The Arrangement .(9)

The tick-tock of the clock was loud in the quiet kitchen.

“Lexie—”

“Xander, everything worked out. You got the money, and Leo and I are getting back together again.” She had to stop him from prying, because she knew it was coming. He suspected, just as she knew he would, that something was wrong.

Another fake, bright smile was plastered on her face.

Xander looked down at the check. He didn’t look happy. He looked uncomfortable, concerned.

“Lexie,” he began again. “I appreciate—”

“You’re welcome,” Alexa interjected. She hopped down off the barstool and lifted her purse over her shoulder. “I just came by to give you the check and my good news. I’ve gotta run because I have a million things to do before I move back in with Leo.”

“Lexie, wait, just listen for a minute.”

Alexa touched her palm to her brother’s cheek. “Stop thinking so much,”

she whispered. “You got what you needed. It was nothing. You’re my brother, and I’d do anything for you.”

“I don’t want you to do anything for me.” He placed the check on the counter. He wouldn’t look at her. “I should’ve gone myself, instead of you.

Leo can be so intimidating sometimes. I just thought since you two were married …”

Alexa touched his arm and brought his attention back to her. “Xander, you’re back on track. Just make sure you keep baking those wonderful treats, and make sure you hire an office manager.”

Xander nodded. “Yeah, I obviously don’t have a head for managing a business,” he said sheepishly. Playfully, he reached out and tweaked Alexa’s nose with the knuckles of his forefinger and middle finger. “You’re sure everything’s fine?” His voice held a hint of humor, but his eyes were watching her closely.

She couldn’t allow him to feel guilty. She wanted him to jump back into the business without any worries. Leonardo was her problem, not his.

“Couldn’t be better,” she lied, ignoring the guilt in favor of telling herself there was a good reason for it: she was helping her brother and the five other people who depended on him.

The tension eased somewhat from his shoulders, and Alexa knew her job was done.

“I’ll send the two of you a special cake,” Xander announced, following Alexa out of the kitchen toward the front of the house. “I’ll create something really nice just for the two of you to celebrate getting back together and to thank Leo for what he’s done for me and my family.”

“I’m sure he’ll appreciate it, Xander, but don’t go to too much trouble.

Leo will be happy with a simple ‘thank you.’”

They hugged at the door before Alexa took off down the sidewalk to a coffee shop a few blocks away from her brother’s home. She entered the shop and placed her order. Then she sat down in a corner with the hot brew.

It gave her time to think, to escape reality for a while. Chewing on her lower lip, she made a silent request for forgiveness for not being completely honest with her brother. In the end, her actions would benefit him and his family.

Her temporary return to Leonardo was a small sacrifice.

Alexa took a sip and allowed herself to drift back into the past and one of the arguments that had taken place not long before she made the decision to leave him for good. Leaving him was the hardest decision she’d ever made.

She had loved her husband, but it was clear she was only secondary in his life. His business was his real wife.



“A baby is out of the question. We’ve already had this conversation!”

Alexa fumed. She stormed onto the balcony outside the master suite, barefoot but still elegantly attired in her black cocktail dress and the exquisite diamonds that graced her neck and adorned her ears.

She’d smiled and entertained more of Leonardo’s business associates who’d come to the house for dinner. She couldn’t remember the last time they’d actually had people over for fun, just for a dinner party that didn’t involve making a good impression so that millions of dollars could be transferred between large bank accounts.

The only reason he’d broached the topic again was because one of his guests had pulled out what could only be described as a mini photo album of his five-month-old son. The proud father had passed around the photos during the after-dinner drinks, and she’d known, as soon as they left, Leonardo would broach the topic of children again.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want children. She did. She longed for children of her own, in fact. But how could she bring children into their frayed marriage? How could she, when she herself knew what it was like to suffer through the pain of hearing her parents fight on an almost daily basis, and knowing how difficult it had been growing up never seeing her own father as he worked no less than a hundred hours per week running his bakery?