Alyssa needed to think. But she needed to be alone to do it. “Look, Trisha, let’s talk about something else. Let’s talk about the wedding.”
Trisha sighed. “Okay, Al, I’ll drop it for now. But please give it some thought. Think real hard about clearing the air between you and Cole.”
Not in this lifetime. Things had gone too far, they had done too much damage and caused too much hurt to ever be anything more than enemies. It might be possible, however, to call a permanent cease fire. She was going to have to give it a lot of thought.
* * *
“Which exit did you say we needed?” Now that they were nearing the outskirts of Boston, traffic was steadily increasing and Alyssa began to tense up. Driving in big cities was not something she particularly enjoyed.
“Take the next exit,” Trisha said, looking at her cell phone for the directions.
Past experience had taught her that Trisha was hopeless when it came to electronics. She was forever hitting buttons that kicked her out of whatever app she was using. It was only a matter of time before it would happen, probably at a crucial moment, and they'd end up missing a turn or two.
“What is so special about this place? We could have just gone to Manchester and found something nice there.” At least she was familiar with Manchester. Boston was a complete mystery to her.
“Jamie said the owners design their own dresses. She said they were very reasonable with their prices and the dresses were gorgeous.” Trisha glanced up at the signs. “There’s our exit! Turn right at the light.”
After a couple missed turns thanks to Trisha touching things on her phone when she shouldn't, thus losing their navigational directions temporarily, they finally pulled up in front of a small building tucked among a line of specialty stores with a sign that read “Bridal Fantasies and Dream Creations” hanging above the door. Both girls looked at each other and grinned.
Trisha stepped out of the car and waited for Alyssa to come around and join her on the sidewalk. “Well we found it. Now let’s hope we can find a dress that will fit my budget.”
The next couple hours or so was lost in complete enjoyment. Trisha tried on several gowns, her face glowing with excitement over each one, even those she didn't like, and the shop assistant clucked attentively around her. Alyssa loved watching her check herself out from every possible angle and though she tried on quite a few, it was the fourth dress that they fell in love with. When the dresses that followed was continually compared against it and found wanting, they knew they'd found the one. Trisha put it on again and stood staring at herself in the mirror.
“Trisha, you look like a fairy princess,” Alyssa told her, walking around her, inspecting her from every angle, and giving her the thumbs up sign of approval.
Her eyes lit with satisfaction, Trisha smiled her joy. “I feel like a princess.” She twisted this way and that and let her hands run across the beading woven into the cloth. "I love how it fits snugly here at the top and around my waist but it doesn't feel restrictive at all." The loose skirt fell in folds around her legs and flared outward when she twirled about. The sleeves were puffy, the cuffs long and form fitting, but what really made it stand out was the intricate design of lace and pearls interwoven throughout the entire dress. It was absolutely lovely and Trisha looked beautiful in it.
They left the shop with a feeling of accomplishment and enthusiastic satisfaction.
“I'm so glad they only have to make a few alterations,” Trisha said as she sank into her seat and heaved a dreamy sigh. “I can’t wait to see Jack’s face when he sees me walk down the aisle in that dress.”
Alyssa grinned. “If you wore a gunny sack, Jack would think you was beautiful.”
Trisha laughed. “Well, maybe. But my parents would have a conniption.” She put a hand to her stomach. “I’m famished. Jack’s sister doesn’t live far from here. I told her we’d stop by. Maybe she’ll even feed us.”
Alyssa gave her a wary glance. “Do you know how to get to her place?”
Trisha’s brow knitted with some concern of her own. “I think so. I’ve been there a few times with Jack.”
"Do you know her address? We can just punch it into the phone..."
"No we can't," Trish interrupted. "I don't know the physical address. But I really am pretty sure I can get us there."
"Why don't you give her a call?"
"I tried but she didn't answer. Her son must be taking a nap. She always puts the phone on silence when he's sleeping. She probably just hasn't noticed yet that I called."
It took them nearly an hour to get to Tonya’s apartment, mostly because of noonday traffic, and Alyssa’s nerves were stretched thin by the time they arrived. Once they found a place to park, she simply sat slumped for a few moments and let the tension ebb from her body. Trisha sat quietly beside her and when she was finally ready to exit the car, Alyssa made an exaggerated show of prying her fingers from the steering wheel. “Next time you want to come to Boston, find another chauffeur.”
Looking properly contrite, Trisha gave her arm a squeeze. “I’m sorry, Al. Really I am. I thought I knew the way better.” They stepped out of the car and her face brightened. “But we did find it. Come on. Let’s throw ourselves at Tonya’s mercy and beg for something to eat.”
Tonya opened the door to her apartment with a baby perched on her hip. She gave them an “It’s about time” look then laughed when Trisha shrugged pitifully. Pulling her into a one armed hug, she urged Trisha into the apartment. “I thought you weren’t going to make it.” With a nod to Alyssa to follow them in, she motioned for Trisha to head on down the short hallway. “I made lunch so I hope you guys are hungry.”
Trisha turned to give her a grateful look. “Famished. Thanks, Tonya, you are a life saver.”
