InHap*pily Ever After

by Kim Desalvo

  “How many more secrets, Lexi? It seems like every time I turn around I find out something else you’ve been hiding from me. What am I supposed to think, especially when I see you on TV practically sitting in the dude’s lap—right after he calls you beautiful in front of the whole damn world—and then you call and tell me you aren’t coming home and I find out you were with him? You should have told me all of it—we’re not supposed to have secrets from each other.”

  “It wasn’t mine to tell. Tia didn’t even tell her own parents, Ryan. I wasn’t trying to hide something from you; I was hiding it for her. There’s a big difference.”

  “Not from where I’m standing, there isn’t.”

  Lexi sucked in a deep breath and took his hand. He tried to pull it from her grasp, but she held tight and looked at him hard. “I’m so sorry, sweetie, for how all this has made you feel. But I’m engaged to you because I love you, and I would never do anything to jeopardize our relationship. Bo and I are friends; that’s all. We have similar senses of humor and joke around with each other—it’s all very harmless, I promise you. He’s never once hit on me, and I’ve never hit on him. I’ve never been unfaithful to you, and I never will be; you should know me well enough to be sure about that. I’ve only seen Bo once since Europe, months ago…and before you even say I hid that from you too, remember that I was still keeping Tia’s secret at the time.”

  Ryan dropped his head. “What else? What else do I need to know, because I don’t like being blindsided like this, Lexi, and I don’t want any more surprises.”

  “There’s nothing else, Ryan, I promise,” she whispered, and climbed into his lap to hold him.

  He’d forgiven her, it seemed, finally, but there was still this tension between them that she hoped would dwindle with time. God knew her explanations weren’t making things any better. The party had been miserable that night, both of them running on way too little sleep and neither in a celebratory mood. They left shortly after midnight, and fell quickly into restless dreams.

  And now he accused her again of having something going on with Bo. They’d had another nasty fight yesterday, and she was still reeling. And now, it was Monday.

  The welcoming committee felt more like a mob crushing in on her. She could just feel them staromg, and people she barely knew; workers from other offices with whom she’d shared no more than a smile and a nod in the hallway or on the elevator; were hugging her just a bit too enthusiastically and showering her with compliments and well wishes. It was nearly half an hour before she got into her office and shut the door, falling into her chair and powering up her laptop.

  Her stomach sank when she opened her email—she had 146 new messages, the subject line of many being, “Congratulations!” and “You were amazing!” She groaned out loud when she saw that a good number of them were from clients, and she knew she’d have to open them and possibly respond. It was going to be a long freaking morning.

  The first email on the list had the subject, “Your Invited!” and was from the office slut, Candy Christmas. Lexi wasn’t a bit surprised that she’d used the wrong form of “you’re;” it certainly wasn’t her intellectual skills that had contributed to her rise in the firm. She’d amassed a number of nicknames over the couple years she’d been with Family Advocates Inc., Lexi’s personal favorites being “Eye Candy,” and “The Gift That Keeps on Giving.” Candy was gorgeous in a Playboy model kind of way, and claimed to have a sex addiction. She’d slept with a good number of the men in the firm, some of them married, and Lexi found her deplorable, doing her best to avoid the annoying woman whenever possible. She opened the email reluctantly, hoping it contained an invitation to an office party or a baby shower for Peggy, one of the receptionists, but wasn’t a bit surprised when neither was the case.

  “…to our monthly Progressive Dinner!” it read, causing Lexi to

  shake her head. “Next Saturday, starting at 6:00!!!!! We’ll start at my

  place for wine and cheese, then move to LaVonne’s for appetizers, Allie’s

  for salads, Stella’s for main course, and Bailey’s for dessert, then finish

  off back at my place for cocktails J My guest this month will be Lexi

  Sommers, my newly famous friend! (she’ll just be a special guest this

  time, and can take a rotation next round!) Remember, our theme

  this month is Italiano—see you on Saturday!”

