“Anything I should steer clear of when I order the food?” he asked.
“I like all the usual stuff. Oh, lo mein instead of rice for me, please.” She grinned. “It heats up better for lunch. The rice can dry out.”
“A lady with a plan. I like it.”
Twenty minutes later she had showered and put on her favorite cropped jeans and the Dodgers T-shirt Daniel had bought her. She hadn’t bothered to blow out her hair, letting it dry curly. She’d always been so careful to do her hair because Glen liked it straight. Maybe this weekend, she would take a few minutes and put on makeup. She could use her favorite black eyeliner and do that little cat eye thing she’d always thought was cute and sexy. Glen had hated that, too.
While she was de-Glenning her life, she should get rid of all the button-down shirts she’d bought because he said they were more attractive than the T-shirts and sweaters she favored. Ali had always thought the button-down shirts looked awful on her body type. She was too busty and curvy and they always bunched on her. And the loafers, she thought, walking barefoot to the kitchen. She actually owned loafers because of a man. Just as soon as she got her financial house in order, she was going to go buy the funkiest sneakers she could find and wear them proudly.
She went into the kitchen and set the table. Once she’d put out plates and flatware, she got her tote bag and the files she carried with her. Planning the wedding required organization and scheduling. Unplanning was much the same, only in reverse. This weekend she wanted to make up a master spreadsheet so that nothing was missed.
Daniel returned with a bag of Chinese takeout in one hand and a six-pack of beer in the other. He held up the beer.
“I took a chance on this,” he said. “If you’d prefer wine...”
“Beer is so what you drink with Chinese food,” she said with a laugh. “Everyone knows that.”
He set out two beers and put the rest in the refrigerator. She looked in the bag and then back at him.
“There’s food for twenty in here.”
“You said you’d take it for lunch. I wanted there to be enough.”
How much did he think she ate in a day? Not that it mattered. She grinned. “I’ll make up a lunch for you, too,” she told him. “You’ll see what I mean about the lo mein.”
She started to set out cartons of food. He’d bought kung pao chicken, Mongolian beef, honey shrimp, combination lo mein and combination fried rice, crab wontons, BBQ spare ribs and crispy green beans. By the time the bag was empty, Ali was laughing.
“You went a little crazy.”
“I wanted to make sure you had something you liked.”
“I could eat all of it.” She put the carton of lo mein in the refrigerator. “We can have this tomorrow and eat the rice tonight.”
He sat across from her and they began opening cartons and dishing up food. “How did it go with the photographer?” she asked.
“You should have an emailed cancellation confirmation waiting for you. There’s no cancellation fee and you’ll be getting back half your deposit.”
She felt her eyes widen. “Are you serious?”
“Very. The guy told me he had at least three other events that want him that night. It was no big deal.”
It was to her. The deposit had been a thousand dollars. Getting half of that back doubled Glen’s measly check.
“You’re amazing.”
Daniel winked. “Yeah, that never gets old. You have any other vendors I can call?”
“I do. The flowers for sure. Oh, and the limos and the DJ.” She winced. “Is that too much?”
“No. I’ll get the contact information before I leave tonight and take care of it first thing tomorrow. I also want you to give me the file with all the addresses. I’ll get your postcards labeled and mailed.”
“You can’t possibly do all that.”
“Yeah, well, I won’t be doing the postcards myself. I have office staff who will put on the labels and the postage.”
“I don’t care if you’re exploiting your employees, you’re really saving me.”
His gaze was steady as they spoke. He was nothing like she’d thought. For some reason every time she’d met Daniel before, she’d assumed he didn’t like her or disapproved of her, but that wasn’t him, at all. He was a kind, dependable guy who gave great hugs and overbought Chinese food. Talk about a miracle.
“Did Glen really send you five hundred dollars?” he asked.
