I Didn't Text Him...Vodka Did Ch. 5

Author's note:

Hi, thanks for sitting/laying down to read this story. I'd like to start with a couple of disclaimers. This isn't a stand alone story, to get the best experience, I suggest you go back and read the others. There is also no sex in this chapter, it's pure plot. If you stick around, I promise to make it worth your while.

I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I have writing it.

A.K.

---

Things weren't always this hard between us. Falling in love had been easy, staying in love was never a choice, I couldn't stop loving this man regardless of how much I'd tried. The challenge had always been me; my confidence, my self esteem, my overwhelming need to please and satisfy the people around me regardless of my own happiness.

We met in a planning meeting. My uncle Charlie was meeting with an architectural firm to discuss his next construction project, a new condo development in the heart of a neighbouring suburb. I was there, as was Lucas.

Charlie and I walked into the conference room and my eye was instantly drawn to him, not to the other three men who moved forward immediately to greet Charlie. This man stood out, he was striking, if not handsome, standing towards the back, in a dark grey suit and black shirt. He watched me with this strange light in his eyes, and I found myself thinking that everything would be alright as long as he never stopped looking at me like that, which he didn't, until now.

Throughout that whole meeting he stared at me, I'm sure I turned a dozen different shades of red, but his eyes never left me. When he stood to give his presentation, he gave it to me, making a point of leaning forward to point out the parts on the model that he believed would be of particular interest to me. When Charlie asked his questions, Lucas answered without skipping a beat but he always spoke to me. More than once I caught Charlie smiling at me, I tried to brush it off but I knew I'd never hear the end of this later.

I was standing off to the side looking at the model after the presentation, waiting for Charlie to finish, when Lucas approached me. I smiled up nervously at him, and when he stopped a little too close for comfort I waited a moment before stepping to the side away from him.

"What do you think?" he asked, leaning down a little to catch and hold my gaze.

Again, I smiled and gave my standard answer. " Charlie seems genuinely impressed, or he would have been more withdrawn. I think you did well."

Lucas was shaking his head before I'd even finished talking. "No, I want to know what you think." That was a little surprising. I was, I am Charlie's assistant, my job is to take care of the details, to remember the little things that he's too busy to notice. I didn't often give my opinion on things like this, and when I did it was to Charlie and only ever in private.

"It's a classically beautiful building with a modern edge," I replied after a moment, "I like that you've taken into account the architecture of the surrounding buildings and the feel of the neighbourhood."

"But," he prompted, moving again to close the distance between us. Charlie had also noticed the exchange which only helped to make me more uncomfortable when he moved closer to hear my answer with a curious smile that said this man intrigued him too.

"But if I were Charlie I'd ask for a few changes."

Lucas' eyes searched my face with such determination I felt like he was trying to memorize it, memorize me and my reactions to him. "What changes do you want," he prompted again. I glanced back at Charlie but Lucas moved to block me from looking at anyone else but him. "Tell me," he said softly, putting the emphasis on the word 'me'.

I blushed and looked down, then cleared my throat. Speaking my mind was not something that came easily to me. With Charlie it was different, he loved me, encouraged me and honestly valued my opinion. Here we were in a room with people who thought of me as nothing but a glorified secretary, that fact alone was almost paralyzing. "I'd ask you to move the courtyard to the north of the building, along Front street."

"And?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile when I frowned at him. "You said things, as in more than one change."

Again I blushed, glancing down at my feet I gave a shrug. "I'd ask you to open it up, build around the courtyard opening it up on the northeast corner."

"Why?"

Now Charlie really was listening, he even moved to stand across the table from us to watch and listen to the exchange. Lucas' boss joined him and suddenly I was the center of attention, the very place I hated to be.

I glanced up to look over at Charlie, who gave me a nod and an encouraging smile. Beside me Lucas shifted impatiently, like he was upset at me for having looked away. He settled the minute I turned back to him with my answer, meeting my gaze with an intensity that seemed to suck me in and block out everything else.

