He shook his head. “Not your fault.”
Lorelei looked at him apologetically anyway, and leaned in to kiss him softly before stepping back to let him compose himself.
Taylor had watched all of this. She had been almost entranced by the heavenly blonde, and was similarly awestruck by Lorelei-who turned to her and smiled coolly. “You must be Taylor.”
Her jaw dropped. “You know who I am?”
“I know that Alex cherishes you. I’m sure that will always be so. You must be very special.” She sounded utterly unbothered by it, perhaps even admiring. Then she turned away to meet the approaching police.
Taylor slid up next to Alex. “Which one of them is your girlfriend?”
His mouth twitched as his mind searched for an explanation, but eventually he came up with nothing. “I’m not entirely sure,” he admitted.
She nodded, crossing her arms across her chest. Taylor looked over at Lorelei, and the battered thugs, and Alex. “You got way cooler after high school.”
Alex frowned slightly. “Hey, I was always this cool!”
Chapter 9:
“Mom, I’m okay, but I got into kind of a fight and I’m in the hospital right now,” was not the way Michelle wanted to end her night out.
It had been a good day at work. Her meetings went well. She talked the vendors down a couple of extra percentage points in price through sheer determination to wade through details. She’d also had a record day of compliments on “looking great” and “seeming upbeat.”
Stewart, her boss, dared to ask quietly if she had started seeing somebody. He wasn’t the only one. But what was she going to say? That she’d just been having a string of disturbingly naughty but wonderful dreams lately?
Michelle received appreciative looks and stares, too. Everyone was professional and respectful at the office, but she knew people noticed her. The sales guys became rather friendly and flirty that night when everyone went out for drinks, but she was more interested in drawing Eddie from accounting out of his shell. Conversation turned a bit racy, but not uncomfortable. The thought occurred to her, talking Eddie, that Alex could handle the “I’m going to go over to a friend’s house tonight” message.
And then, sure enough, her phone rang, and less than a minute later, Eddie-playing designated driver-was taking her to Harborview Medical Center instead of back to his place. “Michelle, he said he’s okay,” Eddie reminded her for the third time as they rolled up toward the emergency room entrance.
“He said he’d been shot,” Michelle said flatly. “God, I was always worried that I’d get a call about him being smashed on the freeway, not this.”
“Yeah, but it’s not like someone else had to make the call for him. If he said he’s okay, he’ll be fine. I’m going to pull up and let you out at the curb. I’ll call you when I’ve found a parking space, alright?”
“Sure. Thanks, Eddie,” she said, and then jumped right out of the car before he’d even come to a complete stop.
Michelle was a strong, self-controlled woman. She’d endured and ultimately banished a cheating, dirtbag husband, raised her child on her own, finished her MBA and worked her way up the corporate ladder while she was at it. It took all of that control to keep from screaming, “Where is my son!?” the second she walked in.
The front desk was mobbed. The prospect of waiting through that line to find out where Alex was seemed like the perfect recipe for wrecking those last bits of self-control.
“Mrs. Carlisle?” a voice asked. Michelle’s head jerked sideways to see a strangely familiar face. It took a second to recall the name, though. The girl seemed to understand. “I’m-”
“Taylor, right?” Michelle said.
“Yes,” Taylor nodded. “I’m here with Alex. Can I take you to him?”
“Yes! Is he okay?”
“He’s going to be fine. They’ll let him go home tonight.” They were already walking, dodging gurneys and wandering patients.
Michelle recognized him from behind. He sat on a hospital bed in an open room, talking to a police officer with a clipboard. His shirt was off. There was an ugly bruise on the lower right side of his back and a few other scrapes, and some bandages wrapped around him horizontally. A couple of other people stood in the room, but Michelle hardly even noticed them.
She rushed through the doorway, calling out his name as she threw her arms around him.
“OW!” he yelped. She jerked back. “Mom? Jesus! Ow, be careful.”
“I’m sorry, I’m-you said you’d been shot!” Michelle saw now that the bandages wrapped around his torso were there to keep thick gauze over a spot under the left side of his chest. She also noted his stiff posture.
“Ma’am, please don’t touch him right now,” someone in hospital smocks told her firmly. “He’s going to be fine.”
“Okay, I’m sorry, okay,” Michelle said. She looked at Alex in amazement, then around the room. She saw the police officer. The hospital worker. Taylor. And a tall, majestically beautiful woman with long black hair. Something about her gave the stressed mother a shiver, derailing her thoughts. Michelle looked at her, stunned for a moment before she blinked it away. “What happened?”
Everyone responded with an awkward look except the nurse. She seemed used to these things.
“I think I’ve got everything I need here,” the cop said. He gave Alex and Taylor a couple of business cards. “Call me if anything else comes up. We’ll let you know if we need anything more, but I’ll bet a week’s pay that all three of those guys cop a plea.” Before he left, he said to Michelle, “Ma’am, you raised a tough kid. You should be proud.”
Michelle blinked. “I’m sorry?”
He gestured to Alex and Taylor. “They just put two armed felons in the hospital and another one in jail. The case for sending all three of them to prison seems pretty solid.”
More blinking. “Alex did?”
The cop nodded, shook Alex’s hand and Taylor’s, and left.
“I should be going, too,” Taylor said.
“Right, right,” Alex nodded. “Thanks for coming with, Taylor.”
She smiled. “I’ll be in touch. Promise.” She leaned in, kissed him lightly on the lips, then grabbed her purse and headed out.
Michelle saw this and looked at Alex with a smile of surprise and pride threatening to disrupt her shocked expression. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t known about his high school angst. “You and Taylor?”
“Um, Mom,” Alex said, figuring that now was an appropriately horrible moment to get it out of the way, “this is Lorelei. My girlfriend.”
Michelle’s thoughts ground to a halt. This woman had to be ten years older than Alex, maybe more. She was dressed in designer clothing. She looked like a supermodel, except supermodels needed makeup and airbrushing.
Later, she would feel awful about it, but the only thing she could think to say was: “Seriously?”
“Wow. Thanks, Mom,” Alex sighed.
“Ladies,” a voice broke in, “I need some room to put a better wrapping on him. Could you step outside?”
“Sure,” Michelle said, trying to come back to reality. “What’s wrong? I don’t even know how he’s hurt.”
“Cracked rib, bruised kidney, generally knocked around,” the nurse shrugged. “He needs to stay home tomorrow at least and take it easy for the next couple of weeks.” She then looked expectantly at Michelle. Lorelei was already stepping out. Eventually, the mother understood and walked out of the room.
“Yeah, this is gonna be awkward,” Alex muttered.
“Honey, if I was your momma, I wouldn’t believe that woman is your girlfriend, either.”
Outside the room, Michelle was immediately, inexplicably uncomfortable in being alone with this woman.
“Mrs. Carlisle,” Lorelei began, “We’re both sorry that you and I are meeting for the first time like this.”
“How long have you been seeing my son?” Michelle asked, still stunned. “I didn’t know he was seeing anybody. He’s never had a girlfriend.”