His Love Match Page 8

  Through the glass window, Diana recognized Teddy’s BMW. She gathered her small purse and giant cup of latte, which she rationalized she deserved, since Scott had left her stranded.

  “You know, you two are going about this all wrong,” Teddy said the moment Diana was seated. “You’re supposed to be on a date. That’s where the man sees you home and makes sure you’re safely inside your house before leaving.” She glanced sideways. “Or if you’re lucky, he kisses you goodbye after breakfast. Really lucky would be breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

  “Obviously, my luck has run out,” she said flatly.

  Teddy was quiet for a moment. “What happened?” she asked as she navigated the streets.

  “I don’t know. We were walking on campus and he got a phone call. He explained it was an emergency and he had to go.”

  “He left you stranded here?” Her voice rose several notes.

  Diana shook her head. “He didn’t.” She explained that she told him to go. That she would find her own way home.

  “What was the emergency?” Teddy asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “He didn’t tell you?”

  Again she shook her head.

  “Was it female?”

  “I don’t know.” Diana didn’t want to answer any more questions. She didn’t know anything, didn’t understand what had happened.

  “Do you think it was staged?”

  “Staged?”

  “Yeah, you know. When you aren’t sure that you want to spend time with a person, you arrange for someone to call you at a specific time. Depending on your answer to the call, you either continue the date or you have a method of cutting the night short.”

  Diana came to that thought at the same time Teddy voiced it. She didn’t want to believe it. Not after the way Scott had told her that he enjoyed their kiss this morning. And not after their walk through the university grounds. Or the final kiss.

  “I don’t think that was it,” she said, but she wasn’t sure. “Scott already knew who I was. If he didn’t want to spend time with me, there was no reason for him to even ask me out.”

  “True,” Teddy agreed, but her voice indicated she still had reservations.

  “My car is still at the office. Take me there,” Diana said, as Teddy turned down the street that would lead toward Diana’s house.

  “I don’t think I should take you home. We should go to Winston’s for a glass of wine. You can drown your emotions or at least dull them, and I could be the designated driver.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with my emotions. I’d rather go home.”

  “This is Teddy, remember?”

  “You said that this morning, before I got mixed up in all this.”

  “All right, it is partly my fault. I’m sorry I insisted you go to dinner with him. I never thought it would end like this.”

  Teddy pulled the car into a parking lot, but not at their office. She’d driven to Winston’s, a local bar and restaurant not far from their office or the new hospital.

  “What are we doing here?” Diana asked. Instead of answering, Teddy got out of the car, purse in hand, and closed the door. Diana could only follow. Even if she hadn’t wanted to, Teddy took her arm and pulled her along.

  “We’re going to drown.”

  * * *

  Scott set the plane down with barely a bump. He braked, bringing the huge bird to a slow speed before taxiing to the hangar. A medical team waited for him. The moment the fuselage doors opened they rushed into action. Within minutes an ambulance sped away, its lights flashing and sirens cutting the night air. Scott witnessed this scene many times and it never got old. He was helping to save someone’s life, delivering transplant organs. He no longer asked for information about the patients, because he’d found that knowing compelled him to think about them rather than place his full concentration on flying. And in the air, mistakes were unforgivable.

  As the lights of the ambulance faded he thought of Diana. Pulling his phone out, he headed for the hangar to call her. He got no answer on either her cell or her home number. He frowned, wondering where she was.

  He’d left her abruptly. Without explanation. He didn’t have time to tell her about the call. He knew that minutes could make a difference between life and death for someone. He had to go. His friends understood. Often he’d take a call and be gone without a word. But he wasn’t sure she knew or understood.

  Trying her number again, he was met with the same answering machine. Calling the office, a business voice that was unmistakably Diana’s came over the line asking him to leave a message. Scott could hear the sexy undertone in it. Where was she? His flight had taken two hours after he got to the airport. It was nearly midnight in Princeton, and he knew she wasn’t at a wedding tonight. So where was she? Had she reached Teddy? Had anything happened to her? Scott worried. Leaving a woman on the street wasn’t like him.

  Normally at this hour Scott would stay the night, but he was back in the air the minute the plane was refueled and serviced. It was three o’clock in the morning when he arrived in Princeton. Diana’s car was still in the office parking lot, but there was no sign of her. Worry surfaced. Scott wished he knew Teddy’s number. Or where she lived. Maybe she knew where Diana was.

  At five o’clock in the morning Diana answered her landline. “This better be good,” she said, her voice slurred.

  “Diana?” He was surprised at the way she sounded, but relieved that she was home.

  “Go away,” she said.

  “It’s Scott.”

  “Scott, go away.”

  He was unsure if she was half asleep or ill. She sounded strange. “Diana, are you ok?”

  “Go away,” she said again. He heard the phone click in his ear. She’d hung up on him.

  Something was wrong, Scott thought. He didn’t like the sound of her voice. He redialed the number and started the car at the same time. She didn’t answer. He didn’t know how long it took him to get to her house, but it was less than it should have taken if he’d obeyed all the traffic laws.

