by Janice Sims
“Kenneth broke up with me,” she said softly.
Alex hurried inside and pulled her sister into her arms, rocking her gently. All evening Vicky had wanted to catch up on Alex’s life, and Sam’s. Whenever they’d suggested she tell them what had been going on in her life, she’d changed the subject. Now Alex knew why. Kenneth Bowman had been the love of Vicky’s life. They’d met in their freshman year. Both were destined for pre-med. Kenneth wanted to become a pediatric surgeon, and Vicky wanted to become an obstetrician/gynecologist.
Alex held her at arm’s length so she could look her in the face. “I knew something was wrong when you made that comment during dinner. Now, tell me, what happened?”
Fresh tears came to Vicky’s eyes. “He’s getting ready to do his internship at a hospital in California. He said a long-distance relationship wouldn’t work.”
They went and sat on the bed and turned to face each other. Alex shook her head. “I don’t buy that, do you?” She felt Vicky was holding something back.
Vicky paused to blow her nose before replying. “No, I didn’t believe that for a second. That’s why I pressed him. He finally admitted that he’d been seeing Cecile Wells on the side for months.”
“That girl you brought home with you for Christmas one year?” Alex was truly puzzled.
Vicky nodded in the affirmative. “It seems that Cecile fits in his social circle. He comes from old money, you know. So does Cecile. Both their fathers are doctors. He told me he loved me, would always love me, but he had to think of his future. He said when it comes time for him to marry, Cecile would make a better match.”
“That pig!” Alex said vehemently. “What did you tell him?”
“I told him to go straight to hell, no detours, just straight there, and never to bother me again because I didn’t have time for trifling males who didn’t know their own minds. Love me? He didn’t love me, because if he had loved me, he never would have cheated on me with Cecile of the bony posterior!”
Alex was glad to see the fire back in Vicky’s eyes. She laughed shortly and hugged her. “That’s my warrior-woman! You want me to go to Athens and kick his behind? Because you know I’ll do it.”
Vicky breathed in deeply, and exhaled. Her eyes were clearer now, as was, it seemed, her perspective on her break-up with Kenneth. “No, I don’t want his legs broken. I want him to be in the best of health when he sees how well I’m going to do without him. The best revenge is living well. I’m not going to rant and rave and hope that one day he’ll learn the difference between true love and the pursuit of wealth and power because that would be a waste of my energies. Some people never learn the difference.”
“Amen,” Alex wholeheartedly agreed. She hugged Vicky one last time and got to her feet. “I have the whole day off tomorrow. Let’s go to a day spa and get the works. My treat!”
Vicky grinned. “I could use a massage.”
Cartwright Lawn and Garden Service’s work week began on Tuesday and ended on Saturday. Alex had established that schedule long ago because most of her residential clients preferred their yards to be done on the weekend so they’d be at home while the work was being done. The bulk of the commercial contracts were handled from Tuesday to Friday. Oftentimes work took them out of town, as the job she’d done for Jared’s brother-in-law, Fletcher Henderson, had done.
Mondays usually found Alex doing housework, maintaining her own yard, or shopping, which she loathed. Nothing was more monotonous and boring to her than walking down the aisle of a supermarket, filling her cart, and then having to empty it again onto the counter for checkout. This Monday found her doing just that, although after she and Vicky had spent the day getting rubbed down, being given manicures, pedicures, and fresh hairdos. Vicky had volunteered to get dinner started. There were steaks in the freezer, but Alex needed to get the salad makings, fresh corn on the cob, and something for dessert. When she had looked at Sam, hoping he’d accompany her to the grocery store, he’d feigned total absorption in a hockey game on ESPN. “Right,” she said, unconvinced. “You love hockey, just like I love shopping!”
He’d only grunted and concentrated even harder on the screen.
“Okay,” she said. “Don’t expect me to bring back that ice cream you like.”
“Aw, sis,” he’d moaned pitifully.
