Breathless Page 9

underwear. I'm beginning to doubt if you will ever

  get divorced. "

  "We will, someday, when the time is right.”

  Alex shook her head and began to take

  attendance. Everyone was present except the

  chairman, James. Alex was just getting up to call

  him, when she heard his footsteps on the

  stairs. James took his usual position at one end of

  the table, while Alex sat at the other. He paused

  to stare at her for a few moments, remembering the feel of her skin on his hands, then called the

  meeting to order.

  A brief mention was made about the impending

  visit of another OSHA inspector and the overall

  condition of the factory. James was happy with

  the hard work that everyone was putting into the

  factory's maintenance as well as the machinery.

  Alex watched James generously lay out praise for

  the committee. Often she would catch his eye and

  he would study her briefly before making another

  point. The coldness in his eyes let her know that

  he knew about her and Grayson. She wasn't sure

  if he cared or not.

  Alex did care. She knew it was a mistake what

  happened between her and Grayson. The person

  she really wanted was across the table and looking at her like she was nobody. Alex wondered what

  that meant. If his passion and love had been

  squelched in one miserable night, could he or did he

  really love her? Alex sighed quietly and took a long

  gulp of her coffee before making some final notes

  on her pad. James finished up the meeting and

  left abruptly.

  Alex went back to her desk, typed the minutes and

  laid them on James' chair for his perusal. She was

  about to leave his office, when he came in.

  "Alex, hang on a second," he said catching her at

  the doorway. Alex turned back into his office and

  shut the door. James noted the action with

  care. Alex hated closing the doors to the offices. "Have a seat," he offered, lighting a cigarette and

  walking around the desk to sit in the armchair

  beside her. Alex perched herself on the edge of

  the chair cautiously.

  James reached across the span between the two

  chairs and rested his left hand on Alex's

  right. Removing the cigarette and laying it on the

  available ashtray, he turned his head to study

  her. Alex, however, was not looking at him. She

  was staring across the desk to his chair where he

  should have been.

  "There's a few things you need to understand,

  Alex," he began, "First, Friday night didn't happen.”

  "Excuse me," Alex replied caustically. "I was never there. As a matter of fact, neither

  were you."

  Although he couldn't see her face clearly, he sensed

  the confusion setting in. Alex had considered

  removing her hand earlier, when he first touched

  her, but the grip was too strong. The sensation

  running through her hand went straight to her

  heart. His squeezing of her hand was a squeezing

  of her heart. Gently, she finally extracted it and

  again tried to cool the touch.

  "I don't get it. If we weren't at Grayson's then

  where were we?"

  "Just know that as far as anyone is concerned, we

  weren't at Grayson's and we never attended that

  party. " "You may not have been there, but I was," she

  retorted, "I don't know what you're trying to

  accomplish, James, but I was there. Your words

  cannot erase that fact or the fact that I had a damn

  good time. "

  James thrust himself against the back of his

  chair. Alex stood and paced the floor. He was

  sure that if the floor hadn't been concrete, Alex

  would have gone through it. He watched the

  emotions cross her face. The confusion had

  retreated and left in its wake an angry

  woman. Her face was flushed with the anger and

  her blue eyes sparked fire. James noted the way

  her breasts pushed against the thin fabric of the

  cotton dress. Her red hair spilled around her face

  accenting the roses of the dress. Angrily, Alex

  finally stopped in front of him and met his eyes. She was about to reason with him, talk to

  him about his feelings when a knock resounded

  through the office from the plant door.

  James stood and reached for the knob. He was

  about to ask Alex to stay while he dealt with the

  person, but found her already gone. Silently

  swearing at the intrusion, he unlocked the door and

  went back to his desk.

  Alex sat down heavily on her chair and willed

  herself to calm down. Francine was still jockeying

  for her position and getting upset about this would

  not help.

  "Alex, remember that we're doing second quarter

  inventory Friday. I'll need all the shipment sheets

  tomorrow," said Allen from his side of the wall. "Yeah, I remember. I have most of the

  information here. I just need to get two things

  from Doug and I'll be finished. "

  "Okay. Can you stay Friday until we're done?"

  "Yeah. "

  Alex worked late and to her relief James didn't find

  it necessary to stay too. Several of the shop

  employees stayed late also to prepare for the

  inventory.

  Alex was doing some data entry when Grayson

  came into the office. She hadn't heard him

  because he came in from the shop and she had

  turned up the radio. Not wanting to scare her, Grayson waited in the doorway for her to

  acknowledge him.

  As Grayson watched, he thought back to their brief

  time together and wondered what went

  wrong. His fingers still remembered her skin and

  his lips still tasted her kisses. He knew James was

  smitten with her, but James also knew that Grayson

  was falling fast. He thought that Tad must be a

  fool for letting her go.

