Wilde About Alec

by Cate Faircloth

  “Whoa, the ‘b’ word? Right on.” Holden chuckles. I shake my head at him but enjoying the banter we haven’t had in a long time.

  “Don’t get any ideas. And I have to get back to work, anyway.”

  “Right. So, you’ll keep me updated, then?”

  “On?”

  “Your… whatever it is keeping you from signing the will,” he clarifies, and I thought he was talking about Mia. I’m starting to have a one-track mind, and it isn’t good.

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “Good. And answer when Mom calls. You should see how sad she looks. Dad is gone, and two of her kids are ignoring her. Can’t be good for her, she’s geriatric, you know,” he half-jokes at the end.

  “I will. Promise.”

  “Uh huh. I’ll let you get back to… plot plans or whatever the fuck you do for a living.”

  I shrug, he’s half right. “Yeah. I’m hanging up.”

  He laughs, and I don’t hear the end of it before I do. But I heard everything else he said. I heard every word I didn’t want to hear but knew that I needed to. I have to stop being selfish, I have to stop keeping my family in the dark.

  Even if it destroys us all.

  8

  Mia

  I dramatically rise from my bed stretching out as I smile. I never smile this early, especially on a weekday when I have to go to work. But I am, and I know it’s because of Alec.

  I wish it weren’t.

  Because he is right down the hall, or maybe he has already left. Living with him might pose to be harder than I thought it would be. When he was just a quiet, brooding man that I didn’t want to share my condo with, I could deal with the irritation of that, but not wondering what he’s doing, what he’s thinking, and remembering how it feels to look into his eyes and inhale his scent swirling around me. It’s permeated the entire place since he’s been here—the deep cologne and sharp pine scent, strong yet subtle. It matches him and his secretive personality. I can’t tell if it’s how he is or if something has made him this way.

  Opening up to him was too easy, and I know he won’t do the same. I was upset about my mom, and I’m still upset. But just talking to him made me feel better, and it’s dangerous to start letting him have any part in my emotions.

  After a hot shower, I put on a simple gray button-up dress. My hair is wet, and I put it up into a high bun because waiting for it to dry is a waste of time. As I walk into the kitchen, I pass by Alec’s door. He leaves it closed all the time, but it’s cracked only slightly today. I clutch my purse knowing it’s creepy to be peering into his room or even thinking about going in. All I see is a sliver of his black bed sheets before I turn and move on.

  I make coffee for my thermos, check my plants to see if they need any watering as it brews, and then I head to work. The routine is the same, but Alec stays in my head the entire drive there.

  When I talk to Haley, I don’t feel nearly as at peace as I did when I was talking to him. He has this way about him that I think he avoids. I think he avoids a lot of things, but I choose to believe he has stopped avoiding me.

  “What is up with you?” Haley has appeared from thin air it seems as I am on the platform of the window to the shop watering the petunia and sunflower arrangements.

  “What? Nothing.” I shake my head and tilt the last of the water into the pot before I turn to face her.

  Her scowl is decorated with a slight smile. The way the metallics of her pink and silver outfit shine behind the sun make her look futuristic in a way, but her outfits have stopped surprising me at this point.

  “Yeah, right. You were humming.” She cackles, and I step off the platform to be at eye level with her.

  I smile feeling a blush creep onto my face. I know I only hum when I’m thinking happy thoughts. It happens when I’m working on a new flower breed or something but never watering flowers. I was… thinking about Alec.

  “Oh.” I step around her moving to the back room to put the can away.

  “Why were you humming? Did something exciting happen?” She follows as I expected her to. Haley knows me really well, unfortunately. And she doesn’t let stuff go easily. If I don’t tell her, I’ll just be hearing about it all day.

  “Not really, Haley. I just talked to Alec yesterday. That’s all,” I tell her. We settle behind the counter both sitting on stools that are against the back wall.

