It was Lia.
She turned, her eyes tangling with mine as the color washed from her face. For a moment the world stopped, and we were the only two in it. It felt just like it had felt a few days before when she’d stepped into the diner and spotted me in the back. Only then, I’d had the span of an entire room to prepare for her to arrive in front of me, to rein in my emotions and attempt to calm my racing heartbeat. Now, now, she was three steps away.
She looked behind her quickly, appearing to either be looking for an escape route or checking to see if there was anyone else who could take over for her.
She turned back around and her shoulders raised and fell minutely before she took the few steps that brought her to our table. She gave us a tight smile. “Hi, I’m Annalia and I’ll be serving you tonight. Have you ever been to Abuelo’s before?”
I stared at her for a beat. Was she going to pretend we didn’t know each other? I wondered at the reason. Who was she trying to make things easier for?
“Lia,” I let out on a breath. I felt as if someone had taken my body and given it a good shake and everything inside still hadn’t quite settled back into its proper place.
Tracie looked from me to Lia and then back to me, understanding dawning in her eyes as her face paled slightly just as Lia’s had. She looked at her menu as if it might hold some sort of protocol on how to act in this awkward situation. Jesus, what were the odds?
Lia let out a soft breath. “Preston.” Her eyes moved to Tracie and lingered for a second before she looked back at me.
“I didn’t know you worked here.”
“No, I see that.” She didn’t say it meanly, though, just as a sort of agreement.
I looked at her nametag and noticed her name was spelled incorrectly with only one n. Something about that made a quiver of anger race through me, not the misspelling but the fact that Annalia wouldn’t say anything about it. She’d let it go because she wouldn’t want to be a bother. Why did that anger me? I didn’t know and I was too shaken to think more about it.
“I was hoping I’d hear from you this week,” she said softly, her eyes shooting over to Tracie again who was still focused on her menu.
I cleared my throat. “I meant to, uh, I just hadn’t gotten around to it.” She tried hard to hide the hurt that filled her eyes but didn’t manage it. My throat felt tight and my skin itched from the inside. “By the way, Annalia, this is Tracie. She, uh, cares for Hudson while I’m working.”
“Oh.” The sound that came from Lia was mostly breath and sounded more like a strange moan than the word I knew she’d intended.
Tracie smiled at Lia and it conveyed what I could only guess she was feeling, some discomfort, but possibly sympathy for the situation we were all in.
“It’s nice to meet you, Tracie. I’m . . . I’m Hudson’s mother. Thank you for all you’ve done.”
“Yes, I know your name,” Tracie said gently. “And I love watching Hudson. He’s a true joy.”
“Yes,” Lia whispered and she looked so shattered that I wanted to hit someone. I wasn’t sure exactly who—maybe me. Maybe I wanted to beat myself senseless.
“Lia,” I said and her eyes moved slowly to mine. “I meant to call you and tell you that we’re having a small party for Hudson tomorrow if you want to join us.”
She blinked at me for a moment, those gorgeous eyes round and full of pain. God help me, I wanted to take her in my arms and soothe away the hurt, and it filled me with helpless distress. I didn’t want to feel this way. This was exactly why I’d asked Tracie to dinner and now the fates had walked me straight back into the eye of the storm when all I needed was some calm, some damn peace. Some stillness instead of the swirling, turbulent emotions that Lia always evoked inside me.
“I . . . of course. Yes. Thank you. What time?”
What time? I had no idea. I looked at Tracie and she smiled up at Lia again. “Eleven to one.”
Lia nodded. “Okay.” The loud strains of whatever mariachi music was playing suddenly sped up and it seemed to jerk Lia out of the small awkward circle the three of us were creating back to the restaurant floor. “I’ll just get you some waters. Would you like anything else to drink? A margarita?”
I looked at Tracie who shook her head. She wasn’t even twenty-one anyway. “Water’s fine,” I said.
Lia pivoted and walked away, stopping at a table on her way and checking on them.
I turned to Tracie. I hoped the look on my face conveyed the regret I felt inside. I hadn’t meant to do this to her. I would have never knowingly done this to any one of us.
“She’s really beautiful,” Tracie said softly. “Hudson, he has her eyes.”
I nodded. “Yeah, he does. Tracie, I’m sorry about this. If I’d known she worked here—”
“Well, Preston Sawyer, is that you?”
Surprised, I looked up to see Alicia Bardua standing a few feet from me. There was a hostess standing behind her where she had been about to seat Alicia and another blonde at a booth across from us. The hostess handed the menus to Alicia’s friend and smiled politely before walking away.
“Alicia,” I said, the surprise I felt obvious in my tone. I’d managed to hide the displeasure. “I didn’t know you were back in town.”
“Oh, just temporarily. I’m here for my sister’s wedding.” She walked closer to our table and gave a snooty smile to Tracie, holding out one hand with long, hot pink nails. “Hi, I’m Alicia.”
Tracie smiled politely and shook hands. “Tracie.”
Alicia put her hand on my shoulder. “I heard about Cole. I was absolutely devastated. I had to leave work early I was so distraught. I work for Vera Wang in New York City now if you didn’t hear,” she added.
I wasn’t sure which part she meant for me to address but preferred not to discuss Cole with her. “I’d heard you’re doing really well, Alicia. My mom runs into your dad pretty often at different social events.”
Alicia swept her pale blonde hair over her shoulder and preened for a moment. “Daddy’s real proud of me.” Daddy had spoiled her rotten, but I didn’t care enough about Alicia to be anything but cordial to her, and so I simply nodded, giving her what I hoped looked like a sincere smile.
She’d expressed her forgiveness for me breaking our prom date at our high school graduation. Of course, I knew it really had more to do with the fact that she’d gotten another date immediately with the captain of the football team—whom she considered a step up from me and was still dating at graduation—than with any true soul-searching about her disgusting behavior.