Unexpected (8 page)

“What happened?”

“Dr. Marvin retired and nobody else was able
to take over his practice. So everyone who worked for him had to
find new jobs.”

I frown at this. I've been there before,
except it was because I was the newest employee and they had to cut
hours drastically. “Oh man, that sucks. But if you have the
training, why did you start working at the diner?”

She shrugs. “Nobody was hiring. I tried for a
whole month to find a job, but something always stood in my way.
Most of the people in these jobs keep them until they retire, or so
it seems around the area here. I spent a month searching and had to
cave in and take the diner job before my savings ran out. It was
only going to be temporary. I kept looking for another receptionist
job for that first month at the diner. Then I gave up.”

“Why?”

“It was pointless,” she says, throwing her
arms up.

I shake my head. “It's not pointless to
try.”

“But I failed. And based on what I'm finding
now, I'm going to fail again.”

“Even if there aren't any of those jobs
available, it doesn't make you a failure. You're only a failure if
you give up entirely. And I'm not gonna let you do that.”

“Is that so?” she asks with a smirk.

“It is. I believe in you, Alina.”

“Why?”

“Because you're my friend and I know you can
do it.”

Her smirk softens into a smile. “Thank you.
I'm glad somebody believes in me.” She sighs. “It's a horrible way
to start the summer, you know?”

“
Becoming
friends with me? I must say, that's a pretty mean thing to say,
especially to my face.”

She smacks my arm
playfully. “No! I'm talking about the other stuff. Being friends
with you makes up for the bad stuff.” Her words melt me, and when
she slips her hand into mine, I turn into a puddle. “Don't take
this the wrong way,” she says as she squeezes my hand.

“
What wrong
way am I going to take it?” I tease, squeezing back, enjoying the
feel of holding her hand.

“
You're lucky
you have Phil and Brent. At least you had people to fall back on
when you found out about Victoria. If I didn't have you...” She
pauses, gathering her thoughts. “Well, I have my mom and my family,
but I don't really have any close friends. Lord knows I needed a
friend right now. I'm glad you were there when it all came crashing
down.”

What she says
comes as a shock to me. I thought she had a few other friends
besides Victoria and Drew. My heart breaks thinking about
everything she's lost. I'm just as thankful to have her as she is
to have me, but she's right. If she wasn't there when Victoria
left, I would have had people to fall back on. I may have gotten my
life back on track—it hasn't been too difficult for me to move on
quickly in the last couple
of
years. I have to admit that without her, I probably wouldn't
have bounced back so quickly. My relationship with Victoria feels
like a blip on the radar, one that's come and gone and leaves no
trace of itself as I walk away.

All because of
Alina.

“
You know,” I
say, “I may have them, but it's nothing compared to someone like
you.”

“
Sweet
talker.” She presses her lips together to stifle a chuckle, but it
escapes past her lips.

“
Fine, don't
believe me.”

“
No, I do. I
believe you.” She gives me one of her sweet smiles. “Do you have to
get to bed?”

“
Unfortunately.” I give her hand one last squeeze and
reluctantly let go as I get up. “Come on. Stand and get your hug.”
She laughs and complies. I cut the hug short when her scent fills
my nostrils because it stirs sensations in the lower half of my
body that I don't want her to notice.

When I get to
my bedroom, the first thing I notice is that my bed
is made.
I didn't make my bed this morning.
In fact, I never make my bed. It's kind of an unwritten rule for
me. I step back out to the living room. Alina has the TV on and
she's flipping through the channels. She sees me out of the corner
of her eye and turns to face me. “Is the TV too loud?”

I shake my head.
“Did you make my bed?”

Her cheeks flush.
“Uh, yeah. I guess I did.” She tucks a strand of hair behind her
ear and I notice that she still hasn't put any earrings in. “I took
a nap on your bed earlier. I figured you wouldn't mind.”

I raise an
eyebrow. “I
do
mind.”
She
instantly freezes at my response, worried she crossed a line.
“I mean, you're more than welcome
to sleep in my bed, but I would prefer it if you would join me
instead of sleeping alone.”

She rolls her eyes
at me, then points toward my bedroom. “Just go to bed.”

My jaw drops and I
hold a hand to my heart. “That hurts, Alina.”

“
I'm sure
your ego will bounce right back,” she says with a wink.

“
It did. But
the invitation still stands.” I return her wink, leaving her with
that thought as I go to bed.

~*~

I get home from
work the next day to find Alina curled up on my couch reading one
of her books. She glances up at me and I notice something different
about her. “You wear glasses?”

She slips them off.
“Only for reading.”

“You look cute in them.” When she makes a
face at my comment, I say, “I'm serious, you look adorable.”

“
Thanks.” She
drops her book into her bag before I can see what it is and tucks
her glasses back into a case. “You ready to go?”

I nod and we go out
to my truck. We make small talk about our day as we drive to her
old apartment. When we get there, she rummages through her purse
instead of getting out of the truck. I reach out and give her hand
a squeeze. “I'm here, remember?”

Alina smiles. “I
know.” We go inside and she unlocks the door. She quickly checks
every room for Victoria, then returns to me with a thumbs up. “All
clear.”

“
Good. No
distractions.”

She spends
the next hour going through the apartment and passing different
items to me to put in the boxes we brought. We
almost have
all of them completely full when
she freezes in front of her shelf. “You've got to be kidding me,”
she mutters.

“
What is
it?”

She stands on
her tiptoes to look at the top shelf,
peering at each one
down the line, resting her hand on the shelf as she’s looking at
it.
Her eyes dart around the
room
before she turns to me.
The anger flashes from her eyes. “That little bitch stole my
stuffed bear.”

“
Wait,
what?”

