A Billion Reasons Why (9 page)

“Katie.” He dropped his chin, pained that she could believe such things about him. But what had he done to prove his love for her? She didn’t know the truth. She couldn’t know the truth, or it would only put her father’s death more into question. He clutched the box in his pocket again and wondered how he could protect her from the truth and still manage to explain why he possessed her grandmother’s wedding ring.

He hadn’t thought this through. He’d never give that engagement ring to Poindexter. He hadn’t held on to it for eight years to give it to Katie for a loveless practical marriage. He’d had his suspicions about her engagement, but meeting Dexter Hastings only confirmed his thoughts. Katie had given up on love, and Luc had no one to blame but himself.

Chapter 6

E
ASY
L
IVING

A wall of hot, thick, moist air assaulted Katie as she stepped off the plane. Her forehead sprang moisture before she’d reached the second step. She’d forgotten the sluggish weight of the summer weather in New Orleans. How a simple exercise like breathing required more effort. She had, in fact, lost her gills. She slid her heels back on before she stepped onto the tarmac. Raising her arms above her, she embraced the steamy heat. She closed her eyes and stepped back into the memories, when she smelled the sweet jasmine and raced to suck on cherry popsicles before they won the battle and melted, draping her in a sticky mess.

“You okay?” She felt Luc’s hand in the center of her back.

“I’m home,” she yelled over the noise of the tarmac. “It’s been eight years!” Her mind filled with thoughts of food. There were delicacies that could only be found in New Orleans, and when her feet hit the ground, dreams of oyster po’ boys and blue plate mayonnaise made her lick her lips. “Can we eat now?”

“You’re home in style.” Luc waved a hand toward a waiting limousine. “A triumphal entry. Did you notice how quiet my jet was compared to all the rest?”

“Luc, sweetie, you have the biggest trophy and the best.”

“I only meant—”

She slipped into the car. “My mother will say I’m putting on airs.”

“That she will. Wait until she gets a load of the feathers.”

“Where do the pilot and Linda stay while you’re gone?”

Luc touched her face. “You always did make sure everyone was taken care of, didn’t you?”

“I’m not a doormat any longer, if that’s what you mean.”

The driver appeared at the door, slammed it shut, and came around to the driver’s seat. He was a fat black man with an affable smile and a silver front tooth. “Where y’at?”

“I’m good, Leon, how are you?”

“Oh, you know, I’s all right. Who dat ya got wit ya?”

“This is Katie, but she’s no tourist, Leon. She’s from the Irish Channel. It’s been eight years since she’s been home.”

“No kiddin’?” Leon whistled. “Eight years. You ain’t gon believe the changes. What street? You gon yo momma’s?”

“My momma moved,” Katie said. “To the Upper Garden District.”

“Too bad. Master DeForges, you’ll have to take her by the new Irish Channel. She won’t believe her eyes. All them new shops and restaurants.”

“Katie’s dad owned my first shop. That’s how I got my start.”

“The one on Magazine Street? No kidding. Well, ain’t that something. Where you live now?”

“California,” she answered. “Northern California.”

“That’s a right shame.”

“It’s not home, that’s for certain.”

Naturally, the Irish Channel would be up and coming once her mother moved away. If there was a way to lose money, her family had always been gifted with the ability. If Luc was gifted with an ability to turn vegetables into gold, her mother was gifted with the ability to melt precious metals into useless minerals. Fortunately, her mother cared little for the finer things in life, so Katie imagined it didn’t make much difference to her one way or another—as long as there was a bounty of food on the table.

The drive from the airport brought her to the harsh reality of seeing Mam, and Katie’s pulse increased with each passing block. Luc slid closer to her in the limo, as if he sensed her rising anxiety. It was as though she felt the cloud lowering over her, the fog muddying her mind and her goals getting lost.

Luc took her hand and held it on the black leather seat. “It will be fine. I’m with you.”

“You’re going with me?”

“Don’t you want me to? It’s been a long time since you saw your mother. Have you even met her new husband?”

Katie shook her head, and he tightened his grasp around her fingers. She ventured a look at his face and immediately averted her eyes. She pulled her hand out from under his.

“It’s all right to ask for help, Katie. Your mother never was the easiest woman to get along with. She just wants you to be happy.”

They looked at one another and laughed.

“No, she doesn’t!” they said in unison. Her mam wanted to tell her
how
to be happy, tell
everyone
how to be happy.

“Do you think she’ll give me the ring?”

He glanced out the window before answering. “If she has it, I do. What could that ring mean to her now? It belonged to your father’s mother, not hers. It’s not worth a lot. It isn’t as if the stone’s the size of a golf ball.”

She paused. “How would you know that?”

“Know what?”

“That the ring isn’t valuable. How do you know that? My grandmother died before I ever met you or Ryan.”

“I just assumed that your grandfather came from Ireland to work the docks. He didn’t come with much, right? I’m sorry, maybe I assumed too much. I didn’t mean—”

“No, you’re right. He didn’t. The ring isn’t valuable, in fact. I mean, it’s priceless to
me
, but in terms of . . .” She was blabbering. Eileen had told her to keep it brief, not to engage Luc any more than she had to, which is why she’d stuck her nose in a book for the entire flight. “Never mind.”

“Don’t you think your mother will want to meet Poindexter before you’re engaged?”

“Dexter. His name is Dexter. Could you give me the benefit of calling him by name? And no, I don’t think my mother will want to meet him.” She fought the urge to say more.

“Your mother isn’t going to meet Dexter until your wedding day? That seems strange, Katie. Even for you. I know this place brings up a lot of emotion for you, but it’s in your blood. Can’t ignore it forever.”

“I’ve done a pretty good job for eight years.”

“That you have.” Luc sat back in his seat. “What did Dexter think of the magazine cover?”