"Bergman and Green have purchased the three blocks Northeast of the plot where we intend to build. Rumor has it that they are planning to build an apartment complex for seniors, a strip mall, and the city wants a piece for a community center. All of which they plan to have built in the next ten years. If you move the courtyard to the North side then you open it up as a space where people can linger and socialize, then the space becomes more welcoming and will be used more often than if you put it on the south west where there's nothing planned but housing developments. Putting it on the North makes it more about the community and less about the building."

Lucas didn't reply, he just watched me with a gaze that felt like it could see past all my defences to the heart of my insecure, self-conscious truth. Charlie laughed and all of a sudden, the other men were whispering amongst themselves.

"How on earth do you know all that?" one of the planners from Lucas' firm asked. "The name of the purchaser hasn't even been released by the city."

I glanced at Charlie who was beaming with pride, when he gave me the go ahead with a small nod I turned back to the man who spoke, doing my best to ignore Lucas and his unnerving stare. "I spent Tuesday with Mrs. Greevely, she's been the most vocal party against the rezoning application, but last Friday she took her name off the petition to stop it. I wanted to know why."

"And she just told you everything?" He snapped more than a little unhappy by my confession.

"She enjoys company and a good bottle of whiskey," my reply made Lucas huff with amusement and when I looked up at him there was a warmth in his eyes that did things to me that I wasn't ready to acknowledge just yet. "As Charlie would say, it's all about what you know and how you can use it to make people trust you."

He was the one I spoke to, I was so tuned into him. The others were talking and I couldn't for the life of me make out a single word. It was like I'd spent my life surrounded by white noise, and suddenly there he was, all smooth jazz in crystal clarity. If he'd walked out of the room right then before anything happened, it wouldn't have mattered, I would have still spent every night of my life thinking of him.

"Have dinner with me," Lucas blurted out his request, like he didn't care that we were standing in a room with our bosses.

I heard the mumbled comments from his team as they turned and walked away, and instantly I shut down. My goal in everything was to be a fly on the wall and here this man had pulled me out into the center of everyone's attention over and over again. Now they were whispering about me behind my back and it made me physically ill.

"I-I," I glanced at Charlie who clearly thought this was hilarious. "I have plans," I finished eventually, my eyes fixed to the ground.

"Plans can be changed," Lucas said with a confidence that bordered on arrogance. He changed tactics and turned to Charlie. "We should celebrate, dinner would give us time to talk about this plan to move the courtyard."

"I agree," Charlie laughed and then called out to Lucas' boss, "Sam, you can make dinner tonight right?"

"I wouldn't dream of turning you down," Sam replied with a smile.

Charlie turned back to me with that look I knew all too well, "Allie, why don't you make us a reservation for four at Burgoo, let's say seven?" Then he left me there, alone with this pushy, too-intense man as he headed out into the hall, taking everyone with him.

Lucas didn't move until I found the nerve to look up at him, there was a smile on his face when I did. "Happy now?" I grumbled, pulling my tablet in closer to my chest, as if it could shield me from him somehow.

"No," he replied honestly, pushing back his jacket and sliding his hands into his pants pockets. "I wanted to have dinner alone with you." There was the briefest pause before he asked, "Am I ruining a date?"

"Would it matter?" I countered.

"Are you seeing someone?" He pushed again, stepping to the side to block me when I tried to scoot past him.

With a frown, I glanced up at him. "Why," I asked, "you don't know me. This is just business."

"It won't be for long," he told me with a smile. "I'll see you tonight."

Just like that he left me there, silently fuming and excited all at the same time. It took a full minute to collect myself but eventually I made my way to Charlie's side. Thankfully he didn't push me to answer the dozen questions I'm sure were rolling around in his head.

---

"You shouldn't have encouraged him," I grumbled to Charlie as we walked up the street to my favourite restaurant. My infuriating uncle patted my hand which was tucked in the crook of his arm and clucked at me.

"It's time you moved on my love," he reminded me gently not for the first time. "Lucas Friesen is smart, educated, well on his way towards a successful career and clearly interested in you. You could do worse."

