The Arrangement (7 page)

Soon the hum of computers and chatter of legal aides slowed and eventually stopped. He glanced at the clock:
6 p.m.
He had no idea he had been working that long on this one case. He had no evening plans, but thoughts of calling Evie to invite her for coffee the next afternoon had bounced through his mind all afternoon. He packed the file for the trust fund meeting in his briefcase for the next day and set it beside his desk before turning out the light and locking his door.

As Eli drove home that evening, the spacious new subdivisions with sprawling homes faded into older neighborhoods where children rode their bikes along city sidewalks and finally into open farm land with homes scattered far apart. Eli’s hands had never cupped the loose, rich soil. He held no memories of tossing seeds into carefully spaded holes, covering them, watering them, and waiting for the green leaves of life to sprout. Even the idea of milking cows and grooming horses enticed him to stay far away from both creatures.

Yet watching the rolling hills of land he could call his own gave him peace and satisfaction. He’d bought the land because he loved the country and the community his father served for so many years. He wanted to own a little piece of it even if he never worked the soil or reaped a harvest from the vast fields surrounding his house.

Minutes later he padded sock-footed through the house. He listened to a message, reminding him he had volunteered to help repaint the church nursery this Saturday, then scrolled through the caller ID on his home phone. He did not have to search long before he recognized Evie’s number.

“Hello?” She sounded breathless when she answered.

“Evie?”

“Yes?”

Eli could tell she didn’t recognize his voice and knew he’d caught her off guard. “It’s Eli Wheatly.”

“Oh.” Her voice dropped. “Hi. I-I didn’t expect to hear from you today.”

“I’m sorry,” he said swiftly. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“No, it’s no problem. I was just…studying.”

Eli wondered what she was really doing. “I know it’s short notice, but I found out this afternoon that I have to come to Summerton tomorrow to visit a client, and I was wondering if I might convince you to have coffee with me.” He paced in the kitchen, waiting for her answer. Spying a pair of old boat shoes sitting next to the door, he slipped his feet inside and walked out onto the deck behind his house.

“What time?” Her voice sounded unsure.

“Maybe around four? I have to meet the client at two, but it shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours.” He heard her shuffling papers and guessed she was checking a planner likely stuffed full of assignments and appointments. As he waited for her to find her schedule for the next day, he dusted off a patio chair and sat down. Ripples faded across a small pond several hundred yards from his house, sending ripples of calm through his body.

“That should be okay,” she replied, this time her voice stronger.

“You know the town, so you pick the place,” he offered. His pulse slowed as he realized she had actually agreed to sit and talk to him. No parents, no boyfriends, just the two of them.

“Have you ever been to Roasted? They have the best blends, plus some great cappuccinos,” Evie informed him.

“Sounds wonderful, but you’ll have to give me directions.” When he hung up, he reviewed the directions he’d scrawled on the back of a receipt he had in his pocket and placed it in his wallet so he wouldn’t lose it. The sound of her voice reminded him of their front porch conversation. She seemed more mellow tonight. Although he doubted she would admit it, she was meeting him to please her parents. Yet he knew this was his one chance to impress her and for her to show him some reason their dating each other would not be out of the question.

He sat for another hour on the patio, watching the early fall sun disappear beneath the painted landscape. Trees towered beyond the pond. Most of their leaves were still green, but a few sprayed the scene with color as though the sun had swooped in and kissed them, leaving a yellow lip print.

When he could stand the chill no longer, he wandered back inside and spent the evening watching television in an attempt to keep from overanalyzing the day’s events. From his first conversation with Thomas Barrett that morning to his mother’s discussion about arranged marriages and finally his “appointment” with Evie the next day, his thoughts churned with possibilities for the future.

Better the future than the past,
he told himself as he finally settled into bed that night.

4

)

vie flipped down the visor in her BMW convertible and checked the mirror. Pursing her lips, she reapplied a barely pink shade of lipstick. Her straight blond hair fell against her shoulders. Evie sighed. Could she really pull it off? Act interested in a man she had no intentions of pursuing?

