8.
~ Rebecca Hamilton made sure everything was perfect in her small apartment before she left for work. Her bed was made, her living room tidy and organized. Her sink clean of dirty dishes. Just incase she was murdered and Sheriff Romero had to gain access to her home to look for clues.
She wasn't sure why she liked to indulge this dark fantasy. Being murdered must be a horrible thing and not something to day dream about. But she couldn't help the idea of it being slightly romantic to have Alex looking through her things and learning about her life. Delving into her past and belongings she kept hidden as if he cared about her. Looking at her pictures and wishing he'd spent more time with her now that she was gone forever.
In truth, Rebecca was isolated and liked it that way. She never entertained friends at her home and the only time anyone came over was the occasional late night hook up with Alex. A man who shared a pessimistic outlook on the world. Or so she'd always thought.
They'd met at one of Bob's parties. She'd noticed his striking good looks and wondered why he'd been alone. She'd been looking for an excuse to leave as soon as she realized the well proportioned women in the reveling outfits were working girls and she was becoming a little nervous as to why a man like Bob Paris had invited her to his house.
She'd decided to stay close to the bar that night till she could think of an excuse to leave early. She didn't want to be rude to Bob Paris who was rich and had been so nice to her. Her mother would never forgive her if she'd been rude to a potentially rich husband. The party was making her a little nervous now that it was turning weird when she spotted that dark haired stranger who was so good at minding his own business, she made an attempt at awkward conversation.
"Fun party." she'd commented dryly.
"Not really." Alex had said grumpily and barely glanced at her.
"Yeah, it's not my thing." she breathed in relief. "Just… looking for a graceful way out. Hate being rude to the host."
The paid female entertainers were laughing loudly and she wanted to be anywhere but here just now.
"Bob? You can be rude to him. He won't notice." Alex had said. "He's got other things on his mind."
"It's just… he picked me up." Rebecca admitted. She'd hated to admit that she was stranded here in this strange world that was getting odder by the second.
"I'm about to leave." Alex had shrugged casually and stood. "I'll take you home."
She'd wanted to laugh.
"Yeah. I don't know you." she'd accused instead. Her defense was up and she hadn't felt this way since she was a teenager and her mother's boyfriends started looking at her funny.
Alex had given her an easy smile. Realizing that she was new in town and didn't know everyone before pulling something from his belt. She'd never seen a Sheriff's star before. Not a real one, up close.
"You're our new Sheriff?" she said dimly. He looked far too young to be elected to anything.
"Alex Romero." he said. "Come on, I'll take you home."
"You've been drinking, Sheriff." she reminded him.
He looked a little pleased she would reprimand him.
"I hope we don't get pulled over." he whispered taking his badge back.
That's how it started between them. Casual and friendly. Nothing too emotional. They didn't share feelings about their horrible childhoods, which if the local gossip was to be believed, Alex had in spades.
He wasn't looking for a girlfriend and she wasn't looking to fall in love. He'd told her many times he was never getting married simply because he'd make a terrible husband and a part of her beloved that was true.
Still, another part of her fantasied about a life with him. About them traveling together and making fun of other boring tourists. Of sharing breakfast in Paris and complaining about this or that. Of renting a house on the beach and spending most of their time naked.
She mostly dreamed of a life where they could be wild gypsies together. Running, always running away from things. She wasn't sure why she wanted that life so much. Why she wanted a life where she was never rooted to one spot. Perhaps because she'd always felt so trapped. She'd always felt she could never escape.
Maybe she wanted to escape White Pine Bay, but she knew that wasn't it. She'd worked hard to have even this modest, lonely life. Her name brand clothes bought on Ebay second hand. Her quite and safe little apartment with a peaceful patio that she could enjoy her coffee every morning. She was thankful for this life she had. She'd grown up with so little and she could always feel the hungry claws of the past wanting to scratch at her. Drag her back down and remind her she wasn't as impressive as she lead people to believe. Sure she dressed well, had a good education, had a good job and until recently, she had a tall dark and handsome boyfriend who himself had a good job and who never so much as said a bad word to her let alone hit her. She'd escaped. She was doing just fine.
Growing up, it had been a harsh and bitter realization that she would never escape from that life. That desperate poverty that controlled everything around her. Poverty controlled what or if Rebecca and her two brothers ate dinner, or had clean clothes because the power had been turned off. It controlled if their mother had gas in the car, if the car was working, if they could have anything for their birthday, or Christmas.
Worse, was that their mother didn't care enough that they were poor to do anything, but complained constantly about their situation. It was more of a feeling that she'd been personally screwed by the system and so she'd refused to fight it.
