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Chapter Four
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Lilly was taken by surprise at the table earlier when she received a text message from her ex-boyfriend, asking if she would meet up with him later. She really hoped no one noticed her being distracted. It had been a few months since she had seen her ex, Ryan. The last time they had spoken was the day before he moved out of her place. He left without a word, without any explanation. After Jack’s announcement that he had to return to work, she thought it was fate she had received Ryan’s text, and so she agreed to meet.
As she exited the restaurant she couldn’t help but feel guilty over her secret meeting, and leaving Payton to shamelessly flirt with a taken man. She had never lied or kept this big of a secret from her sister before. Lilly looked over her shoulder once more, before crossing the busy street, to see Payton and Dixon laughing. Knowing her sister all too well, she hoped Payton would keep some level of class and not overstep her boundary in flirting with Dixon. After all, it was her name on the line, too. She was the one who said that her sister was the best at what she did.
Lilly was meeting Ryan in a local coffee shop on the first floor of his apartment building. She quickly surveyed the place upon entering. It was dimly lit, the main source of light appearing to be from the one big window in the front. There were only a few other people in the coffee house, looking attentively at their laptops on the small tables. Ryan was sitting in the corner, on an old green chair, with two coffee cups in front of him.
Ryan always looked professional, partially because he kept his brown hair short and clean-cut. His tall, thin frame aided his cute, geeky look. Lilly noticed he was wearing new glasses since she had last seen him. These glasses only added to his sexy, inescapably sophisticated look that she loved so much. Ryan was one of the smartest people Lilly knew. She admired this about him and found him to be one of the most interesting people she had ever known. In court, Ryan would escape his inner nerd, and not only command attention but also exude confidence and ooze sexiness in a way she had never before felt or seen.
It was in court, when they were arguing a case against each other that they first met. Lilly remembered Ryan was carrying a black leather briefcase, which completely opened and fell to the floor as he was putting it on the table. Paper went everywhere. Ryan was embarrassed and flustered but somehow still managed to give her his dashing, down-to-earth smile. She immediately thought he was adorable and hooked from that moment on. Lilly recalled how she pursued him from that moment until he finally asked her out. He definitely didn’t make it easy on her. In remembering these moments, she felt the sadness resurface that they weren’t able to make a go of it. She really thought they had what it took.
Lilly shook her head, allowing herself to become aware of the present and causing their eyes to meet and lock. Ryan immediately stood up and they embraced in a short, awkward hug, their bodies further apart than what someone would expect from two people who used to be intimate. They fumbled, not knowing where to place their hands, so instead broke apart and sat down. The uncomfortable silence stretched on for far too long before Ryan slowly put down his cup and flashed her his adorable smile she loved so much.
“So what’s up?” Lilly asked. She still didn’t know why Ryan wanted to meet up and she was more than curious. Ryan began telling her about his stressful day. This confused Lilly because she didn’t agree to meet up just so they could tell each other about their day. But then, what did she expect? Why did she come here? Once Ryan finished, as politely as she could, she asked, “Why did you ask to meet up?”
Her big, blue eyes made Ryan want to pick her up and whisk her away to an island only big enough for the two of them. Her eyes were so loving and caring they took his breath away. Ryan sat back into the dusty, old chair and took another drink from his cup; it was the only thing he could do to steady himself. Lilly sat on the edge of the seat with her back straight, waiting. It took a few seconds for a response. He inched closer to Lilly and put his hand on her knee. He missed her and was unsure what the next appropriate move should be. “I’m not sure, Lill. I just needed to see you.”
Lilly looked away, slightly annoyed. She wanted a more definite answer. She just lied to her sister and she had a boyfriend. What was she doing here? She really liked Jack. Why was she so willing to possibly screw it up? Was it because of all the history she shared with Ryan? As Lilly looked around the coffee house she noticed a man come in with sunglasses and a baseball cap. Weird, she thought, since he was inside and it was almost dusk. He definitely looked shady. Maybe he was going to holdup the coffee house. But the man walked past the counter and immediately sat with another patron. Lilly couldn’t take her eyes off this guy, he looked familiar. All of a sudden it dawned on her—it was Jack.
Lilly immediately positioned her back to everyone but Ryan. Her heart started to race and she immediately felt guilty for being here with her ex-boyfriend. There was no way she could leave the place without passing by Jack. And how would it look if he saw her with her ex?
