Unbreakable (19 page)

She sat back down and I had to look straight ahead, shocked at the hurricane of emotions, one of which was sympathy for Georgia. Despite all, she was just trying to do what she thought best. That sympathy died a quick death, however, at her next words.

Georgia blurted, “He’s on painkillers!”

Alex leaned in to me. “What is she talking about?”

“I have no idea.”

Alex got to her feet. “I’m a bit confused…” she said and it was clear Jeffries was too. “I’m sorry but if Ms. Owen is insinuating that my client is a
drug addict
, we’d be happy to take a blood test to prove otherwise.”

“No need,” Judge Walker said, disgusted. “I assume, Ms. Gardner, that you have the necessary documents to prove Mr. Bishop’s residency?”

“Right here, Your Honor.” Alex held up the lease agreement. “Hot off the presses.” Murmured laughter came from the clerks, court reporter, the bailiff who came to take them to the bench. Even the judge cracked a smile.

“The inspection will be held at—” Judge Walker studied the papers— “225 California Ave, one week from Monday, eight a.m. sharp.” He set them down and leaned forward. “Just what kind of law do you practice, Ms. Gardener? Not family.”

“No, Your Honor.”

“That’s too bad,” he said. “If I had you in front of my bench every week, I might not be in such a bad mood all the time.” He pointed a finger at her. “That’s a compliment, Ms. Gardener, not a get-out-of-jail-free card for your client. I want to see proof of this donation windfall, a recent pay stub, and a stellar residency inspection report. If I don’t get those things I’m going to assume you’re making a mockery of this Court with some last minute heroics of your own.”

“Yes, Your Honor,” Alex said and I could see she was biting back a smile. “Thank you, Your Honor.”

“Hmph.” Judge Walker banged his gavel. “Dismissed pending receipt of all that stuff I just said. Next.”

Georgia stormed out of the courtroom, Jeffries following after like a whipped dog. Alex turned to me. “So. Would you like to see where you’re going to be living?”

“You didn’t have to do this,” I said. “You
don’t
have to do this.”

She smiled and touched my shoulder, briefly.

“It’s done.”

#

I followed Alex’s dinky little car from the courthouse to Santa Monica, noting the close proximity of the beach. I’d always wanted to live close to the ocean. I’d grown up in a little seaside town south of Los Angeles and spent a lot of time surfing and swimming when I was a kid. I’d wanted the same for Callie, but it always seemed to hang just out of reach. In Los Angeles, to a working guy like me, the beach was like Disneyland: so close and yet so far.

But now…

I whistled softly between my teeth as she turned onto California Avenue. Not fronting the beach but walking distance. Close enough I could smell the salt air instead of traffic smog. I watched Alex’s Mini pull onto the driveway of a one story Craftsman—one like many others on the street, but lacking the lush greenery or manicured gardens out front many others had.
She’s too busy to keep up a garden,
I thought, my mind already envisioning better landscaping.
Quit that. You’re not going to be here long enough. A few weeks at most.

I’d done a lot of thinking on the drive over. What Alex was doing for me was more than generous, and I was touched that she would go to such lengths for me. It was the best thing that could happen to keep Callie in L.A. But for me…

I can’t think of anything worse.

When Alex had kissed me goodbye at the hospital it was the most bittersweet of moments. As much as I wanted to grab her and hold her and keep her with me, the impossibility of it was a cold slap of reality. She was marrying someone else, and even if she weren’t, she was cut from a different cloth. A much finer cloth. We were from different worlds that only collided when hers hired mine to remodel a kitchen or build an addition on to the mansion. I hadn’t wanted to say goodbye, but it was what needed to happen. For her and for me.

And then she’d somehow marched back into my life, wielding a briefcase like a sword, to slay the dragons that sought to separate me from my daughter. I suspected Vic Ruiz was behind this. I was grateful to my friend, but cursed his name too.

I watched Alex step out of her car, one long gorgeous leg at a time, and reaffirmed my vow. “Two weeks. Three max. Time enough to find your own place.” I thought that would give me enough time to study and pass the GC license test too.

That getting my license was back on the table and that suffocating mountain of debt was gone, was miraculous. In twenty short minutes, Alexandra had completely altered the course of my life. It had been careening off a cliff and she steered it back onto solid ground. Whatever I felt for her, the nameless emotion I couldn’t allow myself to confront, deepened.

I exited the cab of my truck, and reality reared its head, reminding me that this wasn’t her house we were pulling into, this was her
spare
house. As we walked in the front door, I noted the smell of coffee and her perfume, faint but tangible, hanging in the air.
She must have come this morning. To air it out, maybe.

“So.” Alex’s confident, killer shark demeanor she’d worn in the courtroom was gone and a slight nervousness tinted her movements and colored her words. “Uh, yeah, I’ll give you the grand tour.”

She gestured at the living area immediately to the right where a sectional couch formed an L around a low, square coffee table, an entertainment center with a 52” flat screen, a state-of-the-art stereo system, and a game console.

I eyed the Playstation 3 dubiously. “You play?”

“Oh no,” she said. “That’s for Callie. It’s not new or anything,” she added quickly. “A friend bought the latest model and said I could have this one.”

I rubbed my chin.

Alex elbowed me in the side. “It’s nothing. A little fun. Come on.”

On the left side of the house was a bedroom that was currently used as an office space.

“This is going to be Callie’s room. I couldn’t move the furniture out on my own, but between the two of us, we can fix it up nicely. The judge, grouchy though he was, gave us plenty of time before inspection.”

“That’s because he liked you,” I said.
And who can blame him?

“I’m more inclined to think it was because CPS is backed up like the 405 at rush hour, but I’ll take it.” She gestured at the beige walls. “Some pink paint—or whatever her favorite color is—some cute little girl furniture…This room will knock the inspector’s socks off.”

