Lex and Lu (19 page)

Pete continued to call weekly to check on them. He’d told Lu he was coming over for his break. Knowing that, Lu had put the pressure on Willa to visit. She’d resisted at first, which is why Lu played her ace in the hole and put Nina on the phone. It took one simple request from Nina and Willa capitulated. So they were both in London and in about thirty minutes, they would both be in her flat, a term she was still trying to get used to.

Hurrying to make sure everything was ready, Lu slid the turkey back into the oven to keep it warm. She’d sent Nina and Willa on an errand so that she could have some peace before she set off the fireworks tonight. After grabbing her glass of wine, she made her way across the room to the table she’d set for four—another reason she’d sent Willa away. She didn’t need her asking questions. Sitting down, she got lost thinking of the events over the last several months. True to his word, Lex still hadn’t spoken to her nor seen her. Everything had been handled by his attorney. Lu allowed them to handle the visa issues but had put her foot down on Lex having some minion pick the place where they would live. Lu did much of it via the Internet and finally settled on a two-bedroom flat across the city from Lex. There had been some bumps, mostly having to do with transferring Nina between the two residences. Lex hired a woman to help him with transporting. He’d even allowed Lu to be a part of the selection process. But again, all communication came via Heathgard, Masters and Hughley, Esq. Sometimes, when Lu wasn’t looking, she got hit with the pain of his abandonment. While it took her breath away, she always managed to find her footing.

Lu had adapted quite easily to living in London. The history of the city interested her, while the vivacity captivated her. Who knew she was a city girl at heart? But being in this country meant a lot more exposure to Lex, who enjoyed some notoriety over here. He graced the gossip magazines frequently enough for Lu to know he dated amazingly attractive women. And she marveled a bit at how much of a celebrity footballers were in this country. While it hurt, she was beginning to grow thick skin. She and Lex had settled on joint custody, which meant Lu had a lot more time on her hands than she was used to. And true to her word, she had started to date. It wasn’t anything to write home about, but it was fun to get out there.

Lex’s schedule was rather amazing. His season spanned August to May but over the summer, he’d played on the U. S. national team, which meant a lot of travel. He was gone often, which meant an amazing amount of coordination on the part of his attorney and her. They were becoming fast friends as they spoke to each other almost daily. The hardest part of the whole move was learning to share Nina. Nina embraced Lex’s presence in her life with her whole being. Never a reticent child, again more like Lex than Lu, Nina skipped over all the awkwardness and just enjoyed having another person to share her life with. Nina talked to Lex daily, even when he was traveling. Lu found herself listening to these conversations reluctantly. And over time, she realized that Nina shared different things with Lex than she shared with Lu. Lu often wondered where Nina had been storing these parts of her life over the last nine years. She couldn’t help but question her skills as a parent as she watched Nina blossom as she never had before. The newfound presence of her father helped soften the loss of her grandfather, whom she had been exceptionally close to. Nina took it all in stride, reminding Lu that she had a healthy dose of Lex’s easygoing genes. She handled it all. If she found it odd that her parents were never in the same room, she never mentioned it to Lu.

Lex’s schedule had made it easy to steal time with Pete. He had been in town when Pete arrived yesterday, but he had to leave today. It was the opening Lu had needed and why she had insisted that they all celebrate Thanksgiving as if they were back home. Hearing a commotion outside, she downed the rest of her wine, banking on some liquid courage. Pulling open the door before anyone could knock, she lit up at the sight of Pete.

Throwing herself into his arms, she hugged him close.

“It’s so good to see you,” she said, refusing to let go of him.

“You too, Lu,” he said, hugging her back. Letting go of each other, Lu led him into her apartment.

“How’s school? How’s your mom? We talk to her every week, but it’s so hard to know how she’s really doing.” She said it all in a rush.

“Slow down. All of a sudden, it’s like trying to keep up with Nina,” Pete teased.

