Roxanne's Redemption (10 page)

“Everything is fine. Can I ask you for a favor?”

“Sure.”

“
There is a conference in Washington on Saturday and it
’
s essential that I'm in attendance. I won't return until Sunday and though I've already asked Ava and Kira, they’re not able to look after Zach for me because both of them will be working both days.
”

Roxanne smile. Lexi was
babbling and they both knew it.
How
could she not want to take care of Zach? He
was
such a sweet little boy and she love
d
him like
s
he w
ould
her own. “Yes,
Lexi
,
I’ll do it and for the record you didn't have to tell me the reasons why Kira and Ava couldn’t
.
I don't mind.”

Roxanne heard
the relief in
Lexi’s voice when she
exhale
d
.
“Thank you, Roxanne.”

“No problem.”

They
chatted
for a while until Lexi said she had to go
.
Roxanne replaced the phone on the hook
,
walked back to the sofa
,
curled up with her book and started reading.
About half an hour into her reading the
doorbell
rang
.
S
he wondered who
it
was
; she wasn’t expecting visitors
today
.
She placed the book on the sofa and went to open the door.

As she
opened the door
, her mouth fell open and she gripped the door tightly as she saw
who
her guest was
. Standing on the other side was
her ex-fiancé.
She
braced herself for the pain of his betrayal three months
ago
, but it never came. What did he want? How had he found her? How long
ha
d he know
n
where she was? The questions kept repeating themselves in her head
.

“What do you want?”

“Can I come in?”

She was
tempted to
tell him
to
go to hell, but she had neighbors
and
she didn't want anyon
e knowing her personal
life,
s
o she stepped aside
and
clos
ed
the door
after
he entered
.
S
he didn't turn to see if he was following her
as she walked back to the sofa.
She
sat down
and watched as
he paced in front of the fireplace.

“How did you find me, Daniel?”

“I always knew where you were.”

“
Why
now?”

He turned to face her. “I wanted you to cool down
before I talk to you.”

Talk about what?
she
wondered idly.
Sure, when she
’d
left his apartment she’d though
t she would never see him again.
She’d cut all contact with him,
because she wasn’t ready to face him as yet
, but also
for fear that if she ever saw him again
,
she’d castrate or strangle him for hurting her
. She sighed. Why hadn’t she talked to him before leaving? If she had he wouldn’t have show
n
up
now
.

“What did you want to talk to me about?”

“
About us,
”
he replied hopefully.

Roxanne cringed. “
Daniel,
there is no us.”

“
Roxanne, I made a mistake and I accept that but we have to talk about it before we start our life together as planned. I have no doubt that you still love me, so why can't you forgive me
?
”

She was shaking her head by the time he was finish
ed
. “
Daniel,
if
I
was
the one
who cheated
—
I'm not saying I did or I would if we were still together
—
but if you caught me with another man in the bed we shared
,
what would you have done?”

“
Broke
off our engagement
and ask you to leave the apartment
.”

She nodded
.
“
Do you see now
? I loved you
,
Daniel
.
W
e were going to get married
and start our
life together
but when
I caught you with
that
woman
in
our bed
,
what I felt for you died
.”

Roxanne felt a tear
trickle
down her cheek
.
She
wiped it away and continued. “I forgive you,
that’s the truth and
although
I thought it would be hard
,
it wasn’t
.
B
ut
if
you want to know if I would put what I saw behind me and take you back, the answer is no
.
”

She continued after taking a deep breath
as she tried
to get pas
t
the lump in her throat
,
“
I can't
,
Daniel
.
F
orgiving you is the most I can do
.
M
aybe
one day we can be
friends but right now
I want nothing to do with you
.
Suppose we’d got
ten
married, how long would it have
taken
you to cheat again?
”

He ignored the question
but when he spoke again he sound
ed
so defeated
that
she almost felt sorry for him
.
“I'm really sorry for what I did to you
,
Roxanne
,
and
I hope one day we can be friends
.
It was
nice see
ing
you again
;
I’ll show myself out.”

