How to Deal – Chapter 7

Theresa quickly threw on her robe as the doorbell rang. She reached the door with a hint of annoyance as whoever it was consistently ringed.

It was Fox.

"Oh. Theresa." He said dryly, but almost as surprised as she was to see him.

She irritated him.

"Dylan's not here." She smirked as she tried to shut the door, but Fox refused to let her shut him out.

"I can wait." He responded coldly as he brushed past her.

"Fox." She wined as she shut the door behind him.

"What, Theresa?" Fox answered. "Are you afraid you can't hide your passion for me until he gets back?"

"You're so egotistical." She muttered as she slammed the bathroom door behind her.

A few minutes later she reappeared, her long beautiful hair sweeping against her shoulders. Her golden shirt blended in perfectly with her skin tones.

Fox swallowed the lust he was feeling down his throat.

"What?" she snapped, feeling uncomfortable with the way his was looking at her.

Fox snapped back to his old sarcastic self. "What guy are you picking up today Theresa?"

Theresa rolled her eyes at his vicious comment. "Unfortunately for you, his name isn't Fox." She retorted.

"Unfortunately for you." He chuckled.

"I'm hoping to pick up Little Ethan soon." Theresa remarked as she pulled out an envelope.

"What's in there?" Fox asked curiously.

"Court orders." She smiled. "Dylan had them done and I suggested to deliver them personally to Ethan and Gwen. I'm going to prove to the courts that my life is back on track and I deserve my son."

"The question is will he remember you."

Theresa flashed a weak smile as a little doubt crossed her mind. "No, my son will remember me."

"And what about their daughter." He continued.

"I thought you already guessed, Fox. Alexa has no drop of blood from Gwen or Rebecca."

"Oh that's right." Fox said harshly, "I forgot you're one who sleeps around, preferably with my half-brother."

"That's hypocritical coming from someone who says they're committed to a relationship while stalking another women, preferably my best friend." Theresa shot back as the tension began to rise.

"At least she didn't come up with conniving schemes like stealing someone else's embryo!"

"Don't even try to judge me over that Fox! If you were put in my situation, you would do the same thing!" Theresa shouted angrily.

"Yes, I admit I would do anything if it were my child, but," he paused, "I would practice a little thing called patience and fight in court."

"How could you when the courts were being paid off!"

"Patience Theresa. Have you heard of that? You know the virtue where you wait, not giving up hope?"

"Yeah, I'm sure you would know that virtue well Fox." She quickly replied. "After all, you waited adamantly for Whitney."

"You're just jealous." He laughed.

"Yeah, I'm jealous." She said as she paced the room. "Jealous that when Whitney found out that she was your mystery woman, that she went for the real man and unlike me didn't wait for a wimp like you to get over a crush!"

"You know nothing about my feelings for Whitney."

"And you knew nothing about mine for you. You didn't even care." She whispered as a tear fell down her eye. "But I was dumb, huh? Cause look what it got me… a lot of heartache."

"Theresa." Fox mumbled as his heart began to cave in.

"It's too late for apologies, Fox." Theresa shook her head.

"But it's not too late to tell you how I feel." He said softly as he edged his way closer to her.

"Fox…" Theresa began, but she couldn't finish her sentence…she couldn't even breathe, as he became only a heartbeat away.

"I love you." He breathed softly on her lips.

Theresa's body began to quiver at his words.

"Oh, I love you too Fox. So much." Her mind screamed, but her lips wouldn't move.

As she heard the sound of Dylan's car pull into the driveway, reality hit her and her lips, which were now unfrozen, said,

"I'm married, Fox."

Fox reluctantly inched away from her as Dylan entered the house.

"Fox, hey." He said glancing from Fox to Theresa.

"I was just leaving." She smiled as she grabbed her purse. "I'm going to take those court orders over to Ethan and Gwen."

"Knock 'em dead beautiful." Dylan smiled as he pulled her in for a kiss.

Fox winced and turned his head as his best friend kissed her.

"So this is how she felt." The pain of loosing the woman he loved began to sink in, and Fox knew he had years of misery ahead of him.