“Sorry,” Lu said, embarrassed. “I don’t think I realized how much I missed you until you were right in front of me.”

“I miss you too. But, Lu, you look amazing,” he said, giving her a once-over. “London seems to be agreeing with you.”

Without meaning to bring up any heavy topics, she launched into an explanation she thought he deserved. “Pete, remember the day … Well I don’t have to explain that part, but the conversation we had before I went to confront Lex?” At his nod, she continued. “You were right. I feel so much freer now. It’s like for the last eight years the guilt of keeping everything from Lex had become this weight on my shoulders. Even though we don’t talk at all and he dictated this new life, I am so happy that he knows and that he can be a father to Nina. I feel like a different person.”

She smiled, and Pete almost had to catch his breath. She was beautiful. It wasn’t that she wasn’t beautiful before, but the inner glow that had always made Lu stand apart was back. He smiled. “Well, a guilt-free existence works for you.” He looked around. “Where’s Little Bit?” he asked.

“She should be back any moment.” Walking toward the kitchen, she called, “Can I get you a drink?”

“Absolutely,” he answered, following her.

“How’s your visit so far? What do you want? Scotch?”

“Good and yes.”

“How’s Lex?” she asked, then stopped herself. “Sorry, taboo subject. How’s school?” She reached up to grab a glass and got the bottle of Glenmorangie that she always had on hand for Pete.

“School’s good. Finish in May. Trying to find a place to be an intern.”

“I have the date on my calendar already,” she said.

“That means you and Lex will have to be in the same place,” he said in mock horror.

Lu chuckled. “I’m to that point, ya know. I can handle joking about it.”

He took a sip of his Scotch. Sobering, he said, “How’s Will?”

Lu smiled inwardly, but turned to him without a hint of a smile on her face. “She’s Will,” she said simply.

“Yeah. That I already know,” he responded with a grimace. “But how is she?”

Knowing suddenly how he felt, stuck between his brother and her sister, she said, “She’s Will and she’s OK. Probably wondering what if, but definitely not sharing that with me or anyone else.”

“She’s tough, Lu,” he said glumly.

Looking for a change of topic, Lu went back to his internship. “So what hospitals are you looking at?”

“Not so fast. Tell me about your dissertation. Done?”

“I am,” she said, smiling widely. “Submitted and accepted. Degree conferred in December.”

“And work?”

“Slow. It’s hard without having a pro team nearby. After I graduate, I’ll probably have to do some traveling back. The team has been calling for consultations. Technology is an amazing thing. We’ve been Skyping, so I’ve managed to keep working.”

“Lu, have you considered trying to work with one of the soccer teams over here?” Pete asked, a question he’d been hanging on to so that he could ask in person.

She looked stricken. “Absolutely not. Not a line I’m crossing. The last thing I need to do is try to get into Lex’s world.”

“Sweetie, you are amazing at what you do. You had teams clamoring to get you to work with their athletes. Don’t you think the English would snap you up if they knew you were here and available?”

“Discussion over, Pete,” she snapped at him.

“Fine.” Taking another sip of his drink, he stopped when he heard the door open.

Nina walked in first. Turning toward the kitchen she let out a scream of excitement. “Uncle Pete!” Running across the room, she threw herself into his arms.

Preoccupied with twirling Nina around, he didn’t notice Willa follow her in.

But Willa saw Pete. “What the fuck are you up to, Lu?” she said accusingly.

“Language, Willa!” Lu yelled, as Pete turned around to face her.

Dumbstruck at Lu’s conniving, “Hey, Will,” was all he could manage.

Seething at her sister but ever conscious of her niece watching the exchange, Willa tamped it down and headed to get herself a drink. Nina filled the awkward silence with a running commentary on the shopping she had done with her aunt. When she paused to take a breath, Pete managed to slip in a question and send her off in another direction.

“How’s school, Bit?”

“Good. It’s different.”

“Do you miss your friends?”

A small frown formed on her face.