Her good mood popped like a balloon. “He did. He’s such a jerk. Why didn’t I see that before? Did everyone know but me? Has he always been hideous or did I bring out the worst in him? I wish I could—”
She stopped talking and glanced at Daniel. “Sorry.”
“What?”
“You’re Glen’s brother.”
“Not an issue. To answer the question, he’s always been a jerk, but this is the worst thing he’s done. A close second was threatening to take me to court over our uncle’s will.”
“I don’t know anything about that.” She picked up her beer bottle. “Tell me.”
“My dad’s older brother John was a rebel. He raced motorcycles and disappeared for months at a time. No one knew where he went or what he did.” He looked at her. “All this was before I was born. Apparently he was a legend in the family. So one time he came back with a lot of money. Like a couple hundred thousand dollars. In cash.”
“Where did he get it?”
“No one knows. He bought some land in Sunland and put in a motocross track. The sport was just getting going then. By the time I was seven, he had added a couple more tracks and the concession stands.”
“Your empire,” she teased.
“I like it.” He grabbed a rib. “My dad took Glen to try out the bikes when he was nine. I remember being really upset because my mom said I had to wait until I was his age to ride a bike. Glen went a couple of times and hated it. I begged and begged and my mom finally relented when I turned eight. My uncle set me on my bike and I was hooked.”
“When Glen first told me who you were, I looked you up,” she admitted. “You’ve won a lot of championships. You were a big deal.”
His mouth turned up at the corner. “I like to think I still am.”
She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“Yes, I do. I worked hard and I had some breaks.”
More than that, she thought. The motocross circuit was grueling, with twelve races over four months. The racers crisscrossed the country with as little as a week between some races. Not much time for bodies to heal and equipment to be repaired.
In addition to being physically fit and skilled enough to compete, the riders had to have sponsors. The bikes and gear weren’t cheap, nor were entry fees or transportation. Daniel had been on top for three years before walking away a winner.
“What made you give it up?” she asked.
“I knew the odds of something going wrong. I meant what I said—I was lucky. There were pileups that I avoided and even when I couldn’t, I managed to walk away. But eventually everyone has a bad crash and I didn’t want to stick around for mine. It’s a young man’s game.”
She wanted to joke that he wasn’t that old now, but she knew what he meant. Every professional athlete paid a physical price for being the best. Motocross was no different.
“Back to my uncle,” he said. “I was in my last year of racing and talked to him about buying into the business. I had plans to expand what he was doing, and we were both excited about that.” Daniel’s expression sobered. “He had a massive stroke and died in his sleep. No one saw it coming and we were all devastated.”
“You especially,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry.”
“Thanks. Me, too. I still miss him. He was a great guy. He believed in me from the first. Anyway, he left me pretty much everything. Glen got a hundred thousand dollars, but that was it. He was pissed because he thought we should have both been left half. He threatened to sue the estate.”
“But he’d never had anything to do with the business. You’d been involved since you were eight.”
“He didn’t see it that way. He ended up not suing, though. I suspect a couple of lawyers told him he didn’t have a case.”
She groaned. “I can’t believe I was so incredibly stupid as to think he was a decent human being.” She scooped up more shrimp. “I know what it was—I felt like he saw me, which probably doesn’t make sense to you. You’ve never been invisible, but trust me, it’s not fun. Even with my parents. Finola is my mom’s favorite and Zennie is so my dad’s. That left me with exactly zero parents. I’m not trying to say poor me or anything like that, but when I met Glen, he seemed to be really interested in me. I guess I was wrong about that.”
“Whatever happened in your relationship isn’t your fault. It’s all on him.”
“While I’d like that to be true, we both know that in any relationship, both parties are to blame.”
“That’s pretty rational for less than a week into the breakup.”
She sighed. “I know and in a way, it’s really sad. I mean if I can think that clearly, doesn’t it mean that I was a whole lot less in love with him than I thought? In some ways that’s worse. I should still be crushed and hysterical, but I’m not.”