Forget Me Never (21 page)

That evening Alec insisted on us going out for dinner and had already made a reservation at a restaurant on the outskirts of town. On the way to the restaurant, he rode in the front with my dad driving and Mum and I sat in the back. They were talking about something while I was changing in my room and I am not sure of what the conversation was, but it continued under muttered breath in the car.

When we arrived, we were shown to a table and Alec asked for the wine list. He told us to order what we wanted as it was already taken care of. I could see my father was not happy about a free meal.

              “We’ll get the tip then, right, Dad?”

              “Yes, we will,” he agreed and smiled at me.

Mum and I had Hunter’s Chicken, my favourite meal, and Alec and Dad had steak. The food tasted wonderful and the company was incredible, if I could have bottled up the evening, then I would have. As we waited for our deserts, it seemed Alec truly had something on his mind.

              “Tell me about yourself, Alec.” My dad pressed.

              “Well, I am from Abingdon originally, but my father was a University Lecturer, so we moved to the city when I was nine. My mother was a GP and ran a practice in the city. When I passed all of my GCSE’s, I continued at Oxford High in the Sixth Form until I passed my A-levels.” He frowned at me.

              “Alec’s parents were killed in an accident while he was studying his A-levels,” I added and took hold of his hand.

              “Oh dear,” Mum sighed. “Alec, I am so sorry.”

              “Thank you,” he nodded.

              “I bet they’d be proud of you now though, Son.” My dad added. Alec looked up to him and smiled.

              “I am sure they are,” he agreed. He continued talking about his sister and Oxford Uni, and about his life now and how he felt fate had given us a helping hand so that we could meet. 

After an amazing evening and too much wine, we returned home and went to my room. Alec stripped and climbed into my bed and laid there watching as I struggled to try and remove my black dress,

              “Need a hand?” he asked.

              “I can’t reach my zip,” I grumbled and sat on the bed so he could unzip my dress.

              “You look beautiful tonight,” he said softly as his fingers pulled at the zip, lightly touching my skin as they moved lower down my spine. Warm lips pressed against my skin and his nose nuzzled into my hair causing the hairs on my arms to raise. “You taste beautiful too,” he muttered between kisses.

              I turned to face him and he pushed my dress from my shoulders, I had worn the coral underwear I bought in LA. He smiled seductively and traced his finger over my breast where the lace of the bra rested.

              “Did you notice these?” I asked and stood from the bed, showing him my high heeled shoes.

              “A vision of perfection and beauty and not to mention, extremely sexy.”

              “Why thank you, Mr Richards,” I grinned. “So what are you going to do about it?”

              “Come here and I will show you,” he said opening his arms out to me.

Making love to Alec while trying to keep a lid on things was a near impossible task. My bed isn’t the quietest in the world, and although my parents were fairly liberal when it came to me and my personal life, I am sure they didn’t like to hear what their daughter was getting up to in her room. Alec tried very hard not to move too much and instead of groaning as he usually did, it bit on his lip and breathed heavily into my ear. Before almost passing out from exhaustion, we cuddled into each other and fell into a blissful sleep.

Seventeen

Sunday mornings have always been the same since I could remember. Dad would be out on the drive washing his car and mum would be making breakfast in the kitchen. This Sunday though, there wasn’t a sound or a smell resembling bacon and eggs to be heard or smelled.

              Alec woke with a startle as soon as I began to move,

              “Morning,” I smiled holding the covers against my naked body.

              “Good morning,” he grinned and stroked my back. “What’s the time?” I looked at my clock.

              “Almost ten,” I replied, I lifted my dressing gown from the floor and pulled it around my body. “I am going to take a quick shower and get some tea on the go.”

              “Hurry, I am breaking my neck for the loo,” he moaned.

              “You go first then,” I said and pulled the covers from his body. It seemed little Alec was ready to play again, I smiled sheepishly and handed him his boxers.

After a hot shower and dressing, I braved my parents in the kitchen. My mum looked awful, sat at the table, hovering over a cup of coffee and Dad was doing his best not to burn some eggs. Through fear of giving Alec food poisoning, I took over cooking us breakfast.

              Once breakfast was over and Mum looked slightly more like something resembling a human, we had to pack before leaving for the station. The worst part for me, whenever I came home, was saying goodbye again. Though Mum made us promise to come back soon, now that I knew I could and not run into Kevin, I intended to.

Dad drove us to the station and we said goodbye before getting on the train bound for London again. The weekend had been just what I needed and ended all too quickly. Mum and Dad loved Alec and that’s all I wanted really, for them to see what I saw.

