Lex and Lu (4 page)

Pete watched as Lex made his way from the Jetway of the plane into the small Sarasota airport. Of course Lex was not alone as he walked toward him. He guided a beautiful woman, his hand resting in the small of her back, around a row of airport chairs, toward the baggage claim. He looked completely engaged, leaning down so that he could hear what she was saying. With a wink and a mischievous smile in Pete’s direction, Lex was merely killing time, Pete knew. Following at a safe distance, Pete let his brother do his thing. Which he had to admit was pretty impressive.

Although he had lived in England for the last six years, Lex didn’t have that pallid look of those in his adopted country. He had inherited his mother’s olive complexion, which served him well. He definitely looked European, though. Something about the cut of his clothes, jeans and a T-shirt hinted at a sophistication that couldn’t be mistaken for American. When his companion’s luggage arrived, Lex made sure she was all squared away and pushed her out the door with a haste that Pete was sure the woman would find offensive. But Lex being Lex, she just beamed at him as she left the airport. Task complete, Lex found his brother and drew him into a guys hug. The one where they clasp hands first and then one-arm each other. It was all either one of them could handle.

“Bro, thanks for picking me up. Caroline was going to have a limo pick me up, but I said that my brother would be honored to do it.”

“Was that after she wiped your ass?” Pete retorted, so pleased to have Lex with him.

Eyes sparkling, Lex bent low to Pete’s ear and said, “No, right after she sucked my dick.”

Pete couldn’t help it; he cackled in the baggage-claim area. “I’m sure she would love to hear you say something like that.”

Lex smiled, then shook his head. “She’d kick my ass. So please don’t tell her that I even joked about that.”

“You’re a prick.”

“Yes, I know. But all of your good-natured humor brought out the wicked in me,” Lex replied with a smirk.

“Like that’s hard to do.”

“True,” Lex said. “Let’s go.”

“Where’s your luggage?” Pete asked.

Lex nodded his head toward the empty conveyer belt where a lone bag continued to circle. “Right there.”

“We could have been out of here ten minutes ago if you weren’t flirting with that girl.”

“Woman, that was all woman. And she kept me from thinking about the reason why I am here. Totally worth the ten minutes.”

“Point taken!” Pete said.

Gathering up the luggage, they strolled through the sliding glass doors toward Pete’s car.

“So you drove straight here last night? That’s a hell of a drive.” Lex said.

“Yeah, I know. But I just needed to get here. Somehow it didn’t seem real to me. And I thought if I was here, I would know he was gone. Hard to explain.”

“Does it seem real now? ’Cause I’m struggling with that.” All hints of his smile fled. “I just can’t quite get there.”

“Maybe after we see that body?”

Lex stopped in midstride. “We’re going to see the body? And why are your referring to dad as the ‘body’?”

Pete stopped and turned back to look at him. “He’s gone. All that’s left of him is his body.”

“Is this your idea of a good bedside manner? Is this what they teach you in med school?” Lex replied, annoyed.

“Look, I need to see him. You don’t have to come with me, but it just doesn’t seem possible to me. I need proof.” Pete continued walking to his car.

Overwhelmed, Lex scrubbed his hands over his face, picked up his bag, and followed his brother to the car. Pete opened the trunk for him and he put stuff away, still reluctant to continue this conversation with his brother. Pete got in the car, but Lex hesitated, leaning on the trunk, trying to figure out if he wanted to see his father’s body. It seemed like too much—coming home after such a long time and going straight to the morgue. He didn’t think he could do it. But he knew it was what his brother needed. And Lex always looked out for his brother.

Opening the door and folding his large frame into the front seat of Pete’s Nissan 300X, he leaned his head back and breathed deeply. “Is that bar still there, on 301, or is it 41?”

“Which bar?”

“The BiHi Hut?”

“Yeah,” Pete smiled. “How do you know about that place? You weren’t old enough to go there when you left.”

“Ha. Like that stopped me. I need a drink if we’re going to do this thing.”

Pete looked at his brother. “You’ll come with me?”

“Fuck!” Lex said. And, closing his door with too much force, he looked over as his brother started the car. “Get me a Scotch and I’ll go with you to see Dad.”

They returned from the morgue to their empty house. Depositing his bag in the room over the garage, Lex quickly changed into his training gear, pulled on his running shoes, and grabbed his iPod. Heading back downstairs, he found his brother and told him he’d be out for a while. Although he was exhausted as hell, he needed to get a workout in. A hard game, a sleepless night, a transatlantic flight, and a viewing of his father’s body—oh, and a Scotch in between—had his body craving a good, hard run. He wished like hell he had a game so he could forget for a while.

Turning out of the driveway, he set a hard pace through his childhood neighborhood. He ran by all the old haunts, memories assailing him from every direction. When they were young, the kids counted the ratios. There were sixteen of them and only twelve adults. Lex felt confident that if they’d ever had to mutiny, the kids would win because they had the majority. They’d joked about that all the time, even though, deep down, none of them wanted to take on their mothers. He wondered how many of them would show up for his father’s memorial service. He didn’t relish being the first family to lose someone. And while he figured most of them would be there, he had to admit that the loss of one of their parents wouldn’t have brought him traipsing across the Atlantic. Made him feel like the prick his brother had dubbed him as at the airport.

