The Arrangement (2 page)

Straightening her shoulders, she walked out of her room and down the stairs, carefully adjusting her sweater. Voices already sounded from the foyer. Adopting her public face, she reached the landing and stepped into view of the foyer.

“Here she is,” her mother announced in a welcoming tone. “Eli Wheatly, this is our daughter, Evelyn.”

Evie stopped. Her muscles tensed. The tall, dark-headed man in his early thirties who stood before her beamed a white, sparkling smile her way. His slick black suit nearly matched his mop of curly black hair.

“Mom?” she questioned as she cast a weak smile toward the stranger and darted an incredulous look at her mother.

“Evelyn, don’t be rude,” her mother chided teasingly. “Come down here. Eli is the new lawyer handling our account.”

No. It can’t be…

Evie stifled a scream and walked numbly down the rest of the stairs. “Nice to meet you,” she managed to choke out.

“Very nice to meet you, Evelyn,” he replied, still smiling.

“It’s
Evie.
Only my parents call me
Evelyn,
” she murmured through clenched teeth.

“Evie, why don’t you show Eli to the living room?” her mother prompted. “Taylor and Leigh Anna are already waiting there with your father. Dinner will be ready in a minute.”

Evie’s mother exited in the opposite direction toward the kitchen, leaving Eli and Evie alone in the foyer. After an awkward moment, Evie swallowed hard and led the way to the living room.

“Your mom tells me you are a junior political science major,” Eli said as he followed Evie through the house.

Evie nodded, refusing to speak even though she knew Eli was innocent in her parents’ scheme. As the shock wore off, though, Evie’s anger toward her parents grew.

For a second, the fire she imagined shooting from her eyes to her father did just that as she and Eli entered the living room.

Her father returned her glare with one of warning.

She seethed inwardly. How could they insist she end her relationship with Ben one minute and in the next breath throw her together with someone else?

Evidently Eli’s parents are closer to the right caliber than Ben’s,
she told herself
.
But Evie cared little about Ben’s—or Eli’s—work or parents’ position in society. Her focus turned from finding a way to stay together with Ben to merely surviving the evening without embarrassing herself any more than her parents already had.

“Taylor!” she exclaimed, trying to hide her anger.

Her brother crossed the room to hug his younger sister. He shared Evie’s blond hair and blue eyes but had their father’s tall, stocky frame. Thin metal glasses framed his eyes, giving his clean-shaven face a studious look. “Evie, Dad said you were home this weekend. How are classes?”

“Same as ever. Are you going to homecoming next month?”

Taylor shrugged. “Don’t know. Guess it depends on the weather. You know I’m not big on the whole reunion thing. I keep in touch with some of my frat brothers. That’s enough for me.”

“Taylor,” his father protested, “you have to go to homecoming. You can make a lot of good contacts through the alumni you’ll meet.”

Taylor rolled his eyes after he’d stepped out of his father’s line of vision.

Evie stifled a giggle. “Come on, Taylor, it’ll give you a chance to catch up with Ben.”

From the corner of her eye, Evie caught a second look of warning from her father. Triumphant in her little dig, Evie smiled at her brother and moved past him to sit next to Leigh Anna.

“How’s the nursing program going?” she asked, changing the subject and leaving Eli to talk to her father and brother.

Leigh Anna’s dark eyes sparkled as she discussed the new procedures she’d learned that week and how much she enjoyed clinicals.

Evie half listened to her sister-in-law as her brain churned with ways to get out of entertaining her parents’ lawyer all night. Just skipping out crossed her mind, but even in her present state, her conscience wouldn’t allow such a plan. Right as Leigh Anna finished her discourse on nursing school, Evie’s mother announced dinner had been served in the dining room.

Evie lagged behind the crowd, her heels clicking on the brick floor as she studied her mother’s table arrangement. A white tablecloth covered the antique cherry table and almost blended with her mother’s white china. Only the platinum rim around the dishes set them apart.

Everyone found a place around the table as soon as they entered the room, leaving only one open spot for Evie—next to Eli. She smiled politely as she approached her chair. Eli smiled in return and stood to pull her chair out from the table for her.

