If You Want Me (17 page)

When the doorbell rang shortly after three on Sunday afternoon, Alice was suddenly tempted to run upstairs and hide in the closet. She knew the thought was childish, but the last thing she wanted was to spend the next few hours with the very people who had made her life a living hell in high school.

She saw some of them briefly when they dropped off or picked up their children from the theater, which didn’t bother her, because she didn’t have to spend any real time with them. She enjoyed teaching their children. At least their children respected her, looked up to her. But their parents—she had prayed she would never have to see these people again, and now it was like a nightmare coming true.

She should have insisted Marie cancel the party.

As Marie cheerfully answered the door, Alice straightened her spine. She was Desirée LaCroix, wonderfully successful actress, after all.

And wasn’t success supposed to be the best revenge?

Damn straight.

She’d dressed the part. Wearing a cream-colored designer pantsuit that hugged her curves in the right places and flared around her ankles to give the illusion she was wearing a skirt, she knew she looked stunning. The bodice hugged her generous breasts, revealing a good dose of cleavage. At her wrists, the delicate crepe material flared again to match the pant legs.

Classy, yet sexy.

She wasn’t naïve enough to believe her former classmates were interested in Alice Watson, so she’d give them a good dose of Desirée.

One by one, the party guests entered. Carmen, Heather, Jill, Karen, Felicity. Many of them had been cruel to her in high school. Had laughs at her expense. Others had simply acted like she was a nonentity. Where had Marie found them all, anyway? Were they all patients at the dental office where Marie worked?

Or perhaps they were all members of the Ultimate Bitch club. Maybe they’d taken a blood oath to stay friends for life…

While Alice’s heart pounded, her brain told her she was judging them all by their past actions. Carmen had seemed genuinely friendly to her at the theater the times she saw her. Wasn’t it possible they had changed?

Still, just being around her old nemeses made her more than a little uncomfortable.

Heather, Karen, and Felicity were still divas. The rest had put on varying degrees of weight over the
years. It was still a shock to see that Jill, who’d once been a cheerleader, was now about two hundred pounds.

My, how times had changed.

Alice’s mind wandered to Marcus. She wondered if he was coming. At least seeing him would make these few hours bearable.

“Guess who it is?” Marie asked, stepping into the living room with the latest guest. “Sherry.”

Alice nearly choked on a breath. God, not Sherry. She was a year older than Alice and she’d never said anything nice to her in all her high school years. Sherry was most definitely Marie’s friend.

I just don’t get it,
Alice had overheard her saying once.
How could your parents have someone as beautiful as you, then have her?

To Marie’s credit, she hadn’t laughed when the other girls had. In fact, she had come to Alice’s defense, telling her friends to shut up.

But for a person who had shown some sort of familial instincts then, why on earth would she invite someone like Sherry to this party now?

“Hey, Alice.” Sherry approached her with open arms and Alice let her hug her. “How ya doing?”

“Wonderful,” Alice replied, hoping she didn’t sound as flaky as a pie crust. “Life has been great for me. What about you?”

Sherry shrugged. “Oh, I’m okay. Nothing like you. I’m not famous or anything.”

Alice chuckled, the same, fake Hollywood chuckle that she hated. “I’m hardly famous.”

“Of course you are. You put Smithfield High on the map. You’ve done us all proud.”

The doorbell rang again, and Marie practically
floated toward it. She was truly in her element as hostess.

While Marie ushered the next guest into the room, Sherry greeted Rosa, who sat on the living room’s loveseat. Alice was thankful that she didn’t have to exchange any more small talk with a person she most definitely did not consider a friend.

As person after person entered the party—Dawn, Betty, Juanita—Alice marveled at just how fake people could be. The way Felicity and the others greeted her with exuberant hellos and kisses, the way one might greet a long-lost relative, one would think these people had been in her corner from day one, that they weren’t the same people who had endlessly ridiculed her during her school days.

Almost everyone brought a pot with some sort of food, and Alice helped bring it all to the kitchen. Keeping active kept her mind off the fact that she felt like she was in the Twilight Zone.

“Alice.”

Hearing her name, Alice whirled around to see Carmen.

