AN: I want to thank all the guest reviewers for reading and taking the time to share your thoughts with me. This is my only way to thank you - 😊
Chapter 4
The following morning, Lexi fluffed up the pillows in the upstairs guest room that Bri would soon occupy, while the comforting smells of Maria's breakfast burritos wafted up the stairs. She could hear her mother humming in the kitchen along with the precious sounds of Antonio's playful chatter as he talked to the imaginary occupants of his Hot Wheels cars he was playing with on the living room rug. The young mother stood at the doorway to the guest room, one hand propped on her hip as she surveyed the neat and tidy space. Satisfied that the accommodations were just right, she allowed her eyes to drift to the ticking clock on the bedside table. Assuming that the A-shift from Station 51 was able to leave on time, Marco should be arriving at the Wellhouse any minute to pick up Bri. Lexi couldn't wait to welcome her best friend into the Lopez family home, where a hot breakfast would be waiting. And if Marco was picking up Bri, then Mike should be entering his apartment right about now.
Lexi exhaled a nervous breath. She had promised Bri that she would at least try to talk to Mike before Bri arrived at the Lopez residence. Now, she was running out of time to keep her word. She slowly closed the bedroom door, then walked to the end of the hallway where a black rotary dial telephone sat perched atop a white doily on a small telephone table. What would she say to him? How could she explain her behavior? And even if she did manage to help him understand, what would be his reaction to her outburst at the restaurant that day?
Lexi listened to the telephone ringing on the other end of the line, concerned by the lack of a response at Mike's apartment for the last ten minutes. Were the guys at the station caught on a run? Would Marco be late picking up Bri? Using her index finger to terminate the call, she waited for a moment to get a dial tone before dialing the number for the Wellhouse.
"Hello? Wellhouse," came the familiar housemother's voice.
"Hi, this is Lexi Lopez, may I speak to Bri please?"
"Sure," came the response followed by a muffled calling of Bri's name. The housemother identified the caller before passing the telephone to the soon-to-be-former resident.
"Hey, Lex… Is everything okay?" Bri asked.
"Um, yes… I just wanted you to know that I think the guys are out on a run. I've been trying to call Mike… like I said I would, and… he isn't answering. So… Marco might be late picking you up."
Bri tightened her jaw muscles as she considered how to respond. "Okay… That's not a problem. I'll be ready whenever he gets here," she said, quickly ending the call before she said too much.
After hanging up the telephone, Bri turned around to look at the two firemen standing in the living room of the safe house, picking up the two bags containing her meager worldly possessions. "She thinks you two are out on a run," Bri commented. "She's been trying to call you, Mike."
"Not very hard," Mike grumbled, thinking of Lexi's phone call with Marco the previous night. If she had really wanted to talk to him, why didn't she ask for him then? The grimacing engineer pulled Bri's backpack onto one shoulder, then reached for the larger tote bag that Marco had lifted. "I'll take it," he said, grabbing the faux leather handles on the yellow bag.
Bri turned to Marco. "Beverly should be back any minute. She just needed to run a quick errand now that her replacement is here.
"Thanks," he said, turning towards the counselor's office. "I'll just wait in here," he said, closing the door behind him. He and Mike had both been cleared as volunteers at the safe house which allowed them to remain on the premises longer than other guests – as long as they were never alone with one of the residents.
Marco looked around the room, noting the pictures of dozens of young women, all of whom were smiling. Seeing the happiness on their faces, he couldn't imagine what they must have looked like when they had first arrived at the Wellhouse. He saw the bright face of his sister, her face practically glowing as she held her son on her lap. He remembered that the picture had been taken the day that he had picked her up from this house of refuge, to carry her back to her childhood home, praying that she would be able to resume her life and eventually find happiness. He saw a blank spot beside Lexi's picture, presumably where Bri's exit photo would be placed – another in a long line of success stories for Beverly and the Wellhouse.
Marco felt as if his heart would burst with pride. He couldn't believe that the incredible woman who had survived being a sex slave, having her throat cut, left to bleed to death in a dark ally, and who had eventually used all the negative events in her life to help save the lives of countless others… this amazing woman loved him enough to marry him. She had agreed to be his life partner, and he wanted to jump for joy at the thought.
Turning to continue perusing the pictures on the wall, he heard a crunching noise beneath his right foot. He looked at the floor, seeing a crumpled piece of paper that had obviously narrowly missed the wastebasket and had come to rest just out of sight at the edge of the desk chair. Reaching down, he picked it up and was about to drop it into the trash when the word 'application' caught his eye. Slowly, he peeled open the rumpled paper, his heart catching in his throat when he recognized the handwriting. "What the…," he began, but his eyes closed in anguish when he read the entire form. "No… Oh baby, no…"
Hearing his beloved's voice as she approached from the front room, he quickly folded up the wrinkled paper and slipped it into his shirt pocket just as the office door opened.