She stared at him in disbelief. Eli was not her date, yet even on their most romantic evenings Ben had never pulled her chair out from the table for her.

Ben…
Her thoughts drifted to the man she loved so deeply, the man her parents were making an obvious attempt to replace.

“Evie,” her father called from his place at the head of the table, “Eli’s father was a U.S. Congressman. He’s very interested in politics himself. With your political science background, you two should have a lot in common.”

A blush burned Evie’s cheeks. Could her father be more blatant? “I really don’t have much of a background. I’m just now getting into the real poly-sci courses,” she explained.

“Oh, that’s okay,” Eli excused her. “Dad never played much by the established rules—you know, you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. He was more of a wild card. He believed he was sent to Washington to represent the voters, and he would do whatever they needed.”

“He made certain we got the same amount of money other states received.” Evie’s father laughed. “I sure have missed him these last couple of years.”

“Me, too,” Eli whispered.

Evie noted the sadness in his voice and shot a questioning gaze at her father.

“Congressman Wheatly suffered a heart attack during his last re-election campaign and passed away several weeks later,” her father explained. “You surely remember seeing it on the news, Evie.”

Evie nodded, searching her memories of political news for something about an ill congressman. Maybe she did remember that story during her freshman year, but she’d been so busy studying and pledging her sorority that she had paid little attention to the national and state news that year.

Her father continued his match-making quest despite Evie’s obvious silence. “Evie, here, wants to be a campaign manager when she graduates.” He beamed a smile toward their guest.

Evie responded with a polite smile of her own.

“Really?” Eli’s voice filled with interest over this latest bit of information. “Are you more interested in a state campaign or something more on a national level?”

Evie knew her smile could not last forever, so she plunged into the conversation, swearing silently to have a word with her parents when Eli left. “I think I’d like to start out with a state race, maybe a local representative or senator, and then, if someone worthy runs, I’d love to work on the governor’s campaign. Eventually I want to get involved with a national campaign, but I want to do more than hand out buttons and answer phones. I want to be involved in the policy making. To do that, I need to get my feet wet.”

Eli nodded as Evie spoke, his brown eyes alive with true interest. He seemed to be really processing her statements, not simply nodding in agreement out of politeness. “Sounds like you have a well-thought-out plan in mind,” he encouraged her.

“So how long do you plan to wait before you campaign for your father’s seat?” Evie’s father asked, turning the conversation to Eli.

“I’m a bit like Evie. I think I need to get my feet wet. No one here knows me except by my father’s name, and I want to make a name for myself. While I admired my father and many of his positions, we disagreed about many issues. I wouldn’t want people to vote for me, expecting to get my father, and then be disappointed.”

Two hours later Evie’s mind reeled from the avid political discussion. She used her fork to gracefully scrape the remaining chocolate icing from her dessert plate and swallowed her last sip of coffee. She forced herself to yawn and looked pointedly at her mother and then to Eli and her father.

When the conversation lulled, she spoke up. “Eli, it was nice meeting you, but I really do need to excuse myself. I have mid-terms next week and need to get a head start studying.”

Eli nodded in her direction, his mouth filled with a bite of chocolate cake.

“Mother,” she added as she stood and turned toward her mother, “dinner was wonderful.”

She stopped on her way out of the room and planted a kiss on her mother’s head. From the doorway she turned and gave Taylor and Leigh Anna a slight wave and smiled at the sight of their eyes wide with shock at her sudden departure.

Once Evie escaped the dining room, she hurried upstairs, her sandals making a dull thud on the stairs as she almost skipped up them. The instant she entered her room, she closed the door behind her. Before she thought about tackling her heavy backpack, she checked her cell for messages. Her heart sank when she saw no missed calls. She had to figure out what she would tell Ben before she talked to him, but she longed to at least know he was thinking about her.

She stared out the window at her BMW convertible, a high school graduation present from her parents. Her brother’s Escalade and a jet black Lincoln sedan she did not recognize but presumed belonged to their guest were also in the driveway. In the middle of the drive a large fountain bubbled, the water sparkling from the floodlights inside it.

