The Lies That Save Us (The Broken Heart Series) (8 page)

‘You’re the fairest of them all.’ 
Alexa knew the word ‘fairest’ was actually meant fair, as in being fair in her treatment of others.  She remembered these.

She jumped up and ran to Cayman
’s room.  He wasn’t there.  She ran to the living room with the recorder in her hand remembering he was going to read.  She found him sitting in an easy chair reading the complete works of Sherlock Holmes.  He smiled up at her and then stood up when he saw the look on her face.

“What is it?  What’s wrong.” 

“I…I don’t know, maybe…maybe nothing.  I found this recording and I was listening…”  She could feel the tension in her body rise and the room started to spin.

“Hey, Alexa!  Hold on!” Cayman grabbed her as she started to sink to the floor.  He led her around to the couch and gently lowered her to the seat. 

“Just breathe, Alexa.  Just breathe, slow down and breathe.  I’m not going anywhere, there’s no hurry.  Breathe.”  The soothing tone of his voice helped her relax as he sat down, facing her on the couch.  “Better?”

She nodded. Taking a deep breath she started at the beginning.

“Cayman, I think I’ve found something, but I don’t know what.  When I was a little girl, sometimes my dad would have people pick me up after school because he was either out of town or in a meeting.  I really never knew who was going to pick me up, a neighbor, a family friend, Gina, our housekeeper.  I never knew.  But they always had a security phrase they would use.  As soon as the phrase was used it was changed, never used again.  There were some that were my favorites and I still remember them.  “

“One was ‘They can’t fly’
.  Another was ‘A moon of cheese?  Oh please.’  And then still another one was ‘You’re the fairest of them all’ but it meant fair as in playing fair and part of using that phrase meant the person picking me up had to explain that detail.”

“Okay,” he said patiently.

“Well, I found this recorder and I was listening to it…okay, first, before I could even listen to it, I went to the fridge for batteries and found this note.”  She handed the note to him.

“I wondered what it meant, but went back to the bedroom and put the batteries in.  I didn’t pay much attention to what he was saying, you know, I was just enjoying actually hearing his voice.  Then I remembered the note. So I went back over it and started actually listening to the words.  They made no sense, but every once in a while I would hear these familiar phrases.  Cayman, it’s like he’s trying to tell me something.  It’s a message he knew only I would understand.  But just listen to it.  There’s no rhyme or reason to any of it.”

They spent several hours pouring over the recording until they couldn’t listen anymore. 

“We’ve gotta get some sleep, Alexa.  Let’s put this away until tomorrow and we’ll try listening again on our way out to the spot you and your dad last picnicked.  Okay?  Can you let it go for the night?  Do you need me to take it so you’ll get some sleep?”

“No.”  It came out a little more forceful than she’d planned.

“Okay, okay,” said Cayman, holding his hands up, “just trying to help.  Make sure you get some sleep, though, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.”

Alexa was standing up and wandering back to her room, the voice on the recorder droning on and on.  She was mumbling something to herself, oblivious to the young man she just left on the couch.

As he watched her walk away in her father’s dress shirt he sighed.

“Time for another one of those cold showers.”

Chapter Ten

Alexa finally nodded off to sleep still listening to the sound of her father’s voice.  The transition from wakefulness to full sleep was interspersed with sounds from the recording, and words directly from her father, like he was standing right next to her.  She woke in the morning confused and disoriented.

Cayman knocked and Alexa rolled over and moaned, “Come in.”

She lay on the bed, covered by only a sheet.  The sheet did an amazing job of outlining the shape of her perfect body.  Her hair was a mass of curls and sheen covering her pillow.  She was beautiful, even having just
awakened.

He cleared his throat and tried to sound like a man in full control of his body.

“So, I, uh, took the liberty of going shopping for some breakfast foods and…”

He was carrying a tray of that amazing coffee she remembered from their first encounter in her kitchen back in Startup.  She pushed herself to an upright position, instantly ready for coffee, a sleepy but pleased grin spreading across her face.  Cayman placed the tray (actually a cookie sheet because that was all he could find) in her lap.  She smiled at the plate of wonderfulness before her; eggs, bacon, hash browns and sausage, all perfectly cooked and waiting to be devoured.  She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until she smelled the food and then realized she was famished.  She ate with abandon.

“Now I know why you always attacked your food at the diner.  You must have been as hungry as I am today, only for you it was every day.”

