What You Do To Me (Unexpected Love) (22 page)

             
I said
bye to Rita and shut the door with my leg. Lily and I turn
ed
into the house and head
ed
for the dining room table.

             
“
Wow,
Mommy
, look at all these
flowers.
They
are so beautiful. Who are they from?”

             
“Well, let’s se
e if we can find a card.” I had
a pretty good guess who sent t
he flowers. The same man who had
no problem invading my privacy. Calling a business owner at home to get flowers delivered at a specific time would be less
intrusive compared to what he wa
s probably
used
to doing.
Lily and
I look
ed
through all
the vases of flowers and we didn
’t see a card.

             
“
Sorry,
Lil, no
card.
I guess we’ll never know who sent
them.” Just
then,
the phone rang
. I look
ed at the phone and saw the name on the
screen;
it was
Alex.
Immediately,
I had
butterflies and I hate
d th
e
fact
that
I did
.
“Hello,” trying to sound normal in front of Lily.

             
“Good
morning,
beautiful, anythin
g eventful to repor
t?
” Alex asked
, probably hinting towards the flowers.

             
“Nope, nothing, just hanging out with the girls, enjoying a normal summer morning.”

             
“What, it’s quarter after nine, she didn’t deliver the flowers
?”

             
“Oh, the flowers, they were delivered. When you said
eventful,
I thought you meant something s
uper cool or
spectacular,
” I said
in a teasing voice, “
By
the
way,
thanks for the card. I thought maybe my other boyfriend sent them.”
I cringed
as soon as the words were
out of my mouth,
because
it occurred to me that I had just implied
that he was
my boyfriend. I hope
d
to God
that
he did not catch that slip of the tongue.

             
“Well, there better not be any other boyfriend, but I do like the title I am claiming.” Fucking kill me, he did pick it up.

             
“Well, you haven’t even come close to that
title.
You’re
still working on establishing the friend title.”

             
“Hmmm, I’ll have to w
ork a bit
harder,
I see.” Alex was
chuckling in the phone and I knew he wa
s smiling.

             
“No more calling store owners at home on their days off to do this though.”

             
“She told you?”
H
e seemed surprised that I kne
w this little fact.

             
“Let me let you in on a little
secret.
I live in a town where everyone knows everyone’s business. I’m sure the fact that the flower shop
pulled
up
to
my house is the topic at the grocery store
this beautiful summer morning
. Plus
,
I gr
aduated with Rita’s
daughter.
We
go way
back,
so she told me everything.
Kind of
like the fact you wanted to send me even more flowers
than
the one’s I received.”

             
“I didn’t know your favorite so I thought I better send a bunch so you would at least get your favorite.”

             
“Well, I did get my favorite in their somewhere.
” Keeping my
favorite to myself,
“
So
, what are your plans for the day
,
Mr. Rock Star?”

“You know I have a name?”
I could
hear the
playful
attitude in his voice.

             
“Sorry, what are your plan
s today, Mr. Morgan?” Alex told me about the PR the band wa
s up to for the day and the benefit
he was
at
tending later with Steve. I told
him I plan
ned
to pack
the girls up
and
head to the beach
soon
, and h
ow
we would
be going to my parents later
for dinner. He asked about my
parents,
and I told
him how much my dad and I
were
alike and how my mother
was
a wonderful woman and grandmother, but someone I cringe being around because I
felt
so judged all the time. Bef
ore I knew
it,
Lily wa
s pulling on me to get off the phone
to
get
ready because it
was after ten. I couldn
’t help
getting
lost in conversation with him whenever we
got
on the phone.

             
When I
hung up,
I go
t the girls ready
and packed the beach bag and cooler
. When I
got to the
car,
the girls we
re already in and buckled, shouting
at me to hurry up.
Usually, I was the one
who wa
s yelling at them for wasting
sunshine
.