“Oh, you heard that, didn’t you?” She laughed and left him to his game.
She was bending over, picking up Sam’s favorite flavor of ice cream from the bin, when Jared walked up behind her. He took time to peruse the shapely curves of her hips in the well-worn jeans she had on before saying, “Going to spend the evening curled up on the couch with a big bowl of ice cream?”
Alex smiled as she straightened to her full height. By the time she’d turned around to face him, though, she’d managed to mask her delight at seeing him again behind a bland expression of mild interest. “Hello, Jared.” She glanced at the basket in his hand. Just like a confirmed bachelor, she thought. Your basics: eggs, milk, cheese, and bread. Oh, and imported beer.
Jared hoped he’d been able to school his facial muscles before she’d turned around. Excitement had seized him once he’d recognized her exquisite form a few feet away. He had not been able to get her off his mind for the past twenty-four hours. She’d been with him throughout the drive to Macon, while he prepared for bed, this morning in a business meeting, this afternoon as he consulted with his partner about the new project in Macon, and on his drive back to Red Oaks. He’d gotten back in town twenty minutes ago and had stopped by the first supermarket he’d spotted to pick up some breakfast things.
They fell into step beside one another, Alex pushing her cart and Jared carrying his basket. “Did you do something different to your hair?” he asked.
Alex smiled lazily. “Vicky thought I needed some color, so I got streaks in it. Does it make me look awful?”
Jared abruptly laughed. “If you only knew what I was thinking the moment I saw you, you wouldn’t have asked me that.”
Alex was glad they were alone in the frozen food section. “What were you thinking?”
She paused in the aisle and observed him. He was wearing dark suit pants, black dress shoes, and a white long-sleeved shirt. He’d probably doffed the tie some time ago. The shirt was open at the collar, and she noticed for the first time that curly, dark brown hair grew on his broad chest. That glimpse enticed her, made her want to walk up to him and slowly finish unbuttoning his shirt, then run her hands, with slow deliberation, over his chest.
She was so deep in her daydream that she almost thought she’d misheard him when he said, “I was thinking that you are the most beautiful sight I’ve seen all day.”
Alex smiled warmly at him. “How sweet,” she said softly. She continued down the aisle with him right beside her.
“How sweet?” Jared said, disappointed by her unemotional reaction to his compliment. “I say you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve seen all day, and you say, ‘how sweet’?”
“Jared, after our conversation yesterday, you really shouldn’t be giving me compliments anyway. We agreed that we’re acquaintances only, didn’t we? We’re going to work on the home-repair ministry together, and that’s all. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
She stopped again to await his response.
A frown drew Jared’s brows together. “I slept on it and decided I was too hasty in my decision not to convince you to give us a try.”
“I slept on it, too, and I’ve decided I made the right decision,” Alex told him. “It’ll save us both a lot of heart-ache.” She held his gaze like a magnet. He could no more look away from her than stop breathing. Alex went to stand directly in front of him. When they were a mere foot apart, she said, her voice low and sultry, “We have to do the sensible thing and resist each other, Jared.”
Resist her? Jared wanted to kiss her right in the frozen food section. Her luscious lips were moving, but he could barely hear her for the pounding in his ears.
“So whenever we see each other, let’s remember that, shall we?” she continued. With that, she turned her back on him, collected her cart and left him standing there.
Jared didn’t move for a minute or two. He had to wait for the tightening in his groin to subside.
Five
Alex and her crew spent the week in Red Oaks doing regularly scheduled lawn maintenance for their commercial accounts at banks, restaurants, schools, government offices, private businesses, and churches. Sam joined the six-man crew to earn extra spending money. His big sister offered to give him the two hundred dollars he wanted, but he insisted on working for it. It was gratifying to Alex that Sam had remembered the work ethic their parents had instilled in them. She accepted his offer and worked him as hard as she worked anyone else, including herself.