  Sensing that somebody was watching her, Alex

  looked up suddenly to find Grayson staring at

  her. Still thrown by her conversation with James,

  she smiled at Grayson as he crossed the room to

  her.

  "What's up," she asked. "More raw material sheets. "

  "Thanks, just what I needed," she smiled and took

  the sheets from him.

  "Are you really busy?"

  "No, not really busy. Why?"

  "Can we talk for a few minutes?"

  Alex knew this was coming but dreaded it

  nonetheless. Reaching beside her desk, Alex

  pulled the armchair closer to her for Grayson to sit

  on.

  "Grayson, I know what you're going to say," began

  Alex," but there is no need to apologize. I'm

  fine. " "I was going to apologize, but I also wanted you to

  know my feelings too. I think I have loved you

  since we met in the machine shop on your first

  day. . . "

  "Gray, stop. You can't love me. You don't even

  know me. "

  "Is this about James? Do you love him?"

  "I don't know. This is all new to me. "

  "Why? Hasn't Tad ever told you he loves you?

  You're supposed to marr
y him. . . "

  "Supposed to; technically, it's a bet," she stuttered.

  Grayson sat back briefly at her words. "A bet?" "Yeah, if I return to D.C. in a year then we get

  married. "

  "Christ, Alex," exclaimed Grayson standing up

  suddenly, "He didn't propose, he basically waited

  until you fell flat on your face to make you marry

  him. How can you do that?"

  "It was the only way. He never would have let

  me leave D.C. otherwise. Grayson, there are so

  many things you don't know. Just understand,

  please, that you and I will never be together. "

  Grayson's face fell and his anger and disgust

  showed. He knew that Alex would live up to her

  promise if she was forced to return to D.C. and

  leave Hasani. "Well you can't go back. It's that

  simple. " "Nothing's that simple, Gray," she said standing and

  taking his hand, "You can't tell anyone about

  this. I would much rather you and I stay friends,

  Grayson. I need one and you're basically all I

  have. "

  "Alex, you should know better. We are friends and

  everything will be alright. What about James?"

  "What about him?"

  "You never answered me, do you love James?"

  "Yes, I think I do," replied Alex looking at the

  floor. Nothing was turning out as it should have

  and she was more depressed than ever. Grayson took Alex's face in his hands and raised her

  face from the floor. "It's okay. We'll find a way

  for you to tell him," he said kissing her forehead.

  "No, we won't. "

  "Why not?"

  "Because I said so. You can't tell him anything. I

  don't want him to know. Just go with me on this

  okay?"

  Grayson nodded his assent and left her. He was

  still confused about her request but he knew that

  he loved Alex and would do anything she

  asked. Shaking his head finally and retrieving a

  Pepsi from the machine, Grayson went back to the

  machine shop. "So what are you doing for the fourth, Alex," asked

  Harry as he handed his count sheets to her.

  "Going to D.C., a friend of mine is having a barbecue

  and invited me down for the weekend. "

  "You'll get a chance to see your fiancée, right?"

  "Maybe, I haven't talked to Tad recently so I don't

  know for sure. "

  "Well, if you change your mind, come over to my

  place. Susan is throwing another holiday bash and

  you're invited. "

  "If something changes and I can't go south, I'll be

  there. Thanks. "

  Harry nodded, took the rest of his count sheets and

  headed back into the factory, passing David and

  Grayson in Francine's office. "More sheets, Alex," said David, planting himself in

  the available arm chair. Grayson leaned against

  the door jam and watched her look over the

  numbers and locate another list of parts for them to

  count.

  "Dave, are you sure this number is right?"

  "Which one?"

  "The cold rolled steel. I thought you had at least

  two feet of that yesterday."

  "We did," interjected Grayson, "Joey ruined it trying

  to cut it for gears."

  "Was it on the scrap sheet," she asked turning her

  attention to him.

  "Yeah, the sheets I gave you last night." "Oh, okay. Here's the rest of your list then you’re

  done. Grayson moved to take the papers from her

  and paused to look in her blue eyes. The pain was

  still evident and her loneliness had increased since

  losing the opportunity to tell James her feelings.

  "Dave, go on ahead. I have a question on this raw

  material number for Alex," commented Grayson.

  Dave nodded his head at the excuse and left the

  office. "Are you doing okay," he asked

  "Yeah, I'm fine. "

  "You still won't tell him will you?"

  "No, I won't. Not as long as he and . . , never

  mind. "

  "Alex, remember, I'm your friend. What's wrong

  with telling him?" "Why did he and Jean divorce?"

  Grayson sat down in the arm chair and stared at

  her. He wasn't expecting that question. He

  would tell her anything but that. She may not be

  interested in him romantically, but the man she did

  love didn't need to be bad-mouthed.

