to me,” she said. “He doesn’t owe me anything.”
“Elise,” her father said. “Of course he does. He has a responsibility for this situation, and if he’s any kind of man at all, he’ll live up to it.”
“It wasn’t his decision to keep the baby,” she countered. “I decided that on my own. I didn’t ask him to weigh in. So now the responsibility is mine.”
“No,” her mother said, an expression of concern crossing her face. “That isn’t right, Elise. He should still help you out, financially if in no other way. Your father is right about that. Promise me you’ll discuss that with him.”
Elise thought of the room full of investors at Quadra-Well accusing her of being after Lucas for his money and knew that the last thing she would do was ask him for any kind of financial help. She would have been far too embarrassed to do anything of the kind.
But she didn’t think her parents would understand that. They hadn’t been there in that room. They hadn’t felt what it was like to be treated like trash by a bunch of rich executives.
If she told them what she was thinking, they would tell her to get over it.
So she just nodded. “All right,” she said. “I’ll discuss it with him.”
But she knew she wouldn’t. She would discuss anything Lucas was willing to offer, but she wouldn’t ask for anything more. It was the most she could bring herself to do.
Chapter 19
Lucas
Elise was already at the restaurant when Lucas arrived, but she hadn’t gotten a table. He found her waiting in the lobby, looking nervous, as if she wasn’t sure she really belonged there.
Immediately, he felt like an idiot. He ate at these places all the time—sometimes with his family, more often with fellow business executives or potential investors. He was comfortable in this environment.
But he should have anticipated that Elise wouldn’t be. They hadn’t even begun to talk, and already he had made a mistake.
“It’s good to see you again,” he said, hoping to put her more at ease. This didn’t have to be painful. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with me.”
“Of course,” she said. “Thank you for coming to talk about things.”
He went to the host’s stand and asked for a table for two. The host smiled and led them through the restaurant to a table in one of the private rooms at the back.
“I didn’t know whether we had a reservation or not,” Elise said, taking a seat with Lucas holding the chair for her, then looking around. “Are we going to be the only ones in here?”
Lucas nodded. “The restaurant keeps these rooms reserved for executives—business meetings, things like that. Quadra-Well meets with clients and investors here sometimes.”
“Are you worried they’re going to show up tonight?” Elise asked. “It wouldn’t be good if anybody saw you with me, right?”
“We’ll be fine,” Lucas said. “I may be on leave, but they haven’t revoked my access to the company files. I can still see what everyone’s doing, and there are no meetings scheduled for tonight.”
Elise nodded. “I saw what they did to you,” she said. “Putting you on leave…it was my fault, wasn’t it?”
“No,” he said, surprised. “Of course it wasn’t your fault. Why would you think that?”
“You said yourself that I had caused trouble by telling you about the baby in front of the whole office. And you’re right. I shouldn’t have done it that way.”
“You had no way of knowing what the result would be,” Lucas said. “Honestly, Elise, even I couldn’t have anticipated what the result would be. I’m shocked about the way my company reacted. And I think they put me on leave because they wanted to make sure they could release their contraceptive drug without my interference.”
“But the drug doesn’t work…” Elise said. She looked pained.
“Apparently it works eighty-five percent of the time,” Lucas said. “Which is something they neglected to tell me, by the way. I’m so sorry, Elise. You’re in this situation because of the failures of my company.”
“Don’t be sorry,” she said. “I’m not.”
He was surprised. “You’re not?”
“I’m looking forward to this baby,” she said. “I was a little freaked out at first, but now I’m glad. So you don’t have anything to apologize for.”
He sighed. “I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear that. I had the impression you felt that way, but I’m very happy to be right.”
“Well, I’m glad you don’t have to worry about it anymore,” Elise said. “And I am