When she and Sam got home in the evenings, Vicky had a hearty meal on the table. They would engage in lively conversation throughout dinner. Afterwards, Sam would excuse himself to go hang with the boys, and he’d be out the door. Then Alex and Vicky would clean the kitchen, chatting the entire time. Later, while Vicky swept the kitchen floor, Alex would go outside to water the flowers and plants in the yard, then she’d go into the greenhouse. It was only a transparent plastic 16”x16” enclosure with a wood frame, but it was sufficient for the potted plants and flowers that needed protection from the elements. A couple of years ago, she’d had lights and an automatic watering system installed.
She was in the greenhouse on Saturday evening at a later time than usual because it had slipped her mind to go do her normal inspection after dinner. Now she was in her pale blue short nightgown and its matching robe, slippers on her feet, with her hair piled high on her head the way she’d arranged it just before she got in the tub. A few minutes ago, she’d been soaking in a fragrant bath when it had struck her that the only flowers that weren’t automatically watered in the greenhouse were the orchids, due to their delicate nature. They were more trouble than any other plant she’d ever grown. But she loved them so much that they were worth the effort.
So she’d trudged outside in the dark for the love of her orchids.
Inside the house, the doorbell rang. Vicky was sitting on the sofa in the den with the phone to her ear. “Hold on, Clarisse, somebody’s at the door.”
She slipped her feet into the leather slides underneath the coffee table and rose. Smoothing her T-shirt over her blue jeans, she hurried through the living room to the front door.
She squinted through the peephole at the tall, good-looking, dark-skinned man she was certain she’d never seen before. “Who’s there?”
“Jared Kyles,” Jared said. “I hope I’m not calling too late. Is…”
Vicky opened the door before he could finish his sentence. She wanted to get a good gander at the man who had her sister in a quandary. Alex had worried all week that her behavior in the grocery store had completely turned him off. Vicky smiled at Jared as she asked him in. He was here, so obviously his ardor hadn’t cooled off yet!
“…Alexandra at home?”
“Yes, she’s here,” Vicky said, extending her hand.
Jared shook her hand. “You must be Vicky.”
Vicky appreciated how fine he looked in jeans, a black T-shirt, and white athletic shoes. Smelled good, too. Like he’d just showered and shaved. “That’s me, Vicky. Middle child, younger sister, and closest friend in the world to Alexandra, who, I might add, is not expecting you.” She raised her eyebrows as if awaiting an explanation.
Jared smiled. Yeah, she was Alex’s sister, all right. Same “take-no-prisoners” attitude.
Jared produced a dozen long-stemmed deep red roses from behind his back. “I know. It was a spur of the moment decision. I just need to see her to explain why I acted like such a fool.”
“Stop!” Vicky cried. “Any man who wants to admit to being a fool is all right with me.” She began walking toward the kitchen. She looked back at him. “Are you coming?”
Jared put on some speed.
He admired the warm family feel of the house as he hurried through it. Hardwood floors, large airy rooms, solid well-made furniture. It looked like one of those traditional Southern homes his mother loved to ooh and ah over in decorating magazines. As an architect, he knew a well-built home when he saw one. Whoever had built this house had known what he was doing. He paused a moment. They didn’t make molding like that anymore, solid pine and shaped with such precision it was as if the artisan had left his signature upon it.
“She’s in the greenhouse,” Vicky was saying when they got to the back porch. She stood in the doorway and pointed outside. “Go down the steps and follow the cobblestone path. You can’t miss it.”
In the greenhouse, Alex was pruning the roses. After making sure the soil of the orchids was moist enough, she’d checked the roses and found that some of them needed to be pruned in order to encourage fuller growth.
She hummed as she worked on a Peace rosebush. She stopped, recalling that her mother used to do the same thing. Smiling as her mother’s face appeared in her mind’s eye, she continued.
