“That’s my answer, then,” Lise said, more to herself than to him.
“We have to leave now, Lise.”
Why had she rushed out here after him, as if she couldn’t survive in a world without him? That wasn’t true. She’d been without him ever since he first swept through her life, and she could be without him again. Lise turned back to the café. They still had Jake’s high chair set up by the table, and Raed’s friends had made no move to get up. It looked like they were ordering desserts.
“We have to leave,” Raed repeated, sliding into the backseat of the car.
“I’m staying here. Jake and I are enjoying ourselves.” She heard the car door thump shut as she walked away.
Her eyes stung with unshed tears, but Lise blinked them away. It wasn’t the first time she’d had to get herself together in front of other people. It wouldn’t be the last time. And she knew what to do when things went horribly wrong—pick herself up and keep going. If her mother had taught her anything, it was that.
The cool of the air conditioning dried the tears threatening to spill out of her eyes, but it did nothing to soothe the painful crack in her heart. Lise bounced Jake on her hip, and the man who’d been sitting near them at the table waved them back over. Fareed. That was his name.
“Forget something?” He was already searching by the time they got back to the table, while Lise’s skin burned with embarrassment and the pent-up urge to cry. “I didn’t see anything you left behind, but—”
“We thought we would stay,” she answered brightly. “I know we’re not part of the original group, but Jake is having so much fun with the other kids.”
“And you’re having fun with us,” said Fareed’s wife. Her name was lost in Lise’s heartbreak, but she smiled at her just the same.
“I am.”
She settled back in her seat and let the conversation cover her.
He wouldn’t even listen to her. The dismissal on Raed’s face outside on the sidewalk sank its teeth into Lise’s mind and wouldn’t let go. It hurt so much that he wouldn’t even listen to her. And no, she hadn’t been the most articulate. She hadn’t put together a presentation on how focusing on his own country would be just as beneficial—if not more beneficial—than pouring all of himself into an international foundation.
But it wasn’t the foundation that stung.
It was the still-ringing silence after she’d asked him if he wanted her.
Why had she ever thought he wanted her? Kisses and sex were one thing. Wanting a relationship was another. She should have known there was no room for a relationship to expand, no extra space that wasn’t taken up by his plans for world domination.
There was no room for her “small” ideas. No room for her “small” plans. No room for her and Jake and their relatively simple dreams. Lise had never wanted to take over the world for her son. She’d only wanted him to be loved.
She’d only wanted to be loved herself.
“You all right?” Fareed asked. “I think we’re going to head back to the park.”
“I’m great,” she lied. “Jake can’t wait to run some more.” Truth. The more he played now, the easier it would be at bedtime. And Lise had plans to make. She had to pack, talk to her boss about the promotion, and get back to London.
Lise tried her best to feel relieved on the way back across the street, holding Jake’s chubby hand and feeling his excited energy. He’d be happy to chase the other kids around all day. He would be happy, even if she had to recover from a broken heart. That was what mattered in the end. That Jake was happy and grew up to have a good life. She didn’t need Raed for that.
She took one deep breath, then another. There was a future waiting for her in London. A better job. A better life than the one she’d left. There was nothing for her here. Nothing at all.
18
Raed couldn’t stop thinking about Lise.
He couldn’t stop thinking about how hurt she’d been when he hadn’t answered her. Of course I want you. The words had been on the tip of his tongue, but what would he say after that? Of course I want you, but the two of us—we’re not meant for the things I have planned. Lise had turned her face slightly away from Jake as the meaning of his silence sank in. She hadn’t wanted her son to see her disappointment.
And then, as if Raed were any other man in the city, she’d turned and walked away from him.
The images wouldn’t leave his brain. His mind turned them over and over on the private plane to Dubai. Stephen sat in the front of the plane at one of the tables there, papers spread out in front of him, preparing for the meeting. And here was Raed, staring out the window and thinking about Lise.
He’d called a second car on the way to the airport with extra guards so they’d be safe in the park without his own security detail. He’d gotten an alert just before takeoff that they had arrived safely back at the palace, but that wasn’t the point. The point was, she was right. He had enjoyed himself. He’d enjoyed the ride over to the park with Lise at the wheel. He’d enjoyed watching Jake run around with the children of his old friends. He’d enjoyed how it felt to sit in the diner with them, talking about everything and nothing, like no time had passed. It felt like being at home.
It felt like being with Lise and Jake.
More memories flooded in. The morning horse rides, with his son’s finger shooting out to point at everything. The Arabic words Jake had been learning. Lise standing at the sink in the kitchen of the guest house, suds up to her elbows. The way she would talk to him. The night she helped him with the presentation and fell asleep. God, how charming she’d been...
The plane touched down in Dubai with Stephen flattening his hands on the table to keep all of his papers in place. Cell service came back online as they taxied toward the terminal reserved for private flyers, and the first message to appear didn’t make Raed feel any better about leaving the café and hurting Lise in the process.
He’d missed the meeting. He texted back.
Just touched down. If you’re still in the city, I’ll come directly to where you are.
The reply came immediately. We’re en route. But Maria says that we should take a meeting if you can meet us in Europe.
“Don’t get off the plane,” Raed told Stephen, who was waiting by the door, though the flight attendant was still in place. “We’re leaving again.”
Stephen’s eyes went wide. “For where?”
“I don’t know yet.”
He exchanged a few more texts with the donor, a man named Raoul Alfaro, who owned his own investment firm and was a rising star in the global arena. Raed had met his assistant, Maria Castro-Martinez, at a conference a few years back, before she started working for Raoul. How fortunate. How unbelievably fortunate. They’d spent several hours one evening at a conference venue bar talking about business and his ideas for the foundation and a particularly bad speaker they’d seen that morning. Raed had stayed in touch. And now look at her. Her own plans were coming to fruition, and his—
Well, his were coming to fruition, too, only there was something missing.