All The Wrong Reasons: A Serendipity Falls Novel

by Erin Bevan

  “Well if you should ever—”

  The hand clutching his drink, hit her chest, knocking her completely off balance and his drink out of his hand at the same time.

  She crashed to the floor, hard on her butt, her heel sliding across the room, as Mr. Tipman’s bourbon—definitely bourbon—covered the front of her dress.

  She saw dots. Lots and lots of little white dots.

  “Oh my God, Alex.” Max knelt beside her. “Are you okay?”

  The one time he didn’t have his arm around her all night and she hit the floor.

  Ass first.

  In front of everyone.

  Figures.

  The entire room went silent with shock as all eyes stared down at her…on the floor. The only saving grace of the whole affair was her legs had remained closed.

  “Oh, I am so sorry.” Mr. Tipman actually sounded apologetic as he reached to help Max lift her off the ground.

  “I have her. Please.” Max held his hand out stopping Mr. Tipman.

  Her cheeks flamed from embarrassment as tears blurred her vision, and her ass stung.

  As he placed a hand to her stomach, Max whispered in her ear, “Are you okay?”

  She glanced to her stomach. His hand placement was his subtle way in asking if the baby was okay? She had no way of knowing. She’d never been pregnant before much less fallen while pregnant.

  “I…I think so.” She stared down at her dress. Liquid covered her and the floor below. “Just a mess is all.” She wiped at the bourbon. “I’m just going to head to the ladies room to clean up.”

  “Sure. Want me to walk you?” He held his hand steady in hers.

  “I’ll be fine. I’ll be right back.”

  “She’s okay, folks,” Max yelled to the crowd as a random stranger handed her the shoe that had slid across the floor.

  A round of applause started as she headed toward the ladies room. With her shoe in hand, she fought the tears that wanted to stream down her cheeks.

  Don’t cry.

  Don’t cry.

  Don’t cry.

  Her bottom smarted where she’d landed on the tile floor, and though she tried to stand tall and walk straight, she imagined this is what a drunk duck would feel like as they walked.

  She rubbed her backside as she entered the thankfully empty bathroom. After hobbling to the sink, she checked her reflection in the mirror. Mascara dotted under her eyelids, and her dress had a nice big wet spot right on her stomach. At least this time she didn’t have sheet imprints on her face.

  Silver lining.

  She reached for some tissues and wet them under the faucet as the ladies room door swung open.

  Tawana.

  Just want she needed.

  “Do you need something?”

  “Why yes, actually, I do.” Tawana propped a hip on the sink, her breasts daring to pop out of the top of her dress. “I came to ask you something.” The tone in the woman’s voice was all too innocent. Not an ounce of it Alex trusted.

  “What?” Alex dabbed at the stain.

  “Are you pregnant?”

  Alex stopped and turned. Tawana’s gray eyes sparkled as she scrutinized Alex’s every move.

  “Why would you ask a thing like that?” She dodged eye contact and went back to blotting the stain.

  “Oh, I don’t know. The sudden engagement when just a few weeks ago I was in Max Buchanan’s bed.”

  Alex stopped blotting.

  So he had lied to her.

  “Oh!” Tawana’s eyes widened, and an evil laugh erupted from her chest. “You didn’t know? Typical Max.” Tawana tsked.

  Alex gripped the countertop. Max had slept with Tawana. She took in a deep breath, the room around her spinning.

  He lied to her. Flat out lied to her.

  “And you’re pregnant. Of course I don’t have the facts. Call it a hunch, but the way his hand went protectively to your stomach as he helped you up, and the shade of green your face has been since the moment you walked in the door, and sucking on a peppermint—it was pretty obvious.”

  Alex didn’t need this woman having any hunches. She needed this woman to go away. But while the Devil in Prada still stood in the bathroom, Alex had to keep it together.

  She stood tall and continued blotting her dress, looking at the stain in the mirror. “Max has been my best friend for years. A marriage between us was bound to happen one day.”

  “Perhaps.” Tawana turned toward the mirror and pulled her lipstick out of her satchel.

  Red.

