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No such luck. “Are you okay?”
“I’m good, thanks. And you?”
“I’m fine too.”
“I’m here for my work Christmas party.”
“Is that so?”
“Uh-huh. We’re in that big room in the back.”
“Oh great.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Sounds like fun,” he said.
“No, it doesn’t. You’re just being polite.” I laughed.
“You couldn’t be more wrong, Alexia. Everything about you interests me. Except you still won’t let me in.”
My face flushed with heat again and I bent my head. I was suddenly very self-conscious of what I was wearing. I had on outdated sandals. New shoes were currently on hold with the whopping hospital bills looming in front of me. I had to settle for the old ones. My pants, which weren’t exactly the height of fashion either, mostly covered them, so I prayed he didn’t notice. Purchasing clothes hadn’t been a high priority lately, other than a few items I’d scored from consignment shops. Add to that, I still hadn’t gained back all the weight I lost, so I’m sure I looked gaunt as well.
“You look great, Alexia.” He was always so polite.
“Thanks, Pearce. You do too. I guess I should be going. My group is going to wonder what happened to me.”
“Stay safe, please.” He reached out his hand and touched my cheek. “And please call me. Just give me a chance.”
My response was a slight smile as I turned and walked away.
PEARCE
I couldn’t believe it when I saw her across the room. Pretty sure my mouth dropped as my jaw hit the table. I shot out of my seat like my ass was on fire. The urge to talk with her hit, even only a word or two. I wish it were more, but I knew better.
She was beautiful. Who was I kidding? She even looked great the night she came in with stab wounds. A bit of an exaggeration, but that woman would look great in anything.
It was easy to see I made her uncomfortable but for the life of me I didn’t know what I could do differently to change that. She acted like a frightened rabbit around me, which was puzzling. There was nothing I could think of that I had done to make her feel that way.
We talked for a few minutes, and she scampered off, just like a scared little bunny. I had to figure out how to get that bunny to feel she could trust me. This would require patience, which I had, and what she didn’t know about me was I was relentless. I wanted to get to know her, and when I set my mind to do something, I usually succeeded.
I had never felt this pressing need to pursue a woman before. If asked why, I couldn’t have answered, except that something about her drew me in. There was something between us. I knew she felt it but was trying to run from it. My mission was to make sure that didn’t happen. When I returned to my seat, my sister, Ava, was curious who I charged after. Ava’s smile told me she knew there was more to my story. I ended up telling her how I felt about Alexia.
“Don’t give up on her, then, Pearce. My guess is that something in her past has driven her to this point. She’s wounded perhaps. Give her time but don’t give up.”
That reminded me of what Jeremy had called her. “Yeah, my wounded bird. I think her wing must be broken.”
Ava looked at me sort of funny and then said, “Well, you are a trauma surgeon, Pearce. If anyone can fix her broken wing, surely you can.”
Eight
Christmas came and I never even put up a tree. No surprise there. My home hadn’t seen any kind of Christmas decoration since Peter died. The holiday was simply meaningless to me anymore. Why should it? No family, no one to share it with. My alarm woke me up at five a.m. because I had volunteered at a local soup kitchen to help since there was nothing else for me to do. I thought I’d put my time to good use.
Later, Terri stopped by on the way to her parents’ house. She’d invited me to go with her, but I declined. Christmas was family time, and since I wasn’t part of her family, I’d feel like an intruder. She disagreed but it didn’t change my mind. We exchanged presents. I bought her a really cool silver cuff that I’d saved up for. She took one look at it, and I knew it had been the perfect choice. Her eyes lit up like the tree I didn’t have. She bought me a new purse that I’d been dying to get. We hugged each other and I thought of how she was my only family. My eyes teared up, but I blinked them away. My parents didn’t send gifts to me. They still blamed me for Peter’s death. They were right. It had been my fault. All communications between us had ceased since the accident. My sister never called either, even though we’d been super close. So much for my family.
After Terri left, I walked over to Lisbeth’s. The entire Rutledge clan would be there later. I wanted to make sure there weren’t any last-minute things that had to be done. The table was set for dinner and her housekeeper would come to help with the meal. I’d come back later to clean up. She wanted me to eat with them but there was no way that would happen. I was entirely out of my element with her family. They treated me well, but square peg, round hole and all.
I had a little something for her too. I had found a pretty scarf, and I knew she loved those. Gift buying always stumped me, especially when the recipient was someone like Lisbeth. She oohed and aahed when she opened it. I guess she liked it. Then she handed me my gift, which was a small box which I opened and inside was a key fob for a car. My brows lifted because I wasn’t sure about this. “What is this?”
