The Hardest Fight
She could deny it all she wanted, but part of her still loved the man who once climbed up onto the bar at their favorite restaurant and announced to everyone that he was madly in love with her. She still thought about the guy who had fallen asleep more times than she could count on her couch, surrounded by law books after a long night of studying.
Lucy searched for some courage and turned around, only to find the corridor empty. He was already gone. It shouldn’t have been such a shock. She already knew that the man she had fallen in love with didn’t exist anymore.
* * *
“I’M SORRY,” LUCY mouthed to Kendall when they finally emerged from the gym after the game. Lucy had been able to see everything that happened on one end of the court but not the other. The final score was still a mystery.
Her younger sister gave her “the look,” the one that said she forgave her but wasn’t the least bit happy.
“So, how’d you do?” she asked Simon.
The smile on his face spoke a million words. “We won by four points!”
Lucy held up her hand for a high five and he didn’t hold back. She shook her hand out to ease the sting. The kid was growing up too fast. Lucy could remember when he was as small as his baby sister. At eight, Simon was too heavy to carry and had feet that were almost as big as his mom’s.
“I think that means I need to take you out for ice cream to celebrate.”
“Yes!”
Max side-hugged Simon. “I have to head back to the restaurant, but you did awesome, buddy.”
Kendall had lucked out in the kid and the husband department, at least the second time around. Max wasn’t Simon’s father, but no one would ever know by watching the two of them interact. When Simon’s father died, so did the light inside of him. But then Max came into their lives, and he lit him back up and helped him shine even brighter than before.
As Kendall and Simon said goodbye to Max, Lucy watched as the older gentleman who had been sitting with Dylan walked by hand in hand with another kid on the team.
“Are you sure Dylan wasn’t mad at me for not making a basket?” the boy asked the man.
“No, no, no! He would never be mad at you for that. He’ll be at the next game, I promise.”
The guilt was like a stab straight through the heart. Dylan really had been there to watch the game. Not only was she embarrassed for the attention she had drawn to herself, but now she had to live with the fact that she had made a little boy doubt himself.
“Can we go to the Triple C, Aunt Lulu?” Simon asked, grabbing Lucy’s hand. Lulu was the name Simon had called her when he was just learning to talk. Dylan had thought it was cute, so he took to calling her Lulu, as well. The nickname always left her with mixed emotions.
She forced herself to smile for Simon’s sake. “Where else would we go?”
The Chi-Town Chilly Cow was an Everhart family favorite. Lucy remembered going there as a kid and wanting to order everything. Her dad would only let them get a one-scoop cone, so she would order a different flavor every time they went. Now she could get whatever she wanted, but ice cream was not part of her diet. Given the studies on dairy, there was no way she was giving her body any more ammunition to do her in.
Lucy let Simon order the craziest sundae on the menu. Something with chunks of brownies and chocolate chip cookies in it, topped with gummy bears and more chocolate. The girl behind the counter began to ring it up, when Lucy stopped her.
“There should be a note back there saying Lucy Everhart gets free ice cream for life.” Thanks to her idea that the Triple C go all organic, the owners had experienced an explosion in sales. They’d offered her a lifetime supply of ice cream as a thank-you. She rarely took advantage of the perk unless she was treating her favorite nephew.
“There is, but you’re not Lucy Everhart,” the girl said.
Lucy’s forehead wrinkled. “I’m not?”
“No, you aren’t. I’ve been working here for almost a year. Lucy Everhart comes in here all the time. She’s a really tall brunette. Comes in with this supercute guy. I know Lucy Everhart.”
“Emma,” Lucy said with a growl.
Kendall nodded. “I told her it was going to catch up to her one of these days, but you know Emma. She thought she could get away with it forever.”
Lucy pulled out her driver’s license. “I am Lucy Everhart. The woman you’ve been giving free ice cream to is my sister. Do me a favor and add an extra note back there that warns your coworkers not to be fooled by tall brunette frauds.”
The girl inspected the ID as if she was a bouncer at a college bar. She even tried to scratch the picture off to no avail. Once she finally agreed she’d been duped by the most conniving of the Everhart sisters, she gave Lucy Simon’s sundae for free.
