Chapter Two #2
The sounds of the café continued around them. Dishes clinked inside. A cyclist rang a bell near the intersection. Someone laughed at a table behind her.
Aaron looked down at his plate, as though the sentence had escaped before he had decided whether to say it.
“Daniel did not make me feel anything,” she said.
The lie sounded polished.
Aaron did not challenge it. That was almost worse.
“He was kind,” she continued. “The relationship simply didn’t work.”
“Kind breakups still hurt.”
“It was disappointing.”
“Different?”
“Yes.”
Aaron nodded once.
No interrogation.
No insistence that she turn an old wound into breakfast conversation.
Meagan picked up her fork again.
“Are you going to the gala?” he asked.
“I haven’t decided.”
“You were invited because of the tournament.”
“I understand how invitations work.”
“Do you want to go?”
“That is not relevant.”
“It seems relevant.”
“There are professional considerations.”
“You don’t work for the foundation.”
“I helped with the event.”
“You helped with all of it.”
“Exactly. It would be appropriate to attend.”
“Then attend.”
Meagan looked at him. “I may.”
“With a guest?”
She looked down at the invitation again.
“I can attend alone.”
“You could.”
“I attend events alone all the time.”
“I’m sure you do.”
“There is nothing uncomfortable about it.”
“I didn’t say there was.”
“Daniel’s presence does not change that.”
Aaron took a drink of coffee.
Meagan narrowed her eyes. “You have to stop doing that.”
“Drinking?”
“Agreeing in a way that suggests you do not agree.”
“I’m supporting your process.”
“My process does not need supervision.”
“Apparently, it requires pancakes.”
Despite herself, she laughed.
The tension eased enough for her to finish breakfast.
By the time they left, Doris had refilled their coffee twice, told Meagan that Aaron once broke a café chair while trying to repair it, and informed Aaron that he should bring Meagan back when she was less tired.
Meagan chose not to examine the implication.
***
The West Coast Volleyball Foundation occupied the second floor of a pale stucco building overlooking the beach.
The office was smaller than she expected. Two glass-walled workrooms opened onto a central conference area. Photographs of youth clinics and scholarship recipients covered the walls.
One large picture showed a much younger Tyler holding a volleyball over his head while children crowded around him.
“He looks serious,” Meagan said.
“He was trying not to laugh.”
“Why?”
“Jack put sunscreen handprints on the back of his shirt.”
Meagan leaned closer.
Two pale handprints spread across Tyler’s navy shirt.
She laughed. “Amanda would consider this valuable.”
“I’m trusting you.”
“That seems premature.”
A woman with short silver hair emerged from one of the offices carrying a clipboard.
“Aaron, thank God.” She pointed toward the banners. “Put those in storage before Paul orders replacements.”
“Morning, Evelyn.”
Her gaze moved to Meagan.
“You brought someone.”
Meagan nearly sighed.
Apparently, this was going to continue all day.
“This is Meagan Stirling,” Aaron said. “She helped with the cleanup at the charity tournament.”
Evelyn’s face brightened. “Hailey’s friend.”
“One of them.”
“You fixed the auction checkout.”
“The card reader lost its connection.”
“And you fixed it.”
“I restarted it.”
“Same result.” Evelyn shifted the clipboard against her hip. “You’re coming Saturday?”
“To the gala?”
“Yes.”
“I haven’t confirmed.”
“You’re coming.”
Meagan recognized the technique.
She respected it.
“I’ll check my schedule.”
Evelyn looked at Aaron. “Convince her.”
“I’m working on it.”
Meagan turned toward him.
His expression was entirely innocent.
It did not suit him.
Evelyn smiled as though something had been confirmed. “Good. We finalize tables Monday. Send me your guest’s name.”
Her phone rang before Meagan could respond.
Evelyn glanced at the screen. “The florist. If she tells me coral peonies are impossible again, I may cancel flowers entirely.”
She answered and disappeared into the conference room.
Meagan waited until the glass door closed.
“You’re working on it?”
“She responds well to confidence.”
“You implied you were convincing me to attend.”
“I am.”
“You are not.”
“Breakfast suggested otherwise.”
“Breakfast was food.”
“It was also discussion.”
“Discussion is not persuasion.”
“You haven’t declined.”
“I have not accepted.”
“Progress.”
Meagan followed him into the storage room.
Shelves held volleyballs, folded nets, tablecloths, and event supplies.
Two boxes were labeled only MISC.
Meagan stopped.
Aaron followed her gaze.
“No.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to reorganize the room.”
“I was going to suggest more useful labels.”
“No.”
“Miscellaneous is not a category. It is an admission of defeat.”
Aaron placed the banners against the wall. “Step away from the label maker.”
Her eyes moved toward a plastic bin on the shelf.
A label maker rested inside.
Aaron pointed toward the hallway.
“Out.”
“This system is irresponsible.”
“The office has survived.”
“Survival is not efficiency.”
“Meagan.”
His warning was undermined by his smile.
