Rescue Me (16 page)

But he could stay just a few minutes longer, Alex rationalized as he dipped his tongue past Renee’s lips and teeth and into the warm heaven of her mouth. The art of kissing had come back to him with incredible ease. He had always loved the intimacy involved, the trust a woman put in him when she really allowed herself to be kissed. He could go on like this for hours, which told Alex it was time to bring it to an end.

“Renee,” he said at the first break in their kiss.

“You have to go,” she said with a mournful sigh.

“Jasmine will be home soon,” he said before capturing her lips once again for a swift kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

When the door to the trailer shut behind him, Alex was more than a little shocked at the ache that settled into his bones. How had he been satisfied with the status quo just a few short weeks ago? Now the thought of being without Renee until tomorrow afternoon was almost too hard to comprehend.

He tried to put a name to what she made him feel and finally settled on one. It was laughable in its simplicity. For the first time in a long time, what he felt was happiness.

Chapter Eleven

 

Margo held the top of the blue silk suit up to her chin and studied the image looking back at her in the mirror. It was nice, but not right for dinner with Gerald and his youngest daughter, Raquel.

She’d met both Raquel and her older sister at a company picnic given by Gerald’s law firm, but conversation that afternoon had been pretty impersonal. They’d talked about New Orleans’s resurgence after Katrina, a stock conversation piece just about anywhere you went in the city. She had not sensed animosity from either of Gerald’s daughters. Things had been… pleasant.

Margo wanted more than just pleasant and impersonal. Like her boys, Gerald’s daughters were a huge part of his life. If she was going to continue seeing him, Margo knew she had to develop a good relationship with his daughters.

Yet she wasn’t giving Gerald a chance to establish any type of relationship with her sons. Margo swallowed back her guilt.

“Mama?”

Margo jumped at the sound of Alex’s voice. She pitched the suit on the bed and pulled the comforter over the half dozen outfits she’d been mulling over.

“Mama?” he asked as he knocked on her bedroom door.

“Come on in, Alex,” she called.

He opened the door a crack. “You okay in there?” he asked.

“Yes, of course,” Margo said, moving to intercept him
before he could step into the room. “Come on in the kitchen. I was just going to get something to drink.”

Before she could make it past the threshold of her bedroom door, Alex captured her arm, halting her attempt at a retreat.

“We need to talk,” he said.

“About what?” Margo asked. She’d lived long enough to learn the finer points of playing dumb when the occasion called.

“Let’s see, there’s the issue of you having a hangover this morning,” he said.

She waved him off. “I was joking.”

“I can’t believe this! You’re standing here lying to my face.”

“Don’t you come into my house and accuse me of lying, Alexander Wesley Holmes.”

“Well, don’t lie,” he retorted.

“I will not stand here and listen to this,” Margo huffed. She brushed past him, bumping him into the opposite wall.

Alex grabbed his injured shoulder. “Son of a—”

“Oh my God!” Her stomach dropped. Margo reached for him, but he shooed her away.

“No. I’m fine,” he strained through clenched teeth.

“Do you need to go to the hospital? Yes, you need to get to the hospital.”

“My arm is fine, Mama. Don’t worry about it.”

“Alex, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking,” Margo said.

Lord, what had she done? What if she’d set back his recovery with her stubborn behavior?

He motioned with his head. “Let’s go in the kitchen,” Alex said.

Margo sucked in a silent cry, shaking her head at her foolishness. Alex sat her at the table, and she felt the light pressure of the kiss he planted on her head. She’d hurt him, and he was trying to comfort her. It should be the other way around.

Margo shot up from the table. “You sit,” she said. “Let me look at that arm.”

“Really, Mama, I’ve banged it up more getting out of bed in the morning,” he said with that lopsided smile he always brought up when trying to soothe her.

“I’m sorry,” she said again.

He pulled out the chair next to hers and sat.

“What’s going on, Mama?” Alex asked.

Margo flinched under his intense gaze. “I was with your aunt, Lynda. One of her girlfriends had a birthday party, and she invited me to come along.”

Lord, the lies were coming out way too easily.

“Eli thinks you have a boyfriend,” Alex said.

Margo’s heart stopped for three good beats. “What?” she laughed, praying it didn’t sound as tremulous to Alex’s ears as it did to hers.

“That’s what he told me when he stopped at the house earlier today. He drove over here after he left my house this morning, but you were gone.”

“I had errands to run,” Margo sputtered. “I don’t know what Eli is talking about.”

