They sat in silence for a few minutes. Alex stared straight ahead, her heart aching with memories. Maybe sharing would lessen the pain. “She died four years ago from cancer.”
“Alex, I’m so sorry. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s okay. Madison had glioblastoma. It’s an aggressive form of brain cancer.” Alex spoke slowly in a monotone voice. “She was gone in less than a year. We kept hoping some miracle would happen, but it never did.” Alex stopped for a moment to take a deep breath. She battled the tears that threatened to fall. “The last few weeks, I rented a house by the beach. Madi loved the beach. She grew up on Cape Cod.”
Those last days had been the most painful of Alex’s life, watching the light slowly slip from Madison’s eyes. When death had finally come, it had brought with it a small measure of relief. Relief that Madi’s suffering was over. It had also brought a measure of guilt because near the end, Alex had prayed for it to be over. Selfishly wanting her own suffering to stop.
Sam edged closer, their bodies touching now, shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip, and she slipped a hand into Alex’s. “Where did you guys meet?”
“We met in college, sophomore year. After graduation, we moved back East to be closer to her family. We got married, thought we were going to be together forever. A year later, they found the tumors.”
“I’m so sorry.” Sam’s eyes filled with tears, and she laid her head on Alex’s shoulder. She kissed their clasped hands.
With a shuddering sigh, Alex rested her head on Sam’s.
They stayed in that position until Jade found them.
“Oh, sorry for the interruption. You guys okay?”
They both nodded.
“Our car’s here. Party’s ending.”
“I’ll be there in a sec,” Sam said.
Jade headed back inside, and Sam and Alex stood.
Sam jammed her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. “I hate that I’m leaving tomorrow.”
“It’s only for a couple of months.” Alex tried to sound cavalier.
“I guess we should say goodbye then.”
They melted into each other’s arms.
“Thanks for listening,” Alex whispered.
Sam pulled back and cupped Alex’s face, rubbing her thumb along her cheek. “Thanks for telling me.” A horn honked. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye.”
Sam disappeared, and Alex was left alone to wrestle with her inner demons.
* * *
Alex’s ringing phone startled her. Lifting her head and cracking open one eye, she pawed around the floor, searching for it. It was hiding under the nightstand. She pulled her wild hair back. A FaceTime call.
“Sam?”
“Hey, are you still in bed?”
“What time is it?” Alex asked, her throat dry.
“Nine a.m. Nice hair.”
Alex tried to smooth it down to no avail.
“Why are you still in bed?”
“We just made it home three hours ago.” Alex peered at Sam’s surroundings. “Where are you?”
“I’m in the first-class lounge at the airport. My flight was delayed.”
Alex stretched with the phone still in her hand.
“Oh shit, you’re naked!” Sam said.
“Oops.” Alex grinned and brought the phone down to eye level. “Sorry. I’m not used to FaceTiming my calls.”
“Well, you should pull the blanket up.”
Alex did so. “Sam, um, I’m not alone.”
“Oh. Oh my God, I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you say something sooner? I’ll catch you later.”
Alex stretched again, rolling over onto her side and extending an arm over her bed companion. “Yogi says hi.”
“That was not funny.”
Alex laughed.
“You are not nice!”
“Well, why did you expect the worst of me? Was that nice?”
“You are so dead next time I see you.”
“You should have seen your face.”
“I’m not talking to you right now.” Sam pursed her lips and glared.
“Fine, we can sit here and stare at each other.” Alex waited for Sam to start talking again, but when time stretched on, she wavered. The thought of Sam being even remotely upset made her insides queasy. “I’m sorry, Sam.”
But Sam refused to budge.
“Would it help if I gave you another peek?” Alex slowly pulled the blanket down.
Sam waited until the blanket was almost at her waist. “Okay, I forgive you.”
“Am I stopping?”
“Yes, you can stop. Stop there, please. Jesus, I have to sleep tonight.”
