Page 22 of Stella's Christmas Rescue
Alex half smiles, “Good thinking.” Then he gives me that warning look again.
Shit, I’m gonna cave. I can’t take two back-to-back. I huff and relent. “Fine. Jordan, I get it. You thought you were saving me. Again. Would you?—"
“Wait, again?” Alex interrupts. “When did he save you before?”
“Yeah. Yesterday, one of Riker’s goons tried to kidnap me.”
“Are you okay?”
I nod. “I’m uninjured. I am miles from okay, though.”
He hugs me. “I’m so sorry, Stella.”
“It’s fine. I’ll be fine. And Jordan saved me. So, Jordan, you have saved me one and a half times in the last two days. And you’re going to help me decorate my Christmas tree, so as a thank you for all of that, come over for dinner tonight.”
“One and a half times?”
“This,” I point between the three of us, “does not count as a whole saving. You jumped the gun.”
He laughs and says, “Is seven okay for supper?”
“Perfect.” I nod, then turn to my brother, “Alex, what’s the update? How is Grandpa?”
“The chemo is working, but it’s hard on him. He’s getting by on a steady diet of smoothies, ramen, and lemonheads?—"
“That’s not food! That’s candy and bullshit! I told you, you have to get real food into him! You know that’s your job, Alex, you feed him, and?—"
He closes his eyes, and his voice is laden with guilt, “And I try, but Stella, he can’t keep it down. Ramen and lemonheads stay down, so at least he’s getting calories. I blend some multivitamins into his smoothies, so he’s getting that, too. We’re doing the best we can, I promise.”
I swallow my feelings down and take a breath. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just on edge right now, and?—"
“And you hate not being in control. I know,” he smiles piteously at me. Alex has been the only person I let come to see me over the last few years. He’s very careful about everything, far more cautious than I am. I wonder if that’s an older brother thing. He makes sure no one is following him and rents a different car from a different rental place every two weeks to visit me. He quietly says, “This isn’t easy on any of us.”
I feel terrible. “I know, I’m sorry, Alex. Thank you for coming out here.”
“Water under the bridge, Stella.” He smiles and asks, “We’re on for the next visit?”
“Yes. And you know what to do, if things should go south.”
He nods, “I do. See you next time.” Alex gets into a crappy gray SUV and drives away.
Jordan watches Alex pull away and says, “He seems like a smart guy. Bland rental car, nondescript clothes. He knows how to avoid attention.”
I nod. “Yeah, he’s really wary?—"
He turns to me and says, “But Alex is not smart enough to be doing this, coming here like this. Anyone could have followed him?—"
I snap, “Another lecture? Really?”
He holds his hands up and says, “No lecture, Stella. I promise. Alex can be as smart as he wants, but the fact is, he’s not trained for this. I am. And I’m worried about you. He could have been anyone, and you just let him sneak up on you like that.”
“I knew he was there! I saw him get out of his rental and I knew he was behind me. This is how we visit, Jordan, we’ve been doing this for months, we know what we’re doing.”
Jordan looks at the ground. “Oh.”
“You don’t get it, do you? I’ve been paranoid and looking over my shoulder every day for over three years. Trust when I say, no one is getting the drop on me. I could tell you the number of steps from each parking space to the interior of the store, I could tell you the license plate numbers of each vehicle in the parking lot, I could tell you the locations of every exit of every building I let myself go into for the past three years! This is not my first day, Jordan.”
He nods. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have doubted you. It’s just?—"
