Perfect Stranger (Novella) (8 page)

“Thanks.” She handed him the damp denim, then helped him strip the linen off the bed and pillows.

They worked in somewhat comfortable silence, but the atmosphere between them had changed. No longer sexually charged or light and playful, a pall had fallen over them, because they both knew they’d reached the end of
this
.

Whatever this was.

And Luke was right. It had been fucking spectacular.

*   *   *

L
uke drove Alexa home. He walked her to her front door, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her. She knew it was good-bye, even if he didn’t say the words. Even if he’d
programmed his phone number into her cell phone, she sensed the finality in the kiss.

Alexa entered her house, wanting nothing more than to be alone. She didn’t return her father’s calls. He could damn well wait until she returned to work on Friday before she dealt with his anger. Instead she gave herself time to grieve. As insane as it sounded, that’s what she did. She grieved for a relationship she’d walked away from before it began. For a man who’d given her more in three days than anyone else had given her in a lifetime. And she grieved for the lonely years she’d spent growing up and the frustrating time she’d spent trying to please a man who couldn’t be satisfied.

Suffice it to say, Alexa held a pity party complete with ice cream and phone calls to her best friend. By the time she fell into a fitful sleep, she did so with the knowledge that this time tomorrow, Luke would be gone.

And she had some harsh decisions and choices to make about herself, her life, and her future.

*   *   *

A
lexa dressed in her navy power suit, the outfit she saved for board meetings and arguments about changing the status quo with the so-called powers that be. The same board headed by her father. She slipped on a pair of high heels, not her usual choice for the hospital, but one that made her feel in control. Like she could handle anyone and anything—the way she felt when she was around Luke.

Makeup in place, she climbed into her car and drove to University Hospital, then parked and entered the building that had been home since she was a little girl. She listened to the click of her heels as she made her way down the halls to her father’s office, and realized there was a lot wrong with that bit of truth. But truth it was, and she was finally ready to confront it—along with the man who’d created her reality.

She knocked on her father’s office door.

“Come in!”

She poked her head in. “Dad? I need a word.”

“I’m busy,” he said, not looking up from his paperwork. The one thing she’d always dreaded about the chief of staff job was the massive amounts of paperwork and the resulting lack of interaction with the patients.

She took a deep breath and stepped inside anyway. “I’d appreciate it if you made the time, it’s important.” She shut the door behind her, not planning on leaving until she’d had her say.

With a resigned sigh, he put his pen down and gestured to the chair in front of his desk.

She opted to remain standing, needing all the leverage and power she could muster.

“Well? I don’t have all day.”

She clenched and unclenched her fists. “Are you happy?” she asked her father.

He blinked, then looked at her with a frown creasing his forehead. “Excuse me?”

She’d thought long and hard about how to approach him, what she wanted to say. This was rehearsed and she knew it. “I asked if you’re happy. In your life? Your job?”

“Alexa, I’m a busy man. I don’t have time for philosophical conversations.”

“Well, I’ll say it again. I’d appreciate it if you made the time. This is important to me.”

Hands on his desk, he met her gaze. “Fine. I don’t think about happiness.”

Her heart seized at the admission she’d expected. What she hadn’t anticipated was how much the knowledge hurt. “Did you ever? Think about it, I mean.” To hell with power. She lowered herself into the chair, needing support. “When you were younger? When you met Mom? When you fell in love?”

That last question was a stretch. Alexa had no idea if her parents had been in love. Or not. She didn’t remember them interacting and her father never spoke about it.

His scowl deepened. “What’s going on with you? Are you ill?”

She drew a deep breath. “I’m taking a leave of absence.” She said the words slowly and deliberately, not rushing through them the way she was tempted to do.

The only way he’d take her seriously was if she sounded firm, didn’t back down, and stood her ground. All things Alan Collins respected. Unless it involved going against his directives or wishes.

“Okay, now I know you’re sick. What the hell do you mean, you’re taking a leave?” He leaned forward in his seat, talking at her like she was just an employee, not his only child.

