Lex and Lu (17 page)

Again, his appreciation for her bluntness overtook him. He smiled the Lex smile, showing her that he got it. “Well, that seems appropriate as I’m not going to apologize for what happened. And for that matter, I’m not going to apologize for what is about to happen.”

Willa looked at him, truly looked at him for the first time. She didn’t look at him as the harbinger of the last few days. She looked at him as one would in taking stock of an adversary. And that made her sad. He was everything that their youth had promised. Successful, confident, intelligent. He hadn’t given in to his own appeal. He continued to work at who he was and what he wanted to achieve. She respected him. And it made her proud. But she focused as she would in a courtroom because she knew this was not a friendly conversation. She felt the energy radiating from him. It wasn’t a positive force. Suddenly a little fearful for her sister, Willa sat back in her chair, attempting to radiate confidence.

“Much of this conversation is something I should be having with your sister, but I’m afraid I can’t trust myself to be in the same room with her right now.”

Willa simply nodded, knowing he wasn’t expecting a response.

“Although I haven’t had much time to think about this or attempt to come up with a better solution, I have come to a conclusion. I’m going to tell you so that you can talk to Lu. Then, on Monday, you will receive the documents from my lawyers. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, but be assured that I’m going to win.”

Willa didn’t say anything. But she admitted to herself at that moment that she feared this Lex. She’d forgotten how determined he was. And Lu didn’t have that kind of fight in her. Mostly, because of her guilt, Lu would make this as easy on Lex as possible. It might destroy her, but the way she loved him, she’d do it for him. Although looking across the span of the desk at him, she wasn’t sure that this was a Lex that Lu knew enough about to love.

“I don’t want to be away from my daughter,” he continued. “That’s a given. When I look around and see the familiarity she has with everyone but me … I don’t think I can describe the anger that I feel.” He paused, obviously not very happy that he had let her know anything he was feeling. “So the question becomes, how do I get an opportunity to know her with an ocean between us? The answer is, of course, I don’t. There’s no way I get any shot at a relationship with her when she lives here and I live there.”

Willa’s whole body tensed. He was going for custody, she thought. Fuck! Lu won’t allow that. Willa saw their two families embroiled in a fight to the finish. She saw any shot with Pete dissipate before her eyes. She saw Lu as a broken shell of a woman. But she kept her panic masked.

“I’m also not ready to retire from soccer. The day will come, but it’s not here yet. And when I do, I’ll go into coaching or front-office work. I’ll be doing something and America’s not there yet. I have to do it from across the pond. So the only solution is for Nina to come to me.”

Willa couldn’t help it, as she spat, “You motherfucker!”

He smiled the Lexifer smile. “Temper, temper, Will!” he said, shaking his finger at her. “As much as I hate Lu right at this moment, I’m not going to drag her into a custody battle. Although, just so we’re clear—I have the resources and power to do it.” He let that statement hang in the air as he watched Willa ingest it. “The only solution is for Lu and Nina to move to England.”

When she made to protest, he held up his hand. “I’m not done,” he said in a voice that resounded with the power and resourcefulness that he had just referred to. “I realize that a move like that will take time. So I’m giving her six months. She’s smart,” he said with a smirk, “and resourceful. That should give her time to come up with a plan that will be beneficial to her career. My attorney will help with the visa process, and I’ll make sure they have a place to live. In the meantime, I want joint custody. I deserve time to get to know my daughter. I want school vacations for now. I’ll pay for transportation for Nina and a family member. I don’t want her to travel alone, and I don’t know that I’ll be able to get away to make the flight back and forth. So I’m going to need for you all to be there for my daughter again. We’ll work out a more formal agreement that discusses holidays and weeknights later. It will be settled before she moves so that we aren’t dealing with any ambiguities.”

Most of this had come to him as he was talking, but he knew it was a good plan. It was the only way. He wasn’t particularly happy that Lu would be within reach, but he wasn’t prepared to separate her from Nina. He wasn’t that much of a bastard, no matter how pissed he was.

