Good Morning Heartache (21 page)

§

Alexis woke the next
morning. Her head was pounding inside her skull, hard and steady. She moaned
aloud to make sure that the world knew that she didn’t feel like living today,
and it should just leave her alone.

Alexis’s plan to get a
little R&R had failed her. The only comfort she got was the kind that gave
you hell in the morning, especially when you drink eight of them over a two
hour period. Right now, Alexis hated that she had put herself in that
situation.

All she had wanted was to go
out, forget that she was responsible for anyone or anything, and forget about a
particular blue-eyed architect that was causing a dull ache in her chest. While
she was able to forget for a few hours, she was regretting it now. With every
pulse in her head, she was reminded of what she did and why she did it. Ryan
filled her thoughts again.

Alexis found it scary that
she was so able and so willing to lose herself in Ryan. With a single touch or
the brush of his lips, she turned into the horny teenager who thought she was
in love. But she wasn’t in love. Love didn’t exist. At least not that kind of
love.

Alexis pulled the top of her
sheets over her face in an attempt to block out the light that was streaming in
from her floor to ceiling windows. Apparently in her drunken state, she didn’t
have the forethought to close her curtains. Opening her eyes only as far as
necessary, she confirmed that she was naked. Great. Her window was facing the
backyard, but God forbid Riley or—worse—Jimmy were on the deck or in the pond.
Normally she wouldn’t care, but her head was pounding, her stomach was turning,
and her chest was tense, and even if someone gave her a list of what was
normal, she wouldn’t be able to make sense of it.

Rubbing her temples, she
decided that she couldn’t stand the pounding any longer and craved the chalky,
grape-flavored relief of a Tylenol on her tongue. Why had she been so careless?
She never drank in excess. She knew it would only lead to bad things. She felt
lucky she was only hung over and that there wasn’t some naked stranger lying
next to her, though that had been her original intention, and instead she had
been picked up by a gay guy. Really, she didn’t want the strange from a
stranger. As much as she tried to deny it, she wanted it from Ryan.

She tugged on the edges of
the sheet, hoping the sides would come loose, but they were tucked in too
tightly. That’s what she got for insisting on hospital corners and extra-large
sheets. Her closet was closest, so she quickly pushed the covers off her naked
body and booked it into the walk-in. She grabbed a pullover sundress meant more
for over a swimsuit than day-to-day wear. It was short, but at least it covered
all of the important parts. Then she headed into the bathroom.

Just when she was about to
pop the coveted pills into her mouth, Alexis was struck by the buzzing sound of
her cell phone. She had never noticed just how loud and annoying the vibrate
feature was.

Screw it. Whoever it was
could leave a message. She threw the tablets into her mouth, quickly chewed
them, cupped her hand under the running cold water, and lifted the fluid that
filled her palm into her dry, sticky mouth. She slogged over to her bed and
crawled back in. Today was going to be one of those days when she didn’t get
out of bed.

Her lids fell heavily, but
just as she closed her eyes, her phone buzzed again.

“No!” she shouted at the
phone. But it was insistent. She reached behind her and fumbled to find the
offending device on her nightstand. The bastard was getting turned off. Not off
vibrate. Real off. The no-rings, straight-to-voicemail off.

The phone buzzed between her
fingers, and she looked at the display. 212.

Alexis shot up and answered
the phone, hesitantly. This could be the call she wanted, but it could also
ostensibly be some telemarketer with nothing better to do on a Wednesday
morning.

She answered the phone to a
familiar voice. “I got your story, Alexis.” Then a pause.

Dr. Lehrer always did this.
She left you in a lurch without a clue as to what was coming next. With her, it
could be anything.

“It was amazing. I want you
to submit it.”

Alexis’s jaw fell. “You’re
kidding” was all that could stumble out of her mouth.

“You know me better than
that. Do you have anything else? I want to see it all.”

