“Did you want me to make something for dinner?” he asks, keeping his tone neutral.
“I’m actually ordering pizza right now,” I mumble, turning away. “Do you want some?”
“Sure, I’ll just shower and change.”
He turns around, leaving the room and allowing me time to place the order. I decide on both toppings since I’m being indecisive. The app tells me the pizza should be delivered in thirty minutes.
I turn the TV on and channel surf for a bit to pass the time, settling on a renovation show. I quickly grow bored and answer emails on my phone so I don’t fall too behind when the girls come over tomorrow.
Lex enters the den again, this time showered and changed into gray sweats plus a white tee.
Jesus Christ … turn away, now.
He sits beside me quietly, placing his phone on the coffee table.
“I’m sorry about last night,” he says softly. “I shouldn’t have argued with you over our daughter's safety, no matter how much her actions anger me.”
I let out a sigh. “All we do is fight, Lex.”
“I know.”
“I don’t know how long I can fight with you.”
Lex straightens his shoulders in a panic, cocking his head to stare at me profusely. “What are you suggesting?”
“I’m telling you, I’m exhausted.”
Silence falls between us until he grabs my hand and brings my wedding band to his lips.
“I can’t lose you,” he whispers.
“Lex,” I call softly. “We need to let Alexa live her life and get through whatever she needs to. But you need to promise me something?”
“What?” he questions, his tone defeated just like mine.
“When she needs her daddy, he’s going to be right there holding onto her tight.”
Lex’s chest rises, then falls, followed by a winded breath. “Charlotte, I promise. After all, she is our baby.”
“Always.” I smile.
And for the rest of the night, we enjoy our pizza and each other’s company, something we haven’t done for the longest time.
It reminds me of when I was eighteen, and he was Adriana’s college-aged older brother. How we spent hours laughing and fooling around, thinking we had our whole lives ahead of us and our love would stand the test of time.
Well, it did.
Some things in life are destined to change but being in love with Alexander Edwards will never be one of those things.
FOURTEEN
My first week on the job wasexhausting.
There was so much to learn, from policies to procedures and computer systems, plus learning everyone’s name. It got to the point where I played this game in my head to try and link someone’s face to their name. Like the man who looks like Brad Pitt, but his name is Jeffrey. So, every time I interacted with him, I’d sing this stupid song to myself about Brad Pitt working for Amazon, only to get to the part where Amazon reminded me of Jeffrey.
Like I said … exhausted.
My brain is overloaded, working extra hard to retain all the information so Meredith doesn’t think I’m incompetent.