“I wanted to give you this,” Carmen said, extending her a small, elaborately decorated box. “Happy birthday.”

“Oh…you didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to.” Her lips curled in a soft smile. “You’ve done wonders with the class. Devin is so excited.”

Alice carefully undid the gold foil wrapping, then pulled open the box’s flap. A huge candle sat in a crystal cylinder. Lifting the candle to her nose, Alice inhaled the sweet scent of vanilla.

“Thanks, Carmen. How thoughtful.”

“You’re welcome.”

As the counters and table were covered with food items, Alice placed the candle on top of the fridge. Afterward, she was surprised to see Carmen still standing in the kitchen.

“You can go ahead and dig in,” Alice told her.

“Actually, I wanted to say something.”

Alice tensed. “All right.”

Carmen glanced at the floor, then back at Alice. “I know this is a little late. But I want to apologize. I’m sorry for the way I treated you in high school.”

Alice was so surprised, her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. But years of training as an actress allowed her to hide her shock.

“Alice, I really hope that we can put those days behind us. When I look back, I’m just so embarrassed at my behavior and I have no other excuse than I was young and incredibly stupid.”

Maybe she was a sucker, but the fact that Carmen was trying to make amends made the resentment she’d felt dissolve like snowflakes hitting warm pavement. “High school was a long time ago. I don’t really remember much of it,” Alice told her. It wasn’t exactly a lie. For years, she’d suppressed the memories so they could no longer hurt her.

Carmen let out a relieved breath. “I’m glad to hear that.”

She had similar experiences with Felicity, Jill, Sherry and Juanita, though they didn’t come right out and apologize. But they all were extremely nice, and in their eyes she could see a hint of regret. Alice was filled with an odd sense of joy. It wasn’t like she’d call them or anything in the future, and certainly not hang out with them, but this was one day.
She was surprised—and proud of the strength she’d found to face the very human demons of her past.

And it didn’t matter that Karen and Heather didn’t pay much attention to her, though this was her birthday party. Their indifference now surprisingly didn’t hurt her. Marie had been right. The party was healing for her.

Alice went to the washroom, and when she returned, she saw Mia on the sofa beside Rosa. Chad must have dropped her off in the past few minutes.

“Aunt Alice!” Mia jumped to her feet and ran into Alice’s arms.

“Hey, sweetie.” Alice sat in the spot Mia had vacated beside her mother, and Mia snuggled up beside her.

“You okay, Mother?” Alice asked.

“I’m just fine.”

Surprising her, Rosa reached for and squeezed Alice’s hand. It was this kind of mixed signal that always pained her. Sometimes it seemed like she was breaking through the cold wall her mother had erected around her emotions, other times she felt completely shut out.

Marie and the rest of the women stood by the dining room table, nibbling on various appetizers. Absentmindedly, Alice watched them as Mia chatted to her about the role she hoped to land in the play.

Felicity and Marie laughed at something, then Felicity turned and saw Alice. She waved her over. “Alice, come over here. You’ve been so quiet about your movie star life. We want details.”

“Yeah,” Dawn added. “Who’d you meet? Who’s really a hunk, who’s not? All that stuff.”

Alice rose, and Mia rose with her. Putting on the
air of Desirée, Alice made her way to the group. There she told them the stories they wanted to hear. And they laughed at everything she said, seeming for once, to laugh with her—not at her.

A loud clapping sound reverberated in the room, followed by a “Quiet everybody!” All the women in the room turned to face Rosa, who stood just beyond the living room at the head of the dining room table.

The chatter slowly died, and when everyone was quiet, Rosa spoke again. “It’s nice to see—and hear—that everyone is having a wonderful time. I, for one, am happy to have some excitement in this house.” She smiled, and there was laughter among the group. “But now that we’re all here, I say we acknowledge the guest of honor.”

A chorus of “hear hears” rang out.

“I would just like to say how proud I am of my daughter, and how happy I am that she is home.” She directed a loving smile at Alice.

The smile would have warmed her, should have. But Alice felt confusion instead. Her mother was
proud
of her? Was she saying this simply because she had an audience, or did she mean what she said? And if she meant the words, why on earth hadn’t she said them to
Alice
before now?