  Go figure.

  “But why now?”

  Alex’s blood pounded in her ears as she gritted her teeth. “Why not now?”

  “It just seems rather sudden, don’t you think?” Tawana puckered her lips, then blotted her lipstick with a tissue. Red lipstick formed a ring on the napkin. “Would you like some?” Tawana pushed the lipstick tube toward her. “Might help your complexion. Then again, the green face with the red lips might make you look a little like Christmas.” She snickered as she flipped the tissue in the garbage.

  “Go away, Tawana.” Alex scrubbed her dress again, the hand towels causing little shards of paper to litter her blue dress. Her attempt deemed disastrous, she tossed the towels in the trash.

  “So, tell me then.” Tawana puckered in the mirror again. “If you aren’t pregnant, then why the rush in getting married?”

  This wench would not go away.

  “As if it’s any of your business, but the election is why we’ve sped up our wedding day. Married men win more elections than unmarried men.” At least along with the string of lies he’d told her, he’d given her that excuse. Alex remembered back to their first time making love. His exact words “I’d never lie to you,” before he told her he loved her. That he was in love with her. Bastard. He had treated her no different than all the other women he’d been with. Possibly worse because he’d even went so far as to buy her the hardware. She glanced down at her engagement ring.

  “Ah. I see.” Tawana leaned in closer to Alex, her freshly painted lips so close to Alex’s face, she thought the woman might try to kiss her. “But, you’re not mayor’s wife material.” Tawana scrutinized her clothes. “You’re just an old farm girl. So friend or no friend, I’m not buying it. But you’re obviously not in it for his money either because I know knock offs when I see them.”

  Tawana plucked the fabric at the shoulder of Alex’s dress and she instinctively shrugged the woman’s hand away.

  If the woman had slapped her in the face it wouldn’t have hurt worse. And no, she’d never been after Max for his money. She’d known Max way before he ever had a dollar to his name—when he was broke and girls like Tawana never looked his way.

  “So, if Max really wanted you to represent him on the campaign trail, wouldn’t he have outfitted you better?” Tawana asked. “What’s your real reason for marrying him?”

  Alex held her chin high as her insides threatened to burn her alive. How dare this woman? “I have never been after Max for his money. Which is more than I can say for someone like you. Someone who never noticed a man like Max until he became small-town famous. Like I said,” Alex ground out, “we’re best friends. He loves me.” Or at least, she’d thought he had. What a fool she’d been.

  Tawana leaned back, a placated smile on her face as she placed her lipstick back in her purse before closing her bag. The closure snapped shut with such force it made Alex jump.

  “You know, it’s very unfair you get the man and the good job. It would be such a shame if they fired you.” Tawana turned on her heels.

  “They don’t have a reason to fire me.”

  “Yet. But if I find out what I suspect, then they will. Watch your back. I know how your men like to wander on you, and if Maximilian Buchanan finds his way back to me, I won’t tell him no. Goodbye, now.” Tawana gave her a little finger wave and waltzed out of the ladies room.

  Alex braced her hands against the sink as her breaths came out fast and ragged. S
he forced herself not to crumple to the ground and cry.

  Max had slept with Tawana? Of all people? And he’d lied to her about it.

  She stared down at the diamond on her hand.

  How could she pull this off? She held her hand to her stomach as it tightened, a cramp pinching her core. She could pull off tonight. She could do this. She had to for her baby. Besides, she wouldn’t give Tawana the pleasure of seeing her cry, and when the dinner was over, she would confront Max and then figure out what to do next. But marrying a man who lies to her, best friend or not, wasn’t going to work.

  She held a hand to her stomach. “Hang in there, kid. We’ll get through this together.”

  17

  Max walked Alex to her door. She’d been silent most of the evening after her fall. All night, he’d rubbed elbows with the right people, gave a great speech, and received several “that a boys” on his engagement to Alex, but the only thing he could think of all night was her. She looked sad and uncomfortable, and he hadn’t had one moment besides now to really talk to her.

  “I need my keys, please.” She held out her hand.

  He reached in his pocket and handed them to her.

