Diplomacy

a h r a O w e n s

    vague when he answered the questions about his private life and that made Jack curious. Of course he knew he couldn’t lay claim to Lucas. It wasn’t like his marriage had been the only hurdle they had needed to conquer, but his interest was sparked nonetheless.
    The elevator to the second floor gave way to a small waiting area and lots of corridors, so Jack decided to wait right there. He relaxed a bit now that he knew he had the job and he would be coming here on a regular basis. It did mean he had to sort things out with Lucas, though, and that meant figuring out his own feelings. As he thought about what had happened between that ill-fated night in the hospital and today, he realized he had unconsciously made up his mind a long time ago. The end of his diplomatic career and his divorce had all led him to this one moment, but he knew not to get his hopes up too much.
    It was actually a bit more than ten minutes later that Lucas emerged from the elevator, clearly in a hurry. “Sorry I’m late.” He smiled, a little flushed and out of breath as if he had been running “So did you get the job?”
    Jack looked at the excited face of his former lover and wondered if he should tease him a little. He decided against it.
    “Yeah.”
    “I knew it! They would have been fools not to hire you!” Lucas grabbed Jack’s arms, squeezed them and then let go. He leaned in a little closer and whispered, “I want to hug you, but no matter how open minded they are here, we’d better not.”
    “I’ll take a rain check.” Jack smiled, grateful for Lucas’s self-restraint, since he wasn’t entirely sure about his own. “So why did you bring me here?”
    Lucas’s beaming smile lost some wattage as he nervously asked Jack to follow him.

    D i p l o m a c y | 161

Chapter Twenty
    THEY walked into a corridor adorned by children’s drawings and before it really started to sink in with Jack he heard a shrill voice coming from in front of them. “Daddy, daddy, daddy.” He saw Lucas bend down to pick up a beautiful little girl running over to him, her arms stretched out. She had a wide smile that made her gorgeous brown eyes go all tiny, and her face was encircled by the most amazing flurry of dark brown curls. There was no mistaking her for anyone other than Lucas’s daughter.
    “So did you have fun today?” Lucas asked the little girl. She nodded, making the curls dance around her face and then planted a loud and very deliberate kiss on Lucas’s lips.
    “I want you to meet someone, honey, is that okay?” She looked over her father’s shoulder at Jack and hid her face in the crook of his neck.
    Lucas turned around with her in his arms and smiled at Jack a little apologetically. “I’m sorry, she’s only two.” He wiped the curls away from her cheek, exposing a sulky face. “Honey, this is a very special friend of mine, someone who’s very important to me. Say hi to Jack.” And then to Jack, “Jack, this is AnnElise.”
    When the little girl turned into Lucas’s embrace again, Jack caught his desperate look and tried to convey understanding with his own.
    “She’ll come around, Jack; she just needs a little time, because she’s not really used to strangers.”

    162 | Z a h r a O w e n s

    Jack smiled again, trying to process all the information he had just received. He had so many questions for Lucas, but he knew a lot of them could not be asked with AnnElise present. He would have to be patient.
    Lucas seemed to be able to read his mind. “Jack, I want to explain this to you in more detail, but I’ll understand if you don’t….” He was clearly unsure of how to proceed. “What I would really love is to take you out to dinner, but why don’t you come home with me. She’ll be down for the night by 7:30 and then I’ll fix you dinner.” Trying to keep the atmosphere light, Jack was quick to answer.
    “Oh, you cook too now?”
    Lucas smiled, looking relieved. “Sort of, yeah, well, I have stuff in the house to cook with and sometimes it’s even edible.”
    “Why don’t I see what I can whip up for us in your kitchen, while you take care of AnnElise and then we can talk after she goes to bed, okay?”
    Lucas nodded and Jack saw the young man’s eyes flood with tears.
    He looked around to see if anyone was watching, but no one was paying any attention to them, so he placed his hand on the back of Lucas’s neck, just above AnnElise’s arm and pulled him in for a quick kiss.