  No one has come in, but we have only been open for a few hours. Tuesdays seem slow anyway. I think because everyone has gotten their flowers and whatnot for their events over the weekend. Things always pick up on Wednesdays until Sunday.

  “Whoa, so he stopped avoiding you like the plague?” She arches a brow, and I purse my lips at her.

  “He wasn’t avoiding me like the plague.”

  “Yeah, right. That isn’t what you were saying before. But I won’t call you out on it,” she says, even though she just did.

  “Okay. So, he was. But that’s still his business.”

  “I want to know about your business.” She nudges my knee, laughing. I laugh and smile too.

  “It was nothing.” I sigh, recalling the entire instance. “I got off the phone with my mom. As usual, she made me feel like shit, and I got really upset. I was in the living room, and Alec had walked in and saw me crying. He was just staring at me, and I expected him to ignore me, but he didn’t.” I toy with the end of my dress avoiding eye contact, so she doesn’t see the emotions relaying in my head.

  Now I get this fuzzy feeling all over my body when I think about him. It isn’t just the mystery of him, or even that he is stunningly good looking and has the body of an office god in his slacks and dress shirt… it’s just that he’s him. I don’t know anything about Alec, but I still feel like I know him. I don’t know what I’ll do with that yet.

  “So, what happened?” Haley presses, her voice kicking up. I shake my head at her but am still glad I have someone to talk to about it, someone who actually cares.

  “He sat down with me, and I told him what happened. He seems just to… understand me? I don’t know.” I huff.

  “I know what you mean. That sounds nice of him.”

  “I think it was. But I don’t want to think it means anything. He pulled away just like always, and I haven’t seen him since, but it was only yesterday. He might just disappear again like the first time after I made dinner for him.” I felt so weird after that. I didn’t think much of it because as my roommate, he isn’t obligated to be my friend or anything.

  “Maybe not. I don’t know. The guy just sounds off to me, but if you say he’s okay…”

  I giggle. “He isn’t dangerous or weird in a I’m-secretly-a-serial-killer way. He just seems like a private man. Nothing wrong with that.”

  She agrees, but before she can banter back, Mindy walks in, and we both try to look like we were busy before she says something, but we’re too late.

  “Don’t get too worked up, girls.” She strolls in and around the counter. Mindy is the kind of boss who owns an industry she knows nothing about, not that there is anything wrong with that. She always wears suits and has her hair in tight buns, dark brown and regal. Today her suit is gray, the dress shirt purple and silky.

  “You know…” she looks at Haley, “… you make me consider not making you wear a uniform.”

  Haley looks down at her pink leggings and silver tee shirt then looks up innocently. Mindy smiles softly and sets her briefcase on the front counter.

  “Anyway, I came by to give you this work order. It’s for a wedding in Hunterdon. I think you might know them, Mia.”

  I almost roll my eyes, we don’t all know each other. But the society type that my parents are… maybe I do.

  “Really?” I humor her.

  “Yeah, Chad Wall and… I don’t remember the bride’s name. She isn’t the one paying anyway.”

  I tense up because I do know who it is. The Walls and my parents go way back because our dads are in business together. Even now, I don’t kno
w what my dad does for a living. But Chad and I were in school together and got toted around with our parents together. Around high school, he started to be just like them, so I drifted away from him. I never felt romantic about him at all, but I thought we would be friends, to say the least.

  “Oh. Okay,” I say.

  Mindy blinks her blue eyes and gathers herself. “Anyway, it’s supposed to be huge. The flowers will take up at least half the hall, so we need to get vendors in order soon, and they want original arrangements. I was thinking one of your special flowers would be nice since they’re willing to pay extra for it.”

  I nod, appreciating my work being acknowledged but also annoyed that I have to waste a botanical science degree on weddings. This is so not how I imagined my life…

  “When is the wedding?” I ask Mindy.

  “Um, twenty days.”