“Do you have any questions?” he asked after giving her some time to think about what he had said.

“Do you know how much of a dick move this is?” Willa asked, anger pulsing from her.

“About as much of a dick move as keeping the knowledge of my daughter from me for eight years?” he asked with feigned innocence.

At that moment, Willa hated him. She wished for a do-over so that she could punch him instead of bitch-slapping him. She hated this idea, she hated that she had to present it to her sister. But if she looked beneath the anger, she saw that it was only fair. Unfortunately, she wasn’t there yet.

With as much bluster as she could manage, she stood. “I hope to hell you know what you’re doing!” she said before she exited.

She didn’t hear him say “Me too.”

Willa couldn’t face Lu on her own. She knew her limits. The seething anger she felt towards Lex wouldn’t do anything to assuage Lu’s fears, so Willa went to find Pete. Willa understood she would be putting Pete in a difficult spot asking him to explain to Lu what Lex wanted. Willa didn’t understand why Lex thought she would be a better messenger than Pete, unless Lex assumed Willa would represent Lu in their custody discussions. They all knew that Pete was a better diplomat. Knowing Lu was still licking her wounds from earlier, she headed to find some reinforcements—a bottle of wine, Pete, and Sky.

Willa found her mother first. “Mom, I need for you to keep Nina occupied for a bit.”

Amber, noticing the bottle of wine in Willa’s hand, looked at her questioningly. “What’s going on?”

Willa knew that Amber would find out soon enough, but she wasn’t willing to be the messenger twice. “Just think Lu needs a pick-me-up,” she answered vaguely.

No fool, Amber knew there was more going on, but she wasn’t willing to try to pry it out of Willa in this setting, so she merely agreed.

Before Willa walked away she asked Amber if she’d seen Sky and Pete. “They’re on the patio with Nina,” she answered.

Willa walked toward the patio with the wine in hand. The sight that greeted her stopped her in her tracks. Pete, Sky, and Nina were sitting at one of the tables, playing cards. They looked very comfortable together, and Willa experienced a jolt of jealousy she didn’t expect. Shit, she thought, this is not good. Making her way outside, she approached quietly, attempting to make out the conversation and gauge any attraction between Pete and Sky. But as soon as Pete saw her, his eyes lit up. She could see it, and the jealousy evaporated. Thankfully. He looked at her with questions in his eyes, but she smiled to put him at ease.

“Hey, Nee, Granny wants you,” Willa announced.

As they had just finished their game, her timing was perfect.

“OK,” Nina said, jumping up from the table and running inside.

“Does she walk anywhere?” Sky murmured, watching her.

“No,” Pete and Willa answered at the same time.

They all laughed.

“What’s up?” asked Pete.

Willa sighed. “I need you both. I just talked to Lex, and he’s come to some decisions that he wants me to present to Lu.” At Pete’s quizzical look, she sat down heavily in the chair. “I can only imagine he was speaking to me as her lawyer, but I can’t be sure. If he wanted a diplomat, he would have asked for you,” she said, reaching across and taking his hand.

Pete nodded his head. “Maybe he didn’t want to have to face me with his ideas,” Pete said, knowing his brother well. “Will I be disappointed in him when I hear this?”

Willa looked away, not sure how to answer. Shrugging her shoulders, she barreled forward. “The fucker’s giving her six months to get everything together to move to England. He says he can’t see any other solution. Selfish ass!”

Sky reacted first. “You can’t be serious. She’s just supposed to pick up everything and move over there. What about her life here?”

Pete remained quiet. Willa watched him, waiting for his reaction. She wanted, expected him to react to the audacity of Lex’s plan. But the longer he stayed quiet, the more she began to fear that his reaction wasn’t going to be what she wanted.

“Pete?”

“I don’t know, Willa.”