Alex snickered and pulled the blanket back up. “I thought you needed to minimize your distractions, yet here you are, watching me strip on FaceTime.”
“Well, I’m not on location yet. Distractions are still welcome. So, we were not headline news this morning, which is good. The crew was sweating it out at my house last night. I don’t think any of them slept.”
Alex ran a hand through her hair to try and tame it. “Yeah, what was going on at the club? I felt like we were part of a Saturday Night Live skit.”
“They were trying to be protective. They didn’t want any bad press for me or the show. And nothing’s come out yet.”
“That’s good. How are things in the first-class lounge?”
“Nice, lots of food and beverages. Nobody else is even in here.”
“Cool. I’ve never been in one.”
“Maybe if you play your cards right, you’ll see one someday.”
“I guess I better behave myself.”
“Crap, they’re calling my flight. Give Yogi a kiss for me.”
Alex gave him a kiss on the head.
“Put him on.”
Alex put the phone in front of Yogi.
“Yogi, give Alex a kiss for me, buddy.”
Yogi licked Alex’s chin.
Sam giggled. “I can’t believe he did that.”
“He listens pretty well. And thanks for the kiss. Do you need another peek to get you through your flight?” She slowly pulled the blanket down.
Sam hesitated a few seconds. “No, I’m good.”
“We could do this the whole time you’re away, you know.” Alex wiggled her eyebrows.
“I would, no doubt, get fired from my job if I watched that every day. Now, I’m leaving, so pull the blanket up.”
Alex hiked it up a centimeter. “Better?”
“Farther, please.”
The blanket crawled north a couple of inches.
“Jesus Christ, I think you’re trying to kill me.”
Chapter Fourteen
Sam was going off her rocker. It had been four weeks since she’d last talked to Alex. Four long weeks of not seeing or touching. Four weeks of thinking about Madison, and how painful it must have been for Alex to lose her wife. Could she compete with the ghost of a past love?
She imagined an angel and a devil sitting on opposite shoulders. Good, strong, confident Sam on one shoulder: No need to call. Don’t appear needy. She’s thinking about you like you’re thinking about her. You’re attractive and fun. Who wouldn’t want you?
And bad, weak Sam on the other: Call her. What if she forgot about you? What if she found you lacking in comparison to Madison? She may find someone else while you’re gone if you don’t talk to her. You haven’t even kissed her. She probably thinks you just want to be friends!
She hated bad, weak Sam.
She stared at her favorite picture of Alex and Yogi. Alex’s contact photo. The number stared back at her. All she had to do was push the call button.
* * *
“Did you hear from the publisher yet?” Sophia asked while loading the dishwasher.
Alex scowled and handed her a dirty plate. “No.”
When she wasn’t obsessing over Sam, she obsessed over the book. When was Sam coming back? When would the publisher be
in touch? How was Sam doing? Why wasn’t the publisher calling? Day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute.
“I think you’ll hear soon. We’re gonna have a famous author in the family, I just know it.”
“Well, I don’t know about famous. I’ll settle for published.”
“I just want a famous actress in the family,” Lenna said from the living room. “We’re having Thanksgiving here, by the way. Make sure you tell Sam.” She carried an empty glass into the kitchen and duffed Alex in the head. “Make it happen. Don’t screw this up.”
“You’re a pain in my ass.”
As Lenna wandered back into the living room, a phone rang. Alex’s phone. It sat on the coffee table next to the sofa.
“Holy shit, it’s her! It’s Sam!”
Alex tripped over a chair leg as she came stumbling from the kitchen.
Lenna threw the phone at her.
Falling forward, Alex lunged for it, but accidentally knocked it back toward Lenna, who grabbed and whiffed. The phone slid under the couch, skittering back against the wall. They both sank to their knees and peered into the darkness.
“Jesus Christ, get it!” Lenna yelled.
“Can’t you reach it? You idiot, why did you throw it?”
“Why didn’t you catch it?”
