Page 78 of Awaiting
“No, you don’t. I know you know she’s special, but she’s special tome.”
“She’s your best friend.”
“One of two. The other one is now in a foreign country full-time, but I’ve known Bexley forever.”
“She told me.”
“She’s the best of us,” Stan said. “She takes care of everyone before herself. She stepped up for her grandmother when she lost her father a few years ago and her brothers refused to come back. She works sixty-hour weeks, minimum, at the center just because she wants to make sure that every person has access to the kind of care that takes a stuttering kid and makes them confident enough to read in front of the other kids in the classroom. She lets her brothers off the hook for basically abandoning the family business and their grandmother because she knows they love what they do. She goes to Kleinland for months to help the second Alice asks, even if it means leaving her own life here behind. When she goes out with you, she puts you first all the time. If you think a guy in Bermuda shorts and a white tank is hot and you want his number, Bexley helps you get it, even if there’s an attractive woman staring at her all night, likely thinking about gettinghernumber. She put your safety – which, I’m guessing, was already taken care of – over hanging out with me or talking to the one woman in years she’s actually been in love with that wasn’t her best friend. She’s a good person. I know she and Alice both tell me you’re not like how they portray you in the tabloids, but if you’re fucking with my friend in any way, I’m going to…” Stan looked over at the security guards standing by the French doors. “Do nothing because they will kill me with their pinky fingers, but I won’t be very happy. More importantly, Bexley will get hurt, and I hate seeing Bexley hurt. It’s the worst thing in the world. She tries to push through it at first. Then, it kind of hits her all at once. Sometimes, it’s days later. Other times, it’s months or years. When her dad died, she was numb for months. Then, she found one of his old shirts and lost it. She cried for days, and I never want to see her go through anything like that again.”
“Neither do I,” Alex replied after a moment of silence between them. “When I told Bexley I wanted her, I didn’t mean for one night. I said it was taken out of context because itwas, Stanley. She told me she wanted someone who wanted her, and Idowant her. I have since I first laid eyes on her. She was so beautiful, and I thought maybe Alice could put in a good word for me, but Bexley had Holly, and she was happy. I didn’t want to do anything to risk that happiness. So, I left it alone. Every time I saw her, though, the feelings were still there. They never went away, and they just kept getting stronger. When I say I want her, I mean I want a chance to show her that I could be the one for her, Stan. It’s that serious to me.”
“Well, that’s good,” Stan replied. “Because I would have had to die by that guy’s pinky if you tried something she didn’t want.” He pointed to the guard on the left.
“Didn’twant?” Alex asked, catching his meaning.
“She likes you, too. I think you know that already, so I’m not betraying her confidence or anything, but Bexley takes time to come around to things. It took her years to even get that she was in love with Alice. I’d watch her date woman after woman, and every time, she’d compare them to Al and wouldn’t even notice. She’s put others so far ahead of herself that she hasn’t put any time into her love life.”
“I’m not rushing her,” Alex said.
“Good. You shouldn’t,” he replied.
“I’m going to take her back to Kleinland and then head home for a bit. That should give her the space she seems to want.”
“You’re leaving?” Stan asked.
“Not forever. But if Bexley normally needs time to process things, I can only imagine how much time she’ll need to processthis.”
“You could really see Bex as, I don’t know, like…”
“My Queen Consort? Yes, I can. Easily, in fact.”
“Wow,” he said, thinking about it. “Because you can see her doing the job, or because you’re in love with her?”
“Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive,” Alex told him. “Hi, Bexley,” she added as Bexley walked into the room.
“Hi,” Bexley said, looking back and forth between them, likely wondering what they were doing in here.
“I’m going to help you out here, Princess,” Stan whispered to her. “Watch her reaction. She has no poker face. It’ll tell you what you need to know.”
“What?” Alex asked.
“Bex, Alex just told me about her trip back to the UK.”
“What trip?” Bexley asked, looking at Alex.
“She’s dropping you off in Kleinland and heading home. Sorry; did you not know?”
Alex understood then. She met Bexley’s eyes and saw her face fall.
“You’re leaving?”
“Just for a bit,” Alex said.
“Why?” Bexley asked.
“We can talk about it on the plane,” Alex told her. “Is your grandmother okay?”
“She’s fine,” Bexley said, looking confused. “She said she’d love to have dinner with you tonight, Stan. She asked that you wear your bow tie and dress like a gentleman.”