Simon and Kendall took turns devouring the frozen treat while Lucy kept Darcy entertained. It didn’t take those two more than a few minutes to put the whole thing in their bellies.
“So...Dylan Hunt,” Kendall said, wiping her mouth with a napkin.
“Don’t start.”
“I don’t remember him being so incredibly hot.”
“Don’t. Start.” Lucy didn’t want to think about how good-looking Dylan was or wasn’t. Of course, he was incredibly hot, just as Kendall had said. He was the most attractive guy Lucy had ever dated.
“You got kicked out of my son’s basketball game because you made a ridiculous scene. I get to start.”
“Fine,” Lucy huffed. “Dylan showed up at Open Arms today with his client—the developer that wants to buy the house we use as a shelter in Logan Square. I spent all day trying to convince Paige we don’t have to sell yet.”
“Yet? I thought that was why you were adding the auction to the fund-raiser.”
Lucy wanted more than anyone to believe that was true. “Right. The fund-raiser should bring in a lot of money.”
“Enough to pay off the house?” Kendall asked. Her hopefulness was almost too much to bear.
“No, but enough to get us by until I come up with another plan.” What that plan would be was beyond her.
“Things will work out the way they’re supposed to. So, back to incredibly hot Dylan—is he married? Did he ask if you were married? What’s he been doing the past five years?”
Kendall was obviously trying to punish her for embarrassing them all at the game today. This was some cruel payback. “I don’t know, no and I don’t care. There really is nothing to tell. He’s probably trying to think of a plan to convince Paige to beg the board to sell. He’ll fail. He’ll move on. I’ll never see him again.”
“And I thought I’d never have to see Max once I finished remodeling Sato’s,” Kendall reminded her. “And look how that turned out.”
“Fine, never say never. But it doesn’t matter.”
“Really?” Kendall could always tell when Lucy was hiding something.
“Really.” Even if Dylan wasn’t working for the enemy, she couldn’t let herself forget that she’d sent him away and he’d gone willingly. “Running into him twice in one day? Maybe the universe is trying to tell you something,” Kendall said although she knew Lucy didn’t believe in that kind of stuff.
“The universe doesn’t communicate with anyone.”
Kendall threw up her hands. “I don’t know what happened five years ago. You didn’t want to talk about it then, and I’m sure I won’t get it out of you now. But he was the only guy I ever thought had a real chance with you. You two seemed so perfect together.”
Lucy wasn’t perfect for anyone. She had been guilted into this conversation, and now it was over. Lucy didn’t let any man have a chance with her because what was the point? She was a ticking time bomb.
Cancer was always lurking around the corner. It was sinister, biding its time, waiting for Lucy to drop her guard and believe she was safe from its clutches. She’d beaten it once, but how long would it really be before it put her to the test again? She certainly wasn’t going to ask someone to commit to her when their lives might have very different expiration dates.
CHAPTER FOUR
DYLAN DROVE HOME and sulked on his couch for a few minutes before the urge to do something with his hands overtook him. Fixing and fiddling with things were the best stress relievers. Dylan had installed all the crown molding in his apartment with Eugene’s help. A former carpenter, Eugene often spent hours teaching Dylan how to do things right the first time. Together, they had refurbished the fireplace in Dylan’s place and updated all the trim work in Eugene’s.
The building they lived in was an older greystone that was split into two residences. Eugene had the downstairs two-bedroom unit and Dylan owned the two-story loft above it. Moving here had been the best decision he’d made after Lucy broke up with him. He could have easily afforded a fancy rehab in the neighborhood, with all the modern conveniences, but Dylan found he enjoyed taking something that was a little rough around the edges and sprucing it up on his own.
His latest project was the kitchen. Since he rarely cooked, it wasn’t a big deal for him to take his time updating it. Dylan had stained the cabinets a dark, warm gray. With the stainless steel appliances and marble backsplash he’d picked out, it was going to be ultrastylish. He needed Eugene’s help to hang the uppers, but he figured he could put the door pulls on the lower cabinets tonight.