  I gape. “Twenty days? What the hell?” I laugh in shock. Haley giggles, knowing all she’ll have to do is put in online orders and such.

  “I know. They had someone doing it, but their owner got arrested for tax evasion. I think it was your mom they said recommended us. But I already said we would do it, so hopefully we can make it work?” she asks, but it isn’t a question. She’s telling me.

  “Yeah.” I sigh with my eyes closed and take a calming breath. “I can. I need to be paid a commission on top of my hourly salary, though. That’s a lot of work, including their original flower arrangement.” I already have seedlings planted, they just won’t stretch wide enough to be more than one centerpiece.

  “Done. And Haley, you should help.”

  She laughs. “Okay, but I’m not the scientist.”

  Mindy shakes her head and opens her briefcase. I realize it’s also payday. I’m lucky enough to have gotten my stuff in order so that I don’t count down until the next paycheck. I completely forgot about it.

  “I’ll check in this week as things have to move pretty fast. Thank you.” She gives me a real smile before she leaves the shop to us again.

  Haley looks at me and laughs, but I scowl at her before I move to the back room. I’d have to get started right away if I was going to make it work. We had done weddings before, but on a reasonable timetable. It just reminded me of how annoyed I was with everyone back home, the way they throw their money around as if it makes it okay for them to demand the things they do. My mother would do it after one of her hurtful talks. When I was younger, she would dangle a new Barbie doll, but as I got older, she used money instead.

  This was no different. Chad or whoever he was marrying were no different either. I was fine rushing orders, planning an arrangement, even planting one of my own breeds to grow for them. I would only never be okay with ending up like them.

  I spend the rest of the day planning out a nice arrangement. I give everything to Mindy to relay to them. Anyway, I’m lucky I don’t have to talk to them.

  I finally get to leave after horsing around with Haley as we close up. I deposit my check in the drive-thru ATM and then pull into the condo driveway to find Alec’s car already there.

  My heart skips, and I ignore it as I move faster into the entryway. It seems quiet until I catch the dull murmur of the television. I let the door close softly behind me and set my purse down on my mail table. I notice Alec has left his mail there for the first time and smile to myself.

  The kitchen is behind a wall, so I don’t see him as I take chicken out of the freezer to defrost and check my flowers only to find them already watered. The first thing I do is get territorial over my plants before I realize only one person could have done that. It makes me… giddy like I’m in junior high, and I dropped my pencil, and a cute guy picked it up for me.

  Feeling a little nervous, I round the corner to walk into the dimly lit living room. The curtains are drawn, but the evening rays of the sun are still strong.

  “Hey,” I announce myself to Alec. He turns, the light catching his deep brown eyes and strong jaw. He still has his work clothes on with his socked feet propped on the center table. I think any other day or for any other person, I’d ask him to move them.

  “Hey,” he responds.

  I come closer, and he nods to the empty space next to him. I sit, finding him watching a Monday Night Football replay. I don’t know the teams well enough to notice their little logos on the bottom.

  “Haven’t opened this one.” He hands me a beer from next to him, and my fingers brush against his as I take it.

  “Thanks.” I notice the beer in his hand. “Do guys always grab two beers when they sit down?”

  He smirks. “Sure. Or I knew you were coming.” He helps me open the beer before handing it back.

  “Really? Is that why you watered my flowers?” I glance at him just before he looks away like he didn’t want me to notice that.

  “Mostly. But I know you come home at the same time every day. You’re late,” he says, and it doesn’t sound creepy at all. I mean I guess I know his schedule too just from living in close quarters for a month.

  “I had to start on this big project at work.” I settle into my comfortable couch and drink the beer. Even on an empty stomach, Shiner is good. It’s almost all he’s stocked the fridge with since he’s moved in.

  “I don’t mean to sound rude, but—”

  “Code for you’re about to sound rude.” My tone is playful. I look up at him and see him grin. God his grin is sexy—he’s sexy. I can feel his scent already laying on me as we speak.

