Page 4 of Players Like Us (Reunion Gap #7)

W hen you have a reputation as a screwup and you’ve lived up to said reputation, it’s kind of difficult to erase.

Even if you aren’t that person anymore, have changed your behavior, your goals, acknowledged the waste and regret that had once been your life.

Didn’t matter. People still saw you for who you were , not who you’d become.

At least, that had been Neal Alexander’s experience.

And the worst offenders? The ones who couldn’t quite let it go were your family.

They wanted proof that you’d changed and weren’t the same reckless pain-in-the-butt who didn’t care about anyone but himself.

Show them what you’d done, how you’d changed, the behavior and the new path and then. .. maybe they’d believe you.

But if you thought you could win them over by mere observation, spending time with you, witnessing the change?

You were wasting your time because family didn’t forget, and while they might forgive, they kept tabs on the “old” you and the supposed “new” you.

So, it had taken Neal a few attempts—okay, more than a few to find his way, but he’d done it.

He owned four restaurants in the D.C. area: trendy, upscale, popular.

Did his family know about any of them? No, they had no idea that three years ago, Neal finally decided to put that business degree and his trust fund to good use, partnering with a man who had a vision and talent for the restaurant business.

Maybe Neal should have told his siblings about the restaurants or the smaller businesses he’d invested in, maybe he even should have shared this information with his father.

But he didn’t want the comments, the critiques, the damn questions that said they doubted his capabilities with any financial endeavor.

Of course, Meredith would cheer him on, praise his actions, and when she found out how he’d saved a man from bankruptcy, she’d gush with I always knew you had a kind heart, even if you didn’t want to show it to anyone .

Dominic Lombardi, the business partner who’d become Neal’s best friend, didn’t look at it that way.

He claimed Neal had saved his life and given him a future.

Yes, there was truth to that, but there was another truth, one that still bothered Neal.

He’d taken advantage of the man’s desperation and while he might have fixed it later on, the initial action was as bad as what his father had done.

Actions the town and his children despised almost as much as they despised the man.

He supposed he’d eventually share his business ventures with Tate and Meredith, just not yet.

For now, he’d let them think he was still gallivanting around the globe, sleeping with countless women, spending his days and nights chasing his next pleasure.

If anyone in his family had been the slightest bit interested, they could’ve had him checked out.

Harrison Alexander, patriarch of the Alexander family, had everyone investigated, especially his own children.

But two years after college, he told Neal he wasn’t worth the investigative reports.

You’ll never change , he’d said. You’re always going to be a waste.

Ten years from now you’ll be doing the same thing—nothing.

Those words had propelled Neal into a world of excess and debauchery, fueled by the knowledge that his father truly believed he’d never amount to anything.

If the old man believed he was good for nothing, then why not be good for nothing?

But a person could only live that way for so long before he ended up empty, alone, and miserable.

When Dominic approached him one night, Neal had been living in McLean, Virginia, for six months.

He frequented Matilda’s, the trendy restaurant Dominic owned, and had been investigating a few business possibilities from school friends and women he had a loose relationship with…

but he could see those possibilities for what they were—a way to float money without delivering product.

There had been no official business proposals, no formal agreements, nothing but a kiss from the women and a handshake from the men.

Nothing solid, and Neal had wasted enough money on “friends” to recognize insincerity.

Dominic was different.

The man had determination, passion, and intent as well as a solid business proposal and a plan to pay back the loan he needed.

The loan idea didn’t interest Neal because once again it was only money and what could he do with more when he already had enough?

He needed purpose and that’s where the idea to own part of the restaurant evolved.

For the first time in his life, he wanted something enough to be willing to work for it.

When had he ever had to work for anything?

The previous jobs he’d had were obtained from a friend of a friend and required minimal experience and a handshake interview.

Fluff positions with an office, golf outings, and a 401k.

And the women? There’d never been a need to court any of them and while their eagerness had proven convenient, he sometimes wondered what it might be like if he actually had to work for a woman’s attention.

Say she didn’t think he was a such a big deal?

Or what if she refused the fancy dinners, the jewelry, the trip to Martha’s Vineyard for a four-day weekend?

That could be interesting. But really, who refused offers like that? He wouldn’t know because no one had rejected him since...ever.

Neal leaned back against the booth at Matilda’s, sipped his coffee.

He and Dominic were working on ideas for a fourth restaurant.

And Matilda’s needed a makeover. Neal glanced at the dark interior, considered what the place might look like in lighter tones.

Upscale-trendy were the words restaurant reviewers loved to use when they described this place, but like an aging woman, it needed a little help to cover the wrinkles.

Not major renovations, but paint, lights, a change in fabric, maybe a different style of tables and chairs?

New leather for the booths? Different artwork?

Customers enjoyed the intimate feel of the place, but with a subtle shift and a bit of remodeling, it could be even better. So much better.

Dominic had brought in a few designers, but the ideas they shared were too overdone, too grand, and made the restaurant lose its intimate feel.

The designers were all trying too hard, as though they were creating a vision for themselves and not the restaurant.

It doesn’t make sense to change for the sake of change , Dominic had told him.

Neal had smiled at the unlikely man who’d become his best friend. Really? Does that hold true for your women as well?

A laugh followed by If you don’t change the women on a regular rotation, they start to think you’re in a relationship… They want to share your closet… Check your calendar… Change is essential for protection and self-preservation.

I hear you.

But the past year, Neal’s responses had dwindled, as had the number of female companions.

He’d had a few relationships, the last a beautiful model who couldn’t cook or steep her own tea.

She did, however, possess certain attributes and qualities that negated the necessity to do either.

But the constant self-absorption, the pettiness, the demands that they attend the latest gala or appear in the entertainment section of the most popular magazine grew tedious.

So many photographers and interviewers… The questions were always the same, as were her responses.

What’s your secret to such long-lasting beauty?

Where will you travel next?

Do you and your beau have any plans involving a ring?

Francesca would bat her long fake eyelashes, toss her dark hair over her shoulder and purse her injected lips. No plans . But a few months ago that response had morphed to we’ll see . And then the clincher that made Neal call it quits: Quite possibly. Stay tuned .

He didn’t know if he’d ever settle down with one woman, or if he wanted a wife, but if he ever did, it would not be a self-absorbed model who referred to herself in the third person and couldn’t pass a mirror without glancing at it.

He’d heard that empathy, caring, and the ability to compromise were necessary in a long-term relationship.

His brother had found all of those in the unlikely match with Charlotte Donovan.

And what about Meredith and Daniel Reese?

He’d never seen that one coming and wouldn’t have called it if his sister were walking down the aisle toward the guy—which she eventually did.

It hadn’t been a church aisle, but a path at the edge of the woods, and there’d been no extravagance or fanfare.

Just friends and family, minus their father.

Neal had wanted to make it home, but Dominic’s emergency appendectomy two days before the wedding nixed that plan.

Of course, there’d been the phone call from big brother Tate with comments like Can’t you even do this for your sister? Just this once? What could be so important that you can’t make it to her wedding?

But Neal had remained silent, petrified that putting words to Dominic’s condition might somehow jinx his best friend. He hadn’t been willing to risk that, no matter the consequences.