Page 17 of With Wine Comes War

Grant looks at me with sympathy. “Alex hasn’t been to the office to work since the accident, but she hasn’t come to get her things either. I can’t seem to let her go so we’re keeping it the way it is until she tells me one way or another if she’s truly gone.”

I commiserate with him. “I know how you feel.” I scanned the pictures again before turning my attention back to him.

“Have you seen her or talked to her?” he asked hopefully before informing me. “She popped in here yesterday for a quick visit.” It was good to know she’s getting in touch with this group.

“We had an email exchange but that’s been it. She hasn’t wanted to see me or talk to me.”

Grant gave me a weary smile and nodded. I hope I’m not here to talk about Alex. I don’t have it in me to think about how she cut me off again last night.

“I don’t know if this will make you feel better or worse, but she was the happiest we’ve ever seen her when she was with you, so hopefully she remembers that and gives herself a break.” That was helpful, but I’m not in the mood to relive the pain and just because that was true before doesn’t mean it’s the way she feels now. My comfort level is diminishing rapidly and my desire to continue this conversation is fading with it.

“Thanks, that’s good to know.” Makes me feel like there’s hope or maybe she really is a masochist. Either way we need to hustle through this emotional exchange and get to the point of this meeting.

Grant was working closely with several residents of the Burrow Township neighborhood now. Realizing I’ve been standing motionless in the middle of the room, my hands tucked into my trouser pockets, Grant gestured to the sitting area with the green velvet sofa and green and gold chairs on either side of a gold embellished glass top table. I took a seat in one of the chairs and he sat on the side of the sofaclosest to me. I sat back and crossed my ankle over my thigh and ran my hand over the soft fabric thinking about the way Alex felt under my touch. I blinked the thought away and focused on what Grant was telling me about the neighborhood.

“They seem more comfortable working with Alex, but Ella assured everyone that if Alex trusted me, then they could too. Ella mentioned that she hadn’t heard from Alex either.” Grant said.

“That surprises me since she was so hellbent on helping them. I would’ve thought she would’ve at least kept in contact with them.” He seemed as confused as I was about that.

“I think we need to talk to Alex and see if we can’t get her interested in helping Ella again.”

“How should we go about doing that Grant? She isn’t talking to me.”

“Let me think about it on my end and maybe you can think about it on yours and we’ll come up with something.”

“Sounds like a plan, I guess, if you can call it that.” He smiled and patted me on the back excusing himself to head to another meeting.

That meeting was good, and I managed to keep my thoughts focused on figuring out what we needed to do rather than fondling Alex’s furniture. Technically the meeting was about Alex, but not about our relationship, which is what I was trying to stay away from.

On my way out of the office a young lady stopped me.

“Mr. King? I’m Shay, Alex’s friend.” This is a name I’m pretty sure I’ve heard before. I smiled and shook her hand.

“Hi Shay, please call me Roman. It’s nice to meet you.” Alex had talked about these people, but I hadn’t had the chance to meet them yet. Shay seemed a lot younger than Alex. I wonder if all her friends from the office were this young. It would explain a lot as far as where she hung out and her after-hours activities. I smiled weakly trying toforget about the after-hours activities she was no longer having with me.

“You too. I just wanted to say hi because we never got the chance to meet you that night.”

Her expression was full of pain. Looks like everyone felt the horror of what happened to Alex. She looked like she was holding back tears. “Alex told us yesterday that you two weren’t together anymore. She did that, didn’t she?”

This wasn’t really a conversation I was interested in having, but Shay was sweet and I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it.

“Shay, we all have our own reasons for the things we do. She had hers, and we have to respect that.” I started to walk away, but she stopped me by grabbing my forearm. I looked down where her hand was settled on my arm and took a breath to calm myself. For whatever heart rate rising information I was about to receive. I also didn’t need to go off on this poor girl.

“Please wait. I know she still loves you. She’s one of the kindest, most generous people I know to everyone but herself. Don’t give up on her, she deserves to be happy.” I was speechless. I nodded and walked away. Now my chest was tight, and I had a lump in my throat that I tried to swallow down to no avail. I got out of there as fast as I could. I guess the only person Alex was fooling was herself.

***

ALEX

Morning routine complete.

Next on the agenda for the day was lunch with Amelia. I guess I should call Ella and see if I can stop by this afternoon after lunch.

I sat on the edge of my bed with the phone on speaker as it rang while I tied my shoes. She picked up the phone quickly. “Miss Alex, how you doin’ sweetie?”

Making friends in a neighborhood where people would rather stab you than help you when you’ve run out of gas didn’t seem like the best idea, but in this case, I made a friend who is more like family to me now. I finished the last loop and grabbed the phone, taking it out to the kitchen. I laid it on the island counter while I got a bottle of water out of the fridge.

I couldn’t help but smile when I talked to Ella (aka Big Mama). She was the sweetest most grandmotherly woman I had ever met and has become one of my dearest friends. “Oh, you know Miss Ella, I’d say I’m doing better than fair today.” She laughed. It was so good to hear her voice and her contagious laugh. I leaned against the counter as I looked down at my nails trying to decide what I was going to say to her to make amends for the mess I left. I chewed on my thumb nail waiting for her to reply.

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