“Wait, paint and furniture…?” I shook my head. “No, no, that’s not necessary.”

“Of course it is. It can’t look like a temporary room designed only to pass inspection. No. It’s going to look legitimate because it
is
legitimate.”

I said nothing—for now—but let Alex lead on.

There was a guest bathroom next to the bedroom. Alex called it “Callie’s bathroom.” Across from that, a kitchen that sported a breakfast bar that faced the front, and a little dining table in the back that looked out over the yard.

I went through the kitchen and surveyed the little green space, fenced in for safety and privacy. The porch was mostly open and sported several wooden lounge chairs with thick cushions. On the far left, a pergola shaded a hot tub, which, judging by the looks of the cover, hadn’t been used in ages. The yard was small and full of greenery that needed some attention, but otherwise the perfect size for a seven-year old girl to play in. A huge maple tree shaded one half of the yard and my mind supplied a rope swing hanging from a low, horizontal branch.

Stop. You don’t really live here.

Alex moved to stand next to me. Her perfume filled my nose—expensive and sharp—but below that, her own clean sweetness…

“There’s a little shed out to the side. I have it for storage but you can turn it into a work area or place for your tools or any other manly endeavor you may have.”

I glanced down at her and her smile faded.

“What?”

“You know I won’t be here that long.”

“Sort of defeats the purpose of painting and decorating her room, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, exactly,” I said. “You’re doing too much…”

“I’m doing what it takes to pass that inspection and keep Callie in Los Angeles. We can worry about the rest later.” She plucked my sleeve. “Come on. There’s one more room.”

She led me out of the kitchen and farther down a small hallway that divided the house. “This is the master bedroom. Your bedroom…”

“I’m not sleeping here.”

Alex frowned. “I’m sorry?”

“I’ll take the couch.”

“Why?”

Because I’m not sleeping in your bed, Alex,
I thought, and it was followed by another that tightened my chest
. Not without you.

“The couch is fine,” I said quickly. I peered in and saw an en-suite bathroom, but the sight of a small suitcase and a rolling luggage bag near the bed sent a jolt to my gut. “Wait, have you been staying here? Were you here last night?”

She glanced uncertainly at the luggage. “Well, yes. I had been. But it’s yours now.”

I tried to keep my tone casual. “You’re not living with your fiancé?”

“No. We’re…taking a break. For a little while. Until the engagement party two weeks from…well, today actually.” She spied my incredulous expression. “It’s fine! Really. I’m going to a hotel—”

“Jesus, Alex!” I strode down the hallway, back to the living area. “You’re not going to a hotel. I can’t stay here. It was really nice of you to try to save my bacon in the courthouse this morning, but I can’t kick you out of your own damn house.”

“You’re not kicking me out,” Alex said, planting her fists on her hips. “This was my idea, in case you’ve forgotten. It’s not the greatest timing, I admit, for Drew and me to be…taking a break, but it’s not a big deal. A few weeks…”

“No,” I said. “I can’t live here knowing you’re in a hotel. Stay. I’ll figure something else out.”

Alex crossed her arms. “You don’t have time. And besides, the paperwork is already filed with the court. Going back now is not going to look good. It’s only going to strengthen Georgia’s case that you’re unstable. But you are stable. Here.”

I started to protest but she barreled on.

“Look, I’m not trying to trap you into something you hate. If you really don’t like this place then you’re free to go. I can’t stop you.”

“It’s not that, Alex…”

“And I know you won’t stay here any longer than it will take to find a place of your own. You’re stubborn and suffer from an excess of pride like most men I know. You probably never stop to ask for directions, do you?”

“I have GPS in my truck,” I said, relenting despite myself, despite the fact that I knew I was about to make a huge mistake.

Alex smiled coyly and I found it nearly impossible not to stare at her lips. “You’re going to stay here—”

“On the couch.”

She rolled her eyes. “
On the couch
. But we’re going to do up the spare room and ace that inspection. I don’t fail at anything, and I’m not about to start now. And after the judge denies Georgia’s request, you can do whatever you want. But until then, this is your house.” She arched an eyebrow. “Breaking a lease is serious business, after all.”

Every instinct in my body told me it was a terrible idea to live with this woman. An exciting, tortuous, dangerous, terrible idea, and demanding that she stay was a gigantic step in the opposite direction.
But Callie…
And there, of course, was the final answer. I wasn’t about to lose my daughter, no matter what.

“Okay,” I said, “but you’re not staying at any hotel. Keep your room. I’m on the couch anyway.” She started to protest but it was my turn to interrupt. “What you’re doing for me is really…it’s more than you need to. But I can’t accept all this generosity if it means you’re out of a place to live. What’s up with you and Drew that you aren’t living with him anyway?”

“That’s a personal question,” she said with a short laugh.

It was, but I had to know. I raised my eyebrows.

“Nothing is ‘up with us.’ We’re taking a break so that when we come back together at the engagement party, it’ll feel a little more romantic. We’ve been together for ages. It’ll be nice to kind of…hit reset.”

I kept my face expressionless. I remembered everything she’d told me about her and Drew in the bank and, given the way she was watching me, she
knew
I remembered. The last thing I wanted was to embarrass her by bringing up all that personal stuff told to me in a time of high stress, but the disappointment of her explanation still bit me. Hard.

What did you expect? That she’d break it off with him? This isn’t your life, living with her. This is a temporary solution to your own fucked up situation, and don’t you forget it.

“No hotel,” I said finally. “You stay or I go. One-dollar-a-month lease or not.”

Her expression was inscrutable now, and I wondered if she felt as I did—that it was a dangerous thing to live together; wondering if the urge to touch was as strong in her as was in me.