Kristin Gabriel - Engaging Alex

“Are you all right?” he asked at last, his face searching her own.

“It’s a little stuffy in here.” She fanned her warm cheeks, then looked toward the open balcony doors. “I could use some fresh air.”

The door chime forestalled his reply. Paige set her jaw and walked to the door, opening it to reveal two uniformed policemen.

“Please come in, officers.”

Alex slowly stood up as the cops entered the apartment, his gaze wary. “What’s going on?”

The older cop took in the shattered dishes on the floor and the upturned table. “That’s what we want to know. We received a telephone call from this apartment about a possible domestic disturbance.”

Alex turned to her. “You called the police?”

She nodded. “Just like I warned you I was going to do. Unlike you, Alex, I mean what I say.”

He took a step towards her but the younger cop moved into his path, putting himself squarely between Alex and Paige.

“Listen to me, Paige,” Alex entreated, craning his neck around the officer. “Despite everything, I fell in love with you. I’ve never stopped loving you.”

The older cop turned to her. “Are you all right, ma’am?”

“I’m not sure,” Paige said honestly.

“Look,” Alex explained, turning to the cops, “the two of us just need some time alone to work things out.”

“That’s what they all say,” the younger cop muttered under his breath.

The older cop ushered Paige to a chair. “Would you like to file a complaint?”

“What happens if I do?” she asked.

“We’ll take this man with us and make sure he doesn’t bother you again.”

“You mean arrest him?”

The cop nodded. “If you’re willing to file charges.”

She looked at Alex. “Absolutely.”

“Paige, this is crazy!” Alex exclaimed as the younger cop pulled out a pair of handcuffs. “Tell them there’s been a mistake. Explain what really happened.”

“All right.” She turned to the cops. “Mr. Mack threatened to break down my door, then he barged in here and broke all of my good dishes. Then he proceeded to take his shirt off. Is that enough to file charges?”

The younger cop nodded. “Trespassing. Destruction of private property. Attempted assault. What do you think, Bill?”

“Sounds like he wins a trip down to the county jail to me. All expenses paid.”

Alex didn’t struggle as they led him out of the apartment in handcuffs. He just stared at Paige in stunned disbelief until they’d crossed the threshold and disappeared down the long hallway.

Paige followed after them. “Wait a minute, officers.”

The younger cop turned to her at the top of the stairs. “Yes, ma’am?”

Hope lit Alex’s dark eyes. The same eyes that had haunted her dreams for the last year.

“He forgot his shirt.” She shove the wadded gray T-shirt between Alex’s cuffed wrists, then turned back into the apartment and shut the door.

It wasn’t a gun or a shove off the balcony, but it was enough.

For now.

Franco’s Notes:

MY LATEST SUBJECT is Paige Hanover. She’s young and cute, the perfect prototype to test the power of the skirt. I’m thinking Ashley Judd to play her in the movie. Naturally, I didn’t tell her I’m writing a screenplay about the skirt’s effect on men. Things definitely sounded interesting upstairs after that young Greek stud headed up to her apartment. Lots of shouting and the sound of dishes breaking.

Did the sight of Paige in that skirt make the man go berserk? I know the aphrodisiac effect of the unique fabric is said to be quite powerful. However, it appears Paige wasn’t open to his advances. I saw the police take her hot-blooded admirer away in handcuffs. Perhaps I could make my screenplay a murder mystery. I’ll have to see what develops from here….

TWO DAYS LATER, Paige sat at her desk in the back office of Bay Bouquets. She’d inherited the business after her father’s death in a traffic accident had left her as Grandpa Hanover’s only heir. Her grandfather had taken Paige and her mother in shortly after Margo’s breakdown, giving her mother a job as a clerk in the store after she’d recovered while making Paige his apprentice. Grandpa Hanover had not only given Paige full ownership of Bay Bouquets in his will five years ago, but left her his house as well.

She’d inherited his natural talent with flowers, but not with numbers. She bent over the desk, trying to concentrate on the invoices and accounts receivable in front of her. There were some days she just wanted to chuck it all and camp out on a mountaintop somewhere and stare at the stars.

But that would meaning selling the store and Paige couldn’t conceive of letting go of her grandfather’s legacy. It had meant too much to him. Besides, her mother worked here, too, as well as Lena, a longtime assistant who could practically run the place by herself.

“More fan mail.” Her mother walked into the office and dropped a bundle of envelopes on top of the desk. Margo Weaver was half a foot shorter than her daughter, with ash-blonde hair, bright green eyes and a button nose. She wore a pink knit warm-up suit today with matching pink tennis shoes.

“I don’t want to read them,” Paige replied.

“But these are all addressed to you.” Margo pulled a chair up beside the desk and sat down with a contented sigh. “ UFO Watch aired that segment about Alex’s disappearance again Saturday night.”

“I know,” she said with a groan. “I saw it.”

Then she’d seen Alex. Literally. Although she hadn’t told her mother about their meeting—or about having him arrested.

She’d had two days to cool off and now Paige wondered if she might have overreacted just a little. Yes, Alex had taken her by surprise. Yes, she’d been stunned to learn that he’d romanced her under false pretenses.

Stunned might be an understatement. Paige was still reeling. She was also hurt and disillusioned. But as much as she wanted to wreak some old-fashioned justice, nothing that Alex had done to her was actually criminal.

Infuriating, but unfortunately not illegal.

Which left her with two alternatives. She could pursue revenge through the court system and let the lawyers worry about all the legalities. Or she could drop the charges and forget about her ex-fiancé once and for all. The former was the most tempting, but it also meant putting Alex front and center in her life once again.

“Earth to Paige.”

She looked up to see her mother’s forehead crinkled in concern.

“What’s wrong?” Margo asked.

“Nothing.” Paige stared blankly at the order forms on her desk.

“You’re thinking about Alex,” Margo surmised. “I can always tell. You get this look on your face.”

That settled it. “Alex is history.”

Margo reached across the desk and patted her daughter’s hand. “I know how you feel. Some days I worry that Stanley is never coming back.”

“Maybe it’s time to file for divorce,” Paige suggested for the hundredth time since Stanley had left her mother. “Time to move on with your life.”

Margo shook her head. “I can’t give up hope. Not when there’s a chance Stanley may return to me. I know you think it’s silly to give interviews to shows like UFO Watch, but maybe someone will be watching who can help us find Stanley and Alex.”

“Have you read any of these letters, Mom?” Paige pointed to the stack on her desk. “They’re all from crackpots.”

Margo sniffed. “Just because you don’t happen to believe in the existence of UFOs or alien abductions doesn’t make the rest of us crackpots.”

Paige swallowed her retort. They’d had this argument before and it had never gotten them anywhere. Margo clung tenaciously to the belief that her husband had left her against his will. Abduction by aliens seemed preferable to the possibility that he had simply walked away.