Lousiana Hotshot

see her was after school, and there was a small problem with that. Eddie shrugged it off— a
very
small one. He stopped in his assistant’s office on the way out. “Ms. Wallis, I got a lunch date I can’t break.”
    When she turned from her screen, her eyes were scooched up again, and flame shot out of them. He wondered if she had any idea what a presence she was— how easily she made herself known without ever saying a word. He said, “I see you think I should break it,” and Eileen Fisher’s voice sang out from the anteroom, “You’re going, Uncle Eddie. Forget about it. You’re going.”
    “Yeah, yeah, I’m going. Look, there’s nothing I can do until after school, anyway— I’ll meet ya at Fortier, okay?”
    She tried to smile, but it didn’t come off. Well, hell. He gave her points for trying.
    ***
    Talba had been trying so frantically to come up with something— anything— that she hadn’t even checked her email. She had brought herself a tuna sandwich from home. She could eat that at her desk and catch up— she was way too hyper to try to relax.
    But she did go out for a second— to a deli to get a Diet Coke, and, during her errand, she let her mind wander in Darryl’s direction. Their relationship had unquestionably changed, whether for the better she didn’t know. It was both more intimate and more distant, both states caused by his revelation. They were wary of one another now, each circling till there were further developments, yet both knew the meaning of what he had said, the long-term point of it. It was an incredibly brave thing to do. Talba deeply admired him for it. Loved him for it. And wished he hadn’t done it quite yet.
    Talba wasn’t much on kids. Did she really need Darryl’s difficult daughter in her life?
    She scolded herself:
Stupid! Shallow! Hateful! That man is so good to you it’s like eating love-flavored ice cream. After the way you acted Friday night too! Women would kill to have a man like Darryl Boueree. What the hell’s the matter with you?
    You are
going
to love this man. I don’t care how mean and small-minded you are— you are
going
to get over it!
    She was genuinely ashamed of herself. But she’d turned a corner— she’d had a talk with herself and gotten through to what was real. And what was real was Darryl’s simple, honest love for her; his decency; his choice to be honest with her. A rolling tsunami of love threatened to overwhelm her. She felt tears coming and blinked them back.
    Nonetheless, Eileen greeted her with, “What’s the matter?”
    “Oh, nothing.” She switched the Coke can from one hand to another— she had refused a bag, and the thing was giving her frostbite. “Just worried about the kids, that’s all— Shaneel and Cassandra.”
    “You know, today’s Eddie’s birthday lunch.”
    She’d forgotten all about the damn birthday. “I thought there was a party. I’m supposed to be writing a poem, right?”
    “Oh, the party’s still on. This is just some old pals of his taking him to lunch. Aunt Audrey put them up to it, so he won’t suspect anything.”
    She went in her office and attacked her tuna fish and email. Ah. Tony Tino had dropped her a line:
    Guess what? I’m coming to town! Mom invited me to Dad’s birthday party. This is a big deal— I’m bringing my fiancée. Did I mention I’m getting married? Also, I’m the entertainment— or part of it, anyhow. I hear you are too. Looking forward to meeting you.
    And there was a p.s. that was the real heart of it:
About this getting married— we’ve been meaning to do it for a long time, and now Cara’s pregnant. So it’s sooner rather than later. When I got your email, I’d been in a funk for days, thinking about my family, and how my kid would never know its grandparents. See, what happened
—
Dad told Mom and Angie some lies about me and he told me some lies about them. That was how he kept us apart. So I couldn’t just call— or anyway, I didn’t think I could. Your email was what it took to push me over the edge. I was so ripe for plucking I was starting to ferment. I owe you a lot, Baroness.
    Quickly, she composed an answer:
    Wow. For once, the Baroness is humbled.
    And she was, more or less. What she had done she did on impulse, and it nearly went the other way.
I ought to be more careful,
she thought.
    ***
    She got to Fortier half an hour early, wondering how she was going to spot Shaneel in the swarm of kids leaving the building. She