  Jumping out of the car, he was on her porch in a matter of seconds, his finger pushing and holding the doorbell. His mind imagined she was hurt, attacked, unconscious, unable to get to the door. He started knocking loudly and calling her name. Half a minute later, she opened the door a crack.

  She pushed his hand off the bell. “Could you stop that noise?”

  “You’re drunk,” Scott said. Still he was relieved.

  “I am not drunk,” Diana countered. “I was drunk, but I’m past drunk now. So go away.”

  Instead of leaving, he pushed the door open and walked inside. Diana lost her balance, her arms flailed as she tried to keep from falling. Scott caught her hand and pulled her upright.

  “Maybe you better sit down.”

  “Maybe you better leave.” Her hands moved in the air like she wanted to point at him, but couldn’t find his image in the many she was seeing. If Scott hadn’t been so relieved that she was only drunk and not hurt, he’d laugh. He moved her to the sofa and sat her down. “You left me at the altar.”

  “Where?”

  “Where did the moon go?” She laughed. “I know...I know,” she repeated. Then she fell sideways and passed out.

  * * *

  The groan Diana heard woke her. She felt terrible.

  “Ugh.” Her mouth tasted like copper. Raising a hand to her head, she pushed her hair aside. The effort hurt and she groaned again. What had she done? She tried opening her eyes, but the effort was too much. She squeezed them shut and found even that hurt. With a harsh moan she flopped back against the sheets. Something was behind her. This wasn’t her bed. Where was she? Again she tried to open her eyes. Squinting, she peered through slits. What was she doing in the living room? And why was... No,
she thought. Her brain was still soaked in wine. She thought she saw... But she couldn’t have.

  Diana tried to turn over, away from the light filtering through her eyelids. She fell. Her eyes opened wide. She was on the floor. She heard something. Then hands touched her. She jumped and began to fight.

  “Stop it!” Scott shouted. “It’s me.”

  Diana looked up, startled to see Scott staring down at her. She immediately stopped struggling. And closed her eyes. She had to be dreaming. But if she was, it was the first time she felt, really felt, hands. She opened her eyes again, then squinted. Pain shot through them, but not before she recognized Scott.

  “What are you doing here?” Every word she spoke hurt her head. She put her hand up to it. Scott’s hands were still at her waist and she was still lying on the floor.

  “You don’t remember letting me in last night?”

  “I let you in?” Diana asked, raising her voice at the end making it a question.

  “It’s a good thing I’m an honorable man.”

  Diana levered herself up and sat with her back against the sofa. The effort took most of her energy. She needed to close her eyes, but forced them to remain open. “If you were honorable, you’d have gone home and let me wake up without anyone knowing how bad I feel.”

  Scott laughed. “Is this your first hangover?”

  “Is that what this is? Why do people drink like this? My head feels like it will either fall off or explode.”

  “Why did you go drinking?”

  “It was Teddy’s idea. At least I think it was.”

  “Did she have something to drown?”

  “Me,” she said.

  “Why you?”

  Her head was clear enough that she knew better than to answer. “I’m all right now. You don’t have to babysit me.”

  “You owe me a walk,” he said.

  “I owe you nothing. I completed the walk—alone.” Her voice wasn’t strong enough to prevent the pain the word evoked, but she endured it.

  He stood up and pulled her to her feet. For a moment she was unsteady and clung to him. She still wore the dress she’d had on last night, but she had no memory of getting home or falling asleep on the sofa. Where was Teddy, and why wasn’t she the one who stayed the night?

  “Did you see Teddy?” Diana asked.

  “Not today.”

  Diana, feeling strong enough to stand on her own, pushed herself out of Scott’s arms. Then realizing her mistake, she sat down on the sofa and fell sideways, gathering a pillow she hugged it to cushion her head.

  “I need something to drink. Would you get me a bottle of water?”

  “That’s the last thing you need,” Scott told her.

  “Why?”

  “It’ll make you drunk all over. Got any tomato juice? I’ll make you a hangover cocktail.”

  “Too much salt,” she said with a frown.

  Scott disappeared. Diana tried to go back to sleep. At lease there she wasn’t in pain.

  “Diana?”

  She heard her name called, but didn’t want to answer. Answering caused pain.

  “Diana?”

  “Go away,” she muttered, turning her head away from the sound.

  “Turn over and drink this. It’ll make you feel better.”

  She wasn’t sure she believed him, but her head hurt so bad, only death would make her feel better. She heard Scott sit a glass on the coffee table. The sound of the glass rang like a loud bell. The seat next to her depressed as Scott sat down on the sofa. His body was hot next to hers. Hands took her shoulders and turned her gently. She faced him.

  Picking up the glass, he offered it to her.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Orange juice and a few ingredients from your refrigerator and cabinets. Don’t ask, just drink.”

  Lifting her head off the sofa, Scott supported her and held onto the glass while she drank.

  “Yuk,” she said. “It tastes like Drano.”