“In the last couple of days, I’ve had time to think about what I want out of life and—” She pulled in a deep breath. “This isn’t it. I don’t want to be a paper pusher for this hospital. I don’t want to follow in your footsteps, I want to create my own path.”

“You want to create your own path,” he mimicked her. “Don’t tell me. This has to do with that football player,” he said in disgust.

“You know he plays football?” She said the first thing that came to mind.

“The nurses couldn’t stop whispering about it. I thought you’d be above that sort of thing. At the very least I thought you’d get that little rebellion out of your system and return to work fully focused.”

She blew into her hands in an attempt to calm down. “Well, you thought wrong. And that little rebellion you mentioned? It’s been a long time in coming. These past few days may have shown me what it’s like to really live and enjoy life and be happy, but the discontent began long before and has been brewing for years.”

“Alexa, not many people get the opportunities you’ve had,” her father said, too slowly and patiently, as if he were
talking to a misbehaving child. “Not many people have the avenues available to them that you do.”

She held up a hand. “Stop right there. I’m grateful for each and every one, but did you ever think that maybe I don’t want the same things you did?”

“And what is it you think you want?”

There it was again, that patronizing tone. She knew then he’d never get it, never understand. Her stomach hurt because he was her father, but he wasn’t her daddy. He never had been. “I know that I want to enjoy my job. My days. I’m not naive. Life isn’t always easy or fun, but I want to wake up in the morning knowing that, at the very least, I’m doing something of my choosing. Not yours.”

His hands bunched in frustration, his knuckles turning white. “That’s not gratitude; that’s disrespect.”

She cocked her head to the side. “I beg to differ. I did everything you ever asked or wanted. I tried things your way. Now I’m going to try my own.”

His face turned red, his cheeks flushed, and anger vibrated from him. “I raised you.”

“Which is what you do when you have children. What you don’t do is direct and manipulate them into being what you want, envision, or need. I love you, Dad. But I have to live my own life.”

“Are your giving up medicine?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I just want the time to figure out what kind of medicine I want to be in.” She’d wondered if she should add this, and then decided she’d come so far, might as well go all the way. “I also need to figure out where I want to practice it.” Hospital, private practice, more pro bono work at the youth center. Alexa didn’t know but she wanted to figure it out.

He cleared his throat. “You might want to reconsider. The world keeps moving. In other words, your job may not be here when you want to come back.”

Her own father wouldn’t hold her position for her. She hadn’t anticipated that, but she managed to hide the pain of his betrayal. “I’ll take that chance,” she said.

“Your choice. Now, if you’re finished, I have work to do.” Without meeting her gaze, he picked up his pen and looked back down at his papers. If not for the slight tremor shaking his hand, Alexa would think him completely unaffected.

“One more question,” she said softly.

Maybe it was her tone of voice but he glanced up. “What is it?”

“What did we do for my fifth birthday party?”

His gaze narrowed once more. “I don’t remember.”

“Tenth?” she asked.

He clenched his jaw. “Same answer.”

Alexa nodded. The only birthdays she recalled were the ones she spent missing her mother and hurting that her father chose to work instead of staying home.

“The sad thing is, I wish I didn’t remember them either,” she said, fighting to speak over the lump in her throat and the tears threatening to fall.

Something flickered in her father’s gaze. Or maybe Alexa just wanted to see emotion there. She didn’t know. “Bye, Dad,” she said.

But when she looked over, he’d returned to his work and didn’t reply.

F
amily gatherings at Luke’s parents’ house were always huge events. With three sisters—all married, all with kids—cousins, neighbors, and friends included, the noise level was high and the privacy factor nil. Usually Luke loved these events. Not today.

Today his heart wasn’t here, it was back in the small town of Serendipity, New York. A place he never thought would leave a mark on him, much less impact him so strongly. He couldn’t get Alexa out of his mind.

They’d said good-bye on Thursday. Today was Saturday. He’d programmed his number into her cell and hoped she’d use it. With the way they’d parted, Luke giving her his unasked-for opinion on how to live her life, he wasn’t holding his breath.