“Ryan, I haven’t seen you since your midnight move,” Lilly said, in between sips of her coffee. “Did you expect that I would come here tonight, say all is fine and we become good friends, lovers—whatever you were imagining—and pick up where we left off?”
Ryan was trying to pick the right words to express what he wanted to say. He hated that the only girl he ever cared about he had hurt so badly. He could see the pain in her eyes, evident in the unshed tears.
“I am so, so sorry for how I childishly broke what we had. We were becoming so close and it scared me. I didn’t know how to handle it.”
“Let me guess; you have grown, become more mature and won’t make the same mistake twice.” There was a sharpness in Lilly’s voice that confirmed to Ryan that he had to do better than that. Lilly had always been the soft, gentle, forgiving one, but she was too hurt to show Ryan any of these qualities.
“Lilly, I don’t expect you to forgive me right away. But I would like the chance to prove to you I am still the guy you had once fallen in love with.” Ryan held Lilly’s gaze as he spoke.
To help register what Ryan was saying, Lilly sat back into her chair and took a few deep breaths. It was hard to have this type of conversation when she knew that Jack was across the room. Lilly’s thoughts shifted to Jack. Who was he meeting, dressed the way he was? Lilly tried to push those thoughts out of her mind. Lawyer Lilly would have to wait while she tried to concentrate on her conversation right now.
“I have a boyfriend, Ryan.” There, she said it; it was out in the open. If Jack did see her it would not be the end of the world. Maybe she should introduce them?
Ryan was looking past Lilly as he said, “Huh, weird…” in a soft voice that faded away.
Lily’s eyes widened with anger. Who the hell does he think he is, she thought to herself.
Immediately, Ryan saw his error. “No, no. Not you,” Ryan said, apologetically. “Sorry, I was distracted. I thought I saw someone I know.” Ryan noticed that the private investigator his company normally collaborated with had come into the coffee house and was sitting down with a newspaper spread out, as if he were reading it. This was a normal thing to do in a coffee shop. Why would he be any different? Slowly, Ryan began to relax into the old sofa.
“I want us to become friends again. I’m not here to ruin your new relationship. I want you to be happy, even if that means I am no longer that person you want to tell everything to.”
“You haven’t been that person for a while, and I managed.” She was looking right into Ryan’s eyes, and was hoping she would see a flicker of pain when she said this. “In fact, I should be thanking you. The last while I have been able to focus entirely on my career, which has resulted in a promotion. Also, Payton and I have been spending more time together, becoming best friends again like when we were young.” The last part may have been not totally true. She was sugarcoating it, but it got the point across.
“I thought you once said that Payton always dragged you into trouble when you were younger?”
“I would call it more mutual involvement when we were younger; it was just easier to blame her.” In actual fact, Ryan was dead on, but there was no way she could let him win this one. She wanted to make a point. She was better off without him. “And we didn’t get caught very often,” Lilly said, and with a smug smile took the last sip of coffee left in her cup.
“That’s right, it was the allure of the O’Neal sisters that got every boy in trouble back in those days.” Ryan chuckled to himself as he imagined a little Payton running to catch a boy and beat him up, as a little Lilly sat on the sidelines yelling at the boy and then apologizing immediately afterward. Ryan could see all the boys afraid of Payton and all the boys so in love with Lilly that they were frightened silly. The two sisters definitely had two different types of allure that was for sure.
The private investigator, Logan Fisher, sat in the coffee shop savoring his coffee while pretending to read the paper laid out before him. Actually, he had poured out most of the coffee and emptied his mini Irish Cream Baileys liquor into it. Normally, he liked vodka, but coffee and vodka wasn’t really his thing. The coffee helped to alleviate his throbbing head. He had overdone it last night and blacked-out again. But he was determined to stay on this guy’s trail.
Allowing his eye to wander throughout the room, it stopped on a pretty little blonde. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he might recognize her. Over the years, all women seemed to have merged into one. They all kind of looked the same. Did they have a one-night stand? He turned his attention back to the shady-looking man in the baseball cap.
The years had not treated Logan well. He was once the football captain, and now he was at a low-paying job, with very little certainty of a decent future. Unable to shake the feeling that he recognized the pretty blonde, he took another look. Slowly fighting through the fog in his head he realized that she was one of the O’Neal sisters. At least he thought so. Now which one was a toss-up. They looked too much the same for him to know after all of these years.