  “Thanks.” She took them, avoiding eye contact then unlocked her door.

  “May I come in?” he asked. He’d never had to ask before, but something in her mood made him sense a shift. A shift he wasn’t fond of.

  “Not tonight, Max, okay? I’m tired. I think I just need to get some rest.”

  “Alex.” He placed a hand on her doorframe, stopping her from heading inside. “What happened in the ladies room? I saw Tawana walk in after you and out before you. Did she…did she say something?”

  Alex avoided eye contact and stared at her keys. “No. She didn’t. It was fine.”

  She was lying. Alex never lied to him.

  “I know you, remember? Best friend since forever, and you’ve never looked away from me like that and told a bold face lie. It’s not your style.”

  “Unlike yours, huh?” Irritation rose in her voice as she crossed her arms and leveled him with a stare that would have had Tawana shaking in her heels.

  “Wow, okay.” Max held up his hands. “Alex, please, I can explain, just not out here. Not in the hallway.”

  Alex’s neighbor, a tall man with skinny arms, stuck his head out of his apartment door. “Everything okay out here?”

  “Fine.” Max shot back.

  The man glared at him then shot his gaze to Alex. “Alex? Everything okay?”

  “It’s fine, Randall. Thanks for asking.” She waved her neighbor off.

  “Come get me if you need me.” Randall glanced back between him and Alex.

  “Sure.” Alex waved again, offering the overprotective neighbor a smile.

  Once the man went back inside, she turned and glared at him. “I think you need to leave.” She whipped around and opened her door.

  “Alex, please.” He pushed passed her and entered her apartment before her. “Just let me explain.”

  “Explain what, Max?” she yelled and shut the door behind her.

  At least he was inside her apartment instead of outside.

  “Tawana.”

  “So there was a you and Tawana?”

  “Yes but—”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” She crossed her arms, still glaring at him, though she couldn’t hide the pain that ricocheted across her face.

  A ball of nausea rolled in his stomach. Sure, he’d slept with lots of women, and Alex knew about them. Most of them, anyway, but never before had she looked at him with such hurt in her eyes, and never before had he been so embarrassed as to admit his past transgressions with her than he was now.

  Max placed his hands on her arms, and she shook away from his grasp. “Alex, please—”

  “No.” Tears prickled her eyes. “You said…you said you’d never lie to me, right before we made love on my couch. And then you went as far as to tell me that you loved me. Why? Just to get in my pants? The one woman you hadn’t scored with yet, so you decided to use my vulnerability to your advantage?” She spat the words between clenched teeth. Her cheeks flamed red as her eyes dotted with tears.

  Oh, God, no. No. Not like this.

  “And God. I believed you.” Alex paced her voice raising. “I actually believed you loved me. What an idiot I am.”

  “Alex, I do love you. Stop.” He reached out to hold her still and looked her square in the eyes. “It was one time, Alex. I swear. That’s all, and it was before our situation. When you mentioned she was the one that Chris had cheated on you with, it hit me by surprise. I didn’t know. I freaked.” He ran a hand through his hair and paced her living room. “I didn’t know what to say. I had no idea Beth and Tawana were the same person or I never would have touched her. I swear.”

  He knew he should have stopped Tawana from going into the ladies room, but drunk Tipman had grabbed him by the arm and asked him to reconsider donating the money to the center and putting it toward the town park instead. By the time he turned around again, Tawana was nowhere in sight.

  But if you’d have been upfront with Alex to begin with, all of this could have been avoided. She deserved that much from him.

  “I know I should have told you, Alex,” he stammered, stopping his pacing to look back at her.

  Her hand clutched the door handle. She was ready to kick him out. Would she kick him out of her life forever?

  “But…but when you said you couldn’t marry me if I’d ever slept with her, I couldn’t allow that to happen. I want to marry you, Alex. I do.” He reached for her hand, hoping if he took it off the handle, pulled her back into him, she’d believe him. Let him stick around a few minutes longer. “I want to marry you more than anything, and I thought if you knew about me and her then…”

  “Then I would have said no to marrying you.” Alex sighed.

