Three Stages of Love: Attraction (26 page)

“Hop in, Eva. You will walk out with the softest of skin,” Cat called to me.

“You know, my mother always told me
not
to roll around in the dirt,” I returned, making the ladies giggle.

But she was right. I could feel the texture of my skin soften as I lay in the mush of
purified earth minerals
, as my attendant had explained it.

“So, Eva,” Cat said. “Are you relaxing at least?”

“Relaxing doesn’t even begin to explain how amazing all of this has been today.” I sighed in enjoyment and leaned my head back. “I could definitely get used to this.”

“Well, let’s pencil you in then. You can join us on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Alexander won’t mind you coming along with friends who keep you out of trouble.” She winked at me. “Besides, what are you going to do all day, every day at home by yourself? There is only so much you can cook.”

“I hate to disappoint you, Cat, but you may only be able to pencil me in for a few more weeks. I have to get back to reality and back to my job in New York; though I will have to come visit you. You are definitely one thing I will miss about LA.” I smiled sweetly, but the confusion she wore on her face quickly woke me. “Are you OK, Cat?”

“I’m sorry, Eva, I don’t mean to pry or prod where it is none of my business to do so. But, the last I heard, Alexander and Tom were close to closing the deal on the partnership,” she added with slight discomfort.

“I know that. I’m not sure what you are trying to get at?” I asked, seeking clarification.

“It’s just that I thought the partnership meant that Alexander would be transferring here permanently and you as well.” Her face tensed as she saw my expression turn sour. “I’m so stupid. What do I know? My head has been in a hole with all that has been going on in my life. I’m sure I misunderstood. I don’t mean to cause you any anxiety. Alexander would have discussed that with you if that were the case.”

I let the subject fade, unwilling to ruin everyone’s day. But now instead of continuing to relax, my body tensed so tightly I felt worse than I did when I first walked in.

If what Cat said was true, why wouldn’t Alexander discuss it with me? He knew that this was temporary for me; I would never leave New York, my job, and my family permanently.

I’m so stupid! He wouldn’t discuss it with me for that exact reason. He knew I wouldn’t stay, so he is trying to get me to get comfortable to the point of wanting to stay! Well, he has another think coming…

“Eva, are you OK? You look like you are about to cry,” Cat said from behind the locker door. “I hope I haven’t upset you. Please don’t listen to anything I say right now. You know I’m all fudged up.”

“No, Cat, I’m fine. I’m just relaxed,” I replied with an absolute lie. Had I been speaking to Samantha, she would have seen right through me and called me a bitch for lying to her. I like Cat, but we knew little about each other still, and if I had anything to do with it, it would take a while for us to become close friends since I would be returning to New York!

Cat drove me back to the house around six in the evening, and again I assured her that she hadn’t upset me. The last thing I wanted was to sadden her any more than she already was. The woman’s world was turned upside down in a week’s time—she didn’t need guilt from me on top of that.

Ms. Gina greeted me as I entered the house. “You should look rested, but you don’t. You look as tense as you did when you left. What is the matter?”

I said very little as I slipped off my ballet flats and sat on the bottom stoop of the stairs in the foyer.

“OK, you want quiet time. I understand,” Ms. Gina said almost in the exact way my mother would. “But, before I leave you—Mr. Mason said he has been trying you all day and that your phone was off. He reached Ms. Catherine, and she told him you had been at the day spa.”

“Is everything all right? Where is he?” I asked, concerned.

“He is fine. He told me to inform you that there was an issue with his clients in Chicago, and he had to take a day trip. He tried to reach you but said he left you messages. He would be back in time to pick up your guests tomorrow afternoon, but he would be in meetings for hours. He said not to worry if he didn’t call you until his flight home.” Ms. Gina completed her message from Alexander but remained there, seeing the distress sink into me from head to toe.

“Thank you, Ms. Gina. I am going to go to bed early. I really am just tired,” I said, turning from her, saving her from the endless tears that were about to flow from my eyes.

I slumped into bed with the heavy weight of distress and uncertainty once again pouncing on my heart. And now, not only was I stuck with the questions left from the conversation with Cat, but I couldn’t get clarification because Alexander was out of town! And that was a whole other sentiment that I had yet to experience.