Cayman reddened as he sat beside her.

“Actually, I have a confession to make.  That dark haired guy that cooks for you?”

“Thomas?”

“Yeah, Thomas.  He actually can’t cook, at all.”

“Really?  Why did you keep ordering breakfast there?”

“You’re really going to ask me that?  Really? I ate there because of you, of course.  And if you’ll think back, I used an awful lot of Tabasco.”

Alexa started laughing. 

“And why, then, did you eat like you hadn’t eaten in months?”

“Because the faster I put it down, the sooner it was gone.  And the Tabasco didn’t really help all that much, but it helped enough.”

Alexa was really laughing by this time.  She thought about how she’d made fun of him for eating like a heathen every time Tahleah brought his name up.  Now she finds out he was eating like that to spare her feelings!  The whole thing was so comical she could hardly hold the cookie sheet on her lap.

“Okay, fine, laugh it up.  I was sacrificing my cholesterol for you, you know.”

“I know, I know.  I’m sorry.  It’s just so funny!  If you only knew all the cruel things I said about your eating habits, and now I find out you were choking down every bite.  That’s just too funny!”

“Really.  I have half a mind to take all that breakfast and toss it down the sink.  You actually made fun of me?”

“Without shame,” laughed Alexa.  “Touch this tray and I cut off both your hands.”

She took
another bite and, chewing slower, closed her eyes.  He was right.  By this standard, Thomas couldn’t cook at all.

“How about you come and cook at the diner when we get home?  This is incredible!” 

She ate bite after bite, stifling the small moans that escaped her throat as she chewed, savoring every morsel and swallowing so she could taste it all the way down.

Cayman studied his hands, trying to keep his thoughts where they needed to be.  If she just wouldn’t moan like that it would make this whole ‘breakfast in bed’ thing a lot easier on him.

After the wonderful meal, Alexa showered and dressed and was ready for their trip to the desert.  She kept the recorder in her pocket, close to her.  She was not about to lose it, and heaven help the groin of the man who tried to take it from her. 

They drove for about an hour and a half when Alexa pointed and said, “There, turn right there.”

Cayman slowed the car and turned off on a dirt road that looked as if it was going nowhere.  They drove for another twenty minutes through large potholes and around even larger rocks.

“You sure you’re not taking me out here to shoot me and leave me for the vultures?”

Alexa chuckled and said, “Don’t tempt me.”

They arrived at the spot Alexa remembered and she pulled out the photo to match the landmarks.  Exiting the car and walking a few yards to a small rise, Alexa found the area much the same as she and her father had left it a year ago. 

Alexa hadn’t counted on the memories still being so fresh and painful.  She stood in the middle of the small area, partially surrounded by large boulders.  There were cactus randomly placed by Mother Nature but that was about all the green she could see.  She felt if she listened hard enough and focused she could still hear her dad joking and laughing with her, she could see his face as he looked into the distance when she took the picture of him.  She could see him place his hand over his eyes to shade them from the sun and then quickly begin to pack things up.  She relived the whole scene again.  It was her last outing with her father, and she had gone over it a hundred times in her mind and now she was here, in the actual spot, doing it all over again.

She took the photo out of her pocket to make sure she was remembering the place he stood correctly.  However, she soon realized she didn’t really need the photo as she remembered it perfectly.

Cayman approached her and touched her arm. 

“Hey, we don’t have to do this if you’re not ready.  We can come back another day, or we don’t need to come back at all.  Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she said with a sigh.  I am.  I--” She was looking around the perimeter as she spoke.  “Here,” she said, pointing to the spot.  “He stood here, I was over there and that would mean the car was out there.” 

“Let’s go have a look.”  Cayman started for the place where the car was parked.

“What do you think you’re going to find?  It was a car, and it’s been a year.  There have to have been a dozen other cars out here in that time.” She followed him out to where the car had been parked, feeling it was a complete waste of time.

Cayman walked around the area, looking…no…scrutinizing the ground around where the car would have been parked.  He found a cigarette butt, gingerly picked it up and placed it in a small snack baggie he pulled out of his pants pocket.  He seemed way too careful not to touch the filter end of the cigarette.  Alarms went off in Alexa’s head.

