Chapter 9

"The flowers are a nice gesture, Matt, but they don't do much after all this time." She flicked a fingernail against one petal. "Especially from someone who walked away from me without so much as a backward glance."

A pained look came over his face and his jaw tightened.

"It wasn't like that, Lizzie," he protested. "Not really."

"Is that so? Then what was it like?" She blew out a breath. "Because the way I remember it, that's exactly what happened. Although I'm sure in your mind you've managed to twist it all around."

"No." He shook his head. "I - " He paused.

"You what?" she demanded. "Let's hear the story you told yourself."

"It was a mistake," he told her. "Walking away from you was a very big mistake. Huge. One that I've regretted making every day since then."

Liz snorted. "Yeah, right. You had plenty of chances along the way to tell me that. To make things right. But you were like some kid with a toy he couldn't let go of. Hockey, hockey, hockey."

"I tried," he reminded her. "I called you a bunch of times to see if we could get together and talk."

"Did you say a bunch of times?" She stared at him, wide-eyed. "I don't call a handful of casual calls over all these years a bunch of times. And talk about what? You had one topic of conversation - hockey. Period. And then, if I recall, you stopped calling completely."

His face reddened and he rubbed his hand over his jaw. "Okay, okay. So I could have been more persistent."

"Try more honest. More..." She threw up her hands, exasperated. The dummy just couldn't seem to get it through his head what was wrong with the way he handled things. "Never mind. It doesn't matter. You made it very clear to me exactly where I stood in your life scheme of things."

Pain flashed in his eyes. "I know. I know." He looked down at the floor, then up again, focusing his gaze on her. "I know saying I'm sorry doesn't do any god. I know telling you what a huge mistake I made won't help. I'm just hoping you'll give me another chance here, Lizzie. I have The Cup for the whole day and I want to share it with you."

"What's make you think that even interests me?" She dug her fingernails into her palms to maintain outward calm. Now he wanted to share this with her? "You think you can just breeze back into my life and hop on the Liz train again?"

"Aw, Lizzie."

"And it's Liz, damn it. Liz, Liz, Liz."

He held his hands out in a pleading gesture. "I love you. I want the chance to show you. Prove it to you."

She was so very tempted to let the past go and throw her arms around him. After all, she'd dreamed about him all these years, pining for what they could have had. Then her inner Liz shrieked, No!

"No." She repeated it out loud. She was not doing this. "Flowers? Really, Matt? You think flowers make up for everything?"

His mouth curved in a lopsided grin. "You always said roses were your favorite."

"So what? You can't come back here after all this time and expect me to fall into your arms. You hurt me, Matt. A lot. And a bunch of flowers isn't going to make up for it." She picked up the roses and tossed them in the wastebasket. Then she handed him The Cup. "Here. You gave up everything for this. Take it and go."

For a moment he didn't reach for it. Then, with obvious reluctance, he wrapped his arms around it and headed for the door. He opened it but then turned to look back at her. "We aren't finished here, Lizzie. I want you. I love you. I'm going to make this work."

"Ha!"

Please get out of here before I make a huge mistake and throw my arms around you.

"You'll see."

"And my name is Liz," she shouted.

With a last look at her he turned again to leave and was almost knocked back by Dara rushing in from the hall.

"Oh! Sorry." She stopped short and her eyes widened as she realized who she had bumped into. "Ohmigod! Matt Vorchak! Hi! My goodness. Are you back in town for good?" She held out her hand. "Dara Flynn. Maybe you remember me form high school. Liz and I were friends. Are friends," she corrected herself. "Business partners."

"He's just leaving," Liz snapped. "He doesn't need your whole history. Don't engage him in conversation."

Dara looked from Matt to Liz to Matt again. Then she shrugged. "Nice seeing you, Matt."

"Yeah." His mouth twisted in a wry grin. "Same here."

"It's not nice seeing him," Liz snapped. "Goodbye, Matt. I need you to walk out that door and right out of my life, something you're very good at doing."