Sophia rushed over and saved the day. She waved the sisters aside and simply moved the couch away from the wall, picked up the ringing phone, and handed it to Alex.
Alex slid onto the floor in front of the couch and answered the FaceTime call with a calm that belied the chaos of the last few seconds. “Hello?”
* * *
When Alex finally appeared on the screen, Sam’s heart stuttered in her chest. Could she have possibly forgotten how beautiful Alex was? She wanted to get on the first plane to LA right now.
“What took you so long? Were you on the toilet or something?” Sam asked with a smile.
“No, I was in the kitchen. How’s Vancouver?”
“It’s good. How’s Pasadena?”
“Good.”
Lenna and Sophia appeared on the couch behind Alex.
“Hi, Sam.”
“Hey, Sam.”
“Hi guys, how’s it going?”
Lenna leaned forward. “It’s going, it’s going. When you getting back into town? ’Cause quite frankly,” she pointed at Alex, “this one is driving us nuts.”
Alex shoved her. “Shut up.” She stood and moved away from them.
Sam laughed. Embarrassed Alex was adorable. “Wait, put Lenna back on. I wanna know what you’re doing to drive them nuts.”
Lenna didn’t need any further prompting. She looped an arm around Alex’s neck, putting her into a choke hold. “She’s been moping around for the last four weeks. It’s pretty pathetic.”
Alex tried to pry herself loose. “You’re gonna die, ’cause I’m gonna kill you.”
“Oh please, you can’t take me. You never could.”
Straining bodies obstructed Sam’s view. “I can’t see.”
Sophia snatched the phone. “Hi, Sam. We’ll let them get this out of their system. Sometimes they act like little boys. If you ignore them, they eventually stop.”
“Well I wanna watch, because this is the highlight of my boring day.”
“Tell her she’s coming to Thanksgiving!” Lenna cackled.
“Shut the hell up. What is wrong with you?”
Sam frowned. “What did she say about Thanksgiving?”
“Don’t mind them,” Sophia said. “This is a classic case of sibling rivalry. The oldest tries to maintain a level of dominance over the youngest. The same thing happens in the animal world. In this instance, Lenna has always been Alpha, so she feels the need to exert control over the pack.”
Sam appreciated the psychological implications of sibling rivalry but was much more interested in fight club. “What are they doing now?”
Sophia pointed the phone at the floor. Lenna had Alex pinned face down and was twisting her arm behind her back.
“Jesus Christ, you’re gonna break my arm,” Alex whined.
“Honey, don’t break her arm.”
“Yeah, Lenna. Please don’t break her arm,” Sam said.
Lenna released Alex and pointed a finger in her face. “You’re lucky she likes you.”
Alex winced and rolled over onto her back. “I think you’re gaining weight.”
Lenna plopped back down on Alex’s stomach, knocking the wind out of her.
“Okay, enough,” Sophia said. “Somebody’s gonna get hurt.”
Alex saved face at the end by flipping Lenna off and rolling on top of her. “Ha!”
“May I remind you that you’re forty and you’re thirty, and we have a guest here, so please kiss and make up.”
They both got to their feet and glowered at each other.
“That was fun. What are we gonna do now?” Sam asked.
“We’re gonna let you two talk,” Sophia said. “Say goodbye, Lenna.”
Lenna grinned. “Bye, Sam. Don’t be such a stranger.”
Alex seized the phone and headed upstairs, where she collapsed into bed.
“Way to come back at the end. How’s your arm?” Sam asked.
“It hurts.”
“Do you need me to kiss it and make it better?”
Alex sulked. “No, I’m fine.”
It was refreshing to see Alex humbled. And Sam wasn’t going to let her off the hook about it either. “Does this happen regularly? You getting your ass kicked by your big sister?”
“Lenna’s a black belt, for God’s sake.”
“A black belt? You mean, like karate?” Sam karate chopped with her hand.
“Yes, she’s the Karate Kid.” Alex raised both hands, imitating the pose made famous by the movie. “And she’s bigger than me.”
