shrugged. “Try me.”
“Did you…uh…did you go to any of the counseling sessions?”
The expression on Pak’s face told her he was serious. “No. I wanted to go, but my schedule… No, I didn’t. Did you?”
“No. I hope neither one of us regrets it.”
“You sound like you regret it already. It’s not too late if you feel like that.” Lily wondered if what she was saying was true or not. “Hey, wait a minute. Let me ask you a question. That concrete building that runs across the back of the sperm bank and the donor clinic…what is it, do you know? Did you ever hear who owns this place?”
Pete shook his head. “I asked one time, and they more or less told me that it was none of my business. I walked around the block after…well, after, and thought it a little strange that the building doesn’t have doors or windows. Is there a reason why you’re asking? Some rich guy with tons of money probably owns it. Isn’t that the way of the world, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer?”
“The first time I went to the clinic, I sort of got lost and wandered down the wrong hallway and you would have thought I was going to plant a bomb. An Amazon of a woman shooed me away. I guess the building belongs to the sperm bank and donor center. I’m just curious by nature. Like you said, no windows or doors. I find that strange.”
“So, are you thinking something sinister is going on? That’s what I thought at first. Now I couldn’t care less. I’m outta here.” Pete narrowed his gaze as he waited for her reply.
Lily laughed, but it was an uneasy sound even to her own ears. “No. Just my womanly curiosity.” But she knew that it was not just “womanly curiosity” at all.
He didn’t know anything about “womanly curiosity.” It was Pete’s turn to shrug. “See ya,” he said, waving airily in her direction.
“Yeah, see you.”
A brisk afternoon wind whipped up. Lily clutched at her hat as she headed for her car, a rusty Nissan with over 150,000 miles on it. Before unlocking the door, she said a prayer, as she always did, that the car would start. To her delight, the engine turned over on the first try.
Lily drove aimlessly, up one street, down another, seeing Christmas shoppers out in full force. It was going to be her first holiday alone. Since her grandmother’s death earlier in the year, there was no reason to go back home to South Carolina. Her parents had abandoned her at the age of four to be raised by her grandmother, then left the country. She didn’t know where they were or even if they were alive. There had been no way to notify her mother when her grandmother passed away. Her eyes filled with tears. She was so alone.
Lily continued to drive and finally decided to stop at a café for a late lunch. She parked the Nissan, climbed out, and entered the cheerful-looking little restaurant, where she settled herself in a far corner. She was shocked out of her wits when she saw the guy with the beaming smile walk toward her table. She gasped. He stopped in his tracks to stare at her.
Pete took the initiative. “I’m not intuitive or anything like that, but do you suppose our meeting like this means something?”
Lily felt her face grow warm. “That we’re both embarrassed? How’s the tuna?”
“Too much mayo. Try the corned beef.”
“Okay. So you work here, huh?”
“Yep. Just the lunch hour. Three hours, actually. Then I pack groceries for three more hours. The jobs work with my schedule, but since we’re on Christmas break I log all the hours I can. How about you?”
“Okay, I’ll take a corned beef on rye. I waitress and tutor. I owe a ton of money on my student loans,” she blurted.
“Yeah, me, too. Coffee or soda?”
“Coffee.”
“I’m about done here, so I’ll bring your order and have coffee with you if you don’t mind. I get to eat here for free, that’s why I keep this job. That’s probably more than you wanted to know.”
Lily shook her head and smiled. Suddenly, she wanted to know everything there was to know about the guy standing next to her.
While she waited for her food, Lily looked around. Crisp black-and-white-check curtains hung on the windows. There was nothing flyspecked about this eatery. The floors were tile and exceptionally clean. The chairs had seat cushions with the same black-and-white-check pattern. Green plants were on the windowsills. On closer examination, Lily decided they were herbs and not plants. She wasn’t sure, but she rather thought the special of the day was meat loaf. The aromas were just like the ones she remembered from her grandmother’s kitchen.
“This is a nice place,” Lily said, when Pete joined her with his coffee.
“Two sisters own it, and they do all their own cooking and baking. Once in a while they try out new recipes on me.” He laughed.
Lily loved his laugh, his smile. An awkward silence followed.
Pete stopped drinking his coffee long enough to ask, “So, do you want to talk about it, or do you want to talk about…stuff?”
“By it, I guess you mean our donations at the clinic. I’d just as soon forget it. It’s no big deal, you know.”
Pete rolled the words around in his head. No big deal. He looked at her. Her eyes were telling him it was a big deal. “Yeah, right, no big deal. Well, I have to run. It was nice to meet you, Lily. Maybe we’ll run into each other again someplace.”
He wasn’t interested in her. For some reason she thought he was going to ask for her phone number or her address. “Yeah, right,” she said flatly before she bit into her sandwich.
At the door, Pete turned and waved. He didn’t think he’d ever forget the young girl with the sad eyes and the sunflower hat. I should have asked her for her phone number.
The minute the door closed behind Pete, Lily placed some bills on the table and left the café. It’s no big deal, it’s no big deal, she told herself over and over as she slid into the Nissan. Five more months, and I can put this all behind me. Just five months.
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she drove away from the café.
Little did she know how wrong she was.
Chapter 1
Peter Aaron Kelly looked around his suite of offices and grinned. He’d done it. He’d made it happen. And he’d pulled it off right on schedule. He patted himself on the back as he made his way into the private lavatory that was as big as his family’s living room back in Idaho.
Pete, as he liked to be called, stared at his reflection in the huge plate glass mirror that took up one entire wall of his private bathroom. He straightened the knot in his tie. Not just any knot but a Windsor knot. He loved Windsor knots because they looked so neat and finished. The suit wasn’t half-bad either. Custom-made Armani that draped his lanky frame to perfection. Not that he normally wore such attire, but it was a special day, and he owed it to his people to look his best. If he showed up in his jeans, a washed-out, ragged Berkeley T-shirt, and his tattered baseball cap, no one would take him seriously.