"I could do worse? What a backhanded comment Charlie," I snapped a little more harshly than I'd intended. When he'd given me 'the look' that said I was pushing it, I rushed to explain. "He barely knows me, we know next to nothing about him. I don't like rushing into things, I don't feel prepared."

He could hear my panic and stopped us just short of the front door. Turning he cupped my face in that gentle, centering action he'd used when I was a child fighting a massive anxiety attack. "If you wait until you're prepared you'll never take a chance on anyone. It's the chances, the risks that we take that give us the things we didn't even know we wanted. Maybe this guy will be good for you. Maybe he will help you forget. Maybe he's just a stepping stone on the way to finding Mr. Right. Don't waste your life waiting, Chicken, you're not going to be happy alone like me."

There was a discreet cough behind us and to my complete and utter horror we turned to find Lucas standing a few feet away. I wanted to run away, and probably would have, had Charlie not latched onto my hand and firmly fixed it back into the crook of his arm.

My champion in all things social, Charlie gave Lucas a bright smile, "If it isn't the man of the hour, how are you Lucas?"

"I'm good thank you, I hope I'm not interrupting," Lucas replied quietly. He knew he was, I could tell he'd heard it all, and all the praying in the world wouldn't open up the ground to swallow me whole. The heat of his gaze threatened to light my already burning face on fire.

"We're ready to go in if you are," Charlie replied lightly. I moved to speak and he squeezed my hand, knowing without needing me to say it, that I wanted to find an excuse to leave. Opening the door for Lucas, Charlie pushed me in behind him and murmured in my ear, "Why don't you go freshen up, I'll meet you at the table."

I was grateful for the reprieve, which he knew. Retreat was always my first and most basic instinct. I took a little longer than normal to collect myself, opening the door almost ten minutes later and walking straight into Lucas who was leaning up against the wall waiting.

"I thought you'd snuck out," he said, those heart-stopping stormy grey eyes flicked back and forth between mine as he searched my face for something.

"Charlie knows I wouldn't do that," I replied quietly, smoothing the front of my dress with shaking hands.

"I don't know that," he replied, not moving from his spot and not giving up that unnerving searching. "Who is this guy you need to forget?" His question rushed out, like he couldn't stop the train of thought had he tried.

It threw me, and my first instinct was to turn and head right back into the bathroom, but Charlie was waiting and that one thought kept me firmly in place. "I don't think that's any of your business," I muttered quietly, moving around him and heading out into the restaurant.

"Everything about you is my business," Lucas replied. He followed, keeping whatever other thoughts he had to himself, until he leaned down to push in my chair for me. "I'm not a stepping stone," he whispered in my ear.

My breath caught in my throat, I glanced up to see if Charlie had heard, but he just smiled warmly and started asking questions. The first half of our meal I was quiet, Charlie and Sam kept the conversation going, they discussed my idea to move the courtyard and decided to do it.

Then Charlie started asking Lucas questions. Where did he go to school, what did he do outside of work, was he close with his family, etc. I learned that Lucas was the oldest of three, his sister was a teacher, his brother a psychiatrist. His parents lived in town, he went to school here, he played racquetball and read in his spare time.

I also learned he had some interesting habits, including sanitizing his hands before inspecting all of his silverware and then polishing it with his napkin before eating. He sent his cup back when he found a speck on the outside of the glass, and he ordered a bottle of sparkling water - requesting that it was delivered to him unopened.

None of this seemed particularly notable to Charlie or Sam, but I saw it. Twice he caught me staring at him as he used his fork to carefully separate all his food until nothing was touching before he ate. Both times I blushed and looked away immediately, both times he'd stopped what he was doing for a while.

Finally, when the men began to eat, the attention turned to me. Sam looked over at me with a warm smile, "Charlie here tells me you've been working with him since the tenth grade."

I nodded, ignoring the burn of Lucas' eyes on me. "Yes, what started with a part time job after school turned into full time work when I graduated." I looked up at Charlie and gave him a smile of gratitude. "I enjoy it, we're a good team."

"We are," he said with pride. "She keeps things running smoothly whether we're here at the office or out on the road, I'd be lost without her."

