  The grass was starting to turn a vibrant green again, and the cherry trees were in full bloom, pink and white blossoms floating in the light breeze like big, fat snowflakes.  Spring was always welcome, but this year, it seemed more so after the unusually cold and snowy winter. 

Liz thought she’d left early enough to get to the graduation ceremonies on time, but she hadn’t expected the traffic to be as bad as it was.  She’d had to park in one of the satellite lots and take a shuttle to the event center.  By the time she actually made it inside, the place was packed and the ceremonies had already begun.  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since it gave her the perfect excuse to sit alone.  Rather than attempt to find Holly and Adam, she opted for one of the few seats still available in the nosebleed section.

While she waited for Brandon’s name to be called, she scanned the crowd.  She shouldn’t have been able to find Miles amidst the thousand or so excited families and friends, but she did.  It was if her eyes were drawn to him.

Liz couldn’t totally contain her sharp inhalation when she spotted him.  Miles sat beside Adam and Holly, looking every bit the proud dad in his expensive suit and power tie.  He’d gotten a haircut since she’d last seen him.  It was a bit shorter along the sides than it had been, showed a little bit more gray.  It looked good on him, though, especially against his darker skin.  Strong.  Mature.  Distinguished. 

Holly had told her that Miles had been spending a lot of time onsite with Adam, so that healthy, sun-kissed tone made sense.  He was leaning toward Adam, nodding, smiling at something Adam must have said.

He looked so damn good.  Her chest ached.

As if he felt her staring at him, his gaze suddenly lifted and surfed over the crowd.  Unbelievably, it stopped when it got to her section.  He couldn’t possibly see her, could he?  Sure, she could see him, but he was down there in the good seats under the bright lights, and she was in the shadows at high-altitude behind the track of spotlights.   

Liz slid down in her seat anyway, her heart pounding irrationally.  Miles’ gaze travelled back and forth a few more times before finally returning to the stage. 

She remained slouched for most of the presentation until Brandon’s name was called and she saw his tall, confident form approaching the podium.  Then she sat up and clapped for him, as proud of him as if he’d been her nephew-in-law, too.  He looked so handsome in his cap and gown, and so happy.  And why not?  The world was his oyster.  Liz could still remember how optimistic she had been at her college graduation.  Back then, anything seemed possible. 

She debated on whether or not to slip out quietly afterward, but she really wanted to give him the card and gift personally and tell him how proud of him she was.  After all, it wasn’t Brandon’s fault that things hadn’t worked out with Miles.  He didn’t even know; no one did.  In any case, it was all over now, and it was time to move on.  Liz had a plan mapped out and she wasn’t going to leave any loose strings.

There was no reason to tempt the devil, though, by creating an awkward situation.  At the reception, she hovered at the fringes, moving between the groups of laughing, smiling people, waiting for the right opportunity.  It finally came when Miles stepped away and headed toward one of the many banquet-sized tables loaded with refreshments.

“Congratulations, Brandon!” Liz said, giving the twenty-two year old a hug.  A year ago he’d been the cute waiter at Applebee’s that she and Holly used to tease on their regular GNOs.  Now he was practically her honorary nephew. 

“Thanks, Liz,” he grinned, hugging her back. 

“Here.  This is for you.”

He took the envelope from her and opened it, his eyes going wide.  “Holy shit, Liz.  Seriously?”

She shrugged.  “It’s no big deal.”  And it wasn’t, not really.  She had made her peace with it.  She had no use for the car, and it wasn’t like Nick was ever going to come back for it.  Facing the truth was difficult, but once she’d made the decision, she’d known it was the right thing to do.

“What is it, Brandon?” Holly asked, looking between the two of them with undisguised curiosity.  Liz hadn’t breathed a word to Holly.  Not about the car.  Not about any of it.

Brandon looked up with a shell-shocked expression.  “A classic 1966 Shelby Mustang GT350.  Liz, I can’t accept this.”  He tried to give the envelope back to her, but she refused to take it.

“Sure you can.  I’d rather have it go to you than some stuffy old collector.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Thank you works for me,” she smirked.  “Anyway, I’ve got to run.  I just wanted to say congrats.”

“You’re not staying?”

“No, I’ve got a plane to catch.”

“Plane?  What plane?”  Holly jumped on that like Max on a Milkbone.  “Where are you going?”

“I haven’t seen my parents in a while,” Liz said carefully.  “Their wedding anniversary is next week, so I thought it would be a good time.”  She skillfully avoided Holly’s laser-like eyes, knowing that Holly would see right through her.

Over Holly’s shoulder, she saw Miles returning with a few glasses of punch.  It was time to make her exit.

“So hey, again, congratulations, Brandon.  I’ve got to run.”  She gave Holly a quick hug, nodded to Adam, and then disappeared into the crowd.

* * *

M
iles waited somewhat impatiently at the refreshment table as the white-aproned server ladled the punch into several cups.  He thought for sure Liz would come today.  She might not be too fond of him, but she did like Brandon. 

Hands in pockets, he turned away from the gushing grandmother in front of him currently telling anyone who would listen about her grandson and how proud she was of him for graduating
cum laude
.  It seemed kind of superfluous, really.  Everyone here was proud of someone, and he was quite sure she wouldn’t care to hear him brag about his son, who had graduated
summa cum laude
and had been given a full scholarship into the Masters program.

He scanned the crowd, freezing when he spotted the familiar blonde disappear in Brandon’s embrace.  Liz! 

His entire body tightened.  He knew she would come!  He
had
sensed her presence earlier.  He was at a lost to explain that one since he didn’t believe in any of that psychic crap, but he had known she was there.  He had been sitting with Adam and Holly and he had felt her gaze.  He’d known it was Liz because she was the only woman capable of making him feel like that with just a look – uncertain and needy and powerful, all at the same time.