Poverty bothered Rebecca. She knew normal people didn't live like that. Didn't sell their food stamps for $0.50 on the dollar and then complain that the kids went hungry. Her mother worked as a hair dresser and was never at home because she was always working, but there was also never any money.
There were always boyfriends though. Boyfriends her mother supposedly needed but who seemed to need her more. They ate her food, lived in her house and bullied her kids. The series of boyfriends was how Rebecca got her two younger brothers along with the intense need to get out of Indiana and never come back.
She'd fallen into beauty pageants and modeling when she was only fourteen after finding out about the cash prize money. The electric had been turned off again and her mother had simply shrugged when everyone had to sleep in the living room for warmth.
Somehow, Rebecca knew she could win that $500. She had borrowed her cousin's prom dress, stuffed her bra, and did her best with her make up. It wasn't about beauty after all. It was never about the beauty or even the talent. It was about the attitude. The confidence and the grace. If you went on the stage KNOWING you would win, you were destined to win.
In her second hand dress, padded bra and sadly hopeful make up, Rebecca Hamilton had won. She'd been hooked ever since when she realized she could actually make money off this scam.
Pageants WERE a scam. A scam she was going to take advantage of. She'd shop in second hand stores for dresses and sew the embellishments on herself. Her mother made her hair pieces, did her make up and she eventually got sponsors to pay all entry fees to more high end pageants. It wasn't long at all before she was entered into Miss Teen Indiana and won. Her prize money and modeling contract were more than enough to send her to school.
No sooner had she walked the stage of graduation that she'd taken the bus to California. She hadn't been back to Indiana since and hadn't planned on going back. Ever.
She'd worked hard and earned her degree. She'd always been good with money. Good at saving and investing. She wasn't a spender. Not even on herself. She knew how hard it was to get money and how you had to hold onto it. When she graduated, she stopped modeling even though the money was good.
She wanted to be taken seriously and models were trinkets. They weren't taken seriously. She wanted to be seen as something more.
She worked in banks but her past as a teen beauty queen always came back to haunt her. So she always moved.
Bob Paris had offered her the managers position at the bank and the salary was generous. In the few years that she'd been here, no one had noticed or cared about her beauty queen past. No one cared enough to look into it. Not even Alex. She wondered if she was murdered by some psychopath, if he would ever find her scrapbook and realize he'd been sleeping with a former Miss Teen Indiana before he'd married that crazy Norma Bates.
Rebecca felt an intense hatred rise up inside her at the idea her Alex, her only real friend, had gotten married. Had never any motivation to marry her. To have breakfast in Paris or a house by the beach. No, he'd casually married that motel owner in the run down house.
He'd married a woman with two grown son's for god sakes! What was he thinking? Rebecca purposefully kept herself childfree so she'd be more appealing and Alex had eagerly jumped on the step-daddy ship?
It was best not to think about it. Alex had just lost his mind and soon enough, he would realize what a mistake he'd made. He'd come back to her. As soon as the honeymoon was over with that crazy woman, he'd come back. He had nothing in common with her and everyone knew it.
Rebecca checked her appearance in the mirror once last time before heading out the door. The coffee she made at home was in her travel mug. She never bought coffee at a shop. Waste of money. She looked good. Looked smart and professional. If she were murdered today, it was okay because her house was clean and spotless. No one would ever suspect the freezing trailer she'd once called home. The absent father she never knew. The mother with the drug habit who was a part time prostitute. The brother in prison and the other brother God only knew where. No. Her life was very respectable. She would have made a fine Sheriff's wife.
~ Norma hated the way the house felt in these lonely hours before Alex came home. Normal people would turn on the TV for comfort or company. Not her. The silence was better than the horrid title wave of reality TV shows and home shopping network.
The endless, noise and chatter from the TV dredged up too many bad memories for her.
Sam always had the TV on. Always fell asleep with some game on as loud as it would go because of his bad hearing and the monotony of never-ending sports always filled Norma with anxiety.
It was why she hadn't greeted Alex's present to her of a big TV with more enthusiasm. She'd come home to find her normally silent house filled with the noise of some ball game. Announcers and cheering fans were filling her peaceful living room and almost made her feel like Sam had come back and found them. That he'd somehow discovered where they had run off to and simply settled in the living room to wait for her. His lifeless body, rotting on her couch while watching a ball game.
But then Norma saw it was only Alex and he was wearing that brand new smile he had just for her. His voice happy and joyful at seeing her. No one was ever this happy to see her. No one ever brought her a surprise gift. Even though they both knew it was really for him.
Still, she liked the security systems and alarms a lot more than the TV. Her ring and the tress came a close second. Only because they were an unexpected a very pleasant surprise.