"Do you travel often?" Lucas asked, it was clearly directed at me. He went so far as to reach out and put his hand on the table next to me to get my attention and turn my gaze to him.

"Regularly," I replied quietly, swallowing the lump in my throat. " Charlie doesn't like to travel alone, but honestly, I probably wouldn't travel without him."

"Why?" Lucas asked, his focus so entirely fixed on me the rest of the world seemed to melt away.

"Charlie pushes me outside my comfort zone," I replied honestly.

"Where did you go to university?" Sam asked, pulling us both back into the conversation. I blinked a few times to get myself to focus on his question.

"I didn't go to university," it was not exactly something I openly shared, but he'd asked and I rarely lied. "I've taken a few online courses from time to time but I tend to learn better one-on-one."

"Allie does a lot of self guided learning," Charlie added with a voice filled with pride. " She has this natural curiosity that sees her completely obsessed with one topic after another. She reads everything she can find on a subject and then finds an expert and asks no end of questions. What is it that you're learning about now?"

I was blushing again, because he knew what it was and specifically brought it up. With an angry smile, I met Charlie's laughing eyes and resisted the urge to stick out my tongue. "Architecture," I replied tightly. Beside me Lucas instantly perked up, reaching out again to touch the table and bring my eyes up to his.

"I'll answer any questions you have," he said holding my gaze for as long as I'd let him. I offered a nervous smile and glanced away turning back to Sam.

"What other things have you explored?" Sam asked sensing my discomfort and working admirably to ease my stress. This wasn't the first time we'd been to dinner, he was a long-standing friend of Charlie's, but he'd never really shown interest in me until now.

"I've explored everything from internet marketing and product placement in retail stores, to real estate and investment portfolios. I speak three languages, and did exploration into their respective cultures, and I've spent some time learning about behavioural psychology."

"A very well rounded young woman," Sam praised.

We went on like that for a while, Charlie and Sam asking questions, Lucas and I answering them. At every available opportunity, Lucas would reach out and touch the table next to me, each time I would look over at him and he would hold my gaze with intense, searching eyes for as long as possible. By the end of dinner, I was a little more relaxed, now two glasses of wine in and feeling more at ease with the people around me.

"Well," Sam said standing, "I've got to get going, Charlie, any chance you'd drop me off at the loft?"

My uncle smiled up at the waitress who'd just handed back his card and nodded, "Absolutely, I've got to get going too." When I moved to gather my things, Charlie held up a hand and turned to Lucas. "Would you mind driving Allie home? I've got to meet up with a client for drinks and I don't want to be late."

The infuriating man avoided my death glare, Lucas of course jumped at the chance. "Of course, I'd be delighted."

Charlie smiled and came over to give me a kiss. " You did wonderfully tonight dearest," he said quietly.

"You're an evil, meddling old man," I grumbled.

"You love me though," Charlie laughed, pulling back to tap the end of my nose.

"More than anyone else," I smiled in return. My smile faded a little when Lucas came to stand beside me, he didn't touch me exactly but he stood close enough that when I moved I brushed against his arm. I said my goodbyes to Sam and watched with a nervous, fluttering heart as they walked away.

Lucas waited until I turned to glance briefly up at him and then he grabbed my coat and held it out to me. Directing me to the door with an outstretched hand,, he waited until we were outside before he spoke. "So who do you need to forget?" he asked again.

"I thought I said it wasn't any of your business," I replied wrapping my scarf around my neck.

With his hands in his pockets, Lucas fell into step beside me. "I thought I said it was," he replied casually. "I also distinctly remember saying that I am not your stepping stone to someone else."

"Right now you're nothing but a stranger."

"That isn't true, you feel the connection between us," he answered with utter confidence.

That's the confidence that has seen us through a lot. Even when I was riddled with doubt he knew how to make everything right. I'd been missing that in my life after him. Apparently, it wasn't enough this time around.

Strangely enough I managed to hold myself together as I got dressed. I had to, he stood in the door watching as if he didn't trust me not to steal something on the way out. I took the bag off the dresser, grabbed my shoes at the front door, stuffing them into the bag and put on the pair of runners he'd put out for me.