  "You need to ask James that, Alex. I'm not going

  to tell you. "

  "I need you to tell me, Gray. Please," she begged,

  reaching for his hands.

  James walked in at that moment and found them

  like that. Staring so intently at each other, his

  heart clenched tightly and a wave of nausea hit

  him. He stared at the woman he had fallen in love

  with, the woman he was sure would make him mature. She was so beautiful and obviously in

  love with Grayson. She was probably better off

  with Grayson, especially since he was too weak to

  break it off with Francine. James knew that Alex

  was aware of the affair, her accusing glances had

  cut him to the quick. Summoning the courage

  needed to confront them, James walked into the

  office and coughed.

  Grayson abruptly let Alex's hand go and left the

  office. Alex wiped her eyes quickly and turned her

  attention to James. James saw the action and

  suppressed the urge to comfort her. Whatever

  was happening was between her and Grayson.

  "How close are we to being done," he asked sitting

  down in the chair. "Not even. Allen is walking the floor now to be

  sure. "

  "Okay. How much longer for the shop guys? We're

  running into overtime. "

  "I know. I saw the numbers. Allen and Jeff are

  trying to hurry them and correct mistakes later to

  avoid that," she replied not looking at him. James

  nodded and then returned to the floor to help the

  David, Joey, Grayson and Morgan.

  Alex finished early and with permission from Jeff

  left the factory early too. Driving home, Alex

  wondered if maybe she should just go home at the

  end of her year and marry Tad. She admitted to

  herself after sleeping with Grayson that she was in

  love with James. But to admit that love to him

  would open up to more pain. James was obviously too carried away with his fling with Francine to care

  about her. There was also the fact that nobody

  would tell her the reason for his divorce.

  "That's not true," she thought to herself, "I only

  asked Grayson and he had his own reasons for not

  telling me. Maybe if I asked Morgan. "

  Alex got home and checked her machine. Again,

  there were no messages from Tad which seem to be

  the pattern recently. Picking up her mail, she

  leafed through her recent copy of the Washington

  Post and found a picture of Tad with Senator Adler

  celebrating another victory in Congress. Shaking

  her head, she laid down the paper and picked up

  the phone. Grabbing her phone list from her

  briefcase, she dialed Morgan's number, hoping she

  didn't get Melissa. "Hello," Morgan answered. Alex sighed.

  "Hi Morgan, it's Alex. "
<
br />   "Hey gorgeous. What’s up? Are you coming

  tonight?"

  "I didn't know there was a party. "

  "Yeah, at Grayson's."

  "Oh, well, he didn't say anything to me so I won't be

  there. Besides, I have to get ready to go to D.C. for

  the weekend. "

  "You don't want to go there, do you," he whined.

  Alex shook her head at the petulant child he

  became to cajole her into staying town. "We'll see. Anyway, that's not why I called. Tell me

  why James and Jean divorced.

  Morgan's eyes widened on the other side of the

  phone, he hadn't expected that question from

  her. He was under the impression that Alex and

  Grayson were an item. "Why?"

  "Because I want to know. "

  "I'll tell you if you promise to come tonight," he

  said.

  "Okay, I promise," Alex smiled at his

  single-mindedness.

  "Because he was fooling around on her. "

  "You mean with Francine. " "So you know about that, huh? Jean didn't and I

  don't think she does even after the divorce."

  "Then with who?"

  "Everyone, basically. James has a great problem

  with commitment. Monogamy is not in his

  vocabulary. "

  Alex sat down heavily and sighed. So there it

  was. Just what she wanted to know and not

  hear. She listened as Morgan detailed what he

  knew of James' affairs and travels. When he had

  finished, Alex said goodbye, reassured him she

  would be at Grayson's at hung up. Picking up the

  receiver, Alex dialed Grayson to make sure she was

  welcome and wouldn't be crashing. Grayson said

  it was okay and apologized for not asking her

  before. Then Alex made a third call. The phone at the other end rang several times and

  she was on the verge of hanging it up, when a voice

  picked responded.

  "Hello," answered the soft voice.

  "Hi, I must have dialed wrong, I was looking for Tad

  Pierce. "

  "He's right here, hang on," said the feminine voice.

  "Hello," responded Tad.

  "Hi. "

  "Alex? Hi, how are you?"

  "Who was that?"

  "Her. . . she's the, um, cleaning lady. " "You don't have a cleaning lady, Tad. Who was

  she?"

  "Beth Majors. "

  "Adler's press secretary? You're sleeping with

  Bill's press secretary?"

  "No, not sleeping with her. We're working on his

  retirement speech.”

  "She sure sounded at home. Adler is retiring?"

  "Yeah, in October. He's not running for

  re-election. His doctors just diagnosed him with

  prostate cancer. He wants me to run in his