It was a mindless task, which wasn’t good. It allowed his thoughts to wander back to Lucy. The woman had a way of making him want to run away and never leave her side at the same time. In the end, he had decided that if she didn’t want him around, he wasn’t going to force someone to care about him.
He had no idea where he had gone wrong with Lucy and often wondered what his life would have been like if they had stayed together. Would they be married right now? Would they have kids? Would they be happy, or would she be miserable?
Dylan wasn’t sure he could make her happy. It was too difficult to tell how she really felt about anything. Whenever he thought he had her figured out, she made sure he knew he’d been wrong. He still couldn’t believe he had misread her feelings for him so completely. He had never hidden his feelings from her. He loved her so much he worried he would love her forever. Unrequited love was a horrible cross to bear.
His phone rang. It was his mother. He couldn’t avoid her at this time of night. In her opinion, if he was working this late, it was work that could be interrupted by a call.
“Dylan Hunt,” he answered as if he didn’t know it was her.
“How did it go today? I didn’t hear anything from Elizabeth. Does that mean the deal went through?”
Did she micromanage everyone this way? He was sure she didn’t. It felt as if she never trusted him to be competent enough. He’d felt that his entire life. He was determined to prove he was capable, which was why he’d taken on this particular case.
“The board is still considering its options. If they vote to sell, they’ll hopefully sell to Prime Developments. Not much more I can do at this point but wait.”
“I see Lucy Everhart works there. Is that the same woman who stole the Wigmore Key from you?”
Dylan rubbed his temples. The Wigmore Key wasn’t something that could be stolen. His mother still resented the fact that Lucy had won the prestigious award from Northwestern Law instead of Dylan. What she failed to realize—or maybe just wouldn’t admit—was that Lucy had earned it.
“She’s the same woman who won the award.”
“Well, there you go. You need to use your relationship with her to move things along. What more do you need than an alumni connection?”
Dylan couldn’t stand how his mother saw relationships only in terms of what two people could do to advance each other’s plans. He also hated that she refused to acknowledge that Lucy was more than a rival from school.
It didn’t seem to matter to her that Lucy and Dylan had dated for years. Or that she was the woman he’d wanted to marry and the one who obliterated his heart. To Clarissa, they had graduated from the same law school and Lucy should give Dylan what he wanted out of respect for that connection.
“I don’t think Lucy views our shared past as a reason to work with Prime Developments.” He didn’t want to tell her how Lucy had sworn not to let the board deal with anyone associated with him personally. “I’m going to keep my distance and let the board think things over.”
His mom sighed. “That sounds like the exact opposite of what you should do, Dylan. If that house goes into foreclosure, there will be plenty of people vying to snatch it up in an attempt to force Prime to buy it from them for a killing. You need to use every advantage you’ve got to get this done quickly.”
He had nothing except one very angry ex-girlfriend. “I have it under control. The executive director is still on the fence about selling. If I lean on her a little and she supports the sale, the deal will go through for sure. The board trusts her and her judgment.”
“Then do it. Do whatever you need to do to gain her trust. What does she need? Give it to her in exchange for the deal.” She pulled the phone away to talk to someone else for a moment. It was no surprise that she was still at the office so late into the night. The woman never stopped. If she could find a way to sleep and work at the same time, she would do it. “I have a case to get back to. We’ll do lunch next week. I’ll have my assistant set something up with yours.”
She’d never offered to get together for lunch before. Dylan was so caught off guard he didn’t get a chance to accept the invitation before his mother hung up. There had to be some ulterior motive. She was probably displeased about something and needed to scold him in person to make her point. Maybe he wasn’t billing enough. He definitely wasn’t working as many hours as she’d like. Maybe she had caught wind of the rumor that he’d been asking about doing some pro bono work. That wasn’t really a rumor. He was seeking something a little more spiritually satisfying than what he’d spent the past few years doing.
Scrubbing his face, he wondered how much more of this he could take before he broke. This job, this life—none of it was what he’d dreamed of. There was more than enough money in the bank, but money couldn’t buy him anything he really wanted.
