Page 11 of Second to None
Chapter 5
On the limousine ride to dinner, Emily had appeared nervous, her gaze skittering toward Max and then away again. So he’d kept the conversation to trivial topics. But he’d watched her, cataloging the differences and similarities to the woman he’d wanted so desperately seven years ago. Her face was thinner, revealing the perfect oval of her bone structure. Although the corners of her mouth still had their fascinating upward tilt, she didn’t smile as often as in the old days. Her brown eyes were still warm, but shadows came and went in them as they chatted.
Now that they were in the candlelit quiet of his favorite restaurant, Laurent, he simply enjoyed the way the light flickered over the waves of her brown hair and highlighted the tantalizing curves in the V of her blouse’s neckline.
He decided to get the business at hand out of the way and leaned back in the comfortable armchair. “I’ve made the decision to fund your garden–slash–doggy playground. After looking at your facilities and the population you serve, I believe you should have more than the half a million you requested, so I’m doubling the amount of the grant.”
Emily’s knuckles went white as she clenched her hand around the fork she’d been fiddling with. “Wait, what? You’re giving the center a million dollars?”
He’d made his decision right after he had walked into the scene with Diego and the dog. He’d watched as Emily weighed the immediate needs of one child against inconveniencing the rich donor who might solve many problems for all the kids. And she had chosen the one child.
He supposed that rationally Emily had made the wrong decision, but it had socked him right in the gut when she not only put his visit on the back burner but commandeered his limo to take Diego and his mutt to the veterinarian.
He caught the glisten of tears in her eyes as she said with a faint quaver in her voice, “Thank you. Oh my God,thank you! I didn’t expect ...”
He wondered what she’d say if he told her it was coming out of his personal bank account. Catalyst had already distributed all of its budgeted funding for the year. That was the problem with requests made in the fourth quarter. But he had no qualms about handing Emily’s project a million dollars. He trusted her in a bone-deep way that he trusted very few people. The feeling had taken root after he had worked with Jake for a couple of months, and it had grown to encompass Emily.
The waiter interrupted to perform the ritual of tasting the wine. By the time that was done, Emily had blinked back the tears, but her smile blazed like the July sun. “I swear your money will be put to good use, all of it. As soon as the weather starts to warm up, we can install the raised beds and the play equipment and the fence to separate the dog area. We’ll be able to hit the ground running this spring. The children are going to be so excited. Heck, the staff is going to be so excited.”
Her gaze turned inward, and he could tell that she was picturing the children and dogs frolicking across a field of green grass.
“I want to be very clear about one thing,” he said. Her attention snapped back to him, and he caught a fleeting look of wariness in her eyes. “The money is to be used for whatever you feel your K-9 Angelz program requires. No conditions. No strings attached. All I need is the routing information for the center’s bank account, and the money will be transferred tomorrow.”
He heard her let out her breath in a rush. “Tomorrow!” She shook her head as she smiled. “You were like this back at Lejeune. Once a decision was made, you made it happen. No second thoughts.”
“The sooner you start, the sooner you get results.”
She nodded. “I hope you’ll feel free to visit anytime to see how things are progressing. You will be invited as our guest of honor to the ribbon cutting.”
Except he would be in Chicago. Which didn’t preclude flying to New York, but he hoped to be deep into his next research project by then. He decided not to mention that. “I look forward to the transformation. Now, let’s forget about grants and construction for the rest of the dinner.”
The wariness came back, but her smile didn’t waver. “Of course.”
“What’s the status of Diego’s rescued dog?”
“Oh!” Her relief at his choice of topic was clear. “I got a text message from Dr. Quillen, but I didn’t have a chance to read it,” she said, leaning down to rummage in her bag for her cell phone.
She hadn’t read it because he’d monopolized her attention. Guilt pinged at his chest.
She skimmed through the message. He waited, trying to guess the prognosis based on her expression. By the end, her frown had eased, so he wasn’t surprised when she said, “The dog’s stable. His worst injury is the broken leg, and he has a few cracked ribs. Nothing immediately life threatening, thank goodness. Let me just text Diego.”
“That’s good news,” Max said. Relief loosened a tension in his shoulders that he hadn’t realized he was carrying. There was something about the kid that had gotten to him. He hoped the veterinarian’s receptionist had understood that he wanted the entirety of the dog’s continuing care charged to his credit card.
“Diego’s life is not easy.” Emily dropped her phone back in her purse before she folded her hands on the tabletop. “It’s incredible that he is the person he is. I couldn’t bear to have him feel that his compassion for a stray dog was a bad thing.”
“Do you take on all their personal problems?” he asked.
*
Emily shook her head, still stunned by Max’s generosity. It was hard to focus on his questions. “I shouldn’t admit this, but sometimes a kid works his way into your heart. Diego is just ...” She shook her head again. She couldn’t reveal Diego’s secrets to Max, especially not the fact that the child lived at the center.
“How did you become director of the Carver Center?” Max asked.
She looked across the array of sparkling crystal to see the flame of the candle reflected in his dark eyes. “My aunt Ruthie got me the job.”
His sensual lips curved into a smile that made it even harder to concentrate. “I asked the wrong question,” he said. “Tell me how you came to live in South Harlem.”
She looked down at her hands, flexing the fingers wide on the immaculately pressed linen. She’d come because she’d needed to leave Camp Lejeune and all its bittersweet memories. She’d come because she’d never been alone before in her entire life, and it terrified her. She’d come because Aunt Ruthie had offered her not just a roof over her head but a warm embrace.