“You’re doing it again,” she said, tamping down the fear.  “I’ve seen enough police drama’s to know what you’re doing.  You’re looking for DNA on that cigarette butt.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing.  And I’ve seen enough cop shows as well, plus I have a friend in the State Police who told me what to look for and what to do with anything I found.  Thus…the baggies.  I picked some up when I went to town to buy breakfast stuff this morning.  Pretty smart, eh?” 
he grinned, obviously so very proud of what he was doing.

Alexa thought if she didn’t stop doubting this man she was going to scream.  She just didn’t know if it was safe, and yet he’s the one that had been keeping her safe.  Was he doing that just to get information from her?  Was he the man looking out the back window of the car in that photo?  She wanted to scream at herself, “STOP IT!”  but her gut wouldn’t let her.  Her brain continued spinning and kept picking away at him, doubting him.

Alexa’s stomach rumbled, reminding her it was well past lunchtime.  As she was getting ready that morning she thought it would be fun to bring a picnic lunch.  It was a good thing she did.  Just as she’d thought, they weren’t ready to head back to town to eat.  This visit would be a one shot chance to investigate the area, which made them not ready to leave, but definitely ready to eat.  She walked the short distance to the car and pulled out the basket of food, lugging it back to where they would eat.  Had she really packed
that much
to eat?  The thing was heavy!

As Alexa pulled out the blanket and lay it on the hard packed earth, Cayman thought they should eat and head back into town and work on the recording some. 

“Hey, this is supposed to be a fun picnic,” she complained teasingly, “so sit down, relax and eat.”

On the outside, Alexa really did think it would be fun to have a picnic.  She hadn’t been on a picnic since this last outing with her dad.  On the inside she was a ball of skepticism, even doubting her own ability to know if she should doubt Cayman or fall in love with him.  She went back and forth constantly pro-ing and con-ing herself into insanity.

“You can trust me, Alexa.”  Cayman’s voice floated into her head. 

She looked up at him and saw that he had been studying her face while she sat spinning her emotional wheels and getting nowhere.

“You can trust me.  If I wanted what you have, I would have taken it weeks ago.  You know that.”

She took a bite of her sandwich and chewed slowly.  She looked away, her feelings causing a rush of guilt to flow through her.  It crushed her to see the look on his face.  Swallowing her bite she turned back to him.

“I want to Cayman, but I can’t. I’m trying, and logically it feels like I should trust you…sometimes.  You just do these investigative things too well, you handle your gun like a pro and you know your way around a crime scene.”

Cayman started laughing. 

“Listen to yourself!  You talk like a CSI.  Come on Alexa, you’ve seen WAY too many cop shows, that’s all.  Everybody that watches those today knows the lingo.  Anyone that wanted to find out anything can act like an investigator.  Think about it.  You’re doing it yourself.”

Alexa started laughing.

“Yeah, I guess I am.  I’m sorry.  You’re right, I just need to chill out.”

She moved closer to him, took hold of his shirt front and pulled him to her, planting a hot passionate kiss on his warm, soft mouth.  He returned the kiss, then gently pulled away with a look of frustration on his face.  He sat back and whistled a low, breathy whistle. 

“Did you learn to be so forward on TV, as well?”

She playfully slapped his arm.

“I am not forward!  It’s your fault, you know…mister ‘I’m-all-CSI-and-I-know-it’.”

Pulling her closer again, he gently rolled her over him and onto the ground, playfully pinning her beneath him.  The weight of his body on hers made her aching start all over again.  She could feel the heat travel slowly up her body.  He kissed her firmly, passionately and she returned the passion, their breathing hard and hot. 

He felt her begin to pull away and stopped kissing her.  Holding her head in his hands, he look intently into her eyes.

“We can stop now, or not.  You tell me.”

“We need to stop.  I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.  I know it’s the right thing, but sometimes the right thing just sucks, and I mean that in the non-sexual way.”

She giggled as he got up and pulled her to her feet.  They brushed the dust off themselves and he spun her quickly around.   He began brushing the dust off her backside, taking a little longer than needed.

She turned around and gave him a flat stare.

“What?” he asked innocently.  “You had a lot of dust ground on there.”

“Uh, huh,” she said knowingly.  “Let’s go.”

After cleaning up the remains of lunch, Cayman grabbed the picnic basket and together they walked to the car, hand in hand, laughing and joking with each other.  The kept the mood light, knowing full well it would only take one intimate touch to bring them right back where they’d left off moments ago.  As they pulled away, Alexa took one look back in the side mirror.

“Goodbye, Daddy,”
she said softly.