“Way to go for the jugular,” Willa muttered from her place across the kitchen.

Pete glared at her. Lu jumped into the uncomfortable silence. “Dinner’s almost ready. Nina, why don’t you tell them what you can do with my phone.”

At this, Nina smiled big. “I FaceTime with my friends at home. It’s really cool. We can see each other and everything.”

“Ah,” Pete managed. “How come we don’t get to FaceTime?”

“Mommy says you’re too busy with school and you have an antique phone.”

“Antiquated,” Lu corrected.

“Antiquated,” Nina mimicked.

“Only nine-year-old in the world to use that word,” Willa muttered again.

“True,” he acknowledged, while shooting Willa a death look. “What about your grandparents? Are you getting them to FaceTime with you?”

“No,” she said. “We Skype with them.”

“Wow, you know more about all this stuff than I do.”

“Well, you’re cutting up dead people so you can be a doctor, Uncle Pete.”

They all laughed. Pete looked at Lu with a baleful glare.

“Sorry,” she said, unapologetically. “When we don’t talk to you for a couple of weeks, that explanation always seems to make her feel better.”

“Great. You’re teaching her to be morbid.”

“Whatever works!” Lu replied saucily.

Pete rolled his eyes. Lu smiled sweetly at him and shoved the turkey into his hands. “Put this on the table, please.” Doling out dishes for everyone to take to the table kept the tension to a minimum. Lu grabbed another bottle of wine for the table and refilled Pete’s glass with Scotch, hoping the alcohol would keep things from getting too tense, although she knew the chances of that were slim to none. Willa couldn’t pretend if her life depended on it. And Lu thought she may have misjudged how truly hurt Willa had been as she took note of the rage emanating off of her.

Rather than put Pete and Willa next to each other, Lu put them across from each other, hoping that Nina and she could provide some buffering. Pete couldn’t do mad, but he did hurt pretty well. Lu could tell that Willa’s anger was killing him. Lu tried hard to keep the conversation moving, but the tension continued to mount. Somehow they made it through dinner. Lu sent Nina off to shower and forced Willa to do the dishes so she could have a few more minutes with Pete. Pulling him over to the couch, they sat down to chat.

“Do I get story time tonight?” he asked.

“Of course.” Taking a deep breath, Lu plunged forward. “I’m sorry. I misjudged Willa’s anger.”

Pete smiled. “To be honest, I think I did too.” He sighed. “Do you know why I held off for so long?” At Lu’s shake of her head, he continued. “Because of all of this. This craziness between our families. I knew, before I even got this ball rolling, that we wouldn’t be able to separate ourselves from it.”

Lu smiled sadly. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s just too complicated,” he sighed. “Have you and Lex really not spoken?”

“We have not spoken,” she said, a little sad. “It’s OK. I’ve become quite friendly with his attorney.” She smiled, letting him know she was really OK.

“I wish I could tell you that he’ll break at some point.”

“He won’t. There will come a time when we’ll have to discuss something pertaining to Nina. Until then, he’s going to be stubborn.” She paused then, thinking about how she wanted to say what she felt she had to say. “I know you have a lot going on with school and your future. But I hope you don’t give up on Willa.”

He laughed. “Come on, Lu. She’s a female Lex. She’ll never forgive me for not stepping in.”

“She’s wrong.”

“So’s Lex.”

“No, he’s not.”

“Stop defending him. Damn it, Lu!”

Taken aback by his anger, Lu decided to wait him out. “He’s wrong to be taking all of his anger out on you. How is he not mad at everyone else? I don’t get it. I’ve tried to talk to him about it, but he shuts down whenever I bring it up. I’ve never seen him like this. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

But Lu knew that it did and she wasn’t going to let him wrangle it out of her. She sent up a silent thanks that Lex hadn’t told Pete about their conversation.

“Do you ever wonder how different things would have been if you and me had fallen in love with each other instead?” Pete asked.

They both studied each other. Then simultaneously burst out laughing.