Tito. It was Tito on the phone. Caylee let out a slow breath when she saw his name on the display, then picked it up and tried to sound calm, normal. Of course Gregory didn't have her new cell phone number. How could he?
Hearing from Tito was just the distraction she needed from her own worries. She hoped the news he'd gotten today was positive.
"Hey, how did the meeting with the mystery donor go?"
"Not now." He sounded on edge. "Are you free tonight?"
It sounded to Caylee like the meeting had not been good news. Damn.
"That bad, huh?" What could have happened that he apparently didn't want to discuss it over the phone? Immediately her worries over Gregory were replaced with concern for Tito.
"I'll tell you tonight."
"Ok. Where and when?"
"Do you have a car with you?"
Sam and Camilla had several and had given her the use of one while she was staying with them. But she hadn't used it today.
"No, I rode in with Sam this morning."
"Then I'll pick you up after work. Can you be done by 6:00?"
"Sure." Now that she wasn't working for the life-sucking brain-numbing securities law firm in New York putting in 14 hour days, she could actually leave at a reasonable hour if she didn't have a major project due the next day. It was refreshing to be away from not only the ridiculous billable hour requirement, but also the pressure to never be perceived as being less than dedicated by walking out of work before the sun went down.
"I'll see you then," Tito, said, and abruptly disconnected.
Caylee set her phone down on the desk. Whatever had happened, she guessed she'd find out about it at 6:00, so there was no point wondering. What she needed to do now was focus back on the new case assignment so she'd have something to report back to Jack tomorrow morning, since she now definitely wanted to get out of the office at 6:00 and not a minute after.
* * *
Tito sent a quick text to Bailey and Ella to let them know he wouldn't be back to the office today, and would fill them in about his meeting tomorrow. Almost immediately his phone began to buzz with a call from Bailey, but he sent it to voicemail.
He knew she was dying to find out who the mysterious benefactor was, and what they wanted from OFC, but he needed to process the information first. And there was no way he was going to discuss it with Bailey and Ella - or Jack and his partners for that matter - until he'd decided exactly how to approach his sister Maria with the information. It affected her every bit as much as it affected him. Maybe more, since he reminded himself that Eleanor had several of Maria's paintings hanging on her wall.
How would his sister feel about that? He remembered how upset she'd been when Jack had made the high winning bid for a painting of hers that was being auctioned at a charity fundraiser, thinking that Ritchie had put him up to it just so she could have a sale. That was before she knew that the flash of color - the red windbreaker on the man at the helm of the sailboat she'd captured in her painting of Biscayne Bay - had been Jack himself. He'd been desperate to win the bidding because it was a painting of his own boat, and of him doing what he loved best. It now hung on the wall directly across from his desk in his office.
Would she immediately assume that Eleanor had purchased the paintings out of charity to Maria? While Tito was pretty sure Eleanor would have purchased them even if they sucked, they clearly didn't suck. Maria was already building a strong reputation in the Miami art scene as an up-and-coming young artist. And he imagined that Eleanor knew enough to appreciate what was and what wasn't good art, and if Maria's had fallen short, Eleanor probably would still have purchased them but she would have relegated them to a more distant part of her house out of view, not the front room where she entertained guests.
It was just the thought of opening up all those old wounds for his sister that made Tito uncertain how to handle the situation. One thing for certain - now that he'd actually met Eleanor, he could no longer ignore the past.
He wasn't sure why he wanted to talk it over with Caylee. Maybe because as someone who hadn't been involved in any of the past drama, she could look at things objectively? Talking to Maria's husband or even to the other OFC employees about this personal matter before telling Maria just felt like a betrayal.
But he needed to talk it over with someone, and make a decision fast, since Bailey, Ella, Jack, hell, even Maria herself, weren't gong to wait long before pressing him for answers about his meeting with the donor today.
He supposed he could just lie and say he was sworn to secrecy, but he didn't want to do that. In the end, secrets only hurt people. It would be better to get the truth out into the open, regardless of what his decision was on Eleanor's invitation for him to move into her Fisher Island Estate for three months and get to know her.
In the meantime, what he needed was a long drive along the coast to try to clear his mind.
* * *
It had never taken so long for 6:00 to arrive. Caylee left her laptop on her desk, as she had no plans to take work home with her tonight, and headed for the elevator. Just as the doors were about to close, Jack came around the corner so she hit the Open button and held it.
"Hey," Jack said.
"Sorry I'm leaving this early-" she started, but he interrupted her.
"For heaven's sake, it's after 5:00 - leave whenever you want."
"Sorry, flashback to my former life."
Jack stepped closer and blocked the elevator door with his hand. "Just wanted to ask if you heard anything from Tito. Abut the meeting today."
"Nothing yet," she said, honestly.
"All right," Jack said, "I'll just catch up with him tomorrow. Have a good evening." He stepped back and the doors started to slide shut.
"Thanks, you too," Caylee said as Jack disappeared behind them, and the elevator began it's descent.
She hadn't lied to Jack. But if she'd told him she was on her way to meet Tito right now, he'd have asked her to call him later. She wasn't making any promises to anyone until she heard what Tito had to say.
He pulled over just as she came out the lobby doors at street level. A sexy man with more than a hint of danger in those brooding good looks, with one hand on the steering wheel of that classic blue convertible and the other arm resting casually on the back of the passenger seat. He was still dressed from the meeting, she noticed, but had ditched the suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his button down shirt. She could see some of the tattoos on his arms. A stab of desire and something more shot straight to her core.
Who knew a tattooed man in a business suit would be so irresistible? She wanted to peel the rest of that starchy button down shirt off him and run her hands over everything underneath.
