Un-betaed

All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

The Next Day

Chapter 5

Day 3

The next morning Evangeline is up bright and early and after finally falling into a restful sleep she does arise fully refreshed.  Putting aside her worries about the ‘John situation’ she leaves her hotel for her meeting with her client.  Setting her phone to forward all of John’s calls to voice mail she’s relieved not to have any interruptions from him at least until she’s in a better frame of mind.

Her client, Mr. Burns, has had her on retainer for years.  He considers her part of his family and has told her that if her mother weren’t alive he’d adopt her as his daughter. Mr. Burns trusts only her to handle this sensitive legal matter.  It is a bit more for her, that’s why the late night research, and why she has an open ended schedule.  She’s not sure how long it will take to resolve this matter but she’s certain no more than a week if all parties can agree. Mr. Burns is the head of a multinational conglomerate and he has an entire department of attorneys but on certain matters he’s very particular about who handles them.  

Evangeline first handled a matter for him soon after she clerked at the Supreme Court. Mr. Burns was so impressed with her acumen, diligence, forthrightness, and if you can believe it, her ruthlessness at such a young age that he made it a point to keep abreast of her career through the years. During these years he’s limited the number of times that he’s interrupted her daily routine in order to secure her services but when he does require her assistance he does without hesitation and makes it well worth her time and effort.

Mr. Burns, Evangeline, another attorney employed by the company that Mr. Burns heads, and the other involved parties with their attorneys meet for several hours.  They break for lunch then resume for the rest of the afternoon.  With neither party willing to concede even a little they adjourn until the next day to resume talks in a hopeful attempt to reach a compromise.

Not wanting the bitterness of the meeting to spill into the evening Mr. Burns takes his group of folks to dinner at a nice restaurant downtown. They talk about any and everything except the case.  Everyone is thankful to have a breather from the tension of the day but they all do decide to call it an early evening so that they can rest and be prepared to battle again tomorrow.

Evangeline returns to her hotel room, showers and changes into her pajamas but she doesn’t go to bed.  For an hour or so she conducts additional research on the case and confident with her findings and feeling prepared for tomorrow’s meeting she closes down her computer and puts away her notes.  

She checks her phone and finds no new missed calls or messages from John.  At first she’s a little disappointed but then she is relieved.  Surely this means that he read her letter and agrees that they should part ways so he won’t contact her anymore.

John’s day is not as filled with meetings as Evangeline’s.  In the morning John wakes determined to talk with Evangeline about her ‘Dear John’ letter.  He decides not to call her because if yesterday is any indication she is avoiding his calls.  Instead he will go to her office to speak with her there.  

John arrives early to find Evangeline’s office door locked and the lights are off.  There is no indication that anyone is in there.  Her receptionist is not at her desk so John waits for her to return so that he can inquire as to Evangeline’s whereabouts.  Checking his watch John is about to give up and leave when the receptionist turns the corner but she’s not dressed for work. Instead she’s wearing casual clothing and not her usual office attire.  John asks her when will Evangeline come to the office today and the young lady responds that Evangeline is out of the office working with a client for at least a week.  The receptionist is a bit puzzled that John doesn’t know this.  She thought that her boss and the Lieutenant were a couple.  Not one to pry she just gathers the files from her desk.  That’s the reason why she came to the office this morning.  She asks John if he needs anything else.  John stands there as if in a daze but slowly recovers and thanks her for her time and walks away.

John makes it back to his car and sits there for some time processing the news that Evangeline is out of town.  The questions start running around in his head:

-- Did she plan to leave ahead of time so that I can’t confront her about the letter?

-- Was this unplanned and has nothing to do with the letter?

-- Why hasn’t she returned my calls or responded to my messages?

-- How important of a case is this?  Can I help her in any way?

-- When will she return?  What will I do until she returns?

-- Can I convince her to reconsider her decision?  Is she really through with us?

Not coming up with any answers to his questions John decides to make use of his time.  With only one other option John goes to talk with Nora.  He knows that he’s not Nora’s favorite person today, what with the Vega case but he wants her opinion on what to do about Evangeline. Nora is Evangeline’s best friend so maybe she knows something about Evangeline’s letter.

When John does finally get to talk with Nora first she has to calm down from still being upset with him about the Vega case and then she has to calm down after finding out that Evangeline is out of town and maybe John’s action had something to do with her leaving town.  Nora knew nothing about the letter but she does tell John that she’s not surprised.  

