Lila sighed. She knew better. It wasn’t her clothes or her makeup that were responsible for her single status.
It was her.
After breaking up with Everett, she had picked herself up and dusted herself off. In an all-out attempt to totally reinvent herself, Lila had left Houston and moved to Austin where no one knew her or anything about the past she was determined to forget and put totally behind her.
She’d gone to work at the Fortune Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing assistance to the needy. Through hard work, she’d swiftly risen and was now manager of her department.
And because of her work, Lila’s life went from intolerable to good. At least her professional life did.
Her personal life, however, was another story.
Sure, she’d dated. She’d tried blind dates as well as online dating. She’d joined clubs and had gone to local sporting events to cheer on the home team. She’d gone out with rich men as well as poor ones and those in between.
It wasn’t that Lila couldn’t meet a man, she just couldn’t meet the man.
And probably even if she could, she thought, that still wouldn’t have done the trick. Because no matter who she went out with, she couldn’t trust him.
Everett had destroyed her ability to trust any man she might become involved with.
Try as she might, she couldn’t lower her guard. She just couldn’t bear to have a repeat performance of what had happened to her with Everett.
Rather than risk that, she kept her heart firmly under lock and key. And that guaranteed a life of loneliness.
At this point in her life, Lila had decided to give up looking for Mr. Right. Instead, she forced herself to embrace being Stubbornly Single.
As she took one last look in the mirror and walked out the door, she told herself that was what she really wanted.
One day she might convince herself that was true.
Her upgraded appearance did not go unnoticed when she walked into the office at the Fortune Foundation that morning.
“Well, someone looks extra nice today,” Lucie Fortune Chesterfield Parker noted the moment that Lila crossed the threshold. “Do you have a hot date tonight?” she asked as she made her way over toward Lila.
“No, I don’t,” Lila answered, hoping that would be the end of it.
Belatedly, she thought that maybe she should have brought this outfit with her and changed in the ladies’ room before going to lunch instead of coming in dressed like this.
Lucie and she were friends and had been almost from the very first time they met at the Foundation, but Lila really didn’t want to talk about the man she was having lunch with.
Initially from England, Lucie was married to Chase Parker, a Texas oil heir who had been her teenage sweetheart. Because of that, Lucie considered herself to be an expert on romance and she felt she had great radar when it came to the subject.
Her radar was apparently on red alert now as she swiftly looked Lila over.
Studying her, Lucie repeated, “Not tonight?”
“No,” Lila said firmly. She never broke stride, determined to get to her office and close the door on this subject—literally as well as figuratively.
“Lunch, then?” Lucie pressed. “You certainly didn’t get all dolled up like that for us.”
Lila looked at her sharply over her shoulder, but her coworker didn’t back off. The expression on her face indicated that she thought she was onto something.
When Lila made no response, Lucie pressed harder. “Well, are you going to lunch with someone?”
Lila wanted to say no and be done with it. She was, after all, a private person and no one here knew about her past. She’d never shared any of it. No about the child she’d given up for adoption or the man who had broken her heart. However, it wasn’t in her to lie and even if it were, Lucie was as close to a real friend as she had in Austin. She didn’t want to risk alienating her if the truth ever happened to come out—which it might, likely at the most inopportune time.
So after a moment of soul-searching, she finally answered Lucie’s question.
“Yes.”
Lucie looked at her more closely, obviously intrigued. “Anyone I know?” she asked.
“No,” Lila answered automatically.
Not anyone I know, either. Not really, Lila silently added. After all, it had been thirteen years since she’d last been with Everett. And besides, how well had she known him back then anyway? He certainly hadn’t behaved the way she’d expected him to. It made her think that maybe she had never really known Everett Fortunado at all.
“Where did you meet him?” Lucie wanted to know, apparently hungry for details about her friend’s lunch date.
“Why all the questions?” Lila reached her office, but unfortunately it was situated right next to Lucie’s. Both offices were enclosed in glass, allowing them to easily see one another over the course of the day.
“Because you’re my friend and I’m curious,” Lucie answered breezily. “You’ve practically become a workaholic these last couple of months, hardly coming up for air. That doesn’t leave you much time for socializing.”
Pausing by her doorway, Lila blew out a breath. “It’s someone I knew back in high school,” she answered. She stuck close to the truth. There was less chance for error that way. “He’s in town on business for a couple of days. He looked me up on Facebook and he suggested having lunch to catch up, so I said yes.”
Lila walked over to her desk, really hoping that would be the end of it. But apparently it wasn’t because Lucie didn’t retreat to her own office. Her friend remained standing in Lila’s doorway, looking at her as if she was attempting to carefully dissect every word out of her mouth.
“How well did you know this guy—back in high school, I mean?” Lucie asked, tacking on the few words
