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“Hell, no,” she practically shouted. “I wouldn’t give up one day with John, not even knowing that I would only get him for forty-three years. Take the risk, Ellie. You will never regret taking a chance to love. You do love this man, don’t you?”
“Yeah. I love him. But he doesn’t know it.”
She laughed. “He knows it, trust me. Men are dense, but not as much as they pretend to be.”
“Leo Markham.”
I jumped up. “That’s us. It’s been a pleasure talking with you, Alana.”
“Same to you, my dear. Remember, live in the moment.”
***
After leaving the doctor’s office on the drive to the diner, my mind kept going back to Alana’s words. I didn’t know what to do with them, but they felt important somehow.
“Ellie!” Ryan stood and waved, looking as boyishly handsome as he always did, except this time it felt strange to be here with him. His smile was the same. His eyes were the same. But everything felt different between us. Distant and awkward. Uncomfortable.
“Hey, Ryan. How have you been?” I took a seat on the opposite side of the booth and got Leo settled with crayons for the kiddie place mat.
“Good. Busy.” He blew out a long breath and flashed a tired smile.
“Does that mean the new project is going well?”
He nodded slowly. “There are always issues on a project like this. But I think I’m making progress, this time my father is letting me handle things the way I think it should be done.” He gave me a wide, happy smile.
We laughed and talked, slipping into our old roles easily. He regaled me with tales of the guys on the building sites and I offered up funny stories about Leo learning to be himself.
“I’m happy for you, Ryan. You deserve it.”
“Thank you, Ellie.” He flashed a wide grin and leaned back against the booth. “And what about you, are you seeing that biker?”
That wasn’t a subject I knew how to talk about, and I had no desire to talk to Ryan about it. “Not exactly,” I hedged with a smile. “Let’s just say it’s complicated.”
“I thought you said you didn’t date. Ever.”
Guilt washed over me at those words, and the hurt that flashed through his eyes. Hurt, and something deeper. Something which made me think Ryan was potentially more into me than he was letting on. I’d suspected it when he’d asked me out for a meal a couple of months ago, that in his head it was more of a date, rather than friends getting together. I hoped that today wasn’t going to give him any ideas.
“That’s why it’s complicated,” I said, feeling more than just bad for the way I’d been ignoring him lately. “I’m not… Listen, he’s…”
I was this close to telling him about Leo’s father, but my throat closed over and I just dropped my head in my hands for a second.
“Ellie?”
Pulling back, I plastered on a smile. “We’re not dating. I’m not dating anyone, Leo is the only man in my life, now and forever.”
He nodded, reluctantly accepting my answer, and did his best to change the subject. “How is the book going?”
“Great!” I said, maybe a little too enthusiastically, latching on to the new topic. “It’s a little different than what I usually write. It’s still a mystery, but there’s more romance to it and it’s a little grittier.”
“Wow, lots of changes lately.” His words were right, but there was something in his tone that felt strained.
“Yeah, I guess that’s true. We’re both doing something different with our careers. And what about on the romance front for you?”
“Nothing to report, I’m afraid. Too busy to date.”
“Yeah, I get that,” I said just as the food arrived. We ate mostly in silence until the plates were half-empty. “I never did ask what you were building.”
“High-end condos, Steel Heights,” he answered proudly. “You know that site just off the highway leading to Vegas? More than half the condos are already sold, so the pressure is on to complete them.”
