She had never told anyone this or even said it to herself out loud, but it honestly felt like she could tell Nathan anything without fear of judgment from him.
“That’s a great idea,” he told her.
“Really?” she said.
“Yes, really,” he answered. “You’ve got a growing market, insider know-how, and a vision. Call me when you’re ready to make it happen and we’ll talk start-up capital.”
“Oh, I couldn’t take your money,” she said.
“You wouldn’t be taking it. I know a good idea when I hear one, and I’ll fully expect a return on my investment.”
The way he said this, made her believe in the idea, too. She smiled. “Okay, I just have to decide where I’m moving to, then we’ll talk.”
A shadow crossed over his face, just as it did whenever the subject of her leaving came up. But then it was gone, and Nathan just said, “Make sure to do that.”
Yes, they’d been getting along great, which was why he was probably unpleasantly surprised when he came home from work to find her furious and fuming.
***
The only thing that had gotten Nathan through a long day of back-to-back conference calls with Japan and a few of the other international clients Andrew should have been handling, was knowing Layla would be waiting for him at the end of it.
He’d even texted her before leaving work to say he was on his way, which he never did with women he was dating. But then again, he’d never invited a woman to share his home, even for a weekend, so all of this was new territory for him.
A certain worry crept into his thoughts as he drove home. They’d been together for two weeks now, and unlike every other woman he had dated, he hadn’t grown even slightly sick of her. If anything, his need for her had deepened from an angry frenzy, to a bone-deep wanting. And it made it hard to fathom her moving away in six weeks, even though he knew what would happen if he let her stay, and there was no way he was going to allow for that.
He could still remember how stupid he had been about her before. Making excuses to visit his brother on campus if he mentioned he was meeting up with Layla, inviting himself along on their movie dates, renting a house in Miami over Spring Break just so he could invite them down. He’d even started applying to colleges, so he’d have an excuse to hang out in the library while she and Andrew were in there studying.
Then came that weekend when his parents had flown to Arizona on business and Andrew had gone on a three-day hike with the Outdoor Club. It had occurred to Nathan maybe he had become good enough friends with Layla to invite her over to their family home without Andrew.
He recalled how heavy the phone’s receiver had felt in his hand as he picked it up and called Layla’s dorm room.
She’d answered the phone, “Andrew?”
“No, it’s Nathan,” he said, feeling more awkward than any man over the age of twelve should when talking to a girl. “Andrew’s out of town.”
“I know,” she said. “But when I saw the number on the Caller ID, I thought maybe it was him.”
Nathan decided to get off the subject of Andrew. “I, um, put in my college applications like we were talking about and I got accepted into a few of them, including Carnegie Mellon and Yale.”
“Oh, that’s great, Nathan,” she said. “I’m really happy to hear it. Is that why you called?”
“Not exactly. I’m trying to decide whether I should go to Carnegie Mellon with you guys or maybe go out-of-state. And I was wondering if you could come by the house and help me make the decision.”
He held his breath. Having just made that whole excuse up, he had no idea whether she’d buy it or not.
“Really? Me?” she said. “You don’t want to ask your brother?”
“I already know what he’ll say. He’s a CMU Tartan through and through, his blood runs plaid. CMU was his first choice and he used Pitt as a back up, but you applied to way more places, so I think you’re the better consult for this.”
He half-expected her to call him out. She’d applied to a few more places than Andrew, but not enough to qualify her to give him advice about where to go to college.
“Oh, I get it,” she said.
He stopped breathing and braced himself, sure she’d figured out he had a crush on her. “Everybody’s out of town, and you need some company.”
Layla’s ability to always believe the sunniest version of a story never failed to amaze him. “Yes,” he said. “The house is big, and I’m not used to being here alone.”
Again, he was afraid she’d call his bluff. But then she said. “Sure, I can come over. Give me thirty minutes, okay?”
His heart jumped in his chest, excited at the prospect of being in the same room with her alone. He’d had no idea back then, what he was setting in motion.
The memory of that phone call dissolved and he came back to present day. No, he couldn’t let her stay in Pittsburgh, he decided, remembering what had happened the last time. But maybe he could visit her. He really did like her idea for a physical therapy spa. And if he invested, it would give him a good excuse to go to wherever she was, ostensibly to check up on his investment, but really to get his Layla fix until he no longer needed her.
He whistled as he unlocked and pushed open the loft’s fire door, but when he walked inside, he found her standing there, obviously fuming. “You paid off all the detectives in the city, just so I couldn’t retain their services?”
His eyes narrowed. “You tried to hire a detective?”
“Yes,” she answered. “I have the right to hire someone to try to figure out what happened ten years ago. But you don’t have the right to stop me from hiring a detective.” He removed his suit jacket with a sigh, kissing the happy homecoming he’d imagined good-bye and going straight back into business mode. “Layla, you’re assuming ethics on my part, but I don’t have any, not in this situation, and especially not when it comes to you. I don’t want you to know what happened during the year you lost, and I refuse to apologize for that.”
“Fine.” Layla said, spreading her arms. “I can find an out-of-state detective.” She went over to his desk and sat down, presumably to look someone up on the computer.
“And then my detective will find your out-of-state detective and pay him off. You cannot win this game, Layla. I have too much money, and too few principles when it comes to you.”