She woke up that morning trying to breathe…
His hands, the way they touched her made her want
him so badly
Alexis had forgotten just how much she missed
being touched, how much she missed his touch
She had forgotten how she had gotten used to being
in his arms and how much harder it was each time she had to leave them
Her hands slowly traveling up and down his bare
back she could hear him sigh with a faint breath of how he too enjoyed her touch
He then began kissing her shoulder to her neck,
sending chills all over her
He kissed the lobe of her ear to her jaw line
She took a deep breath in and then out…
“Ric” she said lavishing in the feel
of him on her body and the way he kissed her gently after making love to her
He leaned in to kiss her once again this time
to her mouth
Peter
It was Peter not Ric
His touch and everything about him lying there
with her told her she was with the man she craved to be with
When his eyes met hers
It was Peter not Ric
7:33 am
She woke up trying to breathe
She had dreamed she was making love; she said
her husband’s name but saw Dr. Peter Martin’s face…
Alexis sat up on the side of the bed running her
hands through her hair
Surely there was an explanation…“Alexis
it was just a dream” she told herself
Ric…Peter…Ric…Peter
She squeezed her eyes shut and then open again
Alexis got up and went straight for Chloe’s
crib
Chloe was awake and waiting patiently for mommy
to come and get her
She grinned widely at the sight of Alexis
“Hi sweetheart!” Alexis said lifting
her from her crib
Alexis was trying desperately to immerse herself
in her little girl and not her dream but the dream played over and over in her head almost as if she felt guilty
Alexis took her baby girl in to her arms and carried
her towards the kitchen
“I bet you had sweet dreams? Mommy had a
crazy dream about daddy and Peter” she confessed
Chloe just looked up at her mommy mesmerized
“I know it’s crazy and it meant nothing.
Yesterday I had an impromptu lunch with Peter and dinner with your daddy. It was probably just my subconscious getting all
confused in a dream… it was just a dream…”
Chloe let out a bubbly grin
And Alexis stopped her babbling and couldn’t
help but grin herself
“You know little one at this moment I’m
glad you can’t talk because otherwise I’m sure you would be telling me to shut up and just get you your breakfast!”
Chloe grinned once again
“It’s ok; your daddy thinks I’m
a loon too!”
Alexis gave Chloe her breakfast and sat her down
in the floor of the living room to play
“Mommy forgot to make her coffee this morning
she was all wrapped up in her crazy dream” Alexis said in a singsong voice
“Let’s take a trip back to the kitchen
and let’s make mommy some coffee”
Before Alexis could stand up the door bell rang…
“Who do you think that is Ms. Lansing Davis?
The coffee fairy maybe?” Alexis said getting up to answer the door
There he stood, on her doorstep handsome; his
jeans, his t-shirt, a scruffy face… looking as if he might have just rolled out of bed himself
“Hi”
“Peter” She said
stunned to see him to say the least
Of all people to show up handsome and charming
this morning it would be him
The man in her dreams
“Am I interrupting? He asked sensing she
was caught off guard
“No, no”
“Ok um… Coffee?” he said handing
her one of the cups he juggled with one hand
She took the coffee “That’s funny
I was just hoping for the coffee fairy to come by”
“Coffee fairy huh?”
Alexis just laughed
“Oh and flowers” Peter said grinning
as he handed to her the freshly cut flowers from behind his back
Her face lit up
“Peter! Thank you but you shouldn’t
have” she said stepping aside to invite him in
“Yes I should have… but I do have
to admit caffeine and flowers are mostly a ploy to get you to take a walk with me. I mean it’s a beautiful day and…”
“Oh… I um, I would but I have Chloe
so…”
“We could take her and Kristina too! They’ll
love the sunshine… I mean if you don’t mind…”he said sensing her hesitation
“Kristina is with her father today”
Alexis said taking her eyes away from him to Chloe sitting on her blanket on the floor
Peter assumed Kristina was with Ric
Alexis didn’t correct him
“Hey… I know I came by, again unannounced
but I honestly had a rough night with a patient at the hospital and I just needed something to take my mind off of everything
and I knew your beautiful face would do the trick”
Alexis gave a dimpled grin
He
could give out compliments so easily
“Does that mean you two will join me?”
he said studying the look on her face
Alexis shook her head yes as placed the flowers
on the table and walked towards Chloe scooping her up in her arms
“I don’t think you two have officially
met”
“Hello there” Peter said already turning
to mush at their introduction
Chloe pulled her teething ring from her mouth
and quickly grinned
She would lay on some charm of her own
Peter Martin wouldn’t be any competition
Alexis smiled at the two of them
“I assumed your little girls would be beautiful
but not this beautiful Alexis”
“Thank you” she said watching him
mesmerized by the one and only Chloe Lansing-Davis
“Do you mind watching her while I put the
flowers in water and change?”