“It would explain why you’ve been acting so strange lately,” Alex said.

“How have I been acting strange? Because I bought myself a car? Well excuse me if I want to get up and go when
I
want to and not when one of you boys have time to step away from your busy lives to come and drive me around.”

“That’s not fair, Mama. If ever you need anything, I try to get here as quickly as possible.”

“No, Alex, what’s not fair is me depending on you boys for everything.”

“But that’s how it should be. We’re a team. We all take care of each other.”

Margo reached across the small, square kitchen table and covered her son’s hand. He was so much like his father; his hands even felt like Wesley’s, rough after working so hard.

“Your brothers are both getting married soon. And I pray every day that you will find someone to make you happy again.”

His head reared back in surprise. “You do?”

“Of course I do. You’re still so young, and you are such a good man, Alex. I don’t tell you this nearly enough, but I am so proud of you, and I know your father is, too.”

He gave her that smile, so like Wesley’s. “Thanks,” he said.

“There’s a woman out there who has done something remarkable enough that God is going to bless her by giving her
you
. And when the two of you find each other, I have to be prepared to go on without my boys.”

“Mama, you will never have to worry about us not being here for you.”

“I know,” she said. “But I have to start doing things for myself. And that’s all I’m doing, Alex.”

“I told Eli it was a stupid idea. You wouldn’t have a boyfriend after all those years with Pop,” he said.

“Of course not,” Margo said, her heart breaking. A small part of her had held on to this foolish hope that her boys would surprise her and actually encourage her relationship with Gerald. “Now, do you want me to fix you something to eat?” She pushed herself up from her chair. “There’s leftover spaghetti and meatballs.”

“Can I get it to go? I’m picking Jasmine up from the hospital. Monica took her to the museum today.”

“Grab a plastic container out of the cabinet,” Margo said, opening the refrigerator and coming out with two containers. “I’ll give you enough for both you and Jasmine,” she said.

Alex placed another kiss on the top of her head. “Whoever the woman is you think God has in store for me, she’d better know how to cook.”

“If she doesn’t, you can teach her,” Margo returned.

“Well, I did learn from the best,” he said.

She held his gaze, and really looked him in the eye.
“You’re going to be okay, Alex,” she said. “All of this, the arm, Jasmine, it’s going to work out.”

“I know it will,” he said. He pulled a plastic grocery bag from the drawer where she kept them. “And I will tell Eli he’d better get his facts straight before he starts spouting foolishness about you having some boyfriend,” he said.

“You do that,” Margo said with a strained laugh. She held the smile until Alex walked out the back door, then fell back into her chair and covered her face with her hands.

Oh Lord. How would she ever tell her boys about Gerald?

“How did I get roped into doing this?” Renee sighed. She pulled at the gauzy synthetic spiderweb, stretching it thin.

“Blame that fancy title of yours. As special projects coordinator you can be stuck just about anywhere,” Penelope answered.

“The question was rhetorical,” Renee deadpanned.

“I know, I just like to bug you.” Her friend smiled. She gestured toward the spiderweb with her chin. “That stuff looks way too real.” Penelope unloaded two intricately carved pumpkins on a nearby folding table.

“Those came out great.” Renee motioned to the pumpkin with a graveyard scene carved into the front.

“Thank the gifted and talented art class. They work on these every year. There’s another twenty or so in the back. At the end of the Halloween Bazaar, they’re sold to the teachers and parents to help fund art activities.”

“That’s a neat idea. I may have to buy one to put in the window of the trailer,” Renee quipped.

“It doesn’t need it. Those trailers are scary enough as it is.” They both burst out laughing. “Honestly, I thought you and your aunt would be in the house by now,” Penelope continued. “From the way you described it, Alex’s construction crew is working at lightning speed.”

“It’s coming along much faster than what Aunt Lorna and I were able to do, that’s for sure.”

“My goodness, girl. Do you realize how lucky you are? All that free help
and
a gorgeous man to ogle.”

“He is fine,” Renee agreed with a smile.

“You’re going to kill me for asking this,” Penelope said.

“Then don’t ask.”

“Oh, come on, Renee. You know I had my eye on him since day one. The least you can do is let me know what I’m missing out on.”

“Alex is incredibly sweet.”

“That’s not what I want to know.”

“But that’s all you’re going to get,” Rene laughed.

“Just give me a hint of how big he is,” Penelope whispered. “That’s all I want to know.”

Renee’s eyes widened. “You did not just go there.”