Beyond their home lay farmland that had belonged to her family for centuries. Normally, she loved it. But tonight, the wide expanse of land and dark sky twinkling with stars made her room feel claustrophobic.

Evie rummaged through her backpack until she found her notes from her news writing class. With notes in hand, she picked up a green chenille throw from her bed and stuck a pen behind her ear. She opened her door, careful not to let it squeak, and listened for a moment.

No voices.

After venturing into the hallway, she paused again before easing down the stairs. She didn’t want anyone to catch her sneaking around. Muted voices now filtered into the foyer from the dining room, so she hurried down the last few steps. Silently opening the door to the front porch, she slipped into the cool September night.

Evie slid off her sandals and sat in the large white swing, tucking her feet under her and the throw around her. Propping her notebook in her lap, she began to read. But thoughts of Ben and the decision before her continued to return, distracting her from her notes. Finally, she decided that, if she allowed herself to focus on the problem, she’d only grow more angry—an emotion she didn’t need, especially right now.

Evie lost track of time as she crammed her mind instead with the notes in front of her.

She jumped when the front door opened a couple of hours later.

“It was nice to see you again, Thomas,” Eli said, his back to Evie as he extended a hand to shake her father’s. “Dinner was wonderful. Thank you again.”

Evie only heard a muffled reply from her father.

The door closed quickly behind Eli. As he turned to walk to his car, his eyes caught Evie’s. “Evie…” He paused his search for his keys. “I didn’t see you here.”

Evie smiled in return.

Eli walked toward her. Without waiting for an invitation, he set his briefcase on the porch and settled onto the other end of the swing. “It’s beautiful out here.”

Evie rolled her eyes.

“What?” he asked, as though he’d missed the punch line to a joke.

“You don’t get it, do you?” Evie asked in disbelief.

Eli lifted a brow. Finally, he shook his head slowly.

“You were not brought here to discuss legal matters with my parents,” she explained, struggling to keep her voice quiet. “This was a date. My parents are trying to fix me up, and you’re a pawn in their game.”

“If what you say is true, then I’m flattered your parents consider me worthy of dating their daughter.” A smile played at his lips.

“I don’t need them to fix me up,” she growled. “I
have
a boyfriend. They just don’t approve of him. He’s not from the right family.”

How could someone who seemed so smart play right into her parents’ hands? Could he really have had no clue?

“I see…and because my father was a congressman, and I’m a lawyer, I would make a suitable boyfriend.”

“Not boyfriend,” she corrected him, allowing the statement to hang in the air before finishing it. “Husband.” The word cut through the flirting, leaving only silence in its place.

Evie almost regretted saying it. Almost. Eli seemed nice enough, and she hated to drop reality into his lap this way, but he had to know her parents’ intentions were not innocent.

“Wow.” Eli merely mouthed the word.

They sat for a minute in uncomfortable silence.

“Evie…” Eli hesitated, as though searching for the right thing to say. He drew a breath. “If I had known, I would not have come. I am very sorry your parents put you in this position. I haven’t lived here in many, many years and truly looked forward to meeting some people outside the baby boomer era. But I understand your anger.

“I never dated much because the women my parents suggested were more interested in shopping, getting their nails done, and bragging about the future occupations of the men they dated. I rarely found someone who wanted to be with me for me and not for my family name. If you have found a boyfriend who fits that description, hold on to him. They are few and far between.”

Evie’s face burned as his words sank in. Embarrassment overtook her anger as she stared into Eli’s sincere blue eyes. “Ben is just like that,” she whispered. “He doesn’t care how much money I have or who my parents are. He’s more comfortable eating fast food than at four-star restaurants.” She thought of her boyfriend—his warm smile and chocolate brown eyes. “He asked me out before he knew who my parents were.”

“Sounds like you have a good thing going,” Eli commented. The swing swayed back and forth when he stood. “Well, it’s time for me to get out of here. It was really nice to meet you tonight, and good luck with your mid-terms next week.” He smiled down at her and then picked up his briefcase.