With a conspiratorial wink to Alyssa, Tonya waved Trisha on. “Go have a seat in the living room. I won’t be but a minute.”
Nodding that she'd do that, Trisha continued down the hall then stopped short once she reached the doorway to the living room, her face lighting up before rushing into the room with a small exclamation of delight. “What a wonderful surprise.”
There was a male voiced murmur and then silence.
Alyssa lifted a questioning brow as she looked at Tonya for explanation.
Tonya gave an indulgent nod. “He thought he’d surprise her. True love, isn’t it just so romantic?” They entered the living room just as Jack and Trisha pulled apart, their arms around each other, both of them grinning foolishly.
Alyssa rolled her eyes. “You'd think the two of them haven’t seen each other in weeks.”
“Hours, my dear. Long, tortuous hours.” Trisha laughed and gave Jack another kiss. “What would you have done if we had decided not to come by?”
Jack kissed the tip of her nose. “Then I would have had a wonderful visit with my sister.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out two tickets. “I thought I’d surprise you with these. Tickets to the theater.”
Trisha’s eyes lit up in delight. “You are too good to me.”
Jack looked Alyssa and grimaced in apology. “I would have gotten you one too but there were only two left.”
Alyssa waved a hand and sank down into a chair. She kicked off her high heels and wriggled her freed toes with a sigh. “That’s perfectly okay by me, Jack. I need to get back anyway. I’m supposed to have dinner with my parents tonight. It’s Mom’s birthday. They’d never forgive me if I didn’t show up.”
Trisha's brow knitted with worry. “I hate to have you drive all the way back to Falls Cove alone.”
“I’m a big girl, Trish, I think I can handle a two hour drive by myself.”
“The interstate isn’t hard to reach from here. Once you hit that, it’s clear sailing,” Tonya told her. She lifted her baby up into the air and he squealed in delight. “Let me go put Tyler down for a nap and I’ll get us some lunch.”
Alyssa stayed for about an hour before she finally made preparations to leave. She was ac
tually eager to get on the road and be by herself for a while. She had a lot to think about and a two-hour drive just might give her the time she needed to figure out what she was going to do about her relationship with Cole. This tiresome war between them needed to end. The question was, could it? Was peace possible with Cole? On her part perhaps but first she needed to sort out her feelings before she made any decisions or considered future courses of action.
CHAPTER SIX
It wasn’t long before Alyssa was cruising down the interstate and breathing a sigh of relief to be leaving the Boston traffic behind her. Once she was able to relax a little, the conversation she had with Trisha began to filter through her mind. Maybe her longtime friend was right, maybe she and Cole needed to talk and work things out between them. But if she was indeed the reason behind those developers not accepting Cole’s design, well, talk might not be possible, especially if he expected an apology from her. Whatever repercussions his actions caused, it was entirely his own doing. What could have possibly prompted him to speak to Jerry at the restaurant that night and what did he say? Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. Surely his dislike of her was not so deep that he couldn’t pass up an opportunity to mess up her life? Was that all he cared about when it came to her … creating problems? What on earth had she done to deserve his feeling that way? For the life of her, Alyssa couldn’t understand where all the animosity between them came from. It hadn’t been like that at first.
She was twelve years old when she and Trisha met, their initial meeting taking place on the school bus. Feeling shy and awkward, Alyssa remembered boarding the bus with leaden feet. It was a daunting situation to have all those kids staring at her while she moved down the aisle, desperately looking for a place to sit. Trisha's friendly smile was already in place when their eyes met and she was quick to slide over in her seat.
“You can sit with me.”
Grateful for that friendly gesture, Alyssa sat down and smiled her thanks at the pretty blonde-haired girl beside her. Their friendship soon cemented into the tight bond it was to this day.
Coincidently, or perhaps a deliberate quirk of fate, the construction contract Alyssa's father landed, thus prompting their move to Cove Falls, was financed in part by Trisha's dad. A close friendship between their families naturally followed. She and Trisha, however, were pretty much inseparable. An only child, Alyssa latched onto Trisha with tenacious vengeance. She considered her the sister she never had. As for Cole, who was seven years older, he was in college at the time and she'd heard so much about him that she couldn’t wait to meet him herself. When he finally came home for a holiday break, he'd been as wonderful as Trisha claimed. The first five years they knew each other were so vastly different from the past seven. Before things changed and went so bad between them, he'd treated her to the same gentle teasing to which he subjected his sister. She'd fallen under his spell as any impressionable pre-teenage girl would have done.
Though he didn’t come home very often, the few visits he was there, Alyssa thoroughly enjoyed. His life was a busy one, though, and she remembered resenting how much she and Trisha had to share him. He always had a date. Girls were constantly calling the house. But, and she found this quite encouraging at the time, he didn’t bring many of them home. Now, looking back on it, Alyssa had to admit that there was no guy on earth better than Cole those first few years. He was hands-down, the best looking guy she knew and, more importantly, he was really nice. At least back then he was.