Nora asks John what did he expect when he beds a woman for months, she tells him that she’s falling in love with him and he says that he doesn’t now if he can love again.  John looks shame-faced at Nora as she’s talking to him but she doesn’t let up. She does ask John to tell her truthfully what does he want from Evangeline.  If he can’t love her why doesn’t he just leave her alone to get on with her life?

“Nora that’s a reasonable question and as Evangeline’s friend I know you’re looking out for her best interests.  Honestly what I want from Evangeline is a chance.  Now that I know she has deep feelings for me I’m not going to abuse those feelings.  Although I can’t say at this moment that I love her it does not mean that I can’t love her.  For so many years I thought that I would never love again but Evangeline has awakened something in me.  I don’t want to lose that.  I want to love again and if anyone can make that happen it’s her.”

“Speaking from a woman’s point of view John you really dug yourself into a deep hole. Evangeline, as any woman would do, is erecting barricades and walls against any feelings she has or might have had for you.  Initially I would say leave her alone and allow her time to regroup from your rejection but unfortunately time is not your ally.  The longer she has to lick her wounds and gain determination to get over you as quickly as possible the harder it will be for you to convince her to give you a chance to convince her that you want a relationship with her.  Right now she’s evaluating what has happened with you and reviewing her failed relationship with RJ.  In that mind space she will probably swear off relationships altogether, at least for a while.”

“She’s out of town for at least a week Nora.  That’s a lot of time for her to erect those walls that you’re talking about. I don’t know where she is. I’ve left phone messages but she hasn’t responded to any of them.  Going to her office is how I found out that she has left town.  What do I do now?”

Nora takes her phone from her purse and dials a number.  John starts to say something but she puts up her hand to stop him.

“Evangeline, hi it’s Nora.  Hey wanted to call and find out if you’re available for lunch.  No you’re not.  Oh you have a case out of town.  How long will it take?  Oh okay.  Where are you so I can send a congratulations gift basket when you win the case?  Okay the Regency Hotel, room 1215, the Regency in Philadelphia.  Okay I have it all written down.  I know you will do a great job.  Oh that’s the guy that keeps you on retainer for special cases.  If you need to pick my legal brain just let me know.  Why didn’t you tell me about this last week?  Oh he just called you out of the blue so this wasn’t planned.  Good, good, call me when it’s over okay. I’m serious about the congratulations basket.  I may send one anyway, a ‘you go girl’ basket.  You know we women have to stick together.  All right I’ll talk with you later.  Be good.  Love you.  Bye.”

All while Nora is talking with Evangeline John is waiting with bated breath hoping for something that will provide him an opening into gaining an audience with ‘Lady Evangeline’.  When Nora starts talking about sending a gift basket John whips out his notepad and pen and jots down the hotel name, room number, and city.  When Nora ends the conversation she beams at John.

“Well John you have the information that you need.  The ball is in your court now and only you can play it. Don’t lose this opportunity John. If you fail now just know that she won’t give you another go at her heart.  We women are not one for three (3) strikes and you’re out. You’ve already squandered one opportunity.  Women are more for ‘fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me’.  There is no third time.”

John grabs Nora and hugs her.  She’s just given him what he needs to make an effort to reclaim his life.  Of course he knows it won’t be easy but Evangeline is worth whatever he has to do to have her reconsider his place in her life.

Before John leaves Nora’s office she does add,

“John, a word of advice.  Don’t try to convince Evangeline to let you back into her life if you plan to continue to be Natalie’s rescuer.  It’s time for you to choose John.  You can’t have it both ways.  You can’t always rescue the ‘damsel in distress’ and expect the ‘queen’ to patiently wait for your return.  Now that you know where Evangeline is and you know that Cristian Vega may get a new trial consider carefully your next actions.  Natalie seems to have you in her sights even if Cristian is released.  If you want her then go be with her, after she divorces Cristian of course.  Don’t put Evangeline back in the triangle that you created.  My girl deserves better.  If you can’t commit to her, leave her alone. Don’t worry she’ll get over you eventually.”

“Nora I know that the way that I handled Natalie was not good for anyone.  It allowed her to depend on me more than she should have.  Even if John Doe weren’t Cristian Vega I still wouldn’t choose Natalie.  What everyone seems to forget is that if I wanted to be with Natalie all I had to do was be with her.  I was with Evangeline because I wanted to be with Evangeline and no one else.  I’m aware that my actions confused everyone but the only important one for me is Evangeline. Now I must do all that I can to let her know that what I said to her some months ago remains true today. She’s the woman I want to be with ‘yesterday, today and tomorrow’.  Talk to you later Nora.  I’m on my way to see a lady.”