“No of course not! We’ll be fine”
Peter said reaching for Chloe
Alexis handed her to Peter
Chloe went willingly. She didn’t seem to
mind and Peter quickly gave all his attention to her trying to make her smile once again
She was happy, comfortable in his arms
A baby’s intuition
Alexis watched them for a moment together
She couldn’t help it. She was lost in him.
Lost in him holding her daughter… wrong or not
Peter looked up just in time to catch her, he
smiled
“I’ll um I’ll be right back”
Alexis made her way back
to the bedroom looking back at Peter and Chloe
“Alexis we’ll
be fine” he assured
“Oh yeah… I”
Alexis said suddenly catching herself staring
She picked up the flowers
that were still lying on the table
“Flowers, I forgot
the flowers…”
Peter thought it a bit odd
of her sudden nervousness around him but he then thought nothing else of it
It only took Alexis a few minutes to change and
get ready
After cursing herself for being a bumbling fool
and for so easily falling for the coffee and flower bringing, handsome, good with a baby type, she made her way back down
the hall towards the living room with flowers in a vase, in hand
She could hear Chloe squealing
in joy over her new found entertainer
Alexis could already tell
that Chloe wouldn’t be as shy as Kristina. Chloe was there to entertain anyone who was willing to play
She made her way back into the living room
“You’ve already started packing I
see” Peter said picking up the conversation
“Yeah just a few boxes here and there…
between work and the girls, packing is turning out to be quite a challenge”
“Have a moving day yet?”
“I’m having a few things done before
we move in… the painters are coming the first of next week… So as soon as possible after that”
“I bet you’re getting anxious”
“I can’t believe I’m not panic
stricken!”
“What do you mean?”
“I like my apartment. I feel safe in my
apartment… I’ve never had a house and so moving in to one if huge for me”
“You’ll love it… and all the
aches and pains that go along with it! And I bet Chloe and Kristina won’t know how to act with all the space”
“I’ve taken Kristina to see it a couple
of times so she understands that’s her new house. She is so excited!”
“Kind of like her mother maybe... deep down?”
Alexis grinned “Deep down somewhere, maybe”
Shall we go?
“Yeah…let me get her diaper changed
and few things and we’ll be ready” Alexis said taking Chloe back in to her arms
Peter waited patiently and they left for the park
++++++
“You have a great balance”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“A great balance, you’re this successful
lawyer but you also balance being a very attentive mom. And you make it look so easy!”
“If I do it’s a façade”
“Well I guess it helps to have Ric too.
I mean it’s great of him to give you a chance to just spend time with Chloe today…”
Alexis bit at her bottom lip
“Peter”
“Yeah”
Alexis shuffled Chloe in her arms as they continued
to walk
“When I said earlier Kristina was with her
father I didn’t mean she was with Ric”
Peter looked at her a bit puzzled
“Ric isn’t Kristina’s biological
father”
“Oh, ok”
“I warned you my life was complicated”
“Alexis a lot of siblings have different
fathers!” Peter said understandingly
“Yeah but Ric and Kristina’s father
are brothers”
“Oh I guess that does make it a bit complicated”
“At one time more than you would ever want
to know”
“But everything’s fine now?”
“For as much as it can be” Alexis
said optimistically
“Is that why you and Ric aren’t together?
Or why you and Kristina’s father aren’t together?” Peter asked trying to put the pieces together
“Kristina’s father and I, it was a
one night stand. We were friends… We spent one night together and well you probably get the ending to the story”
“Loosing a friendship was really that easy?
I mean getting pregnant can compromise things but…”
“He lived a life I didn’t agree with”
She said honestly “Especially when it came to raising a child with him… I chose to distance myself from him”
“But now it’s ok?”
“He’s changed his life as much as
he knows to. I’ve learned to give a little, we’ve learned to compromise”
“Good so where does Ric fit in?”