It wasn’t that he didn’t respect and love the group of parents who had molded him as a youth; it was just that his path had taken him away long before the rest of them. At fourteen, he had started in the Olympic Development Program. By sixteen, he was missing school to travel to training camps for youth world cups. And by eighteen, he’d left for good—not returning until this visit. Maybe if things had been different, if Lu had followed through with their plan, he would have visited more. He would probably be playing here in the States. He wouldn’t have stayed away.

At eighteen, everything had seemed possible to him. He knew their plan would work. He had no doubts that an eighteen-year-old, hell-bent on playing soccer at the highest level and his sixteen-year-old girlfriend could have handled raising a child while they were an ocean apart. Wasn’t there some saying about the foolishness of the youth? Looking back now, with the perspective of an adult, he knew that what they envisioned would have never worked. He wouldn’t be Lex Pellitteri, world-class soccer player. And truth be told, he probably would have resented Lu for that. So maybe she did the right thing. Maybe having an abortion and telling him to move on was exactly the way it was supposed to be.

At some point, in the middle of his eight-mile run, he forgave Louisa May Knight and silently thanked her for her foresight. He wished the peace he was feeling had come sooner and wondered if he had allowed himself to come home at any point over the last eight years, if he would have reached this conclusion earlier. The dread that had settled over him since his brother’s phone call earlier in the day lifted. Picking up his pace for the last half mile, Lex made his way into the garage to grab his soccer ball.

Leaving dinner early to get the house prepared, Amber walked the familiar path between their two houses. She had stocked the bar earlier, but she wanted to make sure they had everything. She desperately wanted Chris to get back from his trip, but he’d been delayed in Miami and wouldn’t be back until the next morning. Even after a couple of glasses of wine at dinner, Amber was strung tight. As much as she loved Jo, she wanted to beat her when Jo had revealed her conversation with Lu. She wasn’t supporting Jo on this one. Whatever Lu wanted to do, however, she would support. She was fighting for her daughter this time.

It had almost broken Lu. That fateful decision had almost broken Lu’s spirit—until they put Nina in her arms. Then she rose up like the phoenix in all its glory. And when it came to raising Nina, no one was allowed to interfere. Amber didn’t think Lu did it to be spiteful; she wanted to be true to herself as a parent. So for Jo to order her to bring her daughter to meet Lex—her unsuspecting father—Lu wouldn’t have it. Amber was fairly certain that however this all went down, her daughter was directing this tragedy.

Amber tried to shake off the feeling of impending doom when she spotted Lex. Watching him for a moment, the past played out in front of her like a movie. Lex never went anywhere without his soccer ball. When they met him at eight, he already had that fire in his veins. You just knew he would defy the odds and reach his goal. Every night, right before they got called in to eat, Lex would stand in that exact spot and practice. Just him and his ball. Amber had no idea what the moves were called or what he was doing—she was the mother of girls. But over the years, it became a thing of beauty to watch. Like a ballerina executing a series of spins, Lex maneuvered and manipulated the ball. As an eight-year-old, it looked nothing like what he could do now as a twenty-seven-year old. But even a non–sports fan couldn’t help but be impressed. She smiled as she realized she knew his routine—what he would do next. It hadn’t changed in nineteen years.

She couldn’t stay away. Knowing he was coming to the end, she sat on the bottom step, waiting for him to finish and approach the deck. He did the last move, where he flipped the ball up off the back of his foot and it sailed over the top of his head, where he trapped it with his foot. Then he flipped it back up into his hand and began moving toward her.

“Shit, Dr. A., how long have you been sitting here?” Lex said, obviously startled.

She laughed. “Since about halfway through. It’s the same?” she asked even though she knew the answer.

He grinned. “Yup. You remember?” he said, a little surprised.

Returning his smile, she said, “I watched you do that every day since you were eight. If I had any coordination, I could probably do it. The choreography is embedded in my brain.”

“Dr. A., I really want to hug you, but I’m sweaty as hell.”

“If I remember your ball tricks, do you think I’d forget how much you sweat?”

He threw his head back and laughed. “No, I don’t suppose you could forget that.”

“How many times did I have to get on you for trying to hug the girls after practice?”

“More times than I can count. It was just too fun making them run away screaming.”

“And you were always about eliciting a response,” she said, smiling at him fondly.

“How was dinner?” he said, suddenly remembering the occasion.

“It was fine. Your uncle is here, so we thought we’d entertain him. He had some stuff to talk to your mom about, so I made myself scarce for a bit. I’m not sure how good of an idea it is, but your mother needed a distraction, so the gang is coming over.”

“That’s fine. I figured as much. Should be interesting to see everyone.”

Amber couldn’t help herself. “Everyone?” she asked.

Lex intentionally misunderstood her question. “Yeah. I guess it’d be nice if I saw my mom before chaos rules, huh?”

Properly put in her place, Amber backed off. “Yes. It would. She’s going to be a little bit still. Probably time for you to shower so you can give her a hug,” she joked, putting things right between them.

“And you too. Once I’m cleaned up, I owe you a hug. Thanks for taking care of her the last two days while Pete and I made our way here.”

“She’d have done the same.”

“I know,” he said. “But still.”

“Go shower. I’m going to go make sure we have everything we need.”

Lex started up the remainder of the stairs. But stopped and turned back. “Good to see you, Dr. A.” And with that he went into the house to get ready to face his mother.