He moved his arm from the back of the seat and reached up to tilt his dark sunglasses down, looking at her over the top of them and those startlingly blue eyes gave her another jolt.
"Getting in?" he asked.
"You bet."
She opened the door and tossed her small crossbody purse onto the floor of the passenger seat, then slid in.
"No laptop case?"
"I'm not planning on working tonight."
"I can put your jacket in the trunk," he said, pulling something to pop it open and getting out then waiting while she wriggled out of the suit jacket, folded it neatly, then handed it to him.
Why am I so nervous? she asked herself while she waited for him to come back in the car.
Was it thinking about what he might tell her about his meeting? Or was it something altogether different?
"Well," Caylee said, as they pulled into traffic. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"
"Not yet."
Caylee waited a few minutes but Tito didn't say anything else. Except for a slight movements of his fingers against the steering wheel that she thought might be a tell that he was under stress, his outward appearance was calm.
"So," she said, as he pulled onto a highway headed south, "want to at least tell me where we're headed?"
He glanced over at her but his sunglasses covered his eyes so she couldn't read his expression.
"Guy I know opened up a place to eat down in Homestead about six months ago. It's nothing fancy."
"I don't need fancy."
The car picked up speed and Caylee reached down into her bag and pulled out a band to catch her hair in a ponytail, and leaned her head back. Even though they were approaching evening, the sun was still bright. It felt good on her face, along with the breeze caused by the car's motion.
"You want me to put the top up?" Tito asked.
"No, this is fine." She smiled at him. "So how do you know your friend with the restaurant?"
"Prison. That a problem for you?"
She shifted in her seat so she could face him - or at least his profile, since he was now keeping his eyes on the road.
"You want to drop the attitude? I've been waiting all day to hear about this big meeting and so far you've told me nothing. If you've got a chip on your shoulder, I didn't put it there."
He reached over and put his hand on her knee, squeezed lightly.
"I'm sorry."
"Well, okay then."
Nothing like an immediate apology to drain the mad right out of her.
When he left his hand there, idly resting on her knee, his palm warm and his fingers curled slightly, a different feeling than mad started going through her. She readjusted herself so she was sitting facing forward in her seat again, which caused his hand to shift, the pads of his fingers brushing lightly over the bare skin behind her knee.
Stop it, Caylee, she told herself. Today is about whatever secret Tito has learned and wants to share with you, so stop thinking about sex.
Meanwhile, he just let his hand rest there, as if he'd forgotten all about it.
Caylee hadn't.
Since Tito didn't seem inclined to talk while they were driving, Caylee just leaned back again in the seat, watched the Florida landscape go by, and let her mind drift.
She didn't realize she was dozing off slightly until she was awakened by the crunch of the tires on the gravel parking lot of a rustic wooden building with a wide wrap-around porch that advertised steamed crabs and fried gator bites. Glancing around, the place seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. But there were a good number of cars in the lot.
There were tables on the porch, and it looked like the some additional seating inside the small building. They walked through and a server - a woman in her 50's with a no nonsense demeanor that changed to a broad smile when she saw Tito - greeted them, then stepped toward an open doorway leading to the kitchen and yelled "Hey Carlos! Come see who dropped in."
"Ma, I got six orders up," said a stocky man, probably somewhere in his 30's, wiping his hands on an apron as he came through the doorway. Then he saw Tito, and his own face broke into the same smile.
"Hey, man, good to see you. That your girl there?"
Tito grinned back at him. "Workin' on it."
They clasped hands and did that that kind of half side hug thing guys do.
"Caylee, this my good friend Carlos, and his mom, Juana."
"Happy to meet you." Caylee shook hands with both of them, while customers scattered at a few of the indoor tables ignored them, focusing on plastic baskets of food piled high.
"Come on out back," Juana said, "and I'll get you fixed up."
"You hungry?" Carlos asked.
"Very hungry," Caylee said, and realized it was true.
"You came to the right place for that," Carlos said, and let loose a booming laugh that made him instantly likable.
"You hang around after you eat," Carlos said to Tito, "and when things slow up a bit I'll come out to see you and we'll catch up."
Juana led them out through the rear of the restaurant and down two steps into a patio area with more tables, surrounded by palm trees and other foliage with a string of lights around it attached to wooden posts. Not twinkle lights - strings with large bulbs that that Caylee imagined gave off enough light to see well, while still creating a festive mood when the sun went down.
"You two are dressed pretty fancy to come here for dinner," Juana commented as she showed them to one of the round wooden hewn tables with curved benches. Like a picnic table for two, Caylee thought, and considered it charming.
"We came straight from work," Tito said. "Weren't even sure where we were headed at first."
She nodded. "Ain't that just what life is like. You want menus or just let Carlos take care of you?"
Tito looked at Caylee and raised a brow.
"I'm fine with whatever Carlos wants to make for us," Caylee said.
"Good choice. I'll be right back with a pitcher of tea for you."
"Workin' on it? Seriously?" Caylee said to Tito as Juana went back inside.
Tito actually grinned, looking more like himself than he had so far today. So Caylee let it pass.
"This place is great," she told him, breathing in the aroma of fried seafood and Cajun spices and other things she couldn't identify.
"Wait until you taste the food."
"What I'm waiting for," Caylee said, "is for you to tell me what the hell happened today when you went to that lawyer's office. Come on, Tito, spill."
And he did.
After she heard the whole story - just interrupted occasionally each time Juana came back with more and more food - she rested her elbows on the table, cupped her chin in one hand and stared into his eyes. Those clear blue piercing eyes that, for the first time since she met him, revealed uncertainty.
"You may not like it, Tito, but I'm going to tell you exactly what I think you should do."
Author's Note: What do you think Caylee will say to Tito?