The only other time that Alexander
left
was when I sent him away. Now I was there in the bed we shared, the house we were living in—temporarily—and I was alone, missing Alexander. And even in my fear and anger for what he might be keeping from me, the emotions that coursed through me were of abandonment and longing to be near him.

My heavy eyes began plunging into darkness, when I remembered that Ms. Gina had said that Alexander left me messages on my cell phone. With a sudden burst of energy, I dove off the bed and searched through the endless cavern that was my purse to find my cell phone.

I plugged it in to recharge the dead battery and waited for the little apple to appear on the black screen. What took seconds now seemed like thirty minutes as I huffed through the system startup on the phone.

I touched through to the phone app and saw six voice mails all from Alexander.

I played the first to hear:
Hello, my love. I have been trying to reach you, but your phone goes straight to voice mail. I hope you haven’t ditched me for some German masseur. Anyhow, I have to talk to you. I spoke to Cat, so I know you are at the spa. Call me as soon as you can, please. I love you.
And I melted right onto the floor.

The next few messages were pretty much the same, though shorter and more desperate to talk to me, until I heard the last one.

OK, sweetness, I have no choice but to say this over voice mail, considering I can’t get a hold of you. I have to fly out to Chicago with my clients. They are trying to pull out on some major deals unless we meet with all their partners. I will be back tomorrow in time to pick up Samantha and Marcus, but I really wanted to speak with you before I left. I hate that you are going to be alone tonight, and I do hope that you will miss me. I can’t wait to see you, and I haven’t even left yet. I love you, Evangeline, and wish I could hear that lovely voice repeat those words to me right now. But I know they exist in your heart. So I’ll wait.
And the voice mail ended, leaving me breathless.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The morning came and went, and I had no recollection of how I came to be running around in a panic at three o’clock in the afternoon.

Samantha and Marcus were due to arrive at the house soon, but my heart panged to see Alexander. I was excited to see Samantha, but my entire body had a need to embrace my Alexander.

I had little time to reflect on all of the questions that swarmed me the day before and all night. Luckily, I was tasked with cooking all the food I had prepared and making sure that the dining room was set for the arrival of a queen! I was so excited to have Sam in our
temporary
home. We always joked about when we would both have relationships or be married and how we would have dinners together and plan together, and now it just felt real. We were both basking in happiness—some days more than others—but overall I was happy, and we could now enjoy that feeling together as we had shared almost everything else.

“
We’re here!”
I heard the soft song float into the kitchen.

“
Samantha, ahhhh!
” I screamed and enfolded myself around her tightly. “I am so, so happy to see you. I have missed you so much.”

“Why?” she said, and I snarled at her. “No, bitch, I mean how could you miss anything when you are in Buckingham Palace, over here living like royalty. I don’t think I’d miss you if the tables were turned.”

I planted a huge kiss on her cheek and hugged her again.

Marcus walked in carrying some bags, but he immediately dropped them when he saw me. “My, my, my. Don’t you look well sexed—I mean rested.” He coughed through his correction.

“No, you had it right the first time. How are you, Marcus?” I asked, embracing him as well in a more endearing and brotherly hold.

And as I let Marcus go, Alexander entered the doorway. I stared at his masculine grace as if I were seeing him for the first time in his dark Armani suit.

I leapt for him, and he caught me in a swirling kiss over the threshold.

“I guess you did miss me,” he said.

“I did. More than you know.” Kissing him, I reassured him of the void he had created even for one night of leaving me alone.

“OK, you two, get a room,” Samantha said. “Or a few, I would imagine in this mansion.”

Alexander put me down, and I proceeded to show Samantha to their room. “Is this OK, Samantha? I thought you two love birds would like the view from the balcony in the morning.”

“This is more than OK, Eva—this is magnificent. I will say, Alexander’s taste in real estate is almost as exquisite as his taste in women,” she said, eyeing me. “Speaking of which, I don’t think I have ever seen you leap into a man’s arms in the seven years I’ve known you.”