Her security system made her feel more in control. They gave her eyes everywhere and that wonderfully awful alarm would scare anyone away who would try to hurt her. She loved her security system. She knew it was a false sense of security, but after everything that had happened to her here, she liked to feel in control now. She liked to feel powerful in her own home again.
The flowers Alex had sent that afternoon, was her fourth favorite surprise gift from him.
She'd received flowers from men before of course. From George and that horrible Abernathy man who'd threatened her. Neither arrangement was as nice as the one Alex had sent over after Dylan and Emma had left.
She had finished the dishes and could feel that dangerous time of boredom seeping in. It bothered her that Norman had asked Dylan to pick of his clothes and hadn't bothered to even call her.
She'd called up to Pine View but the administration said Norman was refusing any calls from her or his step-father.
"He said his step-father?" Norma questioned skeptically.
"Well, yes." The lady on the other end of the line said. "He specifically said he didn't want to speak to his mother of step-father. We have a lot of young people who say these things, Mrs. Romero. Give him a few weeks. Some time to miss you and he'll change his mind."
Norma ended the phone call politely enough, but felt annoyance that Norman was allowed to dictate anything to her and get away with it.
She had been in a foul mood for a few hours until Alex's flowers arrived. He'd gone off to work as soon as Dylan and Emma had arrived. It seemed he never took a day off, even though it was Christmas Eve and she wondered if he planned to work tomorrow to. She hoped not. It was bad enough Dylan and Emma would be away from her, but to be all alone on Christmas Day felt incredibly painful to her. She wanted desperately to have a roaring fire in the fireplace. The tree lit up and to watch 'It's a Wonderful Life' after opening presents. She wanted to make a festive dinner but it would hardly be worth the effort for just her and Alex.
She wished Dylan and Emma hadn't moved. Wished Norman was home and everything was peaceful. That she and Alex could have a full house filled with family members laughing and eating dinner and sinning Christmas carols around the piano.
Instead her husband would probably go to work on Christmas Day she'd be all alone in this cold, unfriendly house.
She'd had been feeling sorry for herself for a while when the doorbell rang and made her jump. She hadn't noticed her phone had buzzed and alerted her to an intruder.
The camera's were quick to catch the sight of a small deliver girl holding a large assortment of roses and other audacious and colorful flowers.
"Norma?" the woman questioned brightly.
"Yes?" Norma asked suspiciously. Bad things always seemed to happen when she received flowers.
"For you." the lady said.
~ The fragrance of her new flowers, all of them stunningly bright and beautiful, filled the living room. There were red roses, pink roses, lavender, sunflowers and other flowers she knew were out of season and were expensive.
The card wasn't a card at all but a neatly folded piece of stationary in a small envelope in Alex's sharp script.
She pulled free the stationary that was emblazoned with the logo for the Sheriff's office and had Sheriff Alex Romero and his contact information on top. He must have written this at his desk at work.
His handwriting effective, legible and masculine seemed to cut into the paper like slashes.
"Mrs. Romero,
Your husband is an idiot. I'll see you tonight.
A"
Norma felt that pleased little smile spread across her face. Her cheeks growing warm at the idea that Alex missed her enough, was regretful enough, to send her flowers.
She imagined him sitting at his desk at work. Thinking of her and it made her happy.
~ Sheriff Romero had been halfway through a mountain of paperwork when his cell phone buzzed angrily and he saw Norma's name greet him. He'd long ago grown accustomed to seeing her name on his phone. She called him whenever the need struck her. Emergency or not.
Maybe it had been a mistake to give her his cell phone number when he'd first checked into her motel, but he wanted a way for her to call him. That fire had been upsetting and, even though it was just a rental house, he'd felt violated. Maybe he just wanted someone to worry over him.
Norma was certainly good at that. He wasn't counting on her doing his laundry or inviting him into her home as though he were a troublesome but lovable neighbor boy who needed looking after. Alex had liked it though. Liked that fact she looked after him, and he did the same for her.
Always going to bed only after she turned out her lights in the second story bedroom. He liked the idea of turning in at the same time as her. Even though they were a hundred yards apart and certainly not as close as they were now.
"Hey." he said easily into his phone. Thankful that he was alone in his office and knowing exactly what this call was in reference to.
"My husband sent me the most beautiful flowers today." Norma said happily.
"So you've forgiven him?" Alex asked playfully. "You won't be running off with me after all?"
"Depends." she sighed. "If my husband will be working tomorrow or not. I'd like it if he'd spend Christmas Day with me."
Alex smiled.
"Well, he's going to spend Christmas Day with you." he assured her. "I'm finishing everything right now and then I'm all yours."
"Good." she said happily. "It'll be nice."
"It will be." he promised. "Just us."
I know we don't want a lot of Rebecca's back story but I feel it's important. Makes her more real and relatable.