A couple of minutes later, she stopped and looked in the direction of the entrance to the greenhouse. It was such a small space that she couldn’t help hearing everything that went on inside of it. She put down the pruning shears and turned to face Jared. In the space of those few seconds, she realized how much she had missed him and how afraid she’d been that her reaction to his attempt to apologize in the frozen food section of the supermarket a few days ago had alienated him. Relief flooded her. Still, she could not afford to run into his arms and declare her feelings for him. If there was ever a time to protect her heart, it was now. She’d decided that even if he continued to be against marriage, she wanted to see him.
Jared felt foolish offering her roses when it was obvious that she already had all of the roses she’d ever need. There were roses of every conceivable shade surrounding them. He smiled at her. “I guess I should have brought wild flowers.”
Alex stepped forward and accepted the roses, which were fresh from the florist’s shop and wrapped in green paper. She inhaled their heady scent. Then she looked up at Jared. “Thank you. Roses are my favorites. But why are you giving them to me? What are you doing here?”
“Basically, I’m here because I lost an argument with my mother,” Jared said. Seeing the puzzled expression on Alex’s face, he explained. “Last night, at dinner, I told her I was very interested in you, but because of my tendency toward infidelity, and yours toward a faithful relationship, that we weren’t compatible. She asked me why I thought I couldn’t be faithful to one woman, and I told her.”
“That spiel about your father’s proclivities, and your belief that you inherited them?” Alex asked.
He nodded. “Yeah. After she’d stopped laughing, she told me I had a fifty-fifty chance of being faithful to one mate. While my Dad obviously failed the test, she’d passed it with flying colors. She never cheated on him. I do, after all, have fifty-percent of her DNA floating around in my body.”
“Your mother’s a wise woman.”
“Very wise,” Jared agreed. He held his arms open to her.
Alex placed her roses on the table where she’d been pruning the Peace rosebush and walked into Jared’s arms. They simply held each other for a while, relishing the feel of their entwined bodies. “You smell good,” he said softly.
“I put lavender in my bath water.”
He nuzzled the side of her neck. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you, too. I was almost certain that my comments to you the other day had made you give up on me.”
“They made me crazy. There’s no denying that. We should try to resist each other? Girl, you already had me at that point. All I wanted to do was kiss you as you stood there telling me to practice self-control.”
“You?” Alex said, tilting her chin upward, presenting him with her mouth. “I could barely keep my hands off of you.”
“Then you didn�
�t mean a word of it?” He gently kissed the tip of her nose.
“I had my pride, you know. You rejected me without even knowing me. Because I invited you to church, you automatically assumed you would be wasting your time with a woman like me. That hurt. You don’t know how much I was looking forward to being alone with you, and then you laid that whole ‘I’m chronically unfaithful’ bit on me. As if you were protecting my honor.” She looked deeply into his eyes. “I’m a woman, Jared. I’m not an innocent who can’t hold her own in a relationship.”
“You mean you’re not a virgin?”
Alex laughed softly. “I can’t claim a lot of experience. But, no, I’m not.”
“But I thought single women who went to church were celibate.”
“Women who go to church come from all kinds of backgrounds. Some of us are celibate. I haven’t been with a man in over two years. That’s because I prefer to be in love when I make love. The last man I dated couldn’t handle that, so he stopped calling. I don’t do booty calls. I’ve never slept around, and I have to know that a man cherishes me before I can give myself to him. But I’m in no way a prude. I like sex. I like everything that leads up to sex. I’m a healthy woman with healthy appetites. Does that answer your questions about me?”
Jared bent his head and kissed her full on the lips. Alex clasped her hands behind his neck and held on. She had to stand on her toes to accommodate his height. When his big hands moved down to caress her hips, she moaned deep in her throat and pressed closer to him. Jared was hard. Where she was concerned, he had no control over that particular physical response which his body manifested whenever he was near her. She had to feel it through her thin robe because he could feel her answering response to his nearness; her nipples were erect and pressing against his chest.
When they parted, they were both slightly breathless.
