A Time for Hope (Lexi, #3)(76)
“Umm no. Alex knows the only time I wear work out wear is when I work out. He’ll be suspicious right off the bat.” I conveniently forgot to mention that I also had a “thing” about wearing track wear inappropriately. Yeah I’m a f*cking snob, judge me!
“Well there’s no point trying to convince you, you’re going to do what you want anyway.” Hannah signed, knowing me well enough to know that I wasn’t easily swayed.
“Yep, pretty much. Glad we’ve had this talk.” I breathed deeply as I contemplated standing. Nope, not yet. I decided to give it a few more minutes.
“Ok, we’ll be here around nine. That will give us plenty of time to get to the airport.” Hannah pulled herself off the floor. “I better go, I left Noah with my parents.”
“Let yourself out Han, I’m going to lay on the floor a little longer and check out the fine tile work in this room.” I slid back down to the floor and let the coolness of the tile touch my cheek. Yep, a tile inspection was definitely on the cards.
“Bye Lex.” I waved feebly while watching the sideways view of Hannah’s two feet walk out of the room.
The cold felt good on my skin, I could lay here all evening. All night as well. I closed my eyes as I seriously contemplated spending the night on the bathroom floor. It would certainly cut out the middleman. I spent so much time in here anyway, between frequent bathroom trips and being sick, it was actually a smart idea.
My phone buzzed on the tiles beside me.
“Nooooooooooooooooo,” I whined, not wanting to talk to anyone.
The caller was the only person I would answer the phone for in my current state; the man I loved and whose baby I was carrying.
“Hey baby,” I tried to sound nonchalant as I pulled myself into a sitting position.
“Lexi,” Alex purred. My name never sounded as sexy as it did when it was coming from his mouth.
“Tell me about your day Alex, I need to hear everything.”
It was our nightly call. It was where we would connect and bridge our divided hours. It was my favourite part of the day. Where I could imagine that we were together and I was experiencing this tour right along with him. Alex would tell me about his days filled with appearances and interviews then about the sold out stadiums they would play each night.
I closed my eyes as I listened to the cadence of his voice, the timbre of each syllable he uttered. I could imagine him with me, in the room, holding me as he spoke.
Alex would talk for hours. On more than one occasion I had dozed off to his voice in my ear. I would hear his soft chuckle through the receiver when he had realised I had fallen asleep and he’d make some wise-ass comment about needing to up his game to keep me entertained. His comical observation that he was boring me couldn’t be further from the truth.
When it was my turn to speak I was always careful not to lie. While I hadn’t wanted to tell Alex about our impending trip down parenthood lane over the phone, I didn’t want to weave an intricate web of fabrications either. I kept it simple, I was tired because of interrupted sleep (not a lie, I peed every twenty five minutes. Ok slight exaggeration, but at least five times a night), and I was working hard. While I had Sydney on loan temporarily I would soon need another staff member and now that I was with child, the successful candidate would have to be someone of an exemplary standard. Superwoman or not, I would eventually need to take maternity leave and it would be unfair to expect Matt to take care of this one his own.
I would also talk about Boot Camp, though my participation had diminished in the past week. I had found I couldn’t even make one lap around the gym with my current fatigue levels. I had given Gunny Ortiz a modified version of my condition i.e. I’d been battling a “bug” that had knocked me around. He had been so impressed I still showed to each and every training day, he would ride someone else’s ass instead. I didn’t tell him about the pregnancy, not because I thought he would tell anyone (cause that man was like a f*cking vault), but it made me feel guilty to share the news until Alex had been told. So for now the only people who knew my secret were Taylah and Hannah. Even Sydney, who was suspicious as hell that I was hiding something (and just as vocal about it), remained in the dark.
After our lengthy nightly exchange, it would inevitably be time to say goodbye. Just as it was now, with my head pressed against the wall of the bathroom and the cold tiles beneath my body, I would have to say goodbye.
“One last night without you in my arms.” Alex sighed, his weariness matched my own.
“One more night,” I confirmed, wanting more than anything to be sleeping in said arms.
“It’s funny that we ended up here.” I felt the shift in Alex’s voice, his words mixed with amusement.
“What? In a long distance relationship and a huge dependency on Verizon? I don’t think that even you have a sense of humour that warped.”
“No,” a small laugh travelled through Alex’s throat. “Our old rules. That right now I am so desperate to be with you anyway I can, I’ll spend hours on a phone I hate speaking on, and you...”
“I’d give up anything just to sleep beside you.” I finished his thought. It was the truth; we’d both been delusional. “Do you ever wonder what if? Alex, if I hadn’t been on the road that day with Mike? If Sol hadn’t infuriated me? If you hadn’t made me drive your arrogant ass to the hotel?” I took us back to the beginning, to where it had started for us. The crazy situation that had made our two worlds collide and threw us on a path neither could have foreseen.