He silently willed the server to move quicker while he fought the urge to run over there.  Yeah, he knew she’d probably been waiting for him to leave before she approached Brandon, but at this point, he didn’t really care.  It had been more than a month since he had seen or spoken to her, and that was about a month too long in his book.  It was probably for the best; it had given him some much-needed time to think and sort out his priorities, but now that he had straightened all that out, he was anxious to get on with it.

By the time he worked his way back to them, she was gone.

“Dad,” Brandon said excitedly, “Check this out!”

Miles looked down at the auto title and registration in Brandon’s hand, along with the picture of the gleaming muscle car paper-clipped to it.  His eyes widened in disbelief.  “She gave you her brother’s car?”

Holly’s eagle eyes narrowed on him.  “How do you know about Nick?” she asked suspiciously.

Miles ignored her.  He wasn’t going to get into that now.  Something wasn’t quite right, he could feel it in his bones.  His gaze searched the surrounding crowd for the familiar honeyed-blonde, but his gut already knew she was gone.

“She left?”

“Yeah, she said she had a plane to catch,” Brandon answered.

“A plane?  Where is she going?”

“She said something about visiting her parents.”

Miles turned to Holly.  “Do you know where her parents live?”

“Miles, what is - ”

“
Holly
.  Do you know where her parents live?”

Her brow creased.  “I have the address and phone number written down at home in case of an emergency.  What the hell is going on, Miles?”

“I need that address.”

Holly planted her feet and crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly.  “I’m not giving you a goddamn thing until you tell me what is going on.”

Miles looked at Adam for some support, but saw the questions burning in his brother’s eyes, too, and knew he wasn’t going to get any more information without an explanation.

“Fine,” he exhaled.  “But not here.  What time does her plane leave?”

“She didn’t say.”

A couple of hours either way wouldn’t matter, and he needed to do this right.  “Let’s go home.  I’ll explain there.”

––––––––

T
elling Holly, Adam, and Brandon was a lot easier than he’d thought it would be.  Holly was pretty pissed at first.  And for several moments there, Adam looked like he wanted to give him a good beat-down.  Brandon was understandably stunned.  But they must have seen the truth in his eyes and heard the conviction in his voice, because he emerged from Adam’s kitchen relatively unscathed.  By the time he was finished, he was fairly certain Holly had become his biggest advocate.

“She told me about her parents’ anniversary,” Holly said once she’d gotten some of the fight out of her system, “but I didn’t think she was going down until next week.”  Her eyes widened and Miles caught the glimmer of moisture there.  “I knew she was seeing somebody that had her tied up in knots.  No wonder she wouldn’t tell me who it was.”

Liz had talked to Holly?  She’d been tied up in knots?  “I don’t suppose you’d like to share any of those conversations with me,” he said.  “Anything that might help me make this right?”

“She doesn’t think you’re interested in anything more than... well, you know.”

Neither had he, at least not at first.  Now he knew better.

“You are interested in more than that, aren’t you, Miles?”

Adam cleared his throat.  His expression was serious but his eyes were dancing with amusement.  “Think carefully before you answer, Miles.  The next words you speak might determine if you make it out of this house with all of your parts attached.”

“Yes, Holly,” Miles assured her.  “Much more.”

“Then what the hell are you waiting for?  You need to tell her that.  And not over the phone, either.  You need to get on a plane and do it in person.”

Miles smiled a little.  Liz had excellent taste in friends.  And in truth, he’d come to the same conclusion himself.  “My thoughts exactly.”

––––––––

A
nxious as he was to get to it, he called the airline and reserved a flight for later that same night.  He packed a couple of things, mostly essentials, and was ready to go within the hour.

“You sure about this?” Adam asked as he drove Miles to the airport.  “You barely know her.”

Miles thought about that for a minute before answering with a question of his own.  “How long did it take you to know that Holly was the one?”

Adam gave him a sideways glance before returning his gaze to the road and nodding.  “Good point.”

Thankfully, his brother was a man of few words.  Miles used the time to fine-tune his plans.  Doubt never entered his mind; with every passing moment, his conviction only grew. 

They didn’t speak again until they pulled up at the drop-off area.  “Good luck, Miles.  Liz is a good woman.”

Hell yes she was.

“And if you don’t figure out a way to make this work, you might want to consider changing your appearance and getting an alias, because Holly
will
find you.”

Miles chuckled.  “I have no intentions of failing, little brother.”

––––––––

I
t took a little doing, but Miles was nothing if not resourceful.  Within two days he had arranged everything.  Now all he could do was hope it didn’t blow up in his face.

“W
hat the ...?”  Liz stepped into the Shady Pines Community Center and froze.  She blinked once, twice, then looked again. 

It looked like a winter wonderland.  Sparkly white and silver decorations adorned every available surface.  Crystal snowflakes hung from the ceiling, dancing in the breeze created by the air-conditioning vents operating full-blast.  Spray snow was on the windows, artfully applied to make it look as though the real stuff had actually accumulated there, as well as on the (fake?) pine trees strategically placed around the perimeter of the room.  Tables had been covered in expensive-looking white linens.  Ice sculptures, three of them.  Several flowing silver fountains (champagne?).  Twinkle lights were strung everywhere.  And – holy crap – was that a snowman in the corner?

She forced one foot in front of the other, irritation mounting by the second.  This was supposed to be a surprise party for her parent’s anniversary.  Instead it looked like the Winter Warlock had rented the place out for a family reunion. 

Had the Center double-booked?  For crying out loud, she had just spoken to the director yesterday, Dottie something-or-other.  Oh, hell.  What if Dottie wasn’t really the director?  Liz’s mom did say that some of the residents got a little confused sometimes...