Peter was finally asking the questions he wanted
to
“Kristina got really sick and Ric was there
for us both. I fell in love with him…”
“So married, babies the whole bit?”
Alexis smiled sadly
“Something like that”
Peter was the first to sit down on the bench and
Alexis and Chloe followed
“This feels like a really strange question
to ask the woman I’m, if you haven’t guessed yet, pursuing but…”
“I’m always prepared for strange questions”
“Ok then what’s the deal between you
and Ric? I mean should I not even be sitting here beside you? I mean you’re together some days and others, like today
there is not a trace of him”
“That’s pretty much it. That’s
our relationship in a nutshell”
Peter didn’t expect such a blunt answer
from her
Chloe began to fuss in her mother’s arms
“It’s ok sweetheart” Alexis said giving her an assuring smile as she bounced her up and down
“I don’t know… I’m so
sorry. But, I really don’t know if you should even be sitting here beside me. I know I enjoy your company and honestly
I think we’re mutually attracted to each other. But I don’t know what’s going between Ric and me. I think
he really wants to work it all out. I think he realizes that he is losing if he hasn’t already lost the family that
was given to him”
“And you?”
Alexis let out a breathy laugh
“Me? I’m tired… I’m tired
of the he loves me, he loves me not. I’m tired of the uncertainty”
“So why intentionally go through it again?”
“The ties that bind us, the chemical reaction…
a gluten for punishment”
Peter gave an amused laugh before fixating his
eyes on the ground
“Alexis”
Alexis waited for what he was going to say next
He looked back to her
“I think you deserve someone who loves you
unconditionally. You deserve that certainty…”
“Peter”
“I know there is so much about you I don’t
know” he continued “But for, well about a hundred reasons I’m completely head over heels for you…
and I just think you deserve a man who will give you all that you want and all that you need…”
“Maybe it’s not supposed to happen
that way for me?”
“It will if you let it”
Their conversation turned
“What if I’m afraid to? What if I
let it and I get hurt all over again? I can accept everything that’s happened so far. It’s allowed me to feel
love. It’s allowed me to have my little girls… but now chancing getting all I want and all I need… I’m
afraid it might take away something I can’t live without”
“Ric?’ Peter asked honestly
“Maybe, yes”
Peter sat there for a moment
He was trying to choose his worlds carefully
“Alexis”
“Yeah”
“Can I bring you flowers again?”
Alexis smiled at his choice of a question
She then thought for a moment at her answer
It was a harder question than she realized
Saying yes meant he could pursue her. It meant
that he had a chance of coming between she and Ric…
Alexis looked down at her baby girl. Chloe had
fallen asleep in her arms
“Yes you can send me flowers again, if you’d
like I mean” she said looking to him with a shy smile on her face
Peter let out a nervous breath
“Shall we walk?” he said standing
She stood and they continued their walk
“So you said earlier you had a rough night
with a patient…” she said changing the subject
“Yeah, it was a 14 year old kid with heart
failure… he’s doing fine at the moment but it’s just hard seeing a kid like that…”
“I’m glad he’s doing ok and
I hope Chloe and I did a good job taking your mind away from it all”
“You two are the cure all pill. Thank you”
Alexis smiled to Peter “Anytime”
Alexis looked up to see Ric running towards them
in the distance
She froze
His morning run
He was on his morning run
Ric… Peter…Ric… Peter
“Alexis what is it?” Peter asked not
understanding why she stopped
“Alexis” Ric said stopping
“Hi”
Ric looked at Alexis and to their baby girl and
then to Peter
“Dr. Martin” Ric said formally
“Ric” Peter said acknowledging him
Ric turned his attention back to Alexis
“I uh tried calling you this morning but
I guess you were already out for a walk”
“Uh yeah… Peter asked us to take a
walk with him this morning, it’ such a beautiful day...”
Every second painful
Every second awkward
Why?
She didn’t owe Ric an explanation of where
she was or who she was with
“Yeah it’s a great day” Ric
said blankly
Every second painful
Every second awkward
“Well I’ll let you get back to your
walk”
Ric leaned in and kissed his sleeping baby girls’
head
And Peter watched as Alexis clenched her eyes
shut, holding her breath as he did
Ric looked back at Alexis, heart broken on his
face
“I’ll call and check on the girls
later”
Alexis only shook her head
Ric left them, continuing his morning run
End Ch.7
