Page 50 of Kiss Me Forever

"He said he was twelve when his parents were killed in a crash."

"There's no record of a fatal car accident in Southern California involving two people with the last name Donovan in the year in which Alex reported his parents' death," Joe reiterated.

"Maybe it didn't happen in California."

"He stated that that’s where they were living when his parents died."

"If that's true, why didn't anyone else discover that Alex lied about his parents' death?"

"They must not have looked too hard," Joe said.

"What about Alex's aunt?"

"Alex went to live with a woman named Suzanne Banks while he was attending Kentmoor High School in Los Angeles. She was listed as his guardian on his high school records, but she was not a blood relation. Rose Donovan did not have a sister. She was an only child."

"Grandparents?"

"The grandparents on Alex's mother's side lived in Nebraska. The grandfather died when Alex was sixteen. The grandmother passed away when Alex was nineteen. But I couldn't find any contact between Alex and his grandparents."

"I wonder why they didn't come and get him when he ended up in foster care."

"A question probably only Alex can answer."

"What about his grandparents on his father's side?"

"Harold Donovan's parents were deceased when he was a child. Harold was a practicing dentist in Los Angeles until Alex was two years old. Then I lost complete track of him. There's no divorce record, no death certification, nothing."

"I don't understand, Joe. How do people just disappear? I thought everyone could be tracked through the Internet. The man lived somewhere at some point."

"I'm sure he did, but I haven't yet figured out where."

She was beginning to wonder just good of an investigator Joe was. He hadn't been able to track down her source on the car seat story, either. "So what's the next step?"

"I'll keep digging if you want."

"I do."

"Then I'll be in touch."

"Thanks." She set down the phone, thinking about what she'd learned. Why hadn't any other reporters found the holes in Alex's story? That was an easy answer—the only articles he had done were celebrity interviews, and they'd been more interested in who he'd slept with than anything else. Was this why he'd been so reticent to talk about his parents? But what did he have to hide? Why make up a lie about a car accident?

Getting up from her chair, she paced restlessly around her small cubicle, a dozen questions running through her head. She tried to remember everything Alex had told her about his parents and realized it amounted to nothing. Now she had a better understanding of why. The less he said, the fewer lies he would have to tell.

Pausing by her desk, she flipped through the clippings she'd collected and skimmed for any mention of his parents. Her gaze caught on one of the quotes. "My father was a dentist," Alex said. "That's why I have such great teeth. He taught me to floss when I was two."

She sat down in her chair, remembering Alex's conversation with his assistant a few days earlier when he'd been reminded to go to the dentist. Ellen had said something about Alex always cancelling dental appointments and that he hated to go to the dentist. That didn't jive with his love of flossing or the fact that his father was a dentist, unless, the fact that his father was a dentist had left some painful memories.

Or was she reading something into a nothing comment?

She had to figure out what Alex was hiding. Part of her wanted to confront him, see what he said when she told him what she'd found out, but first she would talk to Mick. She'd already gotten Liz and Kate to agree to take the self-defense class with her. Maybe afterward, she'd be able to pry some information out of Alex's old friend. It was a long shot, but it was all she had.

* * *

Alex was standing by the window of Mick's office when a car pulled into the alley in front of the gym and three women got out. One of them was an attractive blonde with a beautiful and very familiar face. His stomach turned over. What was Andrea doing here?

He'd been trying not to think about her since their run, but that hadn't been working too well. Every time he closed his eyes, her image came into his head. Every time he licked his lips, he was reminded of their kiss.

He stepped away from the window as the door opened behind him. For a moment he thought it might be Andrea, but Mick walked in.

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