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“Where are those cute kids tonight?” Helen asks, sipping her wine. I poke at the lasagna and thank my lucky stars my sister never found out about Alec and me. Losing those kids over a guy who doesn’t even want me…well, hell. I’m not risking it all for him, not if he doesn’t even really like me.
“They’re with their parents. My sister’s husband travels a lot for work, so they’re spending time together before he jets off somewhere else. When he’s gone, that’s when I’ll step in and help out.”
“You, my lad, are a gem. Alec is a lucky man,” George says, his eyes twinkling as my cheeks heat.
I’m not used to being complimented so much, but since arriving at their place, it’s all I’ve heard. I don’t know what to do with it all. That coupled with Alec’s aloofness, and I feel like I’m tilting on my axis. I’m uncentered and I hate it.
“Thank you. I love them. They’re my world,” I reply and then stuff my mouth full of food and gulp it all down with some wine. I barely taste it, just a lump in my stomach at this point.
Alec is picking at his food, not eating as much as he should, and I wonder if he’d like me to leave, if he’d rather I wasn’t here at all. I could do that. I could just sneak out and walk all the way home, but I can’t be rude. Not when his grandma went through all this trouble.
So I stay at the table, making sure to ask for seconds despite my stomach rolling from anxiety, and I force it down. As soon as I take my last bite, I plan my escape but am waylaid by Helen who asks me to help her with dessert while George asks Alec to help him with an issue on his computer.
“Damn thing keeps buzzing at me,” he murmurs, and Alec follows him reluctantly into another room.
And I can’t tell Helen no, so I follow her into the kitchen as she pulls two pies out of the fridge.
“I hope you like apple pie. I made two,” she says with a wink, and I pat my overly full stomach. I’m not sure I can force more down, but I will. For her. She’s wonderful. Everything I’d want in a family—loving, caring, kind.
“I do. I love it,” I say and then grab some plates from the cabinet she directs me to, setting them on the counter.
“Thanks for the help, but I really brought you in here to show you something.” She waggles her eyebrows at me. “Alec would kill me if he knew I was showing you this, but I think it’s my duty as his parents aren’t here…”
She walks over to a cabinet across the room and returns with a photo album.
My lips turn up at the corners as I touch the worn corners and know what I’m about to see.
“These are of Alec?” I ask, even though I know the answer.
“Yep, in all his geeky glory.”
I snort a laugh as she begins to cut the pie into large slices, taking her time to plate them as she comments on the photos.
They start with Alec as a chubby baby in diapers before moving into his toddler years, and I find my fingers tracing over the curves of his cute baby face as I flip page after page, taking him in as he grows.
“He was such a shy boy, really came out of his shell in college,” Helen says as she takes a seat and cuts into her pie with a fork, not bothering to wait for anyone else. But I don’t move to join her, just continue to look at the pictures. Ones of him at Disneyland, a lopsided grin on his face, ones of him in the pool, his hair sticking straight up. A few at Halloween, his crooked grin and missing teeth only making me like him more.
It makes my heart hurt because this might not work out between us.
He might not want me.
No, he doesn’t want me, and yet here I am, falling more and more for this man.
I flip the page once more and my eyes track across him as a young teen. His smile has grown more sullen, looking more annoyed at the person taking the pictures, and it makes me laugh softly.
I totally remember being like that. Except it was my sister who forced me to do this. My parents never did. He’s lucky to have people who care enough to bug him over little things like pictures.
And so am I. As much as my sister has hurt me, she’s been there for me too. In her own way, she’s loved me.
I turn the page once more and suddenly, my mouth drops open, my lungs collapsing.
That inkling of familiarity I’d had with Alec when we met…now I know why.
Of course.
I know him.
My mind races as I lean down and blink, taking in a teenage Alec. Although, that’s not what I remember him being called. He was Alexander Jones. He wasn’t Alec, and he looks nothing like he did in high school.