“
My bear.”
She frantically checks different places around her bedroom. “My
parents gave it to me when I was a baby. I slept with it all
through elementary school. It's the one thing I have left from my
childhood and it's gone!”

My heart sinks.
Victoria wouldn't...

Damn it. She
would.

Alina lets out a
growl and runs out of the room. I blink for a second, then I'm on
my feet following her. She's in Victoria's room and I can tell
she's about to ransack the whole thing. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I say,
reaching for her before she yanks anything to the floor. “Alina,
you're angry.”

“
Damn right
I'm angry!” She twists out of my grip and spins around to face me.
“I want my bear. I should have grabbed it last time. Why didn't I
think of it?”

“
Because you
didn't think she would be this vindictive.” I take her hand in
mine. “I know you want to tear this place apart looking for it, but
you shouldn't stoop to her level.”

“
But
it's
my
bear.” She rips her hand away out
of my grip and starts to shuffle through Victoria's things. “I have
to at least try to look for it. As soon as she knows I know, she'll
hide it where I can't find it.”

“
What if she
already did?” I hate telling her this, but it's the sad fact about
this situation. Victoria apparently has no heart and is willing to
punish Alina for the mistakes she's not responsible for
making.
It makes me want to help
her tear this room apart to find it because she doesn't deserve
this.

Alina frowns. “You
might be right.”

“
Come here,”
I say, reaching out to put my arm around her, walking us to the
door. “Let's finish packing what we can and worry about this later,
okay?” She nods, leaning into my chest as her arm comes around me
to hold me closer.

After we pack what
we can into the boxes and load them into the truck, I ask Alina for
the key to the apartment so I can lock it up. Just as I'm about to,
an idea comes to mind—one that might get Victoria to relinquish her
power. Instead of just locking the door, I go into Victoria's room
and put my plan into action.

Chapter Nine

–
Alina
–

It
’s
unbelievably infuriating that Victoria has stooped to this level by
stealing my bear.
It's bad enough
she slept with my boyfriend, but this is even worse. It's cutting
because it's vindictive and childish. The worst part of it all?
There's nothing I can do. At least, not without resorting to
something even more childish
like destroying her room in an
attempt to find the damn thing.
While that may give me immediate satisfaction, it would have
enormous ramifications.

“
Are you
okay?”

Ryan's question
breaks me out of my reverie and I realize we're back at his
apartment already. I say, “It's Alina's Law all over again.”

“
Alina's
Law?” He gives me a look
as if
he's trying to understand what I might mean by
that.

Sometimes I forget
my random thoughts don't make sense out loud until I explain them.
“Oh. You know, like Murphy's Law, except it's happening to me.”

He laughs and I
swear it's only because he finds me funny, not that he feels sorry
for me. “Come on, Alina. Things may not be completely back on
track, but you're getting there. An optimistic attitude will help
you reach that point.”

“
How can you
be so positive?”

“
Practice.”
He reaches over and taps my chin a couple times and I smile. “Let's
unload and chill out for the rest of the night.”

Half an hour later
we have the boxes in his apartment and several pieces of furniture
moved around to accommodate them. I look at the mess we've made.
“I'm sorry about this.”

“A
bout what?”
he asks, surveying the room.

I gesture to all
the boxes. “My crap is everywhere.”

He shrugs.
“So?”

I bring my hands
up, covering my face as I shake my head. “You're just so relaxed
about everything. I'm practically a stranger—”

“
I think the
word you're looking for is 'friend,' but I'll let it slide since
it's so new to you.”

“—
and you've
just allowed me to come in here, basically mooching off you and
sleeping on your couch.”

Ryan holds up a
finger. “I offered you my bed, but you declined. More than once, I
might add.”

I smack his finger
down. “I'm serious.”

“
Okay, fine.”
He sighs and begins pacing around the room. “A few years ago, a
buddy of mine, Sam, was going through a rough time. His
fiancée
died in a car accident and
he wasn't taking it well. I suspected he was depressed, but I had
no idea how serious it had gotten. None of us knew. One day, I
decided to stop by to check on him, see if he was doing okay.” He
pauses and his eyes find mine. “I found him on the kitchen floor
with a bottle of pills in his hand. He was lucky, though. If I had
gotten there an hour after that, he probably would have been
dead.”

My mouth falls open
and I clutch my heart. “Ryan...”

“
It's the
most terrified I've ever been in my life. I knew why he did it
before he even told me, and it got me thinking...wondering what it
would be like to be in his shoes. Would I let myself
be
so consumed by darkness that I
ignore the beauty that still surrounds me? I know I would be
upset—that's a given—but would I want to end my life?” He pushes
himself back up and steps closer. “Life isn't easy, and things will
happen that are going to suck, but we've got to move past them...no
matter how hard it is. There will be moments where life is in
disarray, but eventually it will all work out. It can happen out of
the blue, but it's only temporary, like most things in life. I
choose to stay strong, keep myself out of that darkness, and hold
out a hand to anyone who needs it.”

Ryan's story nearly
crushes my heart. I can't even begin to imagine facing something as
huge as that. He's right—what's happening is only temporary. It may
feel like my life is falling apart, but I can pick myself up. And
when I can't pick myself up, I can reach for the hand that's
offered. “Ryan?”

“
Yeah?”

I wrap my arms
around his waist and just hold him. “Thank you for being you.”

His arms encircle
me, hands stroking over my back and hair. “You're welcome.”

~*~

The next day, I
make a few phone calls to follow up on my applications. The
managers I speak to tell me they'll be in touch to set up
interviews soon. I cross my fingers that soon really does mean what
I think it means. Even though working isn't the easiest thing in
the world, I can see myself going stir crazy if I'm stuck in a rut
and have nothing to do except read and watch TV around here.