Page 33 of Return to Rosewood Beach

“I knew it. You love Los Angeles as much as I do.”

Her lips parted. She wanted to tell him that while yes, she liked Los Angeles, what she’d meant was that she was homesickfor him, her husband. But the words died on her lips. She didn’t feel she could say them, somehow—and she didn’t know if it was because she felt shy, or because she was realizing that the emotional distance between them was becoming so great that the physical distance didn’t even seem to matter. She felt more comfortable and at home there in Rosewood Beach than she did in their mansion.

“You’re going to get back to our big beautiful house and wonder why you ever complained about your life here,” Grayson continued.

She winced. She hadn’t ever complained about her life in L.A., just expressed a kind of restlessness. Being the wife of a very wealthy man, with nothing to do besides go to yoga classes and design jewelry as a hobby, had made her feel as though her life was some kind of fraud, not any kind of existence she was meant to live. She’d felt as though she didn’t have enough purpose. Grayson hadn’t been able to understand that—he thought that by providing her with money and leisure time, he was giving her everything a woman could want.

Instead of responding verbally, she did her best to laugh convincingly. “I never meant to complain, honey, I?—”

At that moment, in the background of the call, she heard a woman’s voice. Instinctively, her whole body stiffened. She was about to ask him who it was when he interrupted her in a hurry.

“Alexis, I’m sorry, I have to go. I told you this merger was going to be the death of me. Talk soon. Love you. Bye.”

He hung up, and she sat there blinking and feeling stunned. Her stomach twisted with worry. She told herself firmly that he was still at the office, and the woman she’d heard had been one of his employees, coming to tell him that something important had come up. That was why he’d hung up so abruptly, because he’d needed to put out some kind of fire relating to the merger.

She took a deep breath and then sat quietly, sipping her tea fretfully. By then it was cold, and not as comforting as it had been. She couldn’t help feeling a little paranoid about what she’d just heard. Even though she told herself it was nothing to worry about, and she knew it was more than likely that he was at the office with other employees there, she couldn’t help feeling anxious.

She sat and stared out the window, turning the situation over in her mind. It was so early in the morning for him, which made the presence of other workers seem odd. But he had said that the merger was going to be the death of him, so it was likely that his company was in the middle of some kind of “all hands on deck” situation. She told herself the female voice might even have been a message on his answering machine, and he’d started to get restless during their phone call and started to listen to it.

But no matter how many times she told herself that she had nothing to worry about, she couldn’t help fretting. She shivered a little and wrapped the shawl tighter around her shoulders. She thought of how her father had managed to keep a secret from her mother for all those years. She didn’t expect Grayson to be the kind of man to keep a secret from her, but she hadn’t thought her father was that kind of man either, and he clearly had been.

She pressed her lips together, holding the sides of her mug tightly. Was it possible that Grayson was keeping something from her? Was he seeing another woman?

Her stomach did an anxious somersault, and she took a deep breath to steady her nerves.

I’m just jumping to conclusions, she told herself firmly.I have no real evidence that he’s doing anything of the kind.

No matter what she told herself, she continued to feel heartsick and ill at ease. Even if Grayson wasn’t having any kind of an affair, the reality was that he was slipping away from her. Something was tugging his heart in another direction, even if itwas just his job instead of another woman. She felt a tear slip out of her eye and roll down her cheek. It splashed into her mug of tea.

She heard footsteps creaking down the staircase, and she hurriedly wiped the tears off her cheeks. Hazel appeared in the doorway a moment later, clearly concerned. Alexis realized that her sister must have seen her crying as she was coming down the stairs.

“Alexis, what’s wrong?” Hazel hurried over to her side, looking worried. She was also still her in pajamas, and her hair was tied back in a messy braid.

Alexis shook her head, getting ready to tell Hazel that she was okay, and she was just crying about their dad, when all of a sudden, the tears started to come in full force. She couldn’t stop them.

“So much is wrong.” Alexis covered her face with her hands.

Cooing with concern, Hazel wrapped her arms around her sister and gave her a tight squeeze. “It’ll be okay. Everything will work out fine.”

Alexis shook her head, trying to blink back the tears. “I don’t know that it will. I—I’m upset.”

Her sister looked into Alexis’s eyes for a moment, and Alexis could see the wheels in Hazel’s mind spinning. She got the impression that Hazel guessed that Alexis was talking about Grayson.

“Here.” Hazel leaned over toward the coffee table, where she grabbed a box of tissues. She handed it to Alexis. “You take these. Take some deep breaths, and cry if you need to. I know just what this talk needs. I’ll be right back.”

Alexis offered her a watery smile, feeling grateful for her sister’s care. Hazel smiled back at her and disappeared into the kitchen.

Alexis took deep breaths, dabbing at her tears with the tissues. The knot of anxiety in her stomach was starting to lessen, and she felt grateful that she was staying there with Hazel, who was so ready to comfort her. She knew she would have felt much worse if she’d been staying somewhere by herself, alone with her thoughts.

A few minutes later, Hazel reappeared in the living room, holding a tray of food. On it were two colorful plates covered in peanut butter and jelly muffins and bacon and egg bites. Besides the plates were steaming mugs of coffee. Both the food and the coffee let out incredible aromas, and Alexis breathed in the smells eagerly.

“There.” Hazel set the tray down on the coffee table in front of them. “I knew I was supposed to make these bacon and egg bites last night. This kind of conversation needs some tasty food. You take a few bites and then you tell me all about it.”

Alexis nibbled her peanut butter and jelly muffin, enjoying how delicious the innovative flavor was. The food helped bolster her spirits, and she felt her anxiety dissipate even more. She felt overwhelmed by how sweet Hazel was being, and she hated the idea of telling her sister yet another sad thing.

After she’d eaten a couple of the savory egg bites, she set her plate down, her heart beating faster as she tried to brace herself for telling her sister what was on her mind.

“So.” Hazel looked into her eyes, her expression sympathetic. “What’s going on?”

---