Page 61 of Love and Loathing
She pulled her phone from her purse, intent on calling him, when she saw a text.
Alex: The Alexander Young House
Tonight.
After Charlie finishes making a fool of himself.
Then a separate text.
Come alone.
She laughed and turned to her sister to let her know she was leaving, but Caroline wouldn’t have heard her even if the room had been completely silent. Wouldn’t have seen her if she’d been a spotlight. Charlie knelt in front of her as he finished the song, and when it was over, Caroline threw herself into his arms to raucous applause, laughter, and cheers.
Jessie nodded, finally content for her sister, then got up and left.
Fifteen minutes later, she was pulling down the road to the Alexander Young Home. His truck was parked out front, and Alex stood on the front porch, hands in his pockets. She couldn’t help the smile that tugged painfully at her cheeks as she parked and got out of her car. They locked eyes across the gravel lot.
Without a word, he backed up, turned, and went into the house.
“Alex,” she called out, and her feet carried her toward him before her mind had completely caught up with what she was doing. She reached the door, hesitated, then peered in. “Alex?”
“I’m back here,” he said, his low tone sending tingles shooting through her entire body.
She stepped inside and saw light flickering as she wandered through the empty living room and toward the back of the house. “Where are you?”
“Here.”
She came around the bend that led to the kitchen and dining room, and she stopped in place. Dozens of candles had been set up all over the kitchen and in the big windows that looked out over the property back to the Southern Run, and in the middle of all that, leaning against the counter, stood Alex.
They stared at one another, and everything else flew away, every fight, every hurt, every doubt. The way he looked at her now, she knew he still loved her. She could feel it in his gaze. And she loved him with everything he was.
He lifted a hand to his chest. “Wow. You … you’re so beautiful.”
She swiveled her hips, making the dress twist around her knees. “Do you like it?”
He smirked. “You know I do.”
She nodded. “It matches your eyes.”
His eyes brightened even more, if that was possible. “Charlie told me my mom talked to you.”
Jessie’s face flushed, and she lowered her gaze. “I did.”
“And what she said to you.”
She gave a humorless chuckle. “Yeah, that was brutal.”
“I’m so sorry,” he said.
She clasped her hands behind her back. “Are you and Roxy together?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“She said you were on and off again since you were teens,” Jessie said.
“Off again only, ever.” He waved a hand in front of him. “We’ve never dated ever, I mean.”
She breathed out. “I thought that might be the case, but I saw those tabloid pictures of you at Sunset Valley and I …”