  “But, what kind of big project does a florist do?”

  I laugh once. “Not much. Mostly weddings. This one is a big wedding, and I have twenty days to do it.”

  “You sound annoyed?”

  I finish my sip of the beer. “I am, a little. But it’s my job right now.”

  “But it’s not what you want to do?”

  “No. I’m a botanist. Not a florist. But I need to pay bills, so it’s the lesser evil right now.”

  We don’t say anything for a short moment. I drink more beer as does he. I don’t pay any attention to the game, and I don’t think he is either.

  “What if you were doing what you wanted?” he asks. I forget he is talking about work because as I look at him and see his eyes trained on my lips before he finds my eyes again, I would have answered something completely different.

  “I would be in a research lab. Breeding something, studying something. I don’t care. It would just be related to plant life.”

  He nods.

  “Are you doing what you want?” I turn the question to him.

  “Yes, I love engineering.” He tightens his brow as he looks at me, his eyes soften, and I get lost in them again. I get lost in how close we are now. That something between us is just stirring itself up.

  “I’m sorry that you aren’t doing what you love.”

  “I kind of am. In theory.” I look away to escape the heat of his gaze, drinking more of the beer. I curl my legs up on the couch, and I feel his gaze on my bare legs. It doesn’t feel weird from him. I don’t even feel on display even though it’s just my thigh. Nothing with him is the way it’s supposed to be.

  “But not fully.”

  “No.” I agree.

  The same silence ensues. Comfortable, not forced.

  “I’m defrosting chicken if you want some of what I’m making.”

  “Sure.”

  I finish my beer as I smile to myself. I shift on the couch and try to calm myself because it isn’t like it’s a date or something. It’s really nothing, just dinner.

  But with him, it isn’t just something.

  9

  Alec

  I wasn’t prepared for my head to start thinking on its own completely separated from my better judgment. Except, I didn’t know which was better at this point. Avoiding Mia and the things I feel and think about her would be a lot easier than letting myself get any more involved than I already was.

  But after a tough day at work and walking in the condo to see her flowers everywhere, I just lo
st it.

  Mia is everywhere. In my head, this place… I can’t take it, but at the same time, I don’t want to ignore it. She doesn’t need to be involved with the shit going on in my family right now. I don’t want to bother her with my problems either.

  “So… you aren’t from around here, right?” Mia leans on the counter in front of where I am sitting. She already put the food in the oven. Whatever she is cooking fills the air, but I only have senses for her sweet floral scent right under my nose. The way she looks at me through her thick lashes, her sweet brown eyes wide and creamy… it unnerves me.

  “No. I’m from Connecticut,” I surrender the small detail.

  “So why did you come here?”

  “Work,” I lie easily. But her little brows tighten as she doesn’t believe me at all. I relax when she doesn’t inquire any further.

  “What do you do exactly?” she asks me.

  Her inquisitive tone is light, and I don’t think twice before I answer. Conversation with her is just easy for some reason. I don’t feel like I’m giving away too much, and I don’t feel like she judges me for being so secretive either.

  “I design the plot lines for the city electric grid. I work down at the power grid.”

  Mia twists her lip as she thinks. “That sounds interesting but complicated.” Her feminine giggle is soft and catches my ear. “You must be pretty smart then.” Her tone is subtly flirty.

  I say back to her, “Never had less than a 4.0 GPA.” I chuckle as her smile widens. “But it doesn’t take much at the end of the day. I was never a field engineer, so I don’t have to build anything.”

  “But if you do something wrong—”

  “You think I’d do something wrong?” I interrupt her.

  She smiles and continues, “If you do something wrong, then they have trouble building it? It sounds like it is hard in that case.”

  I nod once. “Sure, but it is a team effort. They don’t go through with anything if it is wrong.” I sigh. “The project we’re working on right now is kind of like that. I hate going out on the grid, but I will if I have to.”