“No, thanks. We have to leave soon,” he told her kindly.
“I’ve probably had enough,” Evan grumbled, squinting at his half-empty glass with a frown.
“You’ve had plenty,” Micah agreed emphatically. He was slightly worried that he and Julian were going to have to carry Evan out of the bar if he didn’t stop.
He’d never seen his cousin take a drink in his entire life. Evan was bound to be a lightweight when it came to alcohol, even though he was a big guy.
Kristin winked at Micah. “He’s cut off. He’s starting to tilt in his chair.” She moved to Evan and straightened his body with her hip. “Need help with him?”
“No. We’re good. We aren’t driving.” Micah had limited his drinking, but Stokes was now waiting for all of them out front. He’d take them all home.
Kristin nodded and walked away. The fact that Julian watched her all the way back to the bar didn’t escape Micah’s notice.
“I need to go talk to her,” Evan said as he sat up and slumped on the table, his voice maudlin and somewhat slurred.
“Not tonight, buddy. You need to give her some time for all of this to sink in. How long did you say you were writing to each other?” Micah asked curiously.
“Over a year,” Evan said grudgingly. “She got me with a smartass email. I’ve been addicted to her ever since.”
“How is it that neither one of you knew who the other really was?”
“I tried to track her earlier in our correspondence. All I could find out was that it was coming from the Center. After that, I stopped trying. We agreed not to share identities. To her I was just some random guy. I wasn’t a billionaire from one of the most well-known families in the world. I kind of liked that. But I did want to meet her. I don’t think she wanted to meet me.” Evan stabilized his upper body by resting his arms on the table, his body staying upright. “Now that I think about it, I should have known it was her.”
“Why?” Micah asked.
“Because she got to me both ways, via email and in person,” Evan replied, his voice getting more and more garbled.
“If you knew very little about each other, what did you talk about?” Julian asked, his expression more serious now.
“Everything and nothing,” Evan answered after a short contemplation. “We didn’t talk in specifics. It was all about how we felt about certain things. Very little of our conversation related to work or other people. Her foster mother died not long ago, and she mostly talked about her and how it felt to lose someone she loved so much.”
“You were there for her.” Micah’s words were a statement rather than a question. His respect for Evan kicked up a notch knowing that he’d just been there for Randi when she needed to vent.
“She was there for me, too,” Evan replied as he finally looked directly at Micah. “She changed the way I looked at life sometimes, made me not take everything so seriously.”
Jesus! Evan looked so damn broken that it tore Micah up inside. He’d already been through so much, and Evan had always made his family his priority. He deserved something for himself. He hoped to God that Randi would finally realize that Evan hadn’t meant to deceive her. His cousin just sucked at intimate relationships.
“We’ll figure something out,” Micah told him firmly.
“I have to talk to her.” Evan sounded desperate.
“Not tonight,” Micah said, shaking his head. An idea sprang to his mind as he contemplated how to get Randi to realize that Evan really loved her. “I think you should consider writing to her. It was how your relationship started. Maybe you can say things easier that way.”
“Good idea,” Julian agreed. “That way she can’t slam the door in your face.”
“She probably won’t read it,” Evan rumbled.
“She’ll read it. Women are funny that way. If you send an email, she’ll have to read it,” Micah told him solemnly.
“I need her,” Evan informed his cousins fiercely. “I’m not sure what I’ll do if she won’t talk to me.”
“She will. Eventually.” Julian’s voice was supportive now.
Micah was pretty certain that his brother understood the gravity of the situation now that Julian had seen how torn up Evan really was. “What are your plans for tomorrow? I thought you had to be in San Francisco.”
Evan shook his head. “I’m not leaving until she talks to me. I don’t care how long it takes.”
“You could stand to lose a pretty big deal,” Micah warned, familiar with the company Evan was trying to buy into with controlling interest. It definitely had big possibilities.
“There’s always more deals,” Evan answered bitterly. “It doesn’t matter to me.”
Those were words he never thought would come out of Evan’s mouth. Micah looked at Julian, who shrugged like he was equally confused before asking Evan, “Can I borrow your jet tomorrow? I need to get to Los Angeles, and Micah is going to New York.”
“I don’t care,” Evan agreed readily. “I’m not going anywhere for a while.”
Micah had planned on having his pilot drop him off in New York and then fly on to get Julian back to Hollywood. But if Evan wasn’t using his own plane, Julian could get back faster as he wouldn’t have to make the trip to New York first.
“Thanks,” Julian muttered.
“We need to get home. We have an early morning tomorrow,” Micah said. He stood and grabbed his tuxedo jacket off the back of the wooden chair.