Then she thought of Ben. In two hours she would meet him in a secluded, cozy restaurant forty-five minutes away. Thinking of their clandestine meeting replaced the misgivings and brought a smile, one she hoped she could maintain throughout her coffee break. She flipped the visor up again and glanced in the rearview mirror in time to see Eli enter the coffee shop. She tugged at the corner of her khaki skirt and followed him.

The afternoon sun lit the coffee shop. Evie waved and mouthed hello to several of her classmates as her eyes adjusted to the change in light and glanced around for Eli. He sat in a chair at a small, round table in a corner near the back, the light reflecting off his silver cuff links.

Think of Ben, think of Ben, think of Ben,
she repeated to herself as she waved in Eli’s direction. “Hi,” she greeted him with forced sweetness.

“Good afternoon.” He smiled broadly at her. “Pick your poison.” He gestured in the direction of the coffee bar.

Cheesy,
Evie thought.
How painful will this afternoon be?
They studied the menu pasted above the bar and ordered before returning to the table.

“So how was your meeting?” Evie asked. If she had learned anything from her mother, it was the art of small talk. Victoria Barrett could break the ice in the Arctic Circle.

“Boring,” Eli answered. “A man with too much money wanted to set some aside for his newest grandson’s college education. The kid isn’t even off formula yet, and his grandfather has already paid for an Ivy League education. Not that there’s anything wrong with planning ahead, but I can’t help but think the kids who work here would love to have just an extra $500 to put toward their tuition.” Eli looked up at Evie and blushed. “And now I’m babbling, sorry.”

The kids of which he spoke could easily include her Ben. He worked two jobs merely to pay for tuition every other semester and his living expenses, even though he shared those with three other guys. She could understand Eli’s frustration.

“So when you are a congressman, what great plans do you have to help these kids get that $500, or maybe even more to help pay for their college education?” She settled into her chair.

Eli’s perfectly straight, white teeth showed through his grin. “I’ve actually given that problem some thought….”

Evie’s mind wandered as he talked about how to help hard-working kids from hard-working families pay for a college education so maybe they could pay more on their own children’s education.

He cocked his head to one side as he wrapped up his explanation. “Enough political talk. I’m sure you get that at home. Your father seems to be very involved with politics for a doctor. So, now it’s your turn. Tell me about this boyfriend of yours, the one who cares nothing for your family’s things, yet doesn’t warrant the approval of your parents.”

Evie blinked as her breath stopped for a minute. “He…I…we broke up,” she admitted, casting her eyes downward, hoping he couldn’t see the sweat popping out on her forehead.

“I’m sorry, I hope my coming to dinner or sending flowers had nothing to do with it.” His tone was low. “I just wanted you to know I understood your predicament and sympathized.”

“No.” She shook her head slightly. “I thought about what my parents said over the weekend. I love Ben, but he doesn’t deserve what my parents and their friends would put him through. They would never accept him. If we married, they would make life unbearable. He deserves better than that.”

Evie picked at her napkin and tried to conjure up some tears. What she said was the truth, except the part about sparing Ben. He deserved more, but he could handle whatever her parents threw at him.

“You must really love him to make that kind of sacrifice,” he replied.

Evie looked back at him, wondering if he could see through her ruse. Genuine concern filled his eyes, and guilt twinged in her stomach. Evie shrugged. “So what about you? I’m guessing you don’t have a girlfriend the way my parents blatantly threw me at you the other night.”

A light shade of crimson rose to Eli’s cheeks. “No one at the moment.”

“But there was someone?” Curiosity replaced the guilt. “Did she have anything to do with you moving back?”

Eli wrinkled his forehead. “Yes, there was someone, and I’m still not sure if she had anything to do with me being here. When I left D.C., I promised she wasn’t the reason. If I intended to get into politics, I needed to start somewhere I would have a chance of winning an election. With Dad’s reputation it seemed natural to come back here.”

“So what happened?” Evie resisted the urge to perch on the edge of her seat.

Eli shifted uncomfortably. “I wouldn’t want to bore you.”

“That’s not quite fair,” she whined and pushed her lower lip out in a flirty pout. “You know all about Ben and me. Isn’t it only fair for
you
to open up to me, too?”

