She sips her tea. I break one of the cookies in half and take a bite. The buttery dough melts in my mouth, pecans tasting like home.
“I’ve thought about that time a lot since you called. It was the worst moment of my life.”
“Because Alex hurt you?”
“No. Not at all. We’d waited so long. I had to beg him because I knew he would be busy on the ranch. Might even decide to go to tech school or something. I would be stuck in town, finishing my senior year. I wanted that connection to him.”
“What happened?” Please don’t say he hurt you. I can’t believe that about him.
“My father caught us. Arrested Alex. Grounded me for life.” She shakes her head.
“What about him tying you?”
She gapes at me. “You know about that?”
I nod not sure how much to say.
“I blocked it out that time in my life so hard, left it all behind. I have a new life that I love. But it’s a life that depends on appearance and duty in some ways. I’m the wife of a prominent doctor, from a prominent family, in a social circle I wasn’t born to. I’ve had to learn how to fit in. And I wanted to. There’s nothing about my life I would change except for what my dad did all those years ago. But if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have met Charles. He’s truly my person.”
I understand what she means. Alex could have been my person. Would have been under different circumstances. But circumstances are all we have to work with.
“I don’t want to upset your apple cart, but your daddy went after Alex. And he used me to do it.”
“Oh God. Sarah Jane, did my father get violent with you?”
“No.” But the fact she went there first tells me why her momma left the asshole. “He used compromising pictures of me.” I give her the worlds shortest version of the tale of my greatest shame. Well second greatest now that betraying Alex has moved into the number one spot.
“That man is the devil. I hate that he’s my father. I look for signs of him in my kids in case it’s genetic. But they’re both little gentlemen, like their daddy.” Alyss smiles and her eyes go soft. She really is happy.
“I fell in love with Alex.”
“What?” A carbon copy of my own blue eyes lasers in on me.
“In Colorado, I was living out there in an inn where Alex lives and I got to know him.” I bite my lip while searching for the right word. “Intimately.”
“Oh my. Has he changed much, since you knew him back in high school”
“I didn’t really remember him. I only met him a couple of times, and he was yours so I didn’t pay that close attention.” I hesitate, but I can’t help but tell her how great he is. “He works in construction. He’s really talented both with building and managing others. He’s a total gentleman too.”
“Does he…is he still into martial arts?” She’s focused on the table, can’t meet my eyes. It’s clear what she’s really asking.
“He’s still into ropes.”
Her cheeks turn red.
“There’s nothing wrong with that as long as it’s consensual.” There I’ve opened the door for her.
“No. There’s not.” Her voice is barely above a whisper. “I tried to explain that to my father. Tried to talk him out of arresting Alex. Tried to talk him into dropping the charges, that everything Alex did, I asked for.” She cups her cheek, gaze still unfocused. “He hit me. Called me a slut and a liar.” She lifts her chin, her gaze pointed and fierce. “That’s when my momma left him and took me with her.”
Hate for M.D. Littlejohn churns in my gut. What a complete bastard. “He was wrong.”
“I broke up their marriage. It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t violent. Not until that night.”
“That you know of.”
She waves her hand to dispel my argument. “My family was steady until that night, maybe not the picture of love, but solid. Alex was gone before I got to say goodbye. We left a day later. I put that part of my life in the past and moved on. Otherwise, I would have lost my mind.”
“Did you love Alex?”
