Page 33 of The Green Card Baby Deal

As soon as the elevator doors closed, Luis’s whole body lost its strength. He staggered back and leaned against the elevator wall, tipping his head into his hands with an audible groan. What had he just done? Thrown everything out the window, that’s what. But it was the right thing to do. There was no doubt in his mind about that. He’d set the woman he loved free, despite wanting to catch her up and hold her in his gilded cage forever. Luis was a man used to getting what he wanted. He was used to things going his way, so this was particularly hard to sit back and accept. But sit back and accept it was exactly what he did.

He rode the elevator down to the lobby and got into his limo alone. The driver asked him if he wanted to go back to his hotel, and to his own surprise, he answered, “No.” He instructed the driver to take him to the bar where he’d first met Clara. Why he wanted to go back there, he couldn’t have said, but the instinct was strong, so he went.

The bar was smaller than he remembered. At the time, he supposed, his life had felt small, closed in, and so the bar felt huge in comparison. His focus had been on the beautiful woman sharing a drink with him. At the time, he’d thought he was at his lowest, and he was ready for anything, open to anything. Now, though he wouldn’t have thought it possible, he was even lower, and he didn’t know how to open himself up to possibility, to hope.

He ordered the beer that Clara preferred, though he couldn’t have exactly explained why. Torturing himself with memories of her didn’t seem like the grandest idea, but at the same time, he couldn’t help thinking of her, so he may as well lean into it.

It didn’t take time for someone to notice him. She was a young woman, brunette, cute. In normal circumstances, he would have enjoyed her attention, and he tried to make himself do so now. If he was going to get back to his normal life, he would have to find the morale to do the sort of things he’d done before he met Clara.

The woman sidled up beside Luis and sat one barstool over. She pretended not to know him but ordered his brand of beer a bit more loudly than she would have needed to. Luis got the impression he was meant to notice. So he noticed.

“Like that brand, do you?” he said.

The look on the woman’s face told him he’d reacted just the way she wanted him to. “Oh, it’s my favorite.” She smiled a charming smile. “I just love how refreshing it is, don’t you?” She sounded exactly like a commercial. Maybe she was trying to audition for one, after all. Luis wished he could tell her he wasn’t in charge of casting for ads, but he knew that would only disappoint her. She was playing the part of someone who didn’t know who he was, clearly. She was playing the part of Clara.

“I’m glad you enjoy it,” Luis said, taking a sip off his own imperial stout.

Then the bartender decided to ruin the poor girl’s performance. “Don’t you know who that is?” he said, laughing. “That’s Luis Morales! Make him buy you one, girl — he can afford it.”

“Oh!” The poor girl blushed and fidgeted. She hadn’t anticipated having her script altered. “I mean it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Morales. I’ve… I mean of course I’ve heard of you. How could I not have?” She laughed nervously and shifted in her barstool.

Under normal circumstances, Luis would have enjoyed the attention, but he was struggling to enjoy anything at all tonight. Even the beer tasted bland. But he was going to have to find a way to enjoy his life without Clara, now that she was gone, wasn’t he? “Can I talk you into a dance?” he asked the woman.

She leapt out of her seat so fast, he thought she might shoot right through the roof. He smiled because it was good to make someone happy, even if she was a stranger to him. They stepped out onto the dance floor, and Luis took the woman into his arms. She wasn’t unattractive. She had long dark hair, a warm smile, and a shapely figure. But the whole time, he just kept wishing she was Clara. “What did you say your name was?” he asked.

She laughed. “I didn’t, but it’s Cher.”

“Like the singer?”

“Yep. Like the singer. My dad was a fan.”

“Are you?”

She shrugged. “Never really gave her a chance, I guess. You know how it is. You get told who you are when you’re young, and then you rebel against as much of it as you can. No one ever really appreciates any of that stuff until they get older.”

“Aren’t you older now?”

She stepped closer and draped an arm over his shoulder. “Not that old yet… Hey, can I call you Luis, or do you prefer Mr. Morales?”

“Luis is fine.” There was absolutely nothing wrong with this woman, but Luis couldn’t bring himself to enjoy her company. Because Clara had smiled at him and told him to get some rest after he told her she wouldn’t have to marry him. Because she looked so…so happy. Happy to be free of him. And his heart was breaking a little more with every minute that passed.

“You’re looking a little down, Luis,” Cher said. “Is there anything I can do to cheer you up? I have some really good jokes I could tell.”

He tried to smile down at her. “Oh, no. I’m sorry. Please don’t take it personally. I’ve just been having a really bad night.”

She squeezed his upper arm. “You look like you’ve just had your heart broken into a million little pieces.”

“Try a billion,” he muttered. He hadn’t meant to say it aloud, but once it was out, it was out.

Cher cocked her head at him and stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. “She doesn’t deserve you,” she said. “That’s what I should say, anyway, but… it looks like you really love her. I don’t think ever seen someone so down in the dumps before, and I spend a lot of time in dive bars.” She laughed a charming laugh. “Look at you. You’re handsome, rich and famous, and you seem like a good guy to boot. If this isn’t a misunderstanding, then she really doesn’t deserve you. How can she have broken your heart? Who would turn you down?”

“She didn’t,” Luis said, realizing for the first time that it was true.

“What?”

“I cancelled our wedding.”

Cher’s eyes went wide as saucers at that information. “So you broke her heart.”

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