              We snuggled down in our seats and slept for most of the journey back to London. Arriving to rain, as per usual. David was waiting for us and Alec talked me into going back to his house so that we could see out the rest of the weekend together.

He had a few letters and one of them was sent to both of us. He handed it to me so that he could sieve through his other mail. I tore open the envelope, we had been invited by Mr and Mrs White to attend the marriage of their daughter Elisa to Warren.

              “It’s a wedding invitation,” I said. “From Elisa and Warren in August.”

              “Do you want to go?” he asked looking up from his mail.

              “Only if you do,” I nodded.

              “Good,” he smiled. “I have a couple of calls to make, do you want to make some coffee?”

              “Sure,” I shrugged as he left the kitchen and went up the stairs. We had our first official engagement together and I suppose it excited me, just a little bit. 

Two more weeks passed us by in a blur. Work was become monotonous and I think I know why, I wanted to be with Alec and nothing else mattered. Not even the fact that I would take over as Chief Editor when Kim left to have her babies could keep me interested.

              Alec and I saw as much of each other as we could, as our careers would allow. He worked long hours and it just made it more interesting when we did get together. We made to most of it, never taking it for granted that we’d have the next night or even the weekend to catch up.

Our new feature, Celebattac was a huge success and meant that we had a whole list of A-listers waiting to be interviewed. I had planned to attend a few photoshoots as it seemed the photographers were not getting what I wanted to see. Chief Editor was coming out in me already and a part of me wanted the twins to hurry up so I could just get on with what I wanted to do. It consumed all of my working life and meant that Alec and I living at opposite sides of the city was becoming an issue and although he had given me a key, I pondered on whether it was time to take the plunge by moving in with him like he had asked every day since returning from my parents.   

I had been going out with Alec for almost ten weeks when we finally got the time to go to Abingdon to meet his family. We were fast approaching our birthdays and the summer had finally arrived, well the weather had. We had worked all through the Bank Holidays and needed some us time.

              He arrived at my flat on the Friday afternoon in a brand new silver Porsche Cayenne, it sparkled in the late afternoon sun as I walked towards it carrying my bags. He climbed out and smiled nervously,

              “Are you alright?” I asked.

              “Yes,” he lied. “Are you?”

              “Kim has been a nightmare today, honestly, it must be her hormones or something. Thank God she let me finish early.”

              “Well, we have a long weekend and I am looking forward to leaving it all for three days. I am glad Kim approved it for you to have Monday off.”

              “Me too,” I agreed and handed him my bags. “Besides, Jason is more than capable of handling it.”

“Jason, your sexy assistant.”

“Who told you that?” I asked. He just smiled, of course he had run a search on the

man working with his girlfriend.

“Well, I suppose he could be, if you are a cougar, he’s only twenty-one.”

“Still old enough to make a move on his beautiful boss if he wanted to.”

“I am not his type,” I smiled smugly as I waited for him to place our bags in the boot.

in the boot.

“Why would you say that?” he asked.

“If you had searched him properly, you would have discovered that you are much

more his type than me,” I winked. He blushed slightly and opened the passenger door for me to climb in. “I do believe that this will be the first time I have ever seen you drive.” I smiled.

              “Well, put on that seat belt, I haven’t driven in weeks,” he grinned.

He drove us out of the city and onto the M4 which would lead us to Oxford. A part of the country I had never been to before, not even for work. The roads were terribly congested and I couldn’t help but smile because it was really winding Alec up. We only had about sixty miles to go, but after being on the road for almost two hours and barely getting past Heathrow, Alec was about ready to throw in the towel.

              “Pull off at the next services and I’ll take over.” I said.

              “Honey, this is a hundred and twenty grand car; I am positive that your insurance will not cover you to drive it.” He scoffed.

              “Here’s that snob again,” I winked. “If you don’t want me to drive your car, you only have to say.” I huffed.

              “I never said I didn’t want you to drive, I said I doubt your insurance company would let you drive it on that third party only thing. Sorry, Sweetheart, but I can’t risk it.”

              “I suppose,” I sighed.

              “Anyway, we turn off in a bit and then it will be plain sailing.” He switched on his CD player and Coldplay began to sing. He told me in America how much loved them and promised to take me to see them when they came to Wembley on tour. The music calmed him down, so it worked.

I almost smiled as we hit yet more traffic as we passed the city centre on the A34. Luckily though, it didn’t take too long and we soon turned off the main road towards Abingdon. Thank God for Coldplay. He sang to their songs instead of allowing the traffic to irritate him, he didn’t necessarily sing them right, but it made me smile.

