Designs of Love (TP2)

21 - Alex

So now she wasn't coming which may be a good thing because he suspected he was in danger of breaking both rule number one and two. He thought about ending it with Julia, but hoped his involvement with her would keep him from crossing the line with Jen. When they spoke every fiber of his body wanted her. He had never felt this way ─ ever.

He sent her photos of the progress. He loved when his projects were this near completion. He could see just how beautiful it would be.

The weekend she had hoped to come, he kept busy working. Then he and Julia spent Saturday night together at her apartment. She sent him home Sunday morning because she had plans to shop with a friend. He was just getting into his truck when his brother called. He sat and talked to Tom and watched as a car pulled up. A man knocked on Julia's door, and she let him in as if she expected him. Alex had seen him before. He was one of the partners from her law firm they had seen at a restaurant. Something was not right with what he witnessed. She wasn't going shopping with him.

Tom said, "Hey Alex! Are you there? Did you hear what I said?"

"What? No, sorry I was distracted."

"I said your designer's in the newspaper today. She and her husband went to a fancy party. She is totally hot."

"Listen, I have to go," he said distractedly.

He drove home not sure what was freaking him out more Jen and her husband or Julia and her boss. The more he thought about Julia, the clearer the picture was. She never wanted to be serious, because she was probably in love with her married boss. She was using him to eliminate suspicion and to make the other guy jealous. Truthfully he had been using her too. He hoped seeing her would keep him away from Jen.

It was what Tom told him about Jen that upset him most. He looked online, and they were together at a formal event. She looked stunningly beautiful. He was so attracted to her, but he felt hurt and angry because she kept telling him her marriage was over. The two of them smiling back at him didn't look over each other.

He felt like he got sucker punched twice. He and Julia were never exclusive, but he felt like a fool. She would jump from him to another man. He had his own sins of the past, but suddenly he didn't like sharing. He couldn't help feeling that he had broken rule number one already, they may never have been physical, but he and Jen had crossed a line. She hid the length and intimacies of their conversations from Avery. Were their calls intimate? He had dated and slept with women who he didn't know as well.

It was irrational, but he felt like she stood him up. He was looking forward to her coming for another visit. Now he knew she had plans to go dancing with her husband. Alex thought he knew her, but perhaps he didn't at all.

His initial response was to ignore her, but that would be hard. She would expect to talk to him regularly and she would come in a few weeks to finish the house. There was no way he could avoid her then.

The problem was he could pretend, but the truth was he was falling in love with her. Logically he knew they had no real future, but he couldn't control how he felt. He remembered explaining this exact scenario to Kate. He tortured himself by looking at the pictures. Even though she was sexy as hell with her plunging neckline, he couldn't forget that she hadn't dressed that way for him.

Alex had no right to be upset she was with her husband. He had spent last night with Julia. He knew his time with Julia was over. He couldn't continue the farce they had created. He would be sorry when he was home alone on Saturday night. Luckily next Friday was poker night, so his entire weekend wouldn't be pathetic.

Jen texted him on Sunday evening, You home?

He lied and said, no. He didn't want to talk to her. Suddenly he was playing games with a woman that was never his.

Monday he was too busy to think about her, but he managed to. That night she called him, but he let it go to voicemail. He listened to her over and over. She said that she was calling for a progress update, but that had just been an excuse. It took all he had not to call her back.

Tuesday was no better than Monday and her voicemail asked if he was alright. By Thursday morning, he was miserable. When he walked into The Landing, he was more miserable than the day he walked in and he saw her for the first time behind the counter.

Rick said, "Jenny called. She said she'd been trying to reach you. She had some questions."

"Thanks."

"Are you alright? You're not sick are you?"

"No, I'm just really busy."

He was busy, because all three projects were close to finishing and he needed one more to add to the two projects he had lined up. He was working with Marcy to find a house to flip, but hadn't found the right one yet.

He texted her, crazy week. I'll call tonight.