Hiding in the Spotlight

by Karen Booth

  A discordant sound peeled from the other side of the house. Alex jumped. “Page,” she gasped.

  A second musical note pierced the silence.

  “He must be practicing.” David felt as though he’d been yanked from a dream. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking about the boys.” He dug his hand into his hair, gazing down at Alex, still holding her close with his other arm. At least she wasn’t trying to get away, hiding her face in her hands and proclaiming she’d made a huge mistake.

  “I know. I wasn’t thinking about them either.” She looked dazed, her mouth plump and raspberry pink from the kiss. “Water’s ready.”

  David turned as blue flames turned orange and sparked from the pot boiling over. “Shit.” He lunged for the stove and lowered the heat. “Pasta?”

  Alex held up her hands, shaking her head as though she didn’t understand the question. “Yes, here.” She plucked a dishtowel from the counter to reveal the box. “Sorry. I’m not thinking straight.”

  David felt every pump of blood as it surged through his body, especially now that Alex was standing near him again. He stirred the spaghetti, struggling to concentrate, and lay the spoon on the counter. “Are you okay?” Even if it might not be a good idea to touch her again, he wanted to start exactly where they’d left off.

  “Just surprised.” She wrapped her arms around her waist and directed her sights at the floor.

  The tortuous silence made it feel as though someone was driving a railroad spike into his heart. “You know, Alex, you should just tell me if I was out of line. I meant it when I said I can’t keep my hands to myself anymore, but of course I will if you want me to.”

  “I’m glad you did it.” A sheepish grin pulled at the corners of her mouth, but the mist in her eyes made him question her true feelings. “It was nice.”

  Nice? I’ve had better reviews. “I can do better than nice.” He tucked her hair behind her ear before gathering her up in his arms and casting aside restraint, pressing his lips into hers. She tasted even sweeter the second time, like a reward for acting with disregard for the consequences. He squeezed her tightly before he ended the kiss, to make sure this message was delivered with no doubts attached.

  “Okay, that was much better than nice.” Alex muttered. “But you know that nothing like this can happen with the boys in the house.” She set her hand against the base of her throat. “Not at all. They’re confused enough without seeing us acting like a couple of teenagers in the kitchen.”

  David fought disappointment. Clearly, there would be no second act later that night. “Of course. Whatever you think is right.”

  She took his hand and wove her fingers between his, which excited him so much that he felt like a kid again. Alex bit her lower lip and flashed her eyes. “We could try for some alone time on Saturday. I can farm out the boys for some sleepovers.”

  “Yes,” he blurted. Saturday? That sounds like an eternity. “Perfect.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Alex dreamt that night, a fitful, disjointed dream starring herself and Glenn and David. They were back in school, no longer teenagers but younger than today, all three in an ambiguous state of twenty-something-ness. The halls of Oltman Senior High were oddly empty, with only a handful of students, mostly the super brainy kids or the burnouts.

  Alex was late for both PE and Math, becoming disoriented in the hallway. Glenn waited for her at her locker between every class, reminding her that she belonged to him. No one else had had her. No one else ever would.

  David walked by once when she was at her locker, reading Catcher in the Rye, glancing up from his pages and smiling. He wore torn jeans and a Van Halen T-shirt and his hair was long, past his shoulders. She tried to say, “Hi”, but Glenn smothered her with a kiss before she could utter a word.

  Her physics teacher was sick and The Weatherman filled in as the substitute. He had bushy sideburns and wore plaid bellbottom pants with a shiny silver belt buckle like motorcycle riders wear. The lecture about levers went on forever as his voice droned, buzzing like a swarm of bees.

  When her alarm went off the next morning, it took Alex several minutes to set her mind straight from the dream. It was bad enough Glenn was at the root of every unpleasant thing she had to deal with during the day. Now he was mucking up her nights as well. From hundreds of miles away, he’d managed to tarnish the lovely lingering effects of her moment in the kitchen with David.