“I have a novel outline and one
other story that’s not quite done.” Alexis couldn’t believe this was happening.
Again. She thought for sure that her luck had run out seven plus years ago.
That it was just a fluke. But she trusted Dr. Lehrer. The woman knew what she
was talking about, and Alexis had built a relationship with her that went
beyond professor-student. Even more than mentor-mentee. It was almost a
friendship, but Dr. Lehrer made it clear that under no circumstances was it
okay for Alexis to call her Eleanor. That was fine with her as long as it got
her story published.

Alexis could no longer feel
the pounding in her head. Instead it had moved to her chest, and she was
finding it difficult to keep her breath steady.

“Can you come to New York
next week, say Monday?”

“Absolutely.” She’d do just
about anything asked of her for another opportunity.

“Bring whatever stuff you
have. I’m going to invite Regina Carson. Be here at 10.”

“Anything you say, boss.”

“And Alexis?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t stop writing. You
need to write every day.” With that she said goodbye and hung up the phone.

Alexis stood on her bed and
then jumped a few times. This was beyond amazing. She had to share it with someone.
She climbed down and ran to Riley’s room. The door was still closed, so she
knocked.

No answer.

“Riley?” she yelled through
the door.

No answer.

Alexis tried the door
handle, and it gave easily to her pressure. She peeked into the dark room, but
it was empty. Very empty. And neat.

Alexis moved down the stairs
and called Riley’s name, but there was still no answer.

She wasn’t sure what time it
was, but she was pretty sure that it was still early, and the fact that Riley
was out of bed was strange. Where the hell was she? And if she wasn’t around,
who was Alexis supposed to tell her news to?

Tiptoeing across the cold
tile in the kitchen, Alexis jumped onto one of the stools at the breakfast bar.
There she found a torn sheet of notebook paper with her name at the top.

Alexis,

I left. I can’t stand
this crap anymore. Jimmy loves me and will take care of me. You have no reason
to worry, not that you would. Don’t call. I won’t answer. When I’m eighteen, I
am coming back for my trust.

By the way, you’re a
stupid bitch.

Screw you,

Riley

Alexis rubbed her eyes and
read the note again. It was in a barely legible chicken scratch, so she hoped
that she read it wrong the first time. But she hadn’t. She had no idea what to
do next, so she just sat there, waiting for something to come to her.

Never in a million years did
Alexis think her sister had the guts to do something like this. She was mean,
rude, and messy, but those things didn’t require initiative. This did. She had
hoped Riley would be around this morning, so she could talk to her about this
love thing. Explain to Riley that she wasn’t just allowed to sign over the
trust fund. That her access to it was as limited as Riley’s was. She had to
wait until she was eighteen even if Alexis wanted to kick her out of the house,
which she didn’t.

Though it would be hard to
convince her, Alexis had planned on trying to get her to go back to school for
her last year. Tell her that it only gets better after high school. As much as
she and Riley didn’t get along, Alexis wanted the best for her.

She was too late.

Alexis looked down at the
phone in her hand, scrolled through the contacts, and pushed Riley’s entry. It
was worth a shot.

The phone rang twice, and
then Alexis was directed to her voicemail that said something about Alexis
being a worthless whore. It might have hurt her feelings, if it wasn’t what she
was already thinking about herself. That gem was at the beginning of the
message, and she didn’t pay attention to the rest. Disinterested in hearing the
conclusion, she hung up the phone.

She considered calling the
police. By now, she knew the sheriff’s department well enough, and the fact
that Jimmy was an adult might help get them moving, but she couldn’t bring
herself to do it. She knew that Riley would never forgive her for getting Jimmy
arrested, and Riley was more than likely to take off again once the squad car
dropped her off and was out of sight. There wasn’t much of anything she could
do except wait.

Waiting didn’t sit well with
Alexis. She had to at least try to find her sister, who could be all the way to
Ohio at this point. Alexis jumped out of the chair and walked over to the
counter to grab her purse and key ring, but she stopped halfway there. Her keys
weren’t hanging in their usual place.

