Lex and Lu(18)

“Don’t I know,” Lu answered, then immediately regretted it.

Lex cocked his brow at her. “About Jo?” he asked, quizzically.

Backpedaling, she said, “No, mothers in general.”

Looking past her, he said, “Dr. A. is different. Maybe it’s that southern accent or genteel manner. I don’t know. She just never seemed as intense as Jo.”

“You still call her by her first name?” Lu laughed in spite of herself. “She must love that.”

“She fucking hates it, but I just have to goad her.” He smiled, that characteristic irreverence dancing in his eyes. “Come on. I need to run.” Grabbing her foot, he pulled her leg out from under the sheet. “And don’t try to tell me you don’t still run. I can look at your leg and see all those muscles, long and lean. Get up.”

Yanking her leg back, she groaned again. “I’m not going to be able to keep up with you. You’re a world-class athlete. You keep in shape for a living.”

“I’ll go easy on you like I’ve always done anyway.”

Lu’s only response was to pick up the closest pillow and heave it at his head.

When it fell uselessly to the floor, he laughed, cocked the damn eyebrow, as a sinister-looking smile crept across his face. “Seriously?” Leaning down to pick up the discarded pillow, he quickly hit her with it in the legs, then jumped on the bed and gently straddled her. Conscious of their massive weight difference he pinned her arms with his legs, leaving his hands free.

“Lex, I swear if you do what I think you are going to do, I will kill you.”

“Oh, you mean if the chicken comes to get you, as I’m pinning you, you’ll kill me. And how are you going to manage that?” he laughed evilly and looked at his hands, then back at Lu. “You mean this chicken?” he asked as he showed her his two index fingers.

“Lex,” she screamed as she wiggled to try to escape. Laughter spilling out of her mouth, she continued to try to buck him off of her. “Please don’t!”

Images of their childhood played out in her mind. He and Pete had tortured her and Willa more times than she could count. Lex’s hands started moving to her chest, dead center between her breasts. And he started drumming on her breastbone.

“Please … stop … please … Lex,” she begged, trying to catch her breath and stop laughing. “Please … I’ll run with … you … I … promise.… Just let me up.”

Laughing, he rolled off of her and jumped off the bed. “Come on, then. You’ve got five minutes.”

As she rolled over, trying to catch her breath, more laughter escaped from her. She couldn’t believe he just chicken-pecked her. She laughed, thinking about the many times she’d teased Nina and done the same thing—much gentler. This is so not good, she thought, reveling in her feeling of happiness. Why could he make her feel like this after so long? Would anyone else ever make her feel this way or was she doomed to a solitary existence when he went home in seventy-two hours?

Glancing at the clock again, she tried to calculate how she could go running with him and still get back here for her seven o’clock call to Nina. Slithering out of bed, she quickly changed into some running gear, put her contacts in, and pulled her hair into a haphazard ponytail. Fortifying her soul before walking out of her bedroom door, Lu went off to the races with Lex.





8





When Jo made her way out to the deck with her coffee, she already knew that Lex had gone. He’d always been an early bird, never letting poor Pete sleep even though he preferred the night. She figured he’d gone to the beach to run. The moment he could drive, he’d get up before school, drive the eight miles to Siesta Key and run along the deserted beach. For the first time since he left home, she wondered if he missed the beach. She’d never asked and he’d never offered. He’d probably never offered because she’d never asked. Mike had probably asked. He probably knew if Lex missed it.

They had always been closer. Mike was easier to talk to, she imagined. She noticed most glaringly when Lex had gone to Mike for advice when he found out Lu was pregnant. They kept her in the dark for a while, Mike giving Lex the time he needed to think through his life-altering decisions. She’d been so pissed. Pissed that Mike had kept it from her, pissed at Lu for ruining Lex’s opportunity, pissed at Amber for encouraging Lu. She’d been mad at the world. Lu’s announcement had shattered her world.

Not like it was shattered now. But now, with Mike gone, the decision was still affecting her realm. The irony was not lost on her. Today they would start the process of burying her husband and here she was, dwelling on the past, waiting for the inevitable conclusion to the most horrible time in their married life. And soon, she would lose Lex too. She knew that. Knew it like she knew the sun was going to rise right before her in another twenty minutes. Creeping over the horizon, its light would filter through her large oaks, awakening all that was around her. And much like the rising of the sun, there was nothing she could do to stop the loss of her son.