  “Drink it all,” he ordered, pressing the glass to her lips.

  Diana did as she was told, then let her head fall back against the sofa pillow.

  “Fresh air is the next best thing,” Scott said. “Come on. We’ll go for a walk.”

  “Walk! I don’t think I can stand, let alone walk.”

  Scott levered her to her feet. “You can lean on me.”

  She stepped sideways, testing her ability to stand alone. “I need to change clothes.”

  “Can you do it alone?”

  “Of course, I can.” She wasn’t sure if that was true. She could get out of her dress and into pants and a shirt. It was getting to the second floor that posed a challenge. She took a tentative step, grabbing the newel post and closing her eyes. Nausea threatened, and she waited until it passed. She got to the fourth step and stopped. A moment later she made it the rest of the way. At the top, she headed to the bathroom to brush away the taste of last night’s alcohol as well as whatever Scott had given her.

  Diana felt no better returning to the living room, but she was dressed in more appropriate clothing for walking. She couldn’t explain why she went with Scott. After he left her standing on the street corner last night, she shouldn’t even be talking to him.

  Scott led her to the door and turned to her. “You might want to get some sunglasses,” he suggested.

  Even with the glasses, the sun was strong. Scott offered Diana his arm, and she had to take it. She was unsteady on her feet and constantly closing her eyes against the glaring pain. Scott took the lead, deciding where they walked and how they got there. After a while she realized they were in the center of town near the campus buildings that had dominated Princeton for more than two centuries.

  “What are we doing here?” Diana asked. “I didn’t realize we’d walked so far.”

  “That’s a good thing. You must be feeling better,” Scott said.

  Or going blind, Diana thought, but didn’t voice it. Her head pounded, but the ringing in her ears was gone, and the traffic along Nassau Street no longer sounded like a cacophony of poor-quality steel drums.

  They wandered toward Blair Arch. It was a meeting place, home of several choruses, and a natural division between upper and lower areas of campus. When they reached it, Diana stopped. She took a seat on the steps facing the lower campus and let the shade soothe the pain in her head.

  “You asked me if I enjoyed my time here,” she said.

  “And you said you did.” Scott looked over the area, sitting next to her.

  “What about you?” she asked. “Did you enjoy being a student here?”

  “I did,” he finally said, but his voice conveyed something else.

  “What’s wrong? You sound like you didn’t really like it.”

  He looked over the campus in front of them. Green lawn spread out like a carpet. Diana wondered if he was seeing the young man he once was.

  “It was a long time ago,” she told him, soothing whatever it was that appeared to haunt him.

  “I wish I could go back and change some things.”

  “What would you want to change? You had everything. You were a BMOC. Everyone knew you. Everyone liked you. There was always a girl trying to get your attention.”

  “All except one.” He looked directly at her when he said that. His voice was quiet as if they were in a library or one of the campus chapels.

  “Me? You didn’t want my attention.”

  “I would have changed how I treated you,” he said.

  “I don’t think about it. It was a lifetime ago. I’m no longer the girl who went to school here. I’m older, hopefully wiser.” She smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

  “Don’t you feel something every time you pass by?”

  �
�Feel what? Envy. Pride. Hostility? My memories are good ones. You might not know it, but you and your group weren’t the only people I met as a student. It isn’t the campus that causes memories.” She left the unspoken sentence hanging in the shaded air. “The ground and buildings are just that. The people are gone.”

  For long moments they were quiet, each lost in their own thoughts. In college Diana had watched Scott and his friends from afar. While they played with a Frisbee on the campus lawn or gathered in a hall, she’d had to study extra hard to keep her scholarship and work for extra money. She’d gone on a few dates, had friends, but there had been no one special in her entire college career.

  “We’d better start back. It’s a long way, and I feel better,” Diana said.

  They got up. Scott took her arm when she appeared unsteady. He dropped it as soon as she was able to stand. They headed back toward the front gate.

  “How’s your head feel?” Scott asked as they began to walk.

  “Better,” Diana said. “Thanks for the walk and the medical advice.”

  “I’ve been where you are, many times.” He smiled, apparently remembering past mornings-after.

  Classes ended and the grounds were suddenly dotted with young men and women moving back and forth across the campus. Despite it being summer, classes were in session.

  “You know, when I went to class here, I never walked through those gates.” She indicated the main gate a few yards away. It wasn’t a real gate, not one you could close to keep people either in or out. It was a passageway, two high brick pillars with stone lions atop them.

  “Why not? You weren’t superstitious, were you?” Scott stepped off the path allowing a couple walking hand in hand to pass them. The girl smiled at him. Many students felt that walking through the gates meant they would never graduate, so they avoided the use of them.

  “I wasn’t superstitious. It’s just that there was always a lot of activity going on here,” Diana said. “I was forced to go another way.”

  “You mean we were out here playing. And you were avoiding us,” he accused.

  “Not all the time,” she said. “I didn’t intentionally avoid you and the others. But now, I always come in this way.”