             
The beach wa
s quiet and peaceful. Since it wa
s t
he beginning of
summer,
there were
not a lot of tourist around, they u
sually ca
me after th
e Fourth of July, and since it wa
s
a
weekday,
many
of the locals we
re working. I enjoy
ed
t
he day with just the girls
. I was losing track of time
, but
when the girls started to complain
about
being hungry
again,
I grabbed my phone and realized we only had an hour to be at dinner at my parents.
Just
my
luck,
we would be late. We hurried and threw everything into the trunk of the car and headed home.

             
When we got
there,
I told the girls they needed to hold off on the showers until we returned from dinner. I quickly jumped in the shower as the girls changed out of their swimsuits and got into summer dresses.
We were only t
en minutes late
when
we
managed to make it to my parents. I felt relieved
that we weren’t later than that
. Walking
in,
my mother started complaining about my tardiness as the girls ran to my dad.

             
“I thought I raised you better. The food is going to be cold. We planned on eating ten minutes ago.” I immediately wished I called and cancelled dinner
, but Monday has always been our
night to eat together.
My dad stayed out of the
pub on
that one night
without me covering for him
.

             
“I’m sorry, we were at the beach and I lost track of time,” not really meaning the words coming out of my mouth.

             
“You need to keep those girls away from the beach so much. All
those
UV rays and sun is going to damage their skin. You obviously don’t care that you are aging yourself and
getting
skin cancer, but those girls don’t need to suffe
r for your vanity.”
Well,
there was the woman I kne
w and love
d
. It took longer than normal for her to start letting me know w
hat a crappy mother I was to the girls
.

             
“Julia, leave the girl alone. The girls love the beach and so does their
mother.
There
is no fault in that. Maybe if you knew how to relax,
you’d
love the beach too.”
Thankfully,
my dad came to my rescue.

             
“I don’t know why you are always defending her. Abrianna is a grown woman and needs to be responsible for all her actions.” All my actions, like staying at home, not moving in here and marrying a man she absolutely hated
, wa
s what she wanted to say
.

             
“Bri did not come here to be picked
on.
Now,
give your grandchildren som
e hugs so we can eat,
I’m
starv
ed.” I love how my dad
had
always called me
Bri.
He
was
the only one who
called
me that.

             
My mother waved
the g
irls over to hug them and kiss
them on the head. “Why do they smell like the beach?” Looking closer and actually smelling them,
she asked,
“
Lily,
why is
there
sand still in your hair.” I love
d how she questioned
my daughter instead of asking me why I did
n’t shower them. Before Lily could
reply,
I answer
ed
my mother.

             
“
Well, Mother
, we didn’t get home in time
for
all
of us to
shower and make it here for dinner. I thought we would stay for this lovely
dinner, and
then I would take them h
ome and give them a bath.” I could
feel my fac
e getting warmer as the words ca
me out with a harsher tone th
a
n I normal
ly used with her.

             
“I obviously see you
showered.
Nothing
like putting yourself before your children, but
that
is
normal
for you,
isn’t
it?” I could feel the heat rising and I was
about to blow.

             
“Julia,” my father hissed
at her.

             
“
No, Dad
, she is
right.
I am selfish. I’m the most selfish person I probably know.” I turn
ed
and walk
ed
towards the door. “
Girls,
enjoy your dinner with Papa and
Grandma.
I’m
going to do something selfish and I’ll be back in an hour to get you.” I walk
ed
out the door, probably letting it close h
arder
than
I
needed too.

             
I got in the car and
drove.
Having
no clue where I was
going,
I end
ed
up parked in the lot by the boardwalk
leading to the lighthouse. I go
t out and start
ed walking. I took
out my phone and call
ed
Lexi, but
got
her voicemail. I then tr
ied
Derek, but his phone must
have been off,
because it didn’t even ring before v
oicemail picked up. Before I knew what I was
doing,
the phone was ringing and Alex wa
s picking up.