  Not that she could dispute what Glenn had said to her in the dream. It was the truth. He was her one and only. The only man she’d ever loved, the only one she’d ever slept with. This was more than a minor concern. It was a closely held secret.

  In some ways, Alex felt as if she was a virgin all over again. What was the difference between total inexperience and a limited scope? She’d never really thought about it, but what if her sex life with Glenn would be considered boring? What if that was the reason he’d cheated? What if it turns out I’ve been doing it wrong this whole time?

  Alex had remained faithful even when Glenn had strayed. She’d considered carving out a slice of revenge once or twice, although it was more a fleeting thought than anything serious. Lisa had offered to set her up—the investment banker from her gym, the barista from the coffee place next to her office, and the young trust fund stud who had moved in down the hall. Alex knew she could never really go through with anything like that. Even thinking about it felt like cheating at the time, but things were different now.

  Alex threw on yoga pants and a sweatshirt, put her hair in a ponytail and woke the boys for school.

  “Page, honey, do you want me to make you a smoothie this morning?” she asked, once the boys had come to the kitchen. She poured Tyler a glass of orange juice.

  “Um, sure. Be right back. I forgot something in my room.”

  “Ty, do you want cereal or toast?” She watched as Tyler’s thumbs flew over the buttons of a handheld video game, his brow wrinkled with focus. “Hey, buddy.” She put her hand on his shoulder, leaning down to talk in his ear. “Cereal or toast?”

  “Did Page eat all the Crunch Berries?”

  “Don’t tell me we’re having another Captain Crunch emergency,” David said, strolling into the kitchen. He wore jeans, black Converse Chucks, and a black long-sleeve shirt, his hair damp and swept to the side. He ruffled Tyler’s hair and smiled at Alex. “Morning.”

  Alex’s heart thumped as his fresh out-of-the-shower smell washed over her. Her legs wobbled as if she might keel over. “Hey.” She trailed him to the other side of the room.

  He got out a coffee mug and she filled it for him from the carafe. He eyed her with a charged look as he sipped his coffee. “You look pretty this morning,” he whispered.

  Alex glanced at Tyler, who was still engrossed in his game. “Thank you,” she mumbled, her lips feeling pouty, as though they were drawn to David. She tugged at her ponytail, worrying her breath smelled like coffee. If it did, it didn’t seem to be bothering him. “You’re all dressed. Do you have something going on today?”

  He looked at Tyler before inching closer to her. “Meeting with Marty.” He traced a finger down the back of her hand. “We’re going to conference in the rest of the band, talk about our options if we don’t hear from you-know-who.”

  “Oh.” The bottom of Alex’s stomach dropped. Just when she was enjoying her moment with David, Glenn had to worm his way into the conversation.

  “What are you up to today?”

  “I have a shift at the library. Otherwise, I need to arrange the boys’ sleepovers.”

  “Sleepovers?” Page plopped back down at the table.

  Alex jumped, quickly creating space between her and David. “Yeah, remember we talked about trying to do that?”

  Page sucked at the straw in his smoothie, watching his mom and David, his eyes narrowing. “Right.”

  ****

  Alex called Lisa from the car as soon as she dropped the boys off at school.

  “Calling for the full repo
rt?” Lisa asked.

  Alex laughed. “You know I’m curious.”

  “You’re the sweet, responsible mom on the outside and on the inside you’re just a dirty bird, aren’t you?”

  “You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to.”

  “You must be kidding. I’m just getting to work. Let me shut my office door.” There was a soft thud and the click of a latch on the line. “Do you want to know about dinner or should I skip straight to the sex?”

  Sitting at a red light, Alex smiled and shook her head. “You don’t waste any time, do you?”

  “Actually, this is good for you to hear, because I want you to start getting used to the idea of being back on the open market. It won’t be long before you’re in my shoes and can sleep around as much as you want.”

  The open market? Alex hadn’t been single since she was seventeen. “You know that’s not me.”