Roxanne closed her
eyes
to stop the tears from falling until she heard the front door close.
It wasn’t a lie, she
had
love
d
him
but discovering
him with another woman
had
crushed
it
. She wasn’t lying
either
when she’d told him she
forg
a
ve
him
.
Everyone
ma
d
e mistakes
.
N
o one was perfect
and
maybe
one day
he’
d
realize
they weren’t meant to be
.

She got up from the sofa and locked up before going upstairs
. She
brush
ed
her teeth
,
change
d
into her pajama
s
and went to bed. She fell as
leep quickly, even though
her
only
thoughts were
about
seeing Sebastian tomorrow.

* * * *

Sebastian finished the last of the paperwork at ten o’clock
.
H
e wanted to call Roxanne but he decided against it
.
S
he was probably sleeping. He
clenched his fist as he calm
ed
his flaring temper
as his thoughts went back t
o
Ashley
.
Who did
Ashley
think she was?

After pulling into his driveway around seven-thirty
,
Sebastian
had been
tempted to call Roxanne and invite her over to watch a movie but he’d changed his mind at the last minute. After returning to his bedroom after his shower, Sebastian had glanced outside when he saw a car parked one house down from his. The car had looked a lot like Ashley's but he wasn’t sure and jumping to conclusions without enough proof wasn’t like him.
A few hours later while he was in his home office he’d glanced out the window again; he was just about to move when the person took off a familiar black hat.

When he’d realize
d
that it was Ashley, Sebastian had called the police. It hadn’t taken them long to arrive, but when they did Ashley had
driven
off immediately when one of the uniform
ed
officers pulled up by her car and said something to her. About an hour after they left
,
Sebastian’s neighbor
,
Mrs. Betty
,
called and told him
the car had returned.
He could hardly
believe that Ashley would return after what seemed like a long talk from the cop,
but he didn’t
want to doubt his neighbor
.
Sebastian had checked and
immediately spotted Ashley’s car.

When the police left for the second time that night
,
she didn't return; however she did leave a message on his answering machine stating he belonged to her and no one else. He took the tape to the police station and waited while someone listened to it
and at the end Sebastian answered all the questions that were asked.
Before leaving the police station Sebastian was told by a detective that a car had
gone
to her apartment but it was empty except for pictures of him and
Roxanne on their dates. The
detective then
told
him that he should warn everyone involved.
At that moment Sebastian had regretted involving Roxanne
.
H
e hadn’t known
then
what Ashley was capable of.

Chapter
Eleven

Roxanne flipped the covers off
and
sat up
as she
looked at the clock. It was only
five o’clock
, but
she
got up
anyway
.
If
she tried
going back to
sleep
it
would never
happen
.
She sighed. Her life was going so well
,
she
hadn’t thought about
Daniel at all
since she’d
started dating Sebastian. Pretend dating, she reminded herself.

When
Daniel
showed up on he
r doorstep yesterday evening, the wound he
’d
left in her heart felt like it was reopening and
,
although the pain she felt before wasn’t as bad, it hadn’t mattered because she never wanted to see him so soon
.
She wanted to blame him for
hurting her, but she also blamed
herself for being too caught up in finding someone to love her
,
that she hadn’t
realize
d sooner
he wasn’t the one for her
.

It wasn’t clear before, but now she knew that dee
p d
own a part of her had always kno
w
n
Daniel wasn’t the man for her
.
N
ow she didn't even kn
o
w if she ever wanted a
nother
man in her life again. As much as it pained her to admit it, catching Daniel with another woman
hurt
her
to
the
point
that
even the thought of a relationship
had
made her ach
e
.
Meeting
Sebastian
had
changed that
.
M
ore than anything
she
wanted
to
take a chance with him and that thought
scared her
every time it entered her mind
.