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” Lexi said out loud, not at all surprised that the woman didn’t even know how to spell her freaking name. As she hit the delete key, her door swung open and the spelling disaster herself walked in, balancing some files in one arm and a paper coffee cup in the other.

  “Good morning!” Candy practically sang, setting down the coffee and taking a seat in the chair in front of Lexi’s desk. “I brought you a skinny mocha latte from my favorite café.” She pushed the cup over toward Lexi.

  “Um, thanks,” Lexi managed. “Are all those files for me?”

  “No, none of them, actually,” Candy said with a toothy smile. Crocodile smile, Lexi thought immediately. “I just wanted to tell you again how amazing it was seeing you on After Dark last week, and to see if you got my invitation to our progressive dinner on Saturday. I’m so excited to have you come!” She clasped her hands together in the most fake display of delight Lexi had ever seen.

  Before Lexi could even respond, her phone rang. She snatched it up, grateful for the temporary distraction, only to wish she hadn’t .

  “Lexi, it’s Dalia Buchanan, darling, how are you?”

  Dalia was member of the country club and a former client. Lexi had helped her successfully slam it to her husband in their divorce after he’d impregnated one of his nurses and spent a good chunk of their marital estate to keep her quiet in a luxury penthouse in the city. She still sung Lexi’s praises around the club; and had secured her a fair share of new clients; but they didn’t run in the same social circles. “I’m good, Dalia…how about you?” She squinted at Candy, but she just leaned back in the chair and showed no signs of leaving.

  “Oh I’m just great, darling, and it’s obvious that you are too. I thought you were just fabulous on TV the other night—Danielle Hastings told us you’d be on, and a bunch of us watched you together—you made us all so proud…”

  “Well, ah, thanks,” Lexi said. “It was an interesting experience.”

  “I’d love to hear all about it! Listen, I don’t want to keep you; you must have a million things on your plate right now; but I wanted to shoot you a quick call to invite you to lunch a week from Saturday. I have a friend who’s looking for a good attorney, and of course I gave her your name. She’s got a lot of influence, but she hasn’t told her husband yet that she’s planning to divorce him and take the kids, so I thought it would be best to meet in a less formal setting. She’ll pay you for your time, of course.”

  “I’m happy to do it, Dalia, but I have to wait until a bit later in the week to confirm, is that OK? Tia’s may be coming back that week and I…”

  “Marvelous—she could join us! It’s been such a whirlwind for her the past few weeks; I’d just love to catch up with her and congratulate her on her engagement! She could bring Dylan, too. I could set up a grand tour of the club for him, you know, in case he wants to join. We could talk business over tea, and after he’s had a chance to see all the club’s amenities, I’ll treat you all to lunch.”

  Lexi saw the situation for what it was—a blatant attempt to be seen in the company of Dylan and Tia. Dalia barely gave Tia the time of day; she wasn’t rude or dismissive, she just didn’t go out of her way to be friendly. Now suddenly she wanted to buy her lunch? She knew that wouldn’t be the case if it weren’t for her relationship with Dylan.

  Yet again, Lexi had a whole new appreciation for the tough decisions Tia had to make in regard to her relationship with Dylan. She remembered how outwardly frustrated she’d been when Tia swore her to secrecy, telling her that it was too good a secr
et to keep and that she should be singing from the rooftops; but she now saw the complexity of the whole situation, and once more, had a new respect for Tia’s ability to see the whole picture. Tia knew that people would look at her differently; treat her differently; because she was involved with someone famous. She’d chosen to remain as anonymous as she could for as long as she could because she understood that people would “crawl out of the woodwork” for a little piece of that action. And judging by the number of incoming emails that kept her computer pinging, she’d absolutely made the right decision.

  “I certainly can’t speak for them,” she answered. “When they come back they’ll have a lot of celebrating to do with friends and family, and I’d guess they’ll have a very tight schedule. That’s why I’ll have to let you know later in the week whether I can do Saturday—it depends on when they get back and what their plans are. Can I call you on Thursday or Friday and let you know? Or, is it possible to get together in the next couple days? I know she won’t be coming back for at least that long, and I’ll have more availability.”