  Lisa sighed. “I know. It wasn’t always me either, but things change. My reward after nine years of a loveless marriage was all the meaningless hook-ups I want.”

  The corners of Alex’s mouth sagged. Lisa’s marriage had been mostly one-sided, at least by the time she and Alex met in a yoga class. Lisa adored her husband, Roger, who was twenty years older. For the most part, he seemed to appreciate Lisa from the standpoint of wanting a hot, younger wife to parade in front of his ex. Lisa played along because she was in love, but she also wanted to have kids. He had refused, a detail of their life together she would likely always regret.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No feeling sorry for me. I slept with an incredibly hot guy last night. Have you noticed how long his fingers are?”

  Alex changed lanes and turned, now getting close to her house. She wanted to run in and get something cute to wear for Saturday. “What? No, I never noticed that.” Alex felt like an inexperienced teenager again.

  “Well, let’s just say that’s not the only thing that’s long. Although, I prefer a guy who has a little more girth.”

  Normally, this would be the point at which Alex would express some degree of discomfort with Lisa’s graphic tendencies, but now that she might soon be broadening her own horizons in the bedroom, she was more than curious. “Your place or his?”

  “My place. I wanted to be on my home turf. Although I have to admit, I’m curious about what his house looks like. I bet it’s swank.”

  “Did he make the first move?” Alex pulled into the circular driveway behind the studio trucks and handful of cars. Several people milled about by the garage, and Alex waved to Phil, the set supervisor.

  “He kissed me in the kitchen, while I was opening a bottle of wine. A little cliché, but it works. He’s a really good kisser.”

  Alex fought the urge to ask Lisa to tell her every dirty detail. “And everything else was good?”

  “Better than good. It was great. He’s called me twice today. It could be something, although I’m not holding my breath.”

  “You mean like a relationship?” Alex looked up to see Phil, walking intently to her car as her phone beeped in her ear to let her know she had a call waiting. She glanced at the screen. “Speak of the devil. Lisa, I gotta go. JT is on the other line.”

  “Good. Hopefully his guy got to Glenn.”

  Phil stood outside of Alex’s car and she rolled down the window and pointed at her phone. “John, hello. Do you have news?”

  “I do. Glenn has been served with papers, and I just got off the phone with his attorney. He’s not contesting the divorce. We can move ahead.”

  Alex felt the blood drain from her face, a reaction that mystified her. Maybe she’d merely had it in her head that Glenn would put up a fight. “Oh. Okay. Great.”

  “His attorney and I can move things along quickly. You won’t need to do anything.”

  Then why don’t I feel better? “Did the attorney mention if Glenn is coming back?”

  “No. Sorry. No word on that. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”

  Alex sighed with exasperation after she hung up. Perhaps it most bothered her that it was all being left to the lawyers. God forbid Glenn should call, check in on the boys, talk it out with Alex before hiring legal counsel. Asshole.

  She climbed out of her car as Phil removed his sunglasses. She’d only met him two other times, but he looked pale and tired.

  “Ms. Halford, I need to speak to you. There’s been a mishap in the guesthouse. The crew was packing up some of your husband’s instruments this morning. We’re getting ready to shoot some scenes in there.” He rubbed his forehead. “Remember, we’ll pay for everything.”

  “What happened?”

  “One of the guys tripped over a box and landed on one of your husband’s acoustic guitars.”

  Alex’s hand flew to her mouth, although it was more than shock—she had to fight the urge to smile. This was only a small part of what Glenn deserved. “What happened to it?”

  “It’s a pile of splinters.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Not since the Christmas when David was thirteen and he’d asked for his first electric guitar had time passed so slowly. He kept himself out of the house for much of the day on Friday, meeting with Double Damage’s manager about Plan B. Glenn still hadn’t called David back and he hadn’t reached out to Marty either.