Alexis took a deep breath to
keep from jumping to any conclusions. She went out last night; maybe the keys
were in her purse. She closed the distance between her and her purse. It was a
fool’s errand, and she knew it. She had taken a cab to the bar and back home.
She wouldn’t risk her car or other people in a drunken accident.

Rubbing her pounding temples
with her fingers, Alexis closed her eyes and thought hard, not daring to check
the garage.

The safe. She had vowed to
put her keys into the safe while her sister was in the house. Breaking into a
full sprint, she ran down the hallway, up the stairs, into the closet, and to
the safe. She took a deep breath and typed the passcode into the key pad. She
closed her eyes, not wanting to face the truth. Slowly, she lifted her eyelids
to find a safe full of papers, but no keys.

She swallowed the knot that
had built in her throat, and it slowly made its way to her stomach where it sat
like a rock. After carefully closing the safe door, Alexis slowly made her
descent to the last piece of proof before she could let herself accept what was
becoming clear.

When she stood staring into
the garage containing only the Volvo, she finally believed that her sister and
her $200,000 car were gone. Alexis stood silently looking into the garage,
wanting to scream, but not being able to find her voice.

She closed the door and
lumbered back to the kitchen. She sat back in the chair where she found the
note and read it over again. She had no idea that Riley hated her that much.
She knew they weren’t friends, at least not yet. Alexis had always hoped in a
couple of years, when Riley was done being a teenager, they would be close. But
there was only hatred in the letter. There was no room for anything else.

Alexis wiped away the tears
coursing down her face with the palms of her hands and picked up her phone. She
hit a familiar number, let the message on the machine run, and at the beep
said, “Ryan, if you’re there, I need you.”

§

Ryan pulled into the brick
driveway five minutes after Alexis’s words came over the answering machine.
When he heard her voice over the speaker, he picked up almost immediately. He
could have recognized the distress and concern without listening to her words.
But he did listen. She needed him. She didn’t say why, but it didn’t matter.
Before he realized what he was doing, he was in his Lincoln driving to her
house.

Avoiding her was not
working. Every day, every thought he had about her, he liked her a little more.
He thought that he could just push her out of his mind, but then she just kept
showing up. When she walked in the house the day before, he was angry. Not
because she was there, interrupting his work, but because all the other guys
were there. He saw her flushed cheeks and short shorts and couldn’t help but
take her into one of the bedrooms and hold her naked in his arms. Her skin
tasted like salt, and he wanted to lick her all over. He wanted to make love to
her, but he didn’t get that far. He didn’t blame her for taking off that day,
but he didn’t expect to hear from her again.

He thought he could give her
up cold turkey, not care what happened to her because their lives weren’t going
to overlap anymore, but then she called needing his help, and he couldn’t say
no. Now he was sitting in front of her house. He was glad she called him. Maybe
she had changed her mind. Maybe she could love him too. Or maybe one of her
stalkers showed up.

He pulled the key from the
ignition and slid out of the leather seat. He looked around the heavily wooded
area. The neighborhood was devoid of people, and the house stood unassuming and
quiet.

He honestly didn’t know what
to expect. He rang the doorbell, and almost immediately Alexis swung the door
open. Her slim body was covered only by a very short, very thin dress, tempting
him to embrace her. It was various shades of yellow, and he could see the
outline of her nipples through the cotton.

Her face, however, was
tired, long, and white. Ryan knew that she wasn’t attempting to seduce him with
her getup. She needed something completely different from him.

“You’re here,” she said
quietly. “I figured I wouldn’t see you until after five.”

He smiled. That would
generally be true, but the tone of her voice would have haunted him throughout
the day, distracting him from getting anything done. As it was, he wasn’t
thinking much about work anyway.

“I figured you needed me
now.” Admittedly, there wasn’t much for him to do in the final stages of the
project, and he normally would have moved onto a different project by now, but
he couldn’t force himself to leave. He didn’t want to face his co-workers at
Pontus.