What he wanted was a blonde fireball with dreams bigger than both of them. He wanted her to smile when she saw him and put her hand in his whenever she was near. He wanted to kiss her lips anytime they were close enough and to feel her heart beat in rhythm with his.
Dylan had lived a charmed life, for sure. He had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He grew up in the lap of luxury, wore designer clothes, drove the fanciest cars and went to the best schools. But what Dylan wanted had nothing to do with money and material things. He wanted a family of his own. He had wanted that family to begin with Lucy, but he could never deny her anything.
So, if she wanted a fight, he’d give her one.
* * *
GIVING PAIGE CLAYTON what she wanted was fairly easy once he thought about what she really needed. Dylan entered Open Arms with a few helpers in tow.
“Can I help you?” her assistant asked, standing up to see why they were invading.
“Is Ms. Clayton in?”
Ms. Clayton came out of her office and stopped short when she saw Dylan. “Mr. Hunt, how can I help you?”
Lucy came flying out of her office, apparently at the sound of Dylan’s name. She was in jeans and a T-shirt today. Casual never looked so good. “Seriously? What are you doing here?”
“I noticed your office furniture has seen better days. You said you’d love any donations, and we had some chairs and such sitting in storage. I was hoping you could use them.”
He motioned for them to join him by the door so they could see the chairs and other goodies he had brought with him. Ms. Clayton’s mouth dropped open and he could practically hear her internal squeal at the thought of getting a real desk chair. Lucy didn’t appear as excited, not that his perception meant anything. She could be just as thrilled, but she wouldn’t show it.
“We don’t need hand-me-downs from Stevens and Ellis,” she said, stepping back toward her office.
“Uh, yeah, we do,” Ms. Clayton said, giving Dylan a pat on the shoulder. “This is really kind of you.”
Lucy let out a harsh, derisive laugh. “He’s trying to bribe us, Paige! We don’t take bribes, Dylan. It’s unethical for your firm to give us anything.”
“This is a personal donation. I bought them from Stevens and Ellis with my own money, and I want you to have them. Would you like to see the receipt?” He pulled a sheet of paper from his back pocket.
“Personal donations are completely ethical. We accept, Mr. Hunt,” Ms. Clayton said. “Bring those babies in here.”
Dylan’s guys brought in all the new office furniture and helped remove all the broken, worn-out stuff. Ms. Clayton smiled ear to ear while Lucy stood with arms crossed and a scowl on her face. This had to mean she was unhappy, but Dylan noticed she swapped her desk chair for a new one. She never did what he expected; at least that much was predictable about her.
Once everything was in place, he sent his hired hands away and made Ms. Clayton one more offer she couldn’t possibly refuse.
“I noticed there are a couple of things that could use fixing around here.” Dylan pointed to the hole in the wall by the entrance and the broken light fixture above Ms. Clayton’s assistant’s desk. “I have a friend who could help me get these things patched up for you in no time.”
“We don’t have a budget for repairs right now,” Ms. Clayton said, embarrassment coloring her cheeks. “Thank you for offering, though.”
“Oh, no, it would be another donation,” Dylan clarified. “I would take care of all the materials. Eugene and I would do the work ourselves.”
“You would do the handiwork?” Lucy leaned against her doorjamb.
He tried not to be offended. His Mr. Fix-It side hadn’t shown itself until after she left him. She didn’t have to act so surprised by it, though.
“Is that really so hard to believe?”
She shrugged as if it didn’t matter any way. Lucy didn’t care about what he could or couldn’t do. She simply wanted him gone. He needed to make this deal for Prime Developments and then he would leave her alone.
Ms. Clayton was pretty much putty in his hands. Her smile was large and grateful. “Sometimes I feel like this place is falling apart around me and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be a big deal for me to help out. I’m one of those guys who sees a need and likes to fill it.”
Lucy let out another sarcastic guffaw and turned to her boss. “Please tell me you see what ‘need’ he’s trying to fill here. Or maybe I should say whose need he’s trying to fill, because it isn’t ours.”
“Good to know your trust issues are still holding you back.” Even though she was right for questioning his motives, he couldn’t stop himself from going on the attack.
Her arms fell to her sides and Lucy stood straight and tall. “Don’t you dare claim that my not trusting your intentions is a personality flaw.”