She backed into the hallway.
Only because her checkout time was approaching. Not because he had told her to.
He closed the storage-room door.
“You’re enjoying this,” she said.
“Immensely.”
The hotel checkout took less than twenty minutes.
Packing took even less because Meagan had organized everything the night before and refused to acknowledge that doing so contradicted her claim that she was not avoiding her departure.
Aaron waited in the lobby.
She had told him not to.
He had agreed and then opened his laptop in a chair near the entrance.
It was the most irritating possible interpretation of her request.
When she stepped off the elevator with her suitcase, he closed the computer and stood.
“I can carry it.”
“I know.”
He reached for the handle.
Meagan held on.
Aaron looked at her hand, then at her face.
“It has wheels,” she said.
“I noticed.”
“I am capable of moving a suitcase through a lobby.”
“I’ve never doubted it.”
“Then let go.”
“You’re holding it.”
She looked down.
He was right.
His hand rested above hers, but she was the one refusing to release the handle.
Meagan let go.
Aaron said nothing.
That was more effective than teasing.
When they reached Hailey’s house, three cars were already parked outside.
Meagan recognized Amanda’s SUV and Jack’s convertible.
She frowned. “Why are they here?”
“Tyler and Jack are meeting about a foundation clinic.”
“Amanda?”
“She probably heard the word meeting and translated it as lunch.”
“They are here because of me.”
“That is also possible.”
The front door opened before Aaron parked.
Amanda came down the walkway wearing a yellow sundress and oversized sunglasses.
“Oh, good,” she called. “You came back together.”
Meagan closed her eyes.
Beside her, Aaron laughed.
“Do not encourage her.”
“I haven’t said anything.”
“Your breathing has a tone.”
Amanda opened Meagan’s door.
“How was breakfast?”
“It was food.”
“With Aaron.”
“He also requires food.”
Amanda looked across the SUV. “Did she enjoy herself?”
“Amanda.”
Aaron rested one arm on the steering wheel. “She ordered lemon pancakes.”
Amanda removed her sunglasses.
“Lemon pancakes?”
Meagan stepped out. “Why is everyone reacting to breakfast?”
“You have ordered egg whites at every brunch since 2017.”
“That is not true.”
“You ordered oatmeal once because the restaurant was out of egg whites.”
Aaron climbed out.
“I knew it was significant.”
“It was not significant.”
Jack appeared in the doorway. “Are we unloading something, or is this a sidewalk performance?”
“Aaron took Meagan to breakfast and then to her hotel,” Amanda announced.
Jack looked at Aaron.
Aaron looked at Jack.
A silent conversation passed between them.
Meagan disliked all of it.
“He drove me there to check out.”
Amanda’s eyes widened. “You went to her hotel?”
“To pick up her luggage,” Aaron said.
“Stop helping,” Meagan told him.
Hailey came outside with Tyler behind her.
Meagan looked at the group surrounding the driveway.
“This is an intervention.”
“It’s lunch,” Hailey said.
“It is eleven.”
“Early lunch.”
Hailey’s gaze moved toward Meagan’s suitcase.
“You checked out.”
“Yes.”
Relief softened her face.
Meagan noticed immediately.
“You thought I would extend again.”
“A little.”
“I told you I was checking out.”
“You also told me you were leaving California two weeks ago.”
“That was different.”
“How?”
Meagan opened her mouth.
Amanda lifted one hand. “Before she explains why missing a flight was responsible, I have a more important question.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Are you going to the gala?”
Meagan stilled.
“How do you know about it?”
“Jack is on the guest list. I am his glamorous plus-one.”
Jack leaned against the doorway. “She added glamorous herself.”
“It was implied.”
Hailey looked at Meagan. “You should come.”
“I haven’t decided.”
“Why not?” Tyler asked.
Meagan glanced toward Aaron.
He gave no sign that they had discussed it.
“There may be someone attending who I would prefer not to spend time with.”
Amanda’s posture changed. “Who?”
“No one you know.”
“Man or woman?”
“That is irrelevant.”
“Man,” Aaron said.
Meagan turned.
He winced. “That may have been confidential.”
“Aaron.”
“You told me at breakfast.”
Amanda’s eyes widened. “You discussed exes over pancakes?”
“We had a conversation.”
“An emotionally significant conversation.”
“No.”
Hailey stepped closer. “Who is he?”
Concern had replaced curiosity.
That made evasion more difficult.
“Daniel Mercer.”
Amanda’s mouth opened. “Daniel is coming?”
Tyler looked between them. “Who is Daniel?”
“An ex,” Meagan said.
“The ex,” Amanda corrected.
“He is not the ex.”
“You dated him for over a year.”
“It ended eighteen months ago.”
“And he told you that you were dependable and wonderful but something was missing.”
Meagan’s face warmed.
“Amanda.”
“What? That was his mistake, not yours.”
Aaron’s expression had gone still.
Meagan suddenly wished the conversation were happening anywhere else.