My Curvy Valentine: A Perfect Fit Novella (23 page)

Her cell phone rang, distracting her from her thoughts. She was back at Clayton’s house, in the spare bedroom again. She couldn’t face Alex. She couldn’t return to her apartment and hear him through the walls, or feel his presence around her without feeling guilty, so she returned home with Clay, who had a surprisingly sweet little house on the outskirts of town. She had wondered why he had chosen it when there were so many apartments in town, but this place was peaceful Maybe her big military man brother needed this place. Maybe it soothed his troubled soul.

She picked up her cell phone, just to see who it was. She didn’t feel like talking tonight. She planned to ignore whoever was calling, but she saw it was her father. And she remembered that she had promised to answer the next time he called.

“Hi, Dad.”

“I wasn’t sure you were going to pick up,” he said softly.

“You guilted me into it.”

“Oh, good. It worked.”

Maggie surprised herself by laughing. “Perfectly. How are you, Dad?”

“I’m fine. I was just thinking about you. Your mother told me you were feeling a little down today.”

“You talked to her?”

“I did. I talk to her every day, about everything.”

“Your girlfriend doesn’t mind?”

“No. She knows that your mother will always be a part of my life and that I will always love her. Tina trusts me. I’ll always be in love with your mother but there’s no going back. I was a horrible husband to her and even though I wish things were different I know we could never be together again. Leaving me was the best thing she could have done for the both of us.”

“Do you wish she’d left when you first found out?”

“I was afraid for her to go, because as mad as I was for what she did, I was more afraid of being alone. But being alone taught me a lot. It made me a better person.”

“So you would recommend it?”

“For some people, but not for you, sweetheart. You’re a lot like me in some ways, but you’re so much like your mother. You love and you deserved to be loved. As a father there are few men that one finds worthy of their little girls, but Alex is worthy of you. He loves you. I know you don’t want or need my blessing, but you have it. And just know that if he ever really hurts you, I know twelve ways to kill a man and fifty places to hide a body.”

“Dad!” She laughed again.

“You’re right. I may not have to kill him. Your brother will probably take care of that for me.”

“Did Clay hit him? I thought he had the beginnings of a black eye.”

“No comment. I would like to see you soon, Maggie. Do you think you can clear a spot in your week for me? I would like to have dinner with you and your brother.”

“I can and please invite Tina. She probably thinks I’m a total brat.”

“No. She knows I wasn’t the best father. I’m really sorry about that, Maggie. I don’t know if I can make up for it, but I’m going to try.”

“I appreciate that, Dad.”

“I love you, Maggie.”

“I love you too.”

She wasn’t used to hearing those words from her father. Growing up he never said them. There were no I-love-yous given freely. No compliments. Just tenseness and bitterness swirling
around her family. But somehow, now that was changing. Things changed. People could change. She was holding Alex accountable for what her father had done. She had been so unfair to Alex. So afraid to trust him, so afraid of getting hurt that she had been the one to do the hurting.

She was just like her father that way.

But that was no way to be. If her father had taught her one thing it was that making other people miserable never made anyone happy. She wanted to be happy. She wanted to be with Alex. She grabbed her handbag and keys off the dresser and made her way to her car. She had to make it up to him. She had to tell him that she wanted what he wanted. A family. A life together. To give their kids the childhood she never had and a home filled with love and happiness. He was right to walk away from her this afternoon. She hadn’t been fair to him.

The truth was she had doubted him. Doubting his love even when she had felt it in every look he gave her, in every small thing that he did.

She thought about what she was going to say to him as she pulled her car into the little lot behind their building. She thought she smelled the faint scent of smoke when she got out of her car, but that wasn’t unusual. It was still cold at night, and people used their wood burning stoves and lit their fireplaces. But when she unlocked the back door the smell got stronger and she could see smoke coming from beneath the door that led to the bakery.

