True Read Online Free PDF Page B

When I wake up the following morning, Alex is already gone.
     
    While getting the girls ready this morning, I see the news stories about the heavy hurricane winds hitting the gulf. I’ve been worried about Alex all day. Partly from the guilt over the way we left things last night. It felt wrong. This wasn’t us. We never walked away angry, and Alex most certainly never left on a trip without kissing me goodbye. It was a silly superstition of his. So yes, I’ve been worried all day.
    I was just finishing the dishes after dinner when the house phone rang. Olivia immediately grabs the phone when she sees Alex’s name on the display. To my surprise, her sadness over the dance recital is already forgotten.
    “ Hi, daddy.” She squeals into the phone and proceeds to rattle on about her day. After a few minutes she begins a series of “yes, daddies” in a somber tone before jumping up and down and “Yes, daddy! I will! Thank you, daddy! Ok, I’ll get mommy.”
    She sprints towards me bubbling with excitement. “Daddy says I can go to my recital!”
    “Did he? Well, that’s great, Liv. Now go and get your pajamas on and help Jordyn with hers, too.” She nods and scurries off.
    “Hello.” I hesitantly speak.
    “Hi.” His deep voice vibrates through the phone.
    “How was your flight, the weather must have been terrible. I called you.”
    “Yeah, I know. My flight made it in just fine. Once I landed I went straight into all day meetings and just now found time to listen to my messages.”
    “Oh.” I replied quietly.
    “So, about last night...” He starts but then stops.
    “Yes?” I finally prompt.
    “I thought about it, and you’re right, I should have talked to you first. I told Liv that she could go to her performance, but she needed to promise to finish all of her homework and read a book for twenty minutes afterward. I will call her every night to make sure.
    “Sounds fair. Thanks for reconsidering.” I resist the urge to bring up the fact that yet again, he’s made a decision without consulting me, but I decide to leave it alone.
    Don’t be an ungrateful bitch, Court.
    “Listen, I gotta go. My cab has just gotten to the restaurant. I told Stiller I’d meet him and his wife for dinner. So, I’ll call you later. We need to talk about some things.”
    Talk about things? What sort of things? Why did his tone make me nervous?
    “Ok, we’ll talk later then.”
    “Yeah. Later.” Click.
    Later? Later? My husband, the man I’ve loved for ten years, just ended a phone call with “later” to his wife.
    After tucking the girls in, I wait for Alex to call me back. My mind races at all of the things he could want to discuss. Things have be en strained between us and we are long overdue for a talk. Will this be a good conversation or a bad one? I decide to distract myself with checking my email and browsing Facebook. That’s when I noticed that Alex Turner has been tagged in a photo by Curtis Stiller.
    In the picture, I recognized Stiller, Alex’s Houston area manager, with a beaming redhead who I assumed was his wife with the way she was sitting in his lap and his arm curled around her pregnant belly. On the opposite side of the table sat Alex and a pretty brunette who was leaning back against him, Alex visible over her shoulder, both with huge smiles. It was quite a cozy picture. My face instantly began to heat. I know Alex’s type and that chick is totally it, with long dark hair, voluptuous body and big breasts.
    I hated her instantly.
    She was also tagged in the picture. Ashley Danielle.
    Ashley Danielle?
    Oh, she was one of those girls who hides her last name because she’s a skank who goes after married men, but doesn’t want people to find her outside of Facebook!
    I closed my laptop and call Alex but his phone connects straight to voice mail. I dialed it two more times hoping he would pick up. Still nothing. I go back to Facebook to see if any more pictures have been posted, but there were