Grinning from ear to ear, Marie and Mia approached her mother and stopped at her side. It was only then that Alice saw the large box.

“Alice,” Marie said. “Will you come here, please?”

Stunned, her feet propelled her across the living
room until she reached her family’s side. In fact, she was so stunned that not even Tanisha’s unexpected appearance at the party had jarred her more.

Rosa, Marie, and Mia all passed the box to Alice.

She couldn’t imagine what it was, but as she looked down at the unwrapped box, she heard people saying “Open it.”

“Yeah, open it.”

Her head whipped up at the sound of that voice.

His voice.

He’d come.

Marcus’s eyes met and held hers across the room. Those dark, intense, stunningly sexy eyes. She literally shivered, and she only hoped those standing around her hadn’t noticed.

Her eyes strayed then to what he held in his arms. In one hand, he had a bouquet of red roses. In the other, a wrapped gift.

But it was the flowers that made her heart leap. Marcus had brought her red roses! God, the thought thrilled her. She wondered if this was the way all the girls in high school felt when they received red roses from their beaus. While she’d received expensive trinkets from interested men in Hollywood, this simple luxury was something she’d never experienced.

“Don’t keep us in suspense,” Jill said.

Jill’s voice startled her, reminding her that she was in a room full of people. “No,” Alice said, her voice almost a croak. “Wouldn’t want to do that.”

Slowly, she lifted the lid off the box. Inside lay a large scrapbook with the words
A BRIGHT AND SHINING STAR
engraved on the cover in gold.

Alice brought a hand to her mouth. She lifted it
out of the box and opened it. It was a scrapbook of articles about her career. Alice brought a hand to her mouth as it fell open.

Who had done this? Mia? Her sister and mother had never supported her career, so she couldn’t imagine them putting this together.

“What is it?” everyone seemed to ask at once.

Her hands now shaking, Alice closed her fingers around the scrapbook and lifted it to show the crowd.

And noticed that Marcus had moved closer to her.

For a moment she couldn’t breathe, let alone speak. Maybe it was because he was the only male in the room, but the energy had suddenly changed. He was like a candle in a dark room, glowing brightly, giving warmth.

“Well?” he asked.

Alice cleared her throat. “It’s a scrapbook.”

“With memories of her career over the years,” Marie added. “News clippings, rave reviews, pictures she sent me of her with various stars.”

Alice couldn’t believe her ears. Why, if they hadn’t supported her career, would they have done this?

God, had she been wrong about them all this time?

She glanced at Marcus and found him smiling at her, silently sending her support.

“Is Denzel in there?” Alice heard someone ask, not sure whom. Right now, all she could think was that Denzel had nothing on Marcus.

“You bet,” Marie replied.

God, why was he looking at her like that? Like he wanted to snare her soul with his gaze alone.
And he could, but Alice would never let him know that.

“Alice?”

“Huh?” Her eyes found Heather’s.

“I said,” Heather began slowly, “is he as hot in person as he is on film?”

“Oh, yes,” Alice replied, but her gaze roamed to Marcus as she said the words. “He’s very hot.”

“Oh, I’m so jealous!”

She looked away before he had her totally within his power and she lost her heart to him once again. Glancing down at the scrapbook, she opened it—but she didn’t see much beyond a mix of colors and newsprint.

“Will you pass it around?”

It was him again, his voice wrapping around her like silk. She didn’t dare look at him as she handed the scrapbook off to Betty, who was closest to her.

“And now,” Rosa announced, “we have a cake.”

Alice’s eyes widened with surprise. “A cake?”

“Yes, a cake. I was hoping you didn’t see it.”

“I didn’t.”

Rosa disappeared into the kitchen, then returned with the large cake to the table. It was covered with white icing, pink roses in the corners, and pink wording that spelled out
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
,
ALICE
.
YOU’RE A STAR IN ALL OUR EYES
.

“This is so…unbelievable,” Alice said.

“We are proud of you,” Marie said to her.

Alice didn’t know what to think. This pride and support was too sudden to believe it was real. But the articles over the years were real, and Alice felt even more confused.