deciding not to tell her he had walked all through the night. “My name’s Nathaniel-” he went to put out his hand for a shake, really just hoping to come off as friendly and not creepy at this point.
“Nathaniel?” she questioned. “Nathaniel Lynch?”
He assumed she had heard his name because of his company. “Yeah,” he said, but before he could confirm that he was indeed the Lynch of Lynch Industries, she laughed loudly.
“Oh my gosh! Nathaniel Lynch? Nate?” she asked.
He raised a brow. “Yeah, that’s me.” No one called him Nate anymore.
She pointed a finger at her chest. “Lillian Thompson, you dipshit.”
Nathaniel’s jaw dropped. Lillian Thompson? As in the Lillian Thompson who lived next door to him that he used to push on the swings at recess? The girl he would walk to the bus stop with every morning until his family uprooted him to California? “Lillian?” He had known that she had felt familiar to him, but he certainly did not think the woman had been an old childhood friend of his and Adam’s.
She put out her arms and gave him a hug, but almost instantly she pulled back as though she was embarrassed. “Sorry,” she said and covered her face slightly. “You must think I’m a complete idiot.”
“You’re not the one roaming around a park just because you thought you might know someone,” Nathaniel said with a slight smile.
“No, but I am the idiot who sleeps here every night,” she said. “And I should really go before I get thrown out again. The golf course opens soon.”
“They can’t throw you out. It’s a public park,” Nathaniel said.
“They do anyways,” she said and started towards the exit –visibly embarrassed by her current situation.
Nathaniel followed her. “Lillian, I kind of have somewhere to be today, but I have to ask you…. Would you mind having dinner with me tonight?”
She turned around and stared at him. “You want to have dinner with me ?”
“I really would. I mean, I would love to catch up. Please?” he asked, putting on a charming smile.
She hesitated. “I don’t know, Nate…”
“Come on, let me buy you dinner,” Nathaniel said again.
It seemed that she could not help but to smile back. “Okay, Nate,” she said. “I’ll be here”
“I’ll come by and pick you up at six,” he said confidently before they went their separate ways.
Nathaniel climbed into his rental car and headed back to the hotel where he was renting the presidential suite. He planned to text his assistant, Tony, and let him know that he would be sleeping in that morning. He had a lot to get done that day, and if he was going to have dinner with Lillian he certainly needed to try to get some rest before greeting the day after spending all night walking around a park. He grinned ear to ear. He could hardly believe that after a week of searching he had finally discovered the identity of his mystery woman, and it was Lillian Thompson! Lillian –an old friend from his life before everything changed. Before his father struck out on a new business adventure and moved him across the continent to California. Before his father was killed in a hit and run. Before he himself started his own business venture and became a self-made billionaire. He paused. Lillian didn’t know about any of that. She had no idea he was rich, that he was the one who owned the shelter, or that he and their old
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