Back on Blossom Street (Blossom Street #4)(64)

“You weren’t answering your phone.”

She didn’t tell Jacqueline she’d turned off her cell. “I was asleep.” That was the truth, after all.

“Jordan called me to see if you were home.”

“Oh.” Jordan again. Good, let him worry. “What time is it anyway?”

“Nine.”

“At night?” Alix couldn’t believe it. She’d been asleep for hours.

Jacqueline nodded. “Come on over to the house and let’s talk. You must be starved. When did you last eat?”

Alix couldn’t remember; still, she wasn’t sure she was in the mood to deal with Jacqueline’s concern. “What’ve you got?”

Her friend laughed. “Your favorite.”

“Macaroni and cheese?”

“That, too.”

Alix hesitated. The voices weren’t shouting at her as loudly as before, but they were still there, reminding her that she’d never be good enough for Jordan. She refused to listen. Jacqueline was right, though; she was hungry.

Stepping outside, she closed the door and followed her to the house.

“Reese said you stopped by to talk to me this afternoon.”

“Yeah.” Alix yawned before dismissing the need to have the conversation she’d planned hours earlier. “Nothing important.”

“You didn’t stay long,” Jacqueline commented as she led the way into the main house.

“No…I waited for a few minutes and you were still on the phone. Like I said, it wasn’t all that important, so I went out for a while.”

Jacqueline stopped, lean closed and sniffed the air. “Do I smell cigarette smoke?”

“Ah…”

“I suppose you were with a smoker?”

Alix shrugged. She couldn’t lie but she was willing to stretch the truth when necessary.

“Smoking’s such a disgusting habit. I’m so grateful you gave it up.”

“Yup,” Alix agreed. “Me, too.”

CHAPTER 23

Colette Blake

Colette read the simple handwritten invitation a second time. The gold-embossed card had arrived in the mail that afternoon. It was a request for Colette to join Elizabeth Sasser for dinner on Friday night. Elizabeth wrote with a fountain pen and her handwriting was much like the woman herself: blunt and forthright. Although it was technically an invitation, the card read more like a summons.

Despite her reservations, which had to do with her knowledge of Christian’s recent activities, Colette was eager to visit the older woman. She’d liked Elizabeth immensely and felt she’d developed a sense of Christian as a motherless boy, then a disillusioned teenager and an angry young adult. Christian was confident enough to stand up to his father and fight for his own choices in life. Colette appreciated the courage that must have taken and it made her wonder why he was risking everything now, why he was violating the principles he believed in for foolish gain. Colette could hardly imagine what his great-aunt would think when Christian was arrested. He would be sooner or later, and it would devastate her.

As Colette climbed the stairs to her apartment, she found herself smiling, anticipating an evening with the woman she’d come to admire on so brief an introduction. At this point, Elizabeth and Alix were the only people who knew about the baby. The other day, she’d felt movement for the first time and was looking forward to sharing this news with Elizabeth.

Yesterday, Steve had phoned and left a message on her cell. Coward that she was, Colette hadn’t returned his call. She would, though, and now, thanks to Elizabeth, she had a legitimate excuse to turn him down. She hoped he’d figure out that she was no longer interested in seeing him. If she needed to spell it out, she would, but she’d rather avoid a confrontation. It wasn’t as if they’d been dating seriously.

As she entered her apartment, Colette turned on the local news, a habit she’d gotten into. The television was company in the evenings. Putting aside the mail as the news reader described a four-car pileup, she rummaged through the refrigerator, seeking inspiration for dinner. While she decided, she opened a container of yogurt and ate that, half listening to the news story. No fatalities in that highway accident, she was glad to hear.

When her phone rang, she assumed it was Steve again. But caller ID didn’t indicate a number and after hesitating only a moment, she reached for the receiver. “Hello,” she said, half expecting some form of sales pitch.

“It’s Christian.”

The immediate joy, mingled with dread, utterly confused her. He’d promised not to have any contact with her and so far—other than his note about Steve—he’d kept his word. He hadn’t called or come to the shop in more than a month.

She’d been relieved.

She’d been disappointed.

She didn’t know what she felt for him anymore. She didn’t want him in her life, and at the same time she dreamed about him nearly every night.

“Hello.” She tried to sound disinterested and wondered if she’d succeeded. She’d rather Christian didn’t suspect she was so thrilled to hear his voice. Yet that was the feeling that quickly overwhelmed every other reaction.

“Your card came….”

“I wanted you to know,” he said with reluctance. “But that wasn’t part of our agreement, was it?”