*

“I’ve missed you so much, Alex.” Roya wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. She still smelled the same, like expensive perfume and salon products. She didn’t smell like Maggie, whose scent was simple and yet somehow calming and intoxicating at the same time. She didn’t feel like Maggie either. She had a slender, tight body, the kind that came from
spending two hours a day in the gym. She was beautiful. There was no doubt about that, but she wasn’t Maggie. There was none of the softness there that he had grown so used to, none of the curves that he knew he couldn’t live without.

“When a woman tells you she misses you, Alex, she would generally like to hear it back.”

“You really quit your job?” He pulled away from her. “You moved back here because of me?”

“I missed you.”’

He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, because she was a good person and she’d given up a lot for him. “I moved on. I’m in love with somebody else.”

“It’s Maggie, isn’t it?”

He nodded.

“You’d think I would have known when I saw you two together earlier today. Or last week when she looked at me like I was a ghost. But I didn’t, because you two were always so close. It should have dawned on me when you spent three hours picking out her Christmas present a couple years ago, or the fact that you went to see her once a month. I didn’t want to believe you were in love with her then. I wanted so badly to believe that you thought of her like a sister, but I was being delusional.”

He didn’t say anything to that. It wasn’t fair to Roya to admit he had been in love with someone else the entire time they were dating. “I never cheated on you or even thought about it. You should know that.”

“Of course not.”

“I’m sorry if I misled you in any way or made you think I might want something more.”

“You didn’t, actually. My friends told me I was crazy for doing this, but I wanted to take the chance.” She smiled sadly. “Call me a fool for love.” She turned toward the door. “I should be going now.”

He opened it for her, following her out into the hallway. “I’m sorry, Roya.”

“Don’t be sorry.” She hugged him again, tighter than before. “I wish I could hate you for this, but I can’t. Maggie was meant for you.”

“Thank you.”

“Alex?” Maggie called his name and he looked up to see her cheeks red and her expression stricken. She already thought he was in love with Roya, who kept dropping in on his life. The last thing she needed to see was him hugging her again.

“Maggie, I-I was just saying good-bye.”

“I don’t care about that, Alex. The bakery is on fire.”

Chapter 15

Alex couldn’t think at first. His bakery was on fire. It couldn’t be. He’d come back home to open this place, to honor his mother, to live the life he wanted for himself.

“Outside. Now,” he ordered Maggie and Roya as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

He reached for the back door, smelling the acrid scent of smoke grow stronger with each step.

“What the hell are you doing, Alex?” Maggie grabbed his arm.

“I have to go in there.”

“Are you insane? You’re not going in there.” She yanked him backward and he was surprised at her strength.

“I have to put it out! I gave up everything for this place. You know how important it is to me.”

“Yes, but nothing is more important to me than your life. I called 911. Alex, come outside with me.”

He heard the sirens, but the panicked look on Maggie’s face was the reason he relented and followed her outside.

“Thank you.” She wrapped her arms around him as the first fire truck pulled up.

A firefighter in full gear rushed over to them. “The bakery,” Maggie said. “I’m not sure where, but I don’t think it’s the kitchen. None of the alarms went off.”

Alex could say nothing, just watched the team of brave men rush into the building.

“I called your father too. The alarms should have gone off, Alex. I think something must really be wrong.”

That’s what he was afraid of too. If she hadn’t come home when she did he might have not have known there was a fire until it was too late.

“You came back home.” He ran his hand over her hair. “If you hadn’t…”

“You would have slept with Roya?”

He frowned down at her.

“I’m just kidding.” She gave him a wobbly smile and looked at Roya, who was standing off by herself. “I just don’t want you to think about what’s going on behind us.”

“It’s kind of hard, baby.”

“Alexei!” His father rushed out of his car. “Are you okay?” He grabbed him and pulled him into a hard hug. “You smell like smoke. What happened?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t know there was a fire until Maggie came home.”

“Are you okay, beautiful girl?” Ambrose kissed her cheeks. “Thank you for calling me. The alarm should have gone off. I should have been notified.” He rubbed his hands over his face and looked back to Alex. “I don’t know what I would have done if something happened to you. You’re all I have left.”