It was hard to reconcile that carefree Cole with the man he was now. She remembered how his thick dark hair was always falling boyishly around his perfect face and she'd fantasized so many times on running her hands through it. He had a very appealing, endearing look that could not be ignored and unfortunately, that had not diminished with age. And when he was slightly flustered, he had a habit of raking a careless hand through his hair, messing it up adorably and making her fingers itch to brush it back into order. His blue eyes were always dancing with a teasing light. His smile could melt an iceberg. And he had been so attentive to Trisha and herself that their friends were quite jealous. He wasn’t above treating them to an ice cream in the summer or taking them out ice-skating during his winter holiday breaks. In fact, it was Cole who had taught them how to ski. He even took them bowling on occasion or out to a movie. Yes, those first five years had been quite wonderful. So what happened to change it all?
For the first time since it all went wrong, Alyssa decided a careful review of their relationship was in order. Just when did things change?
The answer was not long in coming. The Christmas of Alyssa’s sixteenth year marked the beginning of an end to their friendly banter and easy-going relationship. Being an only child and spending so much time around adults, not to mention her intellectual grandparents, Alyssa was mature for her age. No doubt her few attempted romances were very few indeed because she was an enigma to the other students, especially the boys. She didn’t indulge in childish games and most of the boys in high school seemed quite immature to her. In fact, with the exception of Trisha and a few select others, she loved spending time with her teachers. Another thing that set her apart was her devotion to her studies. She tackled her schoolwork with a concentrated intensity that didn’t allow for the fun and games of youth. By the age of sixteen, Alyssa felt old. At least older than other kids her age.
It was that year she'd been particularly excited over Cole’s impending visit home for Christmas and she was determined to impress him at his parents' party. So with that in mind, she'd gone on a pretty intensive shopping spree. The fact her fashionably conscious mother had gone with her was how she ended up buying a dress that was probably inappropriate for her age. She knew that now but at the time it was exciting to wear something that made her feel older and beautiful. It was a black knit dress and it fit her to perfection. It didn't hurt that her figure was filling out quite nicely either!
Thoroughly enjoying their excursion, they went to the local salon and had their hair done. It was the last time Alyssa would ever cut her hair. The short sassy style added years to her young age. While she was still trying to decide what she thought of her new look, her mother insisted they stop by one of the large department stores for a full facial make-over.
Although Alyssa wore make-up, she'd never covered her face the way the cosmetician did that day. When she saw the result in the mirror, she didn’t even recognize herself. Although the girl staring back at her looked quite beautiful, she couldn’t quite attach herself to the image. As far as Alyssa was concerned, the woman had gone a little overboard. Although her first thought was that she should scrub it away, everyone at the store, including her mother, made such a fuss over her that she decided to go with it.
The cosmetician strutted around her like a proud artist admiring her masterpiece. “You have such classical bone structure, my dear. You should be a model.” With a gesture for her to wait a moment, the woman rushed off and when she returned, it was to give Alyssa’s mother a business card to a local photographer. She seemed to think the man would be interested in using Alyssa in some of the ad campaigns he put together for various clients. Though her mother had been excited at the idea, Alyssa flatly refused. She was uncomfortable enough wearing the make-up slathered on her face now, she couldn’t imagine doing it on a regular basis.
Still, despite her feeling that it was all a little too much, she couldn't wait to see how Cole would react to her new look. Surely he wouldn’t see her as a little girl now? The conviction was intensified by the reaction of those around her. Self-conscious though she was at all the compliments, Alyssa couldn't wait for the evening ahead.
To be truthful, as she thought back on it, she had been quite silly to even think that Cole, a man of twenty-three would notice a young girl of only sixteen years. A girl he thought more of as a kid sister. Never-the-less, Alyssa had attended the Christmas party with a young girl’s tender heart.
Trisha and her parents gushed so much over her appear
ance that she became all the more excited to see Cole. Would he see her as a woman? Would he be attracted to her? When she finally caught sight of him, her heart had given a funny little lurch and it was all she could do not to rush across the room towards him. Frozen in anticipation of his seeing her, she'd stood and stared, her admiration for him nearly bowling her over.
He was wearing a pair of black slacks and a white V-necked sweater. Alyssa thought he grew more handsome each time she saw him. Though not particularly shy with Cole, she had been overcome with it that night and it kept her from seeking him out.
She was talking with Trisha when a feeling of being watched made her skin prickle. Even before she lifted her head and spotted him, she knew it was Cole causing the sensation. Their eyes met and locked for several long seconds. She couldn't move and nor did he. Standing several feet away, at the entrance to the living room and leaning against the doorjamb, he stared back at her in such a way that heat infused her in waves. She felt a blush creep slowly into her cheeks and hoped it didn't make her look ridiculous when combined with the rouge she was wearing. Burning with awareness, her heart beat a mad tempo and somehow Alyssa found the nerve to give him a tentative smile.
Cole's reaction was confusing. He didn't smile back but nor did he make a move to join her. What he did do was straighten away from the doorjamb and narrow his eyes. Still, he continued to stare at her and Alyssa found she couldn’t catch her breath. His eyes were lit with an emotion she couldn’t name. Regardless, its effect on her was thrilling and, without even realizing what she was doing, she started toward him.
Nodding slightly, as if to clear his head of some unwanted thought, Cole turned from her and strode off into the room behind him.
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