“Well, I don’t think I have ever been with a man who bared arms that were worthy of leaping in to,” I rebutted.

“You know what I mean, Eva. You have fallen for him!” she said, and I stilled.

I had few words and few experiences that expressed my true sentiments for Alexander. But Samantha was one who I divulged my truths to. “I have, Sam. I can’t control it, explain it, or understand it. But I have fallen hard for him—almost to the point where there is no breath left in my lungs when I think of him. He surrounds my every moment, and when he’s not here, all I can think of is how much I long to be with him.”

“I’m so happy for you. But I am even more ecstatic that you are allowing your heart to lead you for once. I was worried that I would find you in shambles, but instead there is a brilliant aura that surrounds you that is making you glow,” she added.

I giggled. “Oh, that’s the mud bath I had yesterday. I had lunch with some girlfriends, and then they booked the spa for us for the day.”

“Oh, isn’t that nice. You’re fitting right in: lunch and then a spa day! Who are you, and where is my neurotic, workaholic best friend?” Samantha joked.

I shook my head, dismissing her sarcasm. “I am right here, Sam. That neurotic, workaholic best friend of yours is sitting quietly, waiting to burst out of me. Don’t get me wrong: I have enjoyed my time here, or at least most of it—I’ll spare you the details for now—but I miss my job. I miss having a purpose to my days and accomplishing something of my own. Alexander had to fly out to Chicago last night unexpectedly—”

“Yeah, he told us. He missed you so much, I first thought he had gone for a week,” she said.

“Well, it felt that way. See, that’s the thing. I came home to an empty house—which I should be used to by now—but without him here, I felt lost and so sad. I had absolutely no idea what to do with myself, so I went to bed at seven o’clock. When the hell have you ever known me to go to bed at seven o’clock?” I looked at her with worry coursing through me as I finished opening the drapes to the balcony.

“I know the feeling, Eva. It’s inconceivable to imagine a moment in my future where Marcus isn’t by my side. I know how you feel,” she said.

“It’s not the same, Sam. If we had stayed in New York and I had continued working like I always have and added him to my life—”

She cut me off. “You would have either run away or sent him away for fear that you couldn’t be perfect at all of those pieces at once. You tried that, Eva. Isn’t that why you took a chance in coming here to begin with: to understand the emotions you felt for Alexander and to determine if he is something you are willing to sacrifice perfection for?” Samantha moved closer to me as I became uneasy and held onto the chaise in front of me. “You started with one option. Now you have experienced a second option. If you love him, you will
calmly and open-mindedly
discuss this with Alexander and find a middle ground where you can be who you have always been and still venture into a life of love.”

But before I could say anything, Alexander came to the doorway with Marcus.

“Damn, look at this view, babe,” Marcus said to Samantha, pulling her to the center of the balcony doors. “Can your neighbors see you from the balcony if you are out there?”

“No, there are acres separating us from any neighbors. Why do you ask?” Alexander said.

“Well, I’ve always wanted to fuck the love of my life on a balcony in the open night skies; so what better time than now?” Marcus added, squirming as Samantha prodded him with her fingers.

“Great!” Alexander jeered. “Just make sure you don’t come asking for royalties when the video ends up on YouTube.”, Knowing something was the matter, Alexander turned to me. “Hey, love, are you all right? Where did that enormous smile you were just wearing go?”

I looked up into his huge hazel eyes, and I could see my reflection inside them. I could see me inside him. Only the
me
he carried felt warm and safe and had no doubt that she was
home.

“Are we ready for dinner?” is all I responded.

“Yeah, I’m starved, and I’m hearing that the catering is really good out here.” Marcus jostled me.

“There will be no talk of caterers in my home! These little fingers have done all the cooking for you two. A meal prepared for royalty; so you had better be nice, or I’ll send you out looking for the nearest McDonald’s,” I teased back.

Samantha and Marcus washed up for dinner while Alexander and I placed all of the dishes on the immaculate table set for four.

“You really did an amazing job, Evangeline. You are an angel that only God himself could have created. I am so lucky to have you.” He placed the dish of food down and pulled me to him.