“Excuse me.” One of the firefighters came up to them. “The fire is under control. An electrical outlet appears to be the cause. The sparks from it caused the armchair next to it to catch on fire. Whatever caused the outlet to spark seems to have shorted out the alarm system. We shut off electricity to the entire building. You’re going to need some major rewiring and some new
furniture, but your building is safe. We can allow you to go inside and get some things, but we can’t allow you to stay there until the inspector deems it safe.”

“Thank you.” Alex extended his hand. “Please tell your crew that when we reopen, you all will eat for free.”

“Thank you.” He nodded. “Give us a few minutes and we’ll let you head back in.”

“I’m so sorry, son. This is my fault. I should have had the building inspected before you moved in. I’ll fix everything and then I’m going to turn the building over to you.”

“What?” He shook his head, not believing his father’s words. “You don’t have to do that.”

“But I want to. This place makes you happy. I want you to be happy.”

“I want to pay you for it.”

He shook his head firmly. “You came back home. I was selfish before when I pressured you to follow in my footsteps. The only thing I ever really wanted was for you to come back home, and you did. Everything I have will go to you when I leave this earth anyway and then I won’t get to see you enjoy it. Let me give this to you. It will bring me joy.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Alex said, trying to swallow the big lump of emotion in his throat.

“Just say thank you.”

“Thank you.”

“My boy.” Ambrose kissed both Alex’s cheeks before he swept Maggie into a hug. “My girl. Now enough of this breakup stuff. You and this bakery are the only things that have really made him happy since his beautiful mother passed away. He loves you.”

“I love him too. I can’t stay away.”

“Good. Now be happy.” He let her go. “I’m going to get on the phone with my electrician. This entire building will be rewired in a week.”

He walked away, leaving Alex alone again with Maggie. “Did I hear you tell my father that you love me and you couldn’t stay away?”

“You’re such an eavesdropper.” She smiled softly at him. “I do love you, Alex. I have forever. You know that.”

“I love you too, Mags. I have loved you forever and I
will
love you forever. I’m sorry it took so long for me to say it. I’m sorry if you ever doubted that for a minute.”

“Don’t apologize. I was so insecure. So afraid that things were going to end badly that I didn’t let myself enjoy how good things were between us. I came here tonight to tell you that I was sorry for not trusting you to love me.”

“I should have told you sooner, but I wanted to wait.”

“For what?”

“Chef Sanna?” A different firefighter than before approached them “You can go back in now. Take a flashlight. It’s dark in there. Please be quick though, we want to do one more check before we secure the building for the night.”

He nodded and reached for Maggie’s hand. “Come on, beauty. There’s something I’ve been wanting to show you.”

He led her into the bakery, only allowing himself a small moment of sadness as he looked at the charred wall and ruined furniture that sat in his favorite spot in the bakery. He was grateful, though, that the fire happened at night instead of today, during Belinda’s baby shower.

“It won’t take too long to fix the place back up,” Maggie said. “It could have been so much worse.”

“I’m glad it wasn’t.” He led her into his office, right to his desk drawer, where he had been keeping his secret for weeks. “Sit down for a minute.” He shined the flashlight onto his desk chair. He opened the top drawer of his desk and took out the engagement ring he had designed, then knelt before her. “Fernando has told me I should marry you since the day he first met you three years ago. I loved you then, but I still thought of you as my best friend’s little sister. When we went to go see my grandmother a few months ago, she asked me if you were my wife and I had to tell her that you were just my best friend. It took me too long to realize that the girl of my dreams and my best friend could be the same person, but on Valentine’s Day that became crystal clear. I was trying to figure out the best time and place to do this, to tell you how much I loved you and ask you to become my wife. But I realized that this is the best place to do it. I fell in love with you here. I want to build my life with you here. So I’m going to ask you to marry me here. Maggie May Calhoun, will you marry me?”

“I might have to think about it.” She said with tears running down her face. “I need to think about spending the rest of my life loving you, and having your babies and eating whatever delicious thing you put in front of my face.” She leaned forward, grabbing his face and pressing
her lips against his, giving him a long, slow deep kiss. “I thought about it. I can’t go through the rest of my life without you. Of course I’ll marry you.”