Page 38 of His Good Girl

“She’s an adult and can choose where she wants to be for Christmas.”

“Yeah, we are all adults, but she’s a caregiver, and if she is afraid you’ll be alone for Christmas, she won’t come here. I have a new man in my life and I want her to meet him.”

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I take a deep breath and swallow the snarky retort I so want to let loose. “I won’t force her to go, but I'll talk to her. She was with me last year, so it's fair that she be with you this year.” Well, look at that, I shocked her into silence. What a refreshing change.

“Thank you, Finn.” Her voice has softened. “I hope you’re doing well.” The line goes dead before I can respond. I hope you’re doing well…that’s an easy one. No, I am not doing well. I’m miserable. Allison kindly told me I look like I need a vacation on Monday and the bags under my eyes were making her tired. I toss and turn all night lately, replaying the fight that broke us over and over in my head. Even running doesn’t bring relief from the pain.

I obsess over how she is, where she might be, and even more importantly, who she is with. Jealousy that I have no right to feel plagues me with all the what ifs. Worst part, it’s all my own doing. I had something real, and I ruined it with a few harsh and careless words.

Allison knocks before popping her head in. “Hey, boss. Have you been watching the weather?”

“No, I can’t say I have, why?”

“Looks like a pretty nasty storm is headed our way—rain, hail, and strong winds.”

I can see the sky darkening already.

“Let’s call it a day, you go on home, Allison. I’ll finish up here and lock up.”

She looks at me like a wayward child. “You should be heading home yourself. There’s nothing here but candy and the scotch you think you’re hiding. The last thing you want is to get stranded in the office.”

Raising two fingers into the air, I give her my most charming smile. “Scouts honor, I’ll be out the door within the next fifteen minutes.”

With an exaggerated eye roll, my receptionist goes to her desk and gathers her things before heading out, calling over her shoulder, “Ten minutes and counting, Mr. Walker.”

Chuckling, I turn off my computer and start packing my things. That woman needs a raise.

37

ALEXIS

I have spent the last two months running from any and all feelings. I'm either at work, school, studying, or drinking and partying. In all honesty, I feel like shit, and haven’t slept well in weeks, but I can’t find the energy to care these days. So, when Marcee invited me to San Francisco for a club opening her friend got us on the list for it was an easy decision.

It’s fall break and campus is quiet, so the gym is only doing a few classes and personal training sessions are taking a break too. Maybe it’s time to look further from campus, and it might be time to look at rehab facilities for work opportunities there. I’m headed to the airport now. Marcee went up last night, but I still had one session at the gym to do and waited too long to get coverage, so I'll just meet them all in SF.

They’ve been sending me texts all day showing me all the fun I'm missing—bitches! Peering through the windshield, I eye the dark clouds rolling in. I hope my flight doesn’t get delayed. On a whim, I take the back way toward the airport, not wanting to deal with the stop and go of town. It takes me near Finn's place but I'm studiously avoiding that thought because I definitely am not driving this way just to go past his street…because that would be pathetic.

My phone buzzes and I expect it to be another text from my jerk friends at a spa or restaurant. No such luck, it's Jax. Ugh, I’m an idiot. Thank whatever Gods there are that I had forgotten he didn’t know I moved.

After Jax showed up at my old address for the drunken booty call, he punched the poor guy that answered the door and was arrested for assault. The ensuing texts and calls had been disturbing, to say the least. I finally blocked his number, but again, he started using other numbers to call or text. Sigh, I think I might actually have to change my number this time.

Cranking the radio and revving my engine, I lose myself on the open road—for a full twenty seconds before there’s a hideous grinding noise and smoke billows from my hood.

“No, no, no, no, no, no! Don’t do this now. Please, car. You can die as soon as we get to the airport, just not here.” I pet the steering wheel like I can soothe it into submission. A loud clunk and pop later, my car sputters to a stop on the side of an empty back road.

“Fuck my life!” I yell. Springing out of my car, I pop the hood and stare at the smoke like there is a damn thing I can do, you know, with my vast knowledge of cars and shit.

Grabbing my phone out of the cupholder, I call AAA, or at least, I try to, but there’s no signal. Seriously, what the actual fuck, no service? I walk up and down the road by my car with my phone in the air, moving it this way and that like it will somehow summon the cell phone signal gods and magically let me make a call.

Staring at the long empty road, I contemplate my options but hear a car approaching in the distance. Feeling fifty percent optimistic and fifty percent freaked out because I'm pretty sure I’ve seen this movie, and it doesn’t end well for the pretty girl alone on the side of a deserted road, I turn to face the oncoming car with my arms waving over my head.

The car slows as it approaches me, swerving to the shoulder. I finally get a look at the driver and realize just how fucked I really am.

“Alexis?”

Did I step on a fucking fairy or something equally karmically evil? Finn unfolds himself from his car looking so good I could cry.

“You okay?”