"The housemother told me that Mike took Bri home," Beverly said, waltzing up to him, flirtatiously. "I'm glad you waited for me."
Recovering quickly from the shock of the discarded graduate school application he had found, he cleared his throat. "Ahem… Thought I might interest you in a little breakfast."
With a throaty whisper, Beverly leaned towards him, seductively. "There's a lot you could interest me in, Mr. Lopez."
Dark eyes quickly surveyed the closed door, ensuring their privacy, before his hot mouth enveloped her rosy lips, his hands running down her back and cupping her buttocks. A soft moan was heard as the kiss deepened. When their lips finally parted, both of them were breathless.
"Come home with me, please?" Marco pleaded, his eyes hooded with desire.
"Thought you were hungry?" she teased in response.
"I am… and I want some breakfast, too," he said with a wicked grin.
"Well, I'm famished, so let's eat first and then… we'll satisfy our other cravings," she giggled, stepping away from him and heading for the door.
"Mmmhmm… and afterwards… we have some things to talk about," he said, closing the office door behind him.
"Such as?" Beverly asked, heading out the front door and straight to her car.
"Lexi and Mike, for starters… And… about OUR future," Marco replied, knowing that wedding plans were not the only future planning the two of them needed to discuss.
E!
As Mike's truck bounced along the freeway, he and Bri fell into a comfortable conversation. He liked Bri and her no-nonsense attitude. It was something he found rare in most women.
"You know, talking to you is like talking to another man," he offered, meaning it as a compliment and not the insult it sounded like.
"Well… I can honestly say that I've never been told that before," Bri laughed.
Mike felt his face heating up. "I just mean that you're straightforward, direct… You don't beat around the bush like most women. You say exactly what you mean… no games… I like that," he said, glancing into his mirrors before changing lanes.
"Unlike Lexi?"
Mike pressed his lips together tightly. He flipped on his blinker as he took the exit ramp. "Yea…"
"Mike, she's gonna be there when you drop me off and you need to be ready to talk to her… So… what happened between the two of you?"
The engineer shrugged his shoulders, his blue eyes never leaving the road. "I don't know… One minute we were talking and the next… she was goin' ape on me."
Bri propped her elbow on her bags that had been placed in the seat between them. "She said that you and Marco have been talking about her and Beverly."
"So?"
Bri exhaled. "So… What were you two saying about them?"
Mike eased to a stop at the red light. He cut his eyes over at his passenger, then returned them to the road. "Okay… maybe you can be TOO straightforward."
"Alright… if you don't want to answer that one, then will you tell me the truth about something else?"
"Maybe," he replied, releasing the clutch as he slowly pulled forward when the light turned green.
"Do you love her?"
Feeling unsure if he should respond honestly, Mike took a few moments to shift through the gears as he brought his truck back up to speed. "Thought I did… maybe I was wrong."
"What changed?"
Mike released an exasperated huff. He had anticipated a few questions from Bri - he even had a few of his own to ask her about Lexi, but he wasn't prepared for this line of questioning. He turned into the nearest parking lot, causing Bri to grab the door handle as she bounced in the seat. "Why the third degree, huh?" he asked, pulling to a stop in a vacant part of the lot. "Why don't you ask your friend these questions, instead of me?" He slapped his hand against the steering wheel, forcing his breathing to calm. "I'm sorry, Bri… You want to know what changed? Well, I'll tell you. She did!"
"She loves you… She just doesn't know how to give and receive love. Ricardo… the streets… the johns… the beatings and rapes… giving up Antonio when he was a newborn, and she was just a kid herself… it took her ability to give and receive love away from her. She's got to find it again."
"I was giving her love, Bri. God knows, I was trying so hard to tell her and show her, but…" His voice faded. Could he be honest with Bri? Would Lexi's best friend somehow be able to help them? "You've talked to her about all this, haven't you?"
"Yes… We talked for a long time yesterday. She's confused, Mike."
The engineer leaned his head back, staring at the gray interior above his head. "Well, I'm not exactly clear on what happened between us, either."
"She told me about the two of you having sex, and…"
"Well, damnation! Why doesn't she just announce it on the radio?" Mike stated with sarcasm. He paused for a moment, again trying to settle down before he continued.
Bri leaned closer to the passenger's side door, unsure of how much more of an outburst the normally quiet man might exhibit. "I'm going to try not to take that as an insult to me."
