Page 32 of Claim Her
“Is this your indirect way of asking me to make them for you?”
The side of his mouth curls upward. “Maybe. Now go. You have some cupcakes to bake.”
* * *
Jasper was right. I couldn’t sleep. I kept on running through those times I spent with Alec. Meeting him in the lobby. Knocking on his door. The breakfast date. The dinner date.
I was so stupid, but there’s nothing I can do about that now. What’s done is done. I just have to show him that I’m sorry and I don’t want a life without him. I need him. I … God, I love him.
It has taken me this long to realize it.
As I watch the cupcakes cool on the counter, I dial Mom’s number.
“Honey! What’s up? You know, I just met Jenny after tennis and she asked me why my skin looked dull. I thought, ‘Of course, it’s gonna look different from someone who has Botox as often as I get my facials.’”
My earlier worries lift, even for just a few moments. Talking to Mom always does that to me. She helps lighten my load even if all she does is gossip about her love-hate relationship with our next-door neighbor. “You should’ve told her.”
“I should have, but then we won’t get invited to those fancy yacht parties anymore.”
“You never go.”
“Yeah, but we get invites. That’s all that matters.” Mom’s spidey senses must be tingling because her tone changes. “Honey, is something wrong? Do you miss Alec?”
“Oh, Mom.” I promised myself earlier that I’d stop crying. But it takes Mom approximately two minutes to make me start bawling my eyes out again.
“Honey, what happened?”
“M-mom, someone stabbed him,” I choke out between sniffles.
“What?! Oh God. Where is he? What?—”
“He’s still in surgery. His brothers asked me to rest, so I’m at home. I’m heading back to the hospital in an hour.”
“Honey…”
“I can’t lose him, Mom.”
“Do you need us there with you?”
“No, no. It’s okay. I’ll be with his brothers when I get to the hospital. I just needed someone to talk to right now.”
“Honey, you know what I think? That for some people, there are invisible threads connecting them, so wherever they are, whatever they do, they will end up finding each other.” She sighs. “You associate him with that traumatic event in your life, but even if none of you actively searched for the other, you found each other, fell in love. That’s not a bad thing.”
“I thought … I thought I wanted to stay away because I didn’t need the reminder, but Mom. If something happens to him, I don’t know if I can take it. It’s so stupid that it took something like this to make me realize that.”
“Don’t be too harsh on yourself, honey. I’m sure Alec understands. The important thing is you now know where he stands in your life.”
“I’m not even sure he’s gonna forgive me when he wakes up.”
“He doesn’t have anything to forgive, honey. It’s a normal reaction. You had a normal reaction. I believe he thinks the same way.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
“Remember what your therapist told you about things beyond your control?”
“Yes. How people react, how people think, what people would do.”
“Hmm.”