Eli twisted one side of his mouth. “You’re right, but I hate talking about old girlfriends. She grew up in a tough home. Her mother left when she was in grade school, and her father was an alcoholic. She worked hard through school to get a scholarship to college and moved away from home when she turned eighteen. We met when we were juniors in college, and I fell in love instantly.”

As Eli talked about his ex-girlfriend, he seemed uneasy. She’d wondered what it would take to shake his confidence and now she’d found his hot button. Strangely, it brought her no pleasure. “So what happened?” she pressed gently.

He sighed, as if resigning himself to telling the full story. “We were engaged when my father passed away. She seemed to think I would simply step into Dad’s shoes. At that time I wasn’t sure that’s what I wanted to do. If I did go into politics, I knew I would need to come back here to start. She kept pushing me to call Dad’s colleagues in D.C. to ask for a job in one of their offices. When I tried to explain that I was waiting for God to show me his direction, she got really upset. Later, when the invitations to the top political functions stopped coming, she became more and more irritated.” Eli paused to sip his coffee, then turned to stare out the window into the afternoon sun.

Finally, something real about this guy.
Unable to wait for him to continue, she prodded him a bit. “So what did she do?” she asked quietly, hoping her voice did not sound too eager.

Eli swiveled his gaze back to Evie. “She found someone who still received those invitations and broke it off with me,” he said in a straightforward manner.

Evie bit the corner of her lip as she stared at Eli. He dipped his head as he concentrated on his cup of coffee. She had no idea discussing this woman would upset him so much. When he finally looked up, his eyes held a dark sadness. She swallowed her next question. Maybe she had already pushed him too far for the day.

She had intended to use him as an example of how miserable her parents’ choice would make her, but she hadn’t planned to make him miserable in the process. Then again, if she pushed him, if he revealed more of himself to her, she would know what to say and do to keep him at arm’s length so he didn’t get hurt when she eventually broke up with him.

“So when you told me to hold on to Ben if he was truly uninterested in my family’s name and money, you were really talking about…”

“Whitney.” His voice was raspy and deep with emotion.

“Whitney,” she echoed, letting the woman’s name drift into the air between them. She wondered for a moment what this Whitney looked like. Was she tall and blond, with a model’s figure? Or was she a brunette with blue eyes to match Eli’s and a sparkling personality? What attracted Eli to her? Had he dated since they broke up?

Questions tumbled through her brain, but she lacked the courage to ask them. The silence between them lengthened. She sipped her coffee and considered options for changing the subject. She would return to Whitney, but not today. Today he seemed so far away already. If he remembered too much about Whitney too soon, he might be afraid to call Evie again.

“How did you decide you did want to go into politics, like your dad?” she asked.

Like flipping a switch, Eli’s eyes sparkled again. “Well, when Whitney left, I was devastated to say the least. I talked to Mom, and she suggested I pray about the whole situation. I thought I had my life pretty well mapped out, and Whitney’s leaving made everything fall apart. I knew Mom was right, but the more I prayed the more uncertain I was. Nothing seemed right anymore. I put my townhouse on the market about the same time Whitney left because I knew I couldn’t stay in D.C. anymore. But I didn’t know where I needed to go.

“About a month later the partners from Dad’s old law firm called and offered me a job. I was confused and stunned at first, but the more I considered their offer, the more I knew it was the right thing to do. So here I am.”

“Following in your dad’s footsteps,” Evie murmured.

“I guess so.” Eli chuckled a little. “I’m still not sure about going into politics, though. I kind of like my house and land and the small-town atmosphere. In D.C., I didn’t have any of that. Everything is so fast-paced, and everyone is out for themselves. No one thinks about helping someone else. Here it’s a different story.”

Evie narrowed her eyes as she considered his last comment. For years she had longed to escape the small town Eli claimed as his safe harbor. She never thought about the kindness and routine of everyday life there. And she had never considered the harshness of living in a large city like D.C. She imagined the constant motion of people moving into and out of the city day and night. The buzz and whoosh of cars up and down the interstate. The shrill laughter of young adults enjoying a night out after work. The low chuckles of old politicians telling war stories and arguing about policies.