  Glenn had, however, agreed to go ahead with the divorce, a detail Alex shared with David when he got home that night. It was a mixed blessing—it would’ve been nice to know whether Glenn ever planned to rejoin the band. He wasn’t looking forward to the barrage of questions his fellow bandmates would likely have for him. The flipside was he felt much less guilty about what he hoped would happen on Saturday with Alex.

  As much as he wanted to be near her every minute, the anticipation was so great that David couldn’t think straight around her. He’d tried to flirt with her in the kitchen on Friday morning, but Page seemed like he might already be suspicious. Dinner on Friday night had been a test as Alex became more comfortable with knowing glances. She seemed to be having fun with the idea, which while making his prospects more enticing, also made the waiting more torturous.

  By breakfast the following morning, David practiced calming breaths. There were hours until they would be alone.

  “Are you guys psyched for your sleepovers?” he asked.

  “I guess,” Page answered with a mouth full of cereal.

  “Mommy, what are you going to do all that time?” Tyler asked.

  Alex sniggered. “Laundry. We’ll be doing laundry.” She crossed her legs and looked at the ceiling.

  David sputtered, nearly spraying his coffee across the room.

  “Sounds boring,” Tyler said.

  “I know, buddy, but it’s very important to have clean clothes,” David said.

  By the time the boys were to be driven to their sleepovers, David was so amped up he thought his head might pop off. He and Page stood in the doorway of Tyler’s room, watching as Alex helped Ty round up his gear. It was hard to imagine how Alex could cram another stuffed animal into Tyler’s clown car of a backpack, but she persisted with a large gray and white shark Ty insisted he have.

  “What can I do?” David asked, shifting Page’s sleeping bag and pillow under his arm.

  Tyler was sifting through a pile of Pokemon cards on the floor. “Mommy, I can’t find my Charizard card.”

  “Tyler, honey, it’s just for one night. Okay? You have all your favorite stuffed animals. We should leave or we’re going to be late.”

  “But it’s my rarest card. And Leo doesn’t have one.”

  David set Page’s sleepover gear on the floor. “How well do we know this Leo? Are you sure he isn’t a Pokemon card stealer? Maybe we should keep the card here where we know it’s safe.”

  The gears turned in Tyler’s head. “Leo’s my best friend. I don’t think he would steal something from me.”

  David took a deep breath. “If the card stays here, you won’t lose it.”

  Again,
Tyler seemed as though he wasn’t buying what David had to sell. “If I never get to show it to anybody, what’s the point of even having it?”

  Page groaned. “Hey, doofus. Come on. I want to get over to Scott’s house.”

  Alex cocked her head and shot David a look that seemed to say, “Now what, smart guy?”

  “I tell you what. Let’s have Leo come over to play next week and we can go swimming and look at all your Pokemon cards.”

  Tyler’s face lit up. “Will you throw Leo in the pool like you throw me?”

  “We’ll have to ask his mom if it’s okay,” Alex chimed in.

  “Can we order pizza? And have hot fudge sundaes?”

  “Whatever you want,” answered David.

  “Okay.” Tyler struggled with his backpack until David hoisted it onto his back.

  They dropped off Page first. Tyler’s friend Leo lived only a few blocks from there. David sat in the car and watched Alex as she hurried back down the walk in front of Leo’s house, in a black and white print skirt and a tight white tee that was just sheer enough to make him a little crazy.

  “Mission accomplished,” she said when she got in the car. She swiped off her sunglasses, her eyes like blue crystal. “What’s the plan?”

  He glanced at Alex’s chest—it was hard to ignore her lacy bra through her top. He swallowed. Would Leo’s parents be offended if I had sex with Alex in their driveway? “I’m having dinner delivered to the house.”

  “Great.”

  Alex fiddled with the satellite radio for a few minutes on the drive back. “How do you find any good stations on this thing? All you have programmed is talk radio. You’d think you’d want to listen to music. You are a musician.” She sat back after she’d apparently found what she was looking for—the 80s flashback station. She leaned on the center armrest and David’s nerves began to catch up with him.