“Well, don’t worry. I don’t think any less of you because your big sister beat the crap out of you.”
Alex continued to pout. Her lips set in a straight line.
“So, you’re not talking to me now?” Sam asked. “Are we gonna have another staring contest? Because you know I’ll win.”
A flicker of amusement crossed Alex’s face. After a couple of seconds, she chuckled. “I’m sorry for acting like a baby.”
“It’s okay. You’re still adorable.”
“Adorable? Who wants to go to bed with adorable? Kittens are adorable, puppies, baby goats…”
“Baby goats are pretty adorable,” Sam agreed. “I love, love, love them. Have you ever seen videos of them? Jumping around? They crack me up. I feel like I need one when I watch them. Me personally? I love to go to bed with adorable. Just an FYI.”
A spark finally returned to those green eyes. “You mean you sleep with baby goats?”
Sam laughed. She wanted to crawl through the phone and settle into Alex’s embrace. She wanted to tell Alex how gorgeous she was, even while getting face-planted by her sister. She wanted to kiss Alex’s arm to make it feel better, and she wanted to kiss other things as well. But most of all, she just wanted her.
“I’d sleep with a baby goat. I bet they’re very cuddly.”
“Lucky them. I still haven’t gotten a cuddle.”
“We’ll fix that next time I see you.”
“Okay.” Alex scooched up against the backboard. “So, how’s the movie coming along?”
“It’s going great, although one of the other actors is hitting on me. It always makes me uncomfortable when that happens.”
“Well, I can send Lenna to take care of him, since she seems to be your knight in shining armor.”
“Okay, missy, do I detect some jealousy? Do we need another blanket episode? Would that cheer you up?”
“Whose blanket?”
“Well, you’re the one who sleeps naked.”
“Don’t you?”
“No, I like to sleep in my jammies.”
“And I like to take jammies off.”
Sam giggled. Her Alex was back. “Well
there you go. I wear them, you take them off. It’s perfect, like peanut butter and jelly.”
“Or purple chicken and dumplings.”
“Yes! Like that.” Sam would’ve been content to just stare at her for hours. “So, when I’m done in a few weeks and fly back, I may need a ride home from the airport.”
Alex visibly brightened. “Are you asking me to come get you?”
“If you want.”
“Oh, I want. When?”
“Not sure yet. I’ll text you the info when I know.”
“Okay.”
“Well, it’s getting late. I guess I should say goodbye. Gotta be on set at five a.m.”
“It’s kinda boring around here without you.”
“I miss you too.”
Alex grinned broadly. “Your backyard job is finished, by the way. Might wanna find something else you need done. Just sayin’.”
“I’m sure I can find something for you to do.”
They stared at each other, neither wanting to get off the phone.
“Good night, baby goat,” Sam said.
“Good night, lover…of baby goats.”
When Sam hung up, she knew she’d be smiling for at least another hour, happy that she’d called. Maybe weak Sam wasn’t so bad after all.
Chapter Fifteen
Sam hustled through the airport wearing sunglasses and Alex’s ASU baseball hat. A backpack hung on one shoulder, and a carry-on dragged behind her. It was Saturday evening, and the airport overflowed with travelers coming and going. As she approached baggage claim, her heart pounded with anticipation. She’d been away for eight long weeks.
At the top of the down escalator, she froze. There she was. A vision standing at the bottom. Sam put the glasses on top of her head to get a better look.
Alex’s wavy hair hung softly around her shoulders, and the way those gray slacks fit should be illegal. She stood with hands clasped behind her back and a sign around her neck that read “Sarah Cassidy.”
Sam’s shoulders shook with laughter, all her doubts instantly dispelled. Sam was crazy about Alex. Certifiably, unconditionally crazy about her. Had known it from the first moment she’d laid eyes on Alex in that parking lot. This woman was the one for her, and if she needed to wait for Alex to catch up in the feelings department, then Sam would wait. For however long it took.
#CassiNova Page 14