  “Yes. Exactly. I’m sorry, Alex. Please forgive me. Please take your hand off the door handle. Don’t kick me out yet.” He pulled her hand off the handle and held on to her.

  She glanced down at their closed hands, her gaze distant. Her chest rose as she took in a deep breath. “So you and Tawana…It meant more to her than it did to you then?”

  He squeezed her hand and pulled their closed hands to his chest. “She meant nothing to me, Alex. Nothing. I swear.” Taking his other hand, he caressed the side of her cheek.

  She leaned into his touch before she sighed and let go of his hand before she reached for the door handle. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

  Confusion clouded his mind. Why wasn’t she happy Tawana meant nothing to him? “Wait…what?”

  “Goodnight, Max.” She opened the door and pointed him out.

  Nothing added up. What was she not telling him? “Goodnight? Alex, please.”

  “I said goodnight, Max.” She pointed to the hallway.

  He stared at her but her gaze didn’t budge. She was serious. She wanted him out. But for how long?

  Head hanging, he walked over the threshold.

  They couldn’t end like this. He’d worked so hard to get her. He wouldn’t stop without a fight. He couldn’t. He pivoted and held his hand out to stop her door from closing in his face. “Please, have dinner with me Saturday night.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I need some time. Everything just got very confusing all of a sudden. More so than it was to begin with.”

  Confusing? What’s so confusing? He wanted to be with her, not Tawana.

  “Please, Alex? I want to take you to dinner. We deserve at least one real date before we get married, and I know you have questions. Worries. Tomorrow, I’ll leave you alone, let you think and maybe by Saturday you’ll be ready to talk about them? Please?”

  The groveling had started. Maybe he should have gotten down on both knees while he begged.

  Alex studied his face like she had so many times before, except this time; she looked at him as if she didn’t know him. “What ti
me do I need to be ready?”

  “Four.”

  “That’s early for dinner isn’t it?”

  He released his hand from the door. “Not for what I have planned. In fact, make it three-thirty instead. No make it ten. I have an idea and I want to spend all the time with you I can.”

  “Ten am?” she asked confused.

  “Yep. Ten am.”

  “What’s up your sleeve, Max?”

  “Secret.” He pushed the door open with his palm and leaned in. “But I promise, you’ll like it.” He placed a soft, sweet kiss on her lips. Nothing like the fiery, melt his bones kisses of last week, but one of promise and love, and while she didn’t kiss him back, at least she didn’t pull away. What more could he expect?

  Now, he just had to prove to her what he felt was real.

  “Saturday,” he said.

  “Saturday.” With that, she shut the door in his face. He placed his forehead to her door, his body aching at the separation between them, but he didn’t have time to mope. He had a lot to plan and quick.

  He pulled out his phone, searching his contacts. He was going to give Alex the best first date she’d ever had. And last. He hoped.

  18

  Alex sucked on a peppermint and straightened her blouse as she checked herself in her bedroom mirror. Her stomach rumbled. All morning she’d been suffering from nausea. Earlier, when she’d went to her parent’s house for breakfast her mother had asked her four times if she were all right. She’d just smiled and popped another peppermint, praying the feeling would subside. She hated lying to her mother. Absolutely hated it. And to top it all off, yesterday, Max had followed through with his promise. He’d left her alone yesterday to think, and she’d spent the entire day fighting off images of Max and Tawana together. And Tawana in that I’m-a-bad-girl-who-wants-to-do-bad-things-with-boys red lipstick. That alone was enough to make her want to hurl.

  Two more weeks and they’d be married. Which meant, after Thursday night’s revelations, she only had two weeks left to decide if she could really go through with everything. She wanted to love Max with everything inside of her. Did, in fact, but was he even capable of such love? She’d thought he could be. He’d had his moments of promise, like when he agreed to marry her or when he stood up for her to Tipman, but now, after knowing how easy lying came for him, she wasn’t so sure. In eight months when she was fat with another man’s baby was he really going to stick around and be faithful to her when women like Tawana were going to stop at nothing to get what they wanted?