  “No, my friend is out of town at the moment, so we’ll take our chances for that Saturday, I think,” Dalia responded. “You will be sure to invite them, right, just in case?”

  “Yeah, sure,” she said, more to get her off the phone than anything else. “I’ll be in touch.”

  “So, Tia and Dylan are coming back next week, huh? We don’t usually invite men to our dinner, unless they’re incredibly sexy, which in this case, is an understatement,” Candy said with a wistful smile. “I’d be very glad to make an exception, and I was going to ask you to invite Tia anyway—I’ve always liked her. Do they like Italian food? Does Dylan have a favorite wine?”

  “Candy,” Lexi said, getting more aggravated by the minute. Another ping of her computer signaled yet another email; she glanced at the screen to see the subject, “Go You!” and gritted her teeth. Candy looked at her expectantly and smiled warmly. “I’m not going to be able to go to your dinner on Saturday…”

  “Well, we can always move it to the next Saturday if that works better for you all; not a problem!”

  “It is a problem,” she said simply. “It just isn’t my thing. I appreciate the invite,” she said to be polite, “but my fiancé and I have a standing date on Saturday nights, so…”

  “Oh gosh, that’s right—a Fourth of July wedding, right? Have you picked out a dress?”

  Damn it, she was a sucker for showing off her dress, and Candy probably knew it. Lexi pulled up the picture on her phone and handed it over.

  “Oh my gosh, it’s absolutely beautiful!” Candy gushed. “I love how the sparkles look like fireworks—it’s just perfect! I can’t wait to see it in person. You know, a few of the girls and I have been talking about hosting a bridal shower for you…”

  Damn it exponentially, Lexi thought. She’d never even considered inviting Candy to her wedding. She sucked in a breath and held it, counting slowly to ten. The last thing she wanted to do was start shit at work, but she also couldn’t let Candy think she’d be invited, and then piss her off later. “You know,” she started, “Ryan and I are really stymied on how to keep the guest list short. We have very limited space, and he has a huge family…”

  Candy wasn’t shaken. “Oh, I bet that’s hard! Hey, any chance I can sit at Dylan’s table? Obviously Tia will be up with the wedding party, and so there’ll be an extra seat at his table and I don’t currently have a boyfriend…”

  Lexi cringed on the inside, especially when she thought about making Dylan sit through her obnoxiousness all night, but held her composure. “Sorry, Candy, but I really have to limit my guest list to my closest friends, and…”

  “But we’re friends!” she exclaimed. “And I’d be positively heartbroken if I didn’t see your big day! You and Brian are just so perfect for each other, and I…”

  “Ryan,” Lexi corrected. “His name is Ryan.”

  Candy shook it off. “That’s what I meant! Now where did that come from?” she pondered openly, shaking her head. “Of course I know that! And, I have a good friend who does make-up for the Channel 6 News—I’m sure I could get her to do yours on your wedding day. It’ll be my gift to you!”

  Lexi retreated into her own thoughts for a moment. This is what Tia would be going through for the rest of her life, she thought, wondering if anything that came out of the mouth of someone who wasn’t a real friend was genuine, or if it would always be fabricated for their own benefit. It was what Dylan had been dealing with for years, and she had a new understanding of where he came from. No wonder he went out in disguise. He’d never have a second of normalcy if he didn’t.

  “Wow, Candy,” she said. “I really appreciate that you’d want to do that, but really, I have all the details pretty well planned out.” She paused, unsure of how to continue. “And I’m really sorry to tell you this, but I’m not sure I can fit you in. We had the preliminary guest lists made over a month ago, and really, we don’t hang out socially, or anything, and you weren’t on it.” Candy looked stricken. “You wouldn’t believe how many people are trying to get invited just to meet Dylan,” she said, hoping it might ease the situation. “It pisses me off that people who barely know me are trying to get an invitation to my wedding not to see me get married, but hoping to score some time with the ‘Sexiest Man on Earth.’ I hope you’re not offended—it’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have to keep to my original list, and I had precious little room for coworkers. I’m really sorry.”

