“Everything is getting better. Her dad has his moments.”
“Damn, bro, it’s got to be rough.”
“Yeah it is. She is handling it well. I just want to go home already. I have a lot of shit to do at the office. I have been able to get some stuff done here, but it is not the same.”
“So when are you coming back?”
“We are supposed to be leaving in two days. I have been trying to convince her he is on the mend, but she doesn’t believe it. I know it’s her dad, and if it was our dad, I would be freaking out too.”
“Hell, yeah. Thankfully it’s not.”
“She was mad at them for not saying anything before we left for Dallas last time.”
“Well, let’s be glad she doesn’t know you knew about it.”
“That’s for sure. If she knew I knew about her dad being sick all this time, I would be in some big trouble.”
“Too fucking late!”
I turned to see her staring at me, pissed as fuck. “I gotta let you go.” I hung up the phone and said, “Baby, it’s not like that.”
“It’s not like what? You lied to me. Every day could have been his last, and you kept it from me. What if I never got to see him again? How could you?”
I tried to comfort her, and she pushed me away. “Get away from me! You sat there and knew I was in pain, and you had been a part of the big charade!”
“I am going to give you some time to calm down, but I will be back and we will talk about this.” I knew it was going to be a while until she was ready to listen and I had some shit I had to get done, so I walked out.
I called my brother back. “Hey, bro, she knows now, doesn’t she?”
“Yes, and she is beyond furious with me. I think I might even need to spend the night at a hotel.”
“Yeah, maybe that will work.”
“I don’t like being away from her, though.” I sounded like a pussy. Well, I was going to give her some time. I packed my bag and left. I checked into the Fairmont and spent the whole day working hard. I wanted to go back, but she made it clear she didn’t want me around, after I called and she didn’t answer. I tried her again and she still didn’t answer, so I went to the hotel bar. Some beautiful woman walked up to me as I sat there and started a conversation. I made it clear I wasn’t interested, so she moved along. All my thoughts had been on Alexandria and how she hated me. What if she didn’t want to marry me anymore? I was done drinking after my sixth shot and headed back to my room. The next thing I knew, it was morning and there was a pounding in my head and at the door.
Chapter 14—Alexandria
This week had been hard to handle. I didn’t know that when I came home so full of joy, that it would be shattered in a moment. I knew that he was getting better and there was hope that they could get my dad cancer free, but it still was scary. Max had been incredible throughout this whole time. I loved him so much. He had been so supportive even though I knew he had to go back to work and had been delaying it because of me. I wanted to surprise him. I left my mom to look after Dad while I went looking for my man who had been working in the basement.
What I hadn’t expected was to hear that he knew all about my dad being sick. I couldn’t believe he lied to me again. He asked me to trust him, and he broke that. I didn’t mean to push him away again, but I didn’t know how to handle the pain at his deception.
When I finally went upstairs, I expected him to be there, but my mom said he walked out the door and drove off in the rental. At the time I thought it good a thing, but as the day wore on and he didn’t call, I wanted to cry and it made me angrier at him.
My dad came out of his room after my mom told him that Max and I had a fight.
“Alex, come and sit down. What happened between you two?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Lexi, dear, tell me.”
“He knew the whole time, and you covered for him. He told me he wouldn’t keep anything from me.” I was in tears.
“I didn’t cover for him. He covered for me. Sweetheart. He didn’t know right away. When I met with him, he knew I was feeling sick, and I told him not to say a thing, that I just had a stomach bug. He actually found out by himself and contacted me about it. He was angry that I refused to tell you. He told me that if I didn’t tell you, he would. It wasn’t his choice not to tell you.”
“What? He tried to tell me?” I was feeling like such a bitch. He had done what my father asked and had demanded that he tell me. He has been nothing but supportive.
I excused myself and went back to our bed and laid down, suddenly so tired. I was so sleepy lately and passed out with ease. I woke up the next morning at 3 am and saw that I missed his call again. There was no voicemail. Then I saw my phone has a text; it was Patricia.