“Gosh, would you look how this place has changed? I hardly recognize it,” she said, gazing out the window. “So many new buildings—”

“Meaning, you didn’t show the magazine to him?”

She turned toward him, her face red with shame. “Not yet, but I will. See, Luc, you get that I’m the type of girl who ends up with my bum on the cover of a national magazine and why I would be doing something like smacking my ponytail across somebody’s face. But I’m not that girl anymore, so explaining that scenario to Dexter isn’t as easy as it sounds. He knows me as the lead singer in the church band and the hardworking teacher who takes her job home with her at night. He doesn’t remember an awkward, gangly girl who posed as a lounge singer to make her way through college.”

“What do you mean, awkward? When were you awkward exactly? You were stunning then, and you’re stunning now. And I thought the pictures were very telling. Dexter should know he’s getting an Irish temper, don’t you think? Full disclosure and all that?”

“I don’t have an Irish temper with Dexter. He’s a calming influence, like the sea. You are the only one who brings out my temper, which is ultimately why it was a good thing you dumped me.”

“I didn’t dump you, Katie. When I watched you in the sound booth, Ryan told me you were way out of my league and not to bother. I never got that out of the back of my mind, I guess.”

She forced a laugh. “So that’s why you turned down my proposal? I was out of your league? Really, Luc? That’s so convenient, and I’ll bet it works great in the Southland. Here, let me try it. You were too good for me”—she draped the back of her hand on her forehead and took on a Southern accent—“so I dumped your sorry self.”

“You
should
try that. Want me to dial Poindexter for you? He’d buy that line easily enough. He obviously believes in his own magnificence. But just for the record, things did not go down that way between you and me. Your memory is flawed.”

She could feel Luc’s voice, low and rich, in her chest. Somehow she’d never managed to shed the sense of security that resonance gave her.

“Luc, you’ve had eight years to fix whatever happened between us. You want me to believe it’s a coincidence that you have to ensure I sing at your brother’s wedding? Tell me this isn’t just your ego and your competitive nature kicking in. Once you were convinced I’d choose you over Dexter, you’d fly off into the sunset and do whatever it is billionaires do with their time. Nibble on gold bars? Silverplate your toilets?”

“Are you through yet?” Luc asked in a tone that told her no one questioned him any longer. “I suppose it’s useless for me to keep saying multimillionaire?”

“It makes no difference to the rest of us, Luc, but if it helps you sleep at night, go ahead, correct me. I’m more curious about your selective memory on dumping me. Tell me, what is it a billionaire such as yourself calls it when a young woman such as myself asks a man she loves to marry her because he said he wanted to get married, and such a young woman believes he may be too frightened to ask, so she, not being a wilting violet . . . and seeing as how she already has the engagement ring—what would you call it if she asked, and he said no?”

“Simple, really. I’d ask why.”

“Rejection, thy name is Luc. Or is there a fancy French word for it? A Creole word? Acadian? Something you say up in the Garden District that works better than
dumped
? Please do inform me, so’s I ain’t so ignorant.”

“Ooowee, she got yo numba,” Leon said from the front seat. “She from the Channel, all right.”

With that, Luc punched a button, and the window between them closed. “As I was saying, I did not dump you. I wanted you to finish grieving your father before we made any big decisions. I’m a planner, Katie. I was trying to do what was best for the two of us, and you were just moving full steam ahead rather than face your father’s bankruptcy, then his death.”

“It doesn’t matter now.” She tilted her chin toward the sun. “As you said, it was for the best. Oh, Luc!” She pointed out the window. “There’s one of your stores! What does that feel like? To see something you built right out on the street like that?”

“I didn’t say it was for the best, I said—”

She cut him off. “I promised Eileen we wouldn’t talk about this without a chaperone. She said I need a witness or my brain gets all scrambled. I want the truth, but I need to take my time digesting it, like a good jambalaya—and maybe have the aid of a good friend, like Tums.”

“Your brain was well enough to devour that book so that you didn’t have to engage in conversation on the plane.”

“Eileen says that you need to respect my boundaries. She told me that it’s all right for me to set limits on what we discuss.”

“Fine, Katie. I’m respecting your boundaries, not to mention all this New Age crap Eileen’s spouting. Let’s change the subject. Do we have time to stop by your father’s store? I’d like you to see what I’ve done to it.”

She twisted her knees around and faced him again. “Luc, you could have bought any business in the city. Why my father’s?”

“Are you willing to hear the answer, or will the truth cross your boundaries?” Luc pressed the button again, and the window between the driver and the backseat lowered. “Leon, don’t take us on St. Charles.”

“Yes, sir.”

Luc raised the privacy window again.

“Thank you.”

“You have to face it sometime.”

“But not yet, thank you. I’ll bet Leon’s never seen you so indecisive.”

“Redheads scramble my brain.” Luc took her hands into his. “Some part of you still trusts me, Katie. Some part of you questions what’s written about me, because you know the truth. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t ask me about your father’s store at all. You’d believe I bought it only because I saw dollar signs where a feeble old man was running out of energy to sell his vegetables.” He pressed her hands to his chest. “You can feel the truth. Why can’t you own it?”

She raised her eyes to him and felt his warm breath and the heat from his neck. When she looked into his eyes, the questions evaporated. “My family lost everything.” She pushed off his chest and sat up straight. “How did that happen if you paid a fair price for the business? Paddy died before there were any answers, and you certainly didn’t offer any. What was I supposed to think? What were any of us left to think?”

“I thought you’d give me the benefit of the doubt. Because I loved you, Katie. Because I still love you.”

His words stopped her cold. “Eileen was right. You’re scrambling the facts again, and I know less than I started with. I should never have come here with you. You’re right, that I do want to believe you, but the fact is, I have no reason to trust you. Do I?”