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Desmond set his fork down on the plate. “There’s a couple. The wife was born on Clindale. She’s pregnant. She wants them found, and her husband, Gavin, wants to make certain Ginny gets what she wants. The problem is, Gavin won’t stop until he finds them for her. We have no idea where they are. Gavin could endanger his life by looking in the wrong places.”

“Hmm … You and Gavin are friends? That’s why you’re so invested?”

“No.” Desmond shook his head. “We are not friends. I’ve only talked to him a couple of times.”

“Then I don’t—”

How could he explain something he could barely explain to himself?

“They deserve a break. If you saw Gavin with Ginny, I think you would understand better.”

“Ah … You’re doing it for them.”

“Yes.”

“That’s twice today you’ve shocked me. You want to help Gavin make his wife happy. I would have never believed you had a romantic bone in your body after the way you acted this morning. Who is she? Are you in love with Ginny?”

Aghast at the thought of being in love with a woman Ginny’s age, he said, “God no. I’m almost twenty years older than her.”

“Not into younger women?”

“No.”

“Then who is she?”

“If you’re finished, we should head back to the hotel.” Desmond was uncomfortable with Haley’s line of questioning.

Haley placed her hand over his on the table. “Whoever she was, she broke your heart.”

Desmond moved his hand, not wanting the sympathy she was showing. “No. We were never in a relationship.”

“Ah … It was an unrequited love.”

“You’ve been reading too many books.”

“Nope, Nadia is the bookworm. Did she know you loved her?”

Desmond didn’t know why, but he told her the truth. “No.”

Haley didn’t try to touch him again, but Desmond could tell she was holding herself back.

He started to reach for his wallet to pay for their meal.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Desmond.”

“I’m not embarrassed. There’s just no need to talk about it.”

“Why? Have you ever told anyone about her? Does she know?”

“She died,” he said grimly, taking money out of the wallet.

“So, it really is unrequited love. That’s the worst one to get over.”

His hand hovered over the table. “How is it the worst?”

“Because your mind stays in the fantasy you created and isn’t based on reality. Did the dream world you created where you lived happily ever after move forward in time?”

Desmond laid the cash down but didn’t move to stand. “What do you mean?”

“How old were you when you fell in love with her?”

“Seventeen.”

“If you met her at this day and time, do you think you would still have fallen in love with her? Or, if she were still alive, would she love you?”

His mind went to the type of woman Aanya had been. He wasn’t the same seventeen-year-old who had jumped every time she needed something. Aanya was kind and loving to children, and as terrible as Ivan was, she had still loved him and wanted their marriage to work. No, Aanya would never have loved him, even if he had managed to help her escape. He was younger than her, was a glorified busboy, and she would hate him now if she were still alive, with his involvement in the seedier side of Queens City.

“No, she wouldn’t.”

“The more important question is: would the man you are today love her?”

Would he? Or had he taken one look at Aanya and built a fantasy about them because she symbolized the type of woman he wanted in his life, and not her, per se? She was beautiful, caring, charismatic, gentle … everything he had lacked his whole life to that point. Had she been a beacon he had needed to lift him out of the quagmire he had made out of his life?

Haley stood and took their dirty trays to the bin. “Desmond, we should go before it gets much darker.”

How long had they sat with him lost in his own thoughts?

Neither of them talked during the drive back. Going back inside, he started to walk to the reception desk, but Haley stopped him.

“If you don’t mind, I thought I’d go for a quick swim in the pool while you go to the kitchen. You could make up an excuse about why you’re there without me.”

“All right, I’ll check the pool before going to the room.”

“Okay.”

Desmond watched Haley walk up the stairs. Would he have fallen in love with Haley if he had met her at seventeen? He had a sneaking suspicion he wouldn’t have. The two women had the same characteristic of wanting to help others, yet with Aanya, you were immediately struck by her beauty. With Haley, the more he had gotten to know her, the more beautiful she had become. She was like a pearl—the more you polished, the shiner it became, exposing the beauty within.

Had he wasted his life mourning a treasure belonging to someone else instead of searching for the one meant for him?