He stopped at the supermarket to buy a bag of sweets for Scarlett and Paige and we arrived at their house in no time at all. Alec parked on the drive next to a BMW and before either of us got out of the car, two blonde beauties came running towards us. Alec got out first,

              “Uncle Alec,” they screamed together and jumped into his arms. Hugging them both at the same time, he smiled and pecked their cheeks.

              “How are my monsters?” he asked.

              “Better now,” Scarlett replied.

              “I lost two teeth too,” Paige added as I climbed out. “Is that your girlfriend?” she then asked pointing at me.

              “Yes, this is Grace.”

              “You’re very pretty,” Paige smiled sweetly showing her gaps.

              “Thank you,” I smiled, “but not as pretty as you two are.”   

              “Paige and Scarlett,” a blonde woman called from the door, “will you two come in and let them at least get out of the car please?”

              “We want to help them with their bags.” Scarlett replied.

              “It’s okay, Scraggy, I can bring in the bags.” Alec smiled.

              “Don’t call me that, Uncle Grumpy.” She chuckled and skipped inside closely followed by Paige.

              “They are so cute,” I smiled.

              “I love them so much,” he gushed and opened the boot, “Emily, not so,” he winked.

              “I can hear you,” she called over. “Mark, come and help Alec in with their bags,” she called behind her. A tall man with dark brown hair and blue eyes, came to the door and smiled humbly. We walked towards them and I felt my knees weaken, she was stunning, perfect blonde hair, cut short and in place, Alec’s huge brown eyes and smile. Immaculate make-up and manicured nails painted red. “It is nice to finally meet you, Grace.” She said as we got to the door.

              “And you, Emily. I have heard so much about you all, this has been a long time coming.”

              “Well, come on into the mad house, Scar and Paige have been baking.”

              “Great,” Alec grinned, “we both love rock cakes,” he added with a chuckle. Mark took the bags from Alec and led us into the house.

It smelled of Comfort fabric softener and vanilla. Painted cream with wooden floors, similar to Alec’s house. Every room downstairs was huge and the kitchen was to die for, the biggest I had ever seen with oak cabinets and black ceramic tiles on the floor. Considering there were two children in the house, you wouldn’t know it. The house was spotlessly clean and felt homely.

              “Right, well, I have waited all day for this,” Emily smiled and pulled a bottle of white wine from her fridge. “Grace, please tell me you like white.”

              “I like wine, but white is my favourite.” I replied.

              “What about you, Alec?” Mark asked. “Fancy a beer?”

              “Sure, cheers, mate.” Alec smiled and took a bottle of Budweiser from him.

Emily was not only a wonderful wife and mother, a legal secretary and looked like a super model, she was also an amazing cook. Her impeccability list grew by the second and I quickly saw what Alec meant with her, she was irritatingly perfect. Mark was a sweet as they come, the girls had him wrapped around their fingers and considering he was a head teacher, I wondered if he was as easy going at school.

              Alec and I had the honour of taking the girls to bed, both of them wanted us to tuck them in and I have to admit, though I had never really been one for children, I was quite taken by them both.

              When we returned to the living room, Mark had already poured us out more drinks and Emily, perfect, pristine Emily, was out in the back garden having a cigarette.

              “Since when?” Alec asked Mark after he told us.

              “Since the doctor told her to find a new coping mechanism to her stress.”

              “So she smokes?” Alec demanded.

              “Only a couple a day, but if it calms her down, what can I say?”

              “You can say, find another habit that won’t kill you,” Alec frowned.

              “Look, Alec, you know what she’s like, she won’t listen to me.” He sighed.

              “Well, I’ll tell her then.”

              “You are already in her bad books, I wouldn’t push it,” Mark warned. “She’ll find something else soon enough, but I have to say, she is much easier to get on with since she started smoking.”

              I sipped my wine dreading the second Emily would walk back in, I knew Alec was upset, because his eyes had glazed over and there seemed to be no talking him down. She came back into the room and she stank like she had been to a nightclub before they banned smoking in them.

              “Tell me, Emily, did you like not having Mum around when Scar was born?”

              “Her name is Scarlett and no, of course not.”

              “And do you like not having her to call when the girls are sick or have done really well in a test at school?”

              “No, I don’t.”

              “So then, explain to me why you are shortening your life by sucking on cancer sticks. Do you realise that you may get lung cancer and never get to see them grow up or have you around for anything?”

              “Listen, Alec, I need something. After yelling at you in May, I realised I was out of control, the doctor suggested Yoga, me.” She grinned. “So, either I continued to make everyone’s life a misery or smoke two cigarettes a day and for now it works, alright?”