“I’m trying to find out if
you
went there.”

“I do not kiss and tell.”

“So you’ve at least kissed him. Is he any good at it?”

“That would be telling,” Renee sang as she attached plastic spiders to the spiderweb she’d just hung.

“I’ll bet he’s really good,” Penelope said with a faraway look. “He’s got the lips for it.”

“What are you doing looking at his lips?”

“I won’t touch, but don’t ask me not to look.”

Renee leaned in close. “I’ll give you this one, itsy-bitsy detail. He has both the lips and tongue for kissing.”

Penelope gasped in fake rapture, clutching a swath of black felt to her chest. “I knew it,” she sighed. “I really need a boyfriend.”

Renee swatted at Penelope with a bag of fake moss, but hearing her friend’s words gave Renee pause. She wasn’t sure if she would call Alex her boyfriend just yet.

Things had undeniably changed between them that Saturday they watched football at the trailer. In the weeks that had followed, as she saw him at school, then later in the evenings when he stopped in to check on the progress of the house, Renee had grown more and more comfortable around
Alex. They kissed every time they were together. Still, that didn’t mean they were seeing each other.

Or did it?

It had been a long time since she’d allowed a man to kiss her so freely, and Renee had to admit she was ready to go even further. If either of them had had protection that Saturday when they’d watched the Florida/Tennessee game, there was no doubt she would have slept with Alex right there on the miniscule FEMA trailer couch. The condoms she’d purchased the next day had been burning a hole through her favorite leather Coach bag these past few weeks.

In all of her thirty four years, she’d only slept with two men, and they’d both waited a heck of a lot longer than a month before she allowed them anywhere near her. What was it about Alex that made her let her guard down?

“Here, help me drape this stuff over the basketball goal.” Penelope interrupted her thoughts. “Since you’re the adventure junkie you can climb the ladder, and I’ll hand it to you.”

“I’m in heels and a skirt,” Renee said.

“Oh, whatever.” Penelope pushed her to the side. “You make me climb a huge rock wall, but I can’t get you to go up a four foot ladder.” Penelope started her ascent, then looked back at Renee. “Catch me if I fall, please.”

“I don’t know. Think of how cool it would be to have a real dead body for the Halloween Bazaar.”

A surprised gasp escaped Penelope’s lips. “I cannot believe they allow you around small children. Okay, pass me the felt,” she called.

Renee tried handing it to her, but Penelope was too high up. “I still have to climb this darn ladder,” she said. She kicked her shoes off and climbed the first two rungs.

“Anything I can do to help?” came a low-pitched voice just behind her.

She would recognize Alex’s deep voice out of a cast of thousands. She looked down. “Hi, Alex,” she said. “You broke out of class?”

“The second graders are in an assembly with a guest speaker from the fire department,” he explained. “Mrs. Overland let me off the hook for the rest of the class period. I thought maybe I could help out with the bazaar.”

“You most certainly can,” Penelope said. “You want to drape the felt over this basketball goal?”

Alex gestured to his shoulder. “Probably should have mentioned that my ability to help is limited,” he said.

“Great.” Penelope rolled her eyes and went back to covering the basketball goal.

“Ms. Moore.” Bianca Lewis, one of her third graders, came running up to her. “Mrs. Johnson said she can’t find the plastic skeletons,” Bianca said with more drama than the situation warranted.

“Tell her to look in the old reading lab,” Penelope called from atop the ladder.

“Where?” Renee asked.

“It’s the room next to the teachers’ lounge.” Penelope heaved the felt over the backboard. “They turned the reading lab into storage after they instituted Accelerated Reader and had to move to a bigger room. That’s probably where the rest of the Halloween decorations are.”

“I can go and take a look,” Alex offered.

“That would be wonderful,” Renee said. She turned to Bianca. “Tell Mrs. Johnson it is taken care of.”

Bianca’s little shoulders sagged with relief now that the skeleton crisis had been averted. She took off to tell Mrs. Johnson the good news.

“To have the threat of no plastic skeletons at the Halloween Bazaar be the most pressing problem in your life,” she laughed.

“What’s Halloween without skeletons?” Alex asked. “Let me take a look in that storage room. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Renee got so caught up in decorating that twenty minutes had passed before she realized Alex had not returned.
She sought out Penelope, and found her emptying apples into an aluminum washtub.

“Have you seen Alex?”

Penelope stood and looked around. “Not since he went in search of the skeletons,” she said. “Maybe they carried him over to the dark side?”