  Candy was very obviously offended—she did a pitiful job of hiding it, but she forced a smile, and stood. “Well,” she said, “I could maybe just come after dinner, then? I wouldn’t be in the way or anything—I won’t even drink—or I’ll pay cash at the bar—I’d be devastated if I missed out!”

  On the chance to try and lure Dylan into your bed, Lexi thought to herself. She’d go for Dylan first, Lexi was sure about that, but she was just as certain that he’d never even pass her a second glance. Candy wasn’t picky though, and she didn’t seem to know how to take no for an answer, either. Dylan would never forgive her if he had to sit through dinner in Candy’s company. “I’ll have to see what the final list looks like and let you know,” she said to avoid a further confrontation. She’d deal with it later—she had a feeling she was going to be pissing a lot of people off in the long run when the invites were actually handed out. But, no matter what, it was her damn wedding, and she certainly wasn’t going to go out of her way to accommodate people who weren’t even friends.

  Candy forced another smile, and tried to appear cheery. “OK!” she said between clenched teeth before slinking out the door.

  Chapter 23

  Bo’s hospital room was an explosion of color. There were so many cards, flowers, and gifts flooding in that they quickly ran out of places to put them, so Tia and Dylan started delivering some of the bouquets to other patients. The entire staff all knew that the boys from InHap were hanging around the hospital, and more than a few made it a point to make a quick round of Bo’s floor during their shifts. Tia would stop them, and ask if there were any patients on their floors who weren’t getting visitors, or who might be cheered up with a bouquet. When one nurse said they’d be even cheerier if the flowers were delivered personally, they each took an armful of vases and made some rounds. This was one of the things Dylan did with his charity, she knew, and they fell into a daily rhythm; spending time with Bo and whoever showed up to keep watch each morning, and strolling through the hospital in the afternoons, delivering flowers and signing autographs or taking pictures with the patients. Dylan left a guitar in Bo’s room, and on several occasions played a few songs in the waiting rooms or the common areas on the floors.

  It was a great feeling, bringing a little bit of happiness to the people confined to hospital beds or wheelchairs, but the best part for Tia was when they visited the children’s ward. Inevitably, they ended up there every day, Dylan stepping easily out of his “cool rock star”
mode into the role of “goofy child entertainer;” leading the kids in rousing renditions of songs from Disney movies and classic kids’ favorites. They took a trip over to a local toy store after seeing the well-worn pile of board games in crushed boxes stacked helter-skelter on shelves in the activity room, and brought a couple new games to the kids each day. Of course, they ended up playing them, as well.

  Tia loved being around the children. Her former students had only been back in school for a week, but she already missed them and found herself wondering if Austin had mastered his multiplication tables or if Ashley had yet found the joy in reading. On any other year she would have welcomed a longer holiday break, but knowing she was never going back gave it a completely different feel. It made her feel good to sit with some of the older kids and help them with their lessons while Dylan played Old Maid with the younger ones. Bringing genuine smiles to the faces of the sick children and their bone-weary families was the brightest spot in the ever-growing string of days with no signs of improvement in Bo, and soon the rest of their group sought a bit of solace in the children’s ward as well.

  Every day, they made their way back to Bo’s room hoping for a sign that he was coming back to them, and every day, they were met with a solemn shake of the head by whoever had watch duty at the time. They took turns reading Bo the newspaper or books, singing to him, playing his favorite television shows, and trying to coax him out of the dark place where he dwelled; but they never seemed to be able to manage more than a moan or the slight squeeze of a hand. It was draining them emotionally; trying to keep a positive energy in the room for Bo while communicating the lack of progress with sad eyes and haunting glances; but each one of them crowded into the tiny room every morning, thankful that the hospital was lax with the two-visitor rule where InHap was concerned.