For a moment he looked like he was going to say something. Then he shrugged and headed toward the door again. As he walked out into the hallway, Liz couldn't help noticing the slight limp. Damn! She'd forgotten for a moment about his career-ending injury. Was that why he came back? Was he settling for her now that he could no longer play the game?

Just then the door to the offices across the hall was yanked open and George Flanagan popped out.

"Did I hear someone say Matt Vorchak?"

Matt nodded. "That's me."

"Oh, man! Can I get your autograph? Hey! That's The Cup. How about a picture with it."

Liz had had enough. She pushed her way past Dara and slammed the door shut. She was tempted to lock it but they had to leave it open for clients. Instead she plopped into her desk chair dropped her head into her hands.

"I can't believe he just walked in here like nothing had ever happened. As if I'd welcome him with open arms."

"If you don't want him, you can pass him along to me," Dara teased. "That is one fine-looking man. And what's this?" She reached into the wastebasket and pulled out the discarded roses. "I don't care how pissed off you are at him. It's a crime to throw away these roses. Which, by the way, he must have spent major bucks on."

"Big deal." Liz flapped a hand at her partner. "If you want them, take then. He can't buy me back with a bunch of flowers."

Dara laughed. "Not even very expensive flowers?"

"Not even."

She made a show of booting up her computer and opening her calendar, all her focus on the screen in front of her.

"Okay. Then Finders Keepers. But if a man brought me these many flowers I'd at least hear what he had to say."

"I've heard what he has to say," Liz huffed. "It's why we aren't together. Period. You know that."

"Maybe he's sorry. Maybe he's been in love with you all these years, and - "

"Oh, please," Liz interrupted, twirling her chair around to look at her partners. "He's been in love with hockey and that damn trophy forever. I was just a diversion for him."

It hurt even to say it. At the time she'd hoped against hope he'd ask her to be a part of his drive to succeed. Cheer him on. Support him on the bad days and celebrate the good ones with him. But he'd just walked away as if he'd parked her on the shelf until he had time for her again.

"But what if he's changed? You always said you wanted to be showered with roses. That it was so romantic."

"I also said I wanted a horse drawn carriage ride, ice cold margaritas and a mariachi band singing me a love song. You know what the chances are for those things to happen. I'll bet he doesn't even remember the night we saw that happen and I was bowled over by it. Just because he brought roses doesn't mean he has a romantic bone in his body."

Dara looked at her for a long moment, then shrugged.

"Well, whatever. If you don't want these flowers, I'm not letting them go to waste. We've got some spare vases in the back room. I'll put them on my desk."

"Fine, because yours is behind mine so I don't have to look at them."

She had just gotten up to dump her cold coffee and get a fresh mug when Dara came hurrying out of the back room.

She frowned. "Where are you going? You just got here."

"I forgot something in my car. I'll be right back. I'll take care of the flowers then."

"I told you. You can throw them out for all I care."

Dara made a tsking sound. "He already saw you toss them. Now I can rescue them and he'll never be the wiser. They are just too gorgeous to trash."

"Fine. Whatever.

She wondered if she'd hear from Matt again or if her firm brushoff today would discourage him. Objectively she was glad he'd realized his dream and sad that his injury meant he'd never play again. But he'd chosen to leave her behind so she couldn't waste more than a spare minute feeling sorry for him.

Besides, it wasn't as if she'd been hiding in a corner by herself this entire time. Okay, so romance had been missing from her life. Big deal. But she had worked her ass off learning her trade and now it was paying off. She and Dara hardly had a spare moment with all of their time focused on building their agency and making sure each event went off as the one today.

There, she told herself. She was too busy to be distracted by Matt Asshole Vorchak. Way too busy. She hoped this was his one and only shot and he was out of her life for good.

She turned back to her computer and tried to focus on the calendar she'd brought up. She wanted to have a good idea what they could take on if these new contacts turned into contracts.