“What don’t you know?” she said, knowing that his contemplation meant he agreed with Lex’s position.

“It’s not such a bad idea,” he answered.

She pulled her hand away from his.

Reaching for her, he said, “Don’t … Don’t …” while he attempted to reestablish their connection.

Willa stubbornly refused to acknowledge his plea.

Knowing he wasn’t winning this right now, he chose not to argue with her. “What do you want from us?” he asked, looking towards Sky.

“I want you to be with me when I talk to Lu.”

Pete felt the pull—the loyalty to his brother, the desire for Willa. Struggling against the tide of his conflicting feelings, he braced himself for the force of Willa’s anger. He winced. “I don’t think I should be there, Willa.”

She’d known he was going to say that, but it hurt nonetheless. She didn’t even look at him. Turning to Sky, she silently waited for her answer.

“Of course,” Sky said, “I only have one horse in this race.”

Willa looked at her gratefully while Pete flinched. Not even acknowledging his presence, Willa rose from the table, waited for Sky to join her, and went off to talk to her sister. Pete leaned his head back on the chair, frustrated. As much as he wanted Willa, he didn’t think they would be able to do this with the gulf widening between their families. Equal parts thankful and regret-filled, he thought of his decision not to sleep with her last night and wondered if it was the best or worst decision he’d ever made.

Willa and Sky found Lu at the computer in Amber and Chris’s office going through email.

“Anything interesting?” Willa asked as she put three glasses on the coffee table, pulled out the corkscrew, and opened the wine.

“Just some feedback from my professor on my dissertation.”

“Did you and Lex ever get around to discussing your work?”

Lu turned away from the computer and walked toward them. Sitting on the floor, she thought over their conversations. “No, it never really came up.”

“He wasn’t curious about what you were doing with your life?” This struck Willa as odd and annoyed her.

“Oh, he asked. I just avoided it. I didn’t want him to think it had anything to do with him, I guess.”

Willa digested that but didn’t say anything. “You think he would have thought that?” she asked.

Lu smiled. “This is Lex we are talking about.”

“True,” Willa said, returning her smile. Willa studied Lu for a moment. “You look better than you did earlier today,” she observed.

Lu didn’t say anything for a moment. Drinking some of her wine, she thought about her conversation with Jo, the time she’d spent with Nina. She no longer felt devastated, as she had after returning from the church. “Maybe what Pete said was true.”

When Willa and Sky looked at her questioningly, she said, “I feel less … weighed down. I’m not sure if that’s the right term, but I feel better that he knows. I’ve always wanted him to know. It was so unfair to both of them.”

“You forgive him for what happened at the church?” Willa pushed.

“Willa, there was nothing to forgive.”

“Why do you let him do that to you?”

“Will, I don’t see it like you. I’m not mad at him. I know you want me to be, but I’m not. It’s over. He knows about Nina, and what comes next is going to be dictated by him. However he wants to get to know her, I’m not going to fight him. He deserves that from me.”

Willa and Sky looked at each other. Sky nudged Willa to tell Lu with her look.

“He talked to me about what he wants. And maybe it won’t be as much of a shock to you as it was to me. At least that’s what it seems like right now.” Willa took a sip of her wine. She was pissed. Why was she more angry than Lu? Did she expect more from Lex than her sister did? Or was her anger all wrapped up with her feelings for Pete?

“Oh. Why didn’t he talk to me?” Lu asked, hurt despite the fact that she knew she shouldn’t be.

“He said he didn’t think he could be in the same room with you.”

“Ah. Wonder if that will ever change,” she said softly.

“I don’t think so. Not for a while at least,” Willa answered bluntly.

Lu knew she couldn’t blame him. Not after what she’d told him. This was the price and she’d be willing to pay it. If it seemed odd that he was willing to blame her and not even consider being upset with anyone else, she congratulated herself. This was the outcome she’d been working for so that he didn’t feel betrayed by everyone.