In order not to focus on himself, he looked around to see which sibling he was in the mood for and his gaze settled on Ashley, the youngest of his three sisters. She had two kids, having married right out of high school to a guy Luke
hated. And Luke considered himself an easygoing guy who got along with most people, but not her jackass husband.

“Hey, sweet cheeks,” he said, using his nickname for her.

“Hey, yourself.”

He sat down next to her on the picnic table bench and she immediately laid her head on his shoulder. Warning bells went off in his brain. “I was only gone a week. What happened?”

“I left Todd,” she said, her voice cracking.

Luke held in his cheer, more concerned about his sister’s feelings than his own. “Why?”

“He was cheating on me with Mandy Stone.” The whispered words came with a wealth of hurt, Luke knew.

“Mandy Stone whose daddy is Todd’s boss?” Luke asked through gritted teeth. The same Mandy Stone who felt it was her civic duty to hit on Luke at every town event he attended, and had done so since Luke accepted the scholarship to University of Miami to play football for the U.

“I think Mandy was just the most recent in a long line. He never liked being tied down.”

Luke stiffened, wanting to beat the crap out of the other man. “Then he shouldn’t have gotten you pregnant the summer before college.”

She sniffed but ended in a laugh. “Takes two to be stupid, Luke. And I wouldn’t trade my kids for anything.”

“What will you do now?”

“The kids and I moved in with Mom and Dad. I need some time to work out a plan.”

He kissed her temple. “You will. And I’ll be here to help you.”

“Thanks.”

“Anything for you, sweet cheeks. You know that.” He loved his sisters even when they were being pains in his ass.

She sighed. “I do. And I love you for it. So how was your trip east?”

“Business was good, got some solid endorsement deals lined up.”

“Just for Men? Erectile dysfunction meds? Hemorrhoid cream?” She nailed him in the ribs with her elbow.

He rolled his eyes. “This is when ‘sweet cheeks’ changes to ‘brat,’” he muttered. “How about Ford Broncos and my own cologne?”

She let out a Texas whoop. “I’m proud of you! So what else did you and Sawyer do? Pick up any hot chicks while you were there?”

Luke weighed just how much to tell her, then decided to go for broke. He needed to talk about it and Ash needed the distraction from her own life. “Cleaned out Sawyer’s dad’s house, though I think he’s gonna do some work on the place and keep it instead of selling. And, yeah, I met someone.”

Ashley sat up and turned in her seat, her eyes slitted as she stared at him.

“What?” he asked, uncomfortable under her narrowed gaze.

“I asked if you and Sawyer picked up any hot chicks. You countered with
I met someone.
Big difference. What gives?”

Luke glanced up at the cloudless sky. “Been asking myself that same question since I laid eyes on Alexa.”

“What makes her special?”

Luke could list a million things, but the ones that came to mind were too personal for him to share, even with his sister. Like Alexa’s stunning vulnerability. For a doctor who held lives in her hands, she’d been manipulated her entire life and didn’t know her own self-worth. He’d tried to give her that in a few short days, then he’d invited her out here, and when she didn’t jump at the chance like the other women in his life—the women who meant nothing to him and who he easily left behind—he threw those insecurities in her face and told her she needed to figure out what she wanted.

Nice of him, he thought, with no small amount of regret and an even healthier dose of self-directed disgust.

“Oooh, silence,” Ashley said with a grin on her previously sad face. “You’re in deep and you can’t even say why.
You’ve fallen hard!” She clapped her hands in glee, suddenly back to being the sister who liked to tease him when they were kids. “I want to meet this girl.”

No chance of that
, Luke thought, frustrated. “Cool it,” he muttered, instead of letting her in on what he’d done.

“Sorry.” Ashley settled back in next to him. “What’s she like?”

“She’s a doctor. Busy. Not sure she loves the work situation she’s in. She’s loyal, saw her step up to take care of her best friend when she was attacked, then stayed overnight at the hospital to look after her. Pretty. Auburn hair—”

“Brown with reddish highlights? About my height? Does she ever wear her hair in a ponytail and would she look uncomfortable at a Texas barbecue?” Ashley asked, a too-big grin on her face.