Ms. Clayton had been watching the exchange nervously. “Why do I feel like you two know one another?”
It was another blow to Dylan’s ego that Lucy hadn’t mentioned their history to Ms. Clayton. He really must not have meant that much to her back then. “She didn’t tell you we knew each other in law school?” Dylan decided he’d let Lucy be the one to acknowledge their romantic connection.
“She did not.” Ms. Clayton glared at Lucy, who was rolling her eyes.
“Let me guess, this isn’t the first time Lucy has left out some details. I bet that drives you nuts, but you let it slide because picking a fight with her is pointless. She never loses, which also drives you nuts but also makes you glad she’s on your side.”
“Whoa.” Ms. Clayton was impressed. “Get out of my head.”
“Dylan fancies himself one of those people who can read other people’s minds. What he really does is make you believe you want to buy what he’s selling. Of course, in our case, he’s going to try to convince you to sell what he’s buying.”
“I’ve never claimed to be a mind reader. I simply notice things others ignore.”
Lucy shook her head. “And ignore the things people are trying to get through your thick skull.” She slipped back into her office and shut the door.
Little did she know she was making herself crystal clear. She hated him. He didn’t need to be a mind reader to figure that out. What he didn’t understand was why.
Ms. Clayton stuck out her hand and Dylan shook it. “I accept your offer to help us out. I may not read minds, but my instincts about people are usually spot-on.”
“Thank you,” Dylan said sincerely. “I really do enjoy fixing things up.”
This might be a way to get Open Arms to sell to Prime Developments, but it was also a chance for Dylan to do something good, something worthwhile. Lucy could doubt his intentions all she liked. He truly did want to help out. Couldn’t he help both Prime Developments and Open Arms?
Paige smiled as if she believed him. “We have lots of things that need fixing.”
“I promise not to discuss real estate while I’m here.” He wouldn’t need to. Once she believed he was one of the good guys, everything else would work itself out. Open Arms wasn’t going to be able to afford their mortgage payments soon enough. They might not want to sell, but there would soon be no other reasonable option. They would eventually sell the house to someone. Why not to his client? Being a person Ms. Clayton trusted put Prime Developments in an excellent position and would give him the win he needed to confidently go to his mother with a new vision for his career at Stevens and Ellis.
“Good,” she said. “And I promise not to ask how close you and Lucy were when you were in law school together.” She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “I’m picking up on some very strong you-were-more-than-just-classmates vibes. Am I right?” She opened her eyes, the corners of her mouth upturned in a self-satisfied grin.
“And she thinks I’m the mind reader.”
“She should know better than to underestimate me. So should you, Mr. Hunt,” she said with a wink.
CHAPTER FIVE
LUCY HAD NEVER met a checkbook she couldn’t balance. She might not have gone to school for accounting, but she had good number sense. The files Nora had given her were filled with a lot of numbers—numbers that were not adding up. Of course, the incessant hammering going on in the main office was not helping her concentration.
Paige was too smart to fall for Dylan’s manipulation, so why was she being naive about his true intentions? He was so transparent, it was pathetic. He had to know no one was going to believe he was doing anything for Open Arms out of the goodness of his heart. He wanted their house. He also wanted to drive Lucy crazy.
She covered her ears and shut her tired eyes. It sounded as if an entire construction crew was out in the reception area. The banging and drilling and sawing were creating a sensory overload. If she had wanted to listen to this racket all day, she would have gone to work for her dad’s construction company.
Pushing back her new chair from her desk, she practically flew the three steps to the door and yanked it open. She wasn’t expecting to come face-to-chest with Dylan. His navy blue T-shirt was pulled tight across said chest, the muscles clearly defined under the cotton. His arms were raised up over his head and his focus was on something above her door.
The urge to wrap her arms around his waist and press her cheek against him nearly knocked her off her feet. Shocked by the impulse, Lucy stepped back and cleared her throat. There would be no comfort found in Dylan’s arms ever again.
He lowered his chin and leveled his gaze with hers. “Sorry, are we too loud out here? The noise is bugging you, isn’t it?”