"Sorry," he muttered, frustrated at both himself and the entire situation. "What Lexi and I shared that day was… it was personal. At least, I thought it was personal. I'm just not used to people knowing about my sex life."
"Ha," she scoffed. "Imagine how Lexi and I feel!"
Angry blue eyes began to soften a bit. Why hadn't he ever thought of that? "I apologize… Go ahead… I know you're trying to help and… I… I appreciate it."
"Like I was saying," Bri continued. "Lexi is confused about giving and receiving love."
Mike allowed his right hand to shift into gear again. "That's just it," he said, pulling out into traffic to continue the drive to the Lopez home. "I've been doing a lot more giving than receiving and," he held up his hand to halt her next comment. "And I'm not talking about sex, either. I'm talking about the normal give and take in a relationship. I've been doing all the giving, and I was okay with that because I knew it was going to take her awhile to get used to the real world, but… Damn it… When we… made love, it was… I thought it was progress, you know? I honestly thought that she… she was beginning to love me back… I felt like she was giving me something back in the relationship. It's like drawing water out of a well. The well has to be refilled at times, or else it eventually goes dry… it has nothing left to give. And I felt like my…." He gulped, struggling to find the right words to say, his eyes reddening. "Like my feelings finally mattered in our relationship… Like what I needed was becoming important to her. Again… I'm not talking about physical needs, but… emotional needs," he said, fighting to maintain his composure. Sitting here talking to a woman about his relationship issues was really beginning to demasculinize him. He thought about spending the afternoon lifting weights and drinking beer, hoping that would replenish what felt like his quickly shrinking testosterone level. "But… instead… it all blew up. It's like… like what I give her is never enough. It's like I'm…" Dare he say it?
"Just another customer?"
Mike's blue eyes widened in shock. "How'd… you know?" he asked, narrowing his gaze at her.
Bri shifted in her seat. This conversation had gotten much more intimate than she had anticipated, but she wanted to see her friend happy. And truthfully, she really liked Mike Stoker, too. She knew that there was no one on earth who would treat Lexi as well as Mike had been treating her, and she simply couldn't stand by and watch Lexi destroy her chance at a normal life… The kind of life that Bri could only dream of. "When you've spent as much time on the streets as I have, you learn to read people pretty quickly. It's what keeps you alive. You'd be surprised how many men pay for companionship… WITHOUT sex," she added.
"What?"
"A lot of men just don't seem to get what they need at home from their wife or girlfriend. Some of my regular johns used to just…," she hesitated, thinking about all the times she had spent with so many different men. "All they wanted was for somebody to listen to them, hold them, that kind of thing. They were getting sex at home, but then she'd just roll over, or get up and walk away like she had completed her weekly wifely duty. I think a lot of men need more than that," she looked over at Mike, seeing the intense look on his face, and she surmised that he was one of those men. "They need to be… touched, caressed…"
"Men need to feel loved, too," he added, coughing into his closed fist. The conversation had become too intimate for his liking. "Ahem," he said, clearing his throat to dislodge the lump that was forming there. How was it possible that Bri understood him so well, yet Lexi didn't? And why was he able to share his deepest concerns with Bri, when he couldn't even voice them to the woman with whom he had had an intense and fulfilling sexual experience?
"When we get to Ms. Lopez' house, you ARE going to talk to Lexi about all this, right? You're going to tell her how you feel? What you need?" Bri asked, aware that they were quickly approaching the Lopez neighborhood. "Are you going to give her another chance, Mike?"
He cut his eyes over at his passenger, his azure orbs filled with uncertainty. "I'll see what she has to say, Bri. I mean, I really need to hear it in her own words about what went wrong, but… Truthfully…" He hesitated, sighing out loud. "I just don't know."
E!
Lexi sat down at the kitchen table with her mother and son, said a silent prayer, and began eating breakfast.
"So, Antonio… Halloween is coming up soon. What do you want to dress up as for trick-or-treating?"
"I wanna be the Long Ranger," he said, with a serious look on his face, completely unaware of his verbal mistake.
Lexi snickered, covering her mouth with her napkin. "Um… Ahem… I think you mean the Lone Ranger."
"Yea, that's what I said… the Long Ranger," the child repeated. "Yo-Yo, Sliver… AWAY!" he called out.
Both women were laughing so hard they were crying. For Lexi, the tension-relieving activity felt refreshing. The three of them continued eating amid the belly-heaving laughs while Antonio rambled incessantly about his wild west hero. None of them heard the pick-up truck entering the drive-way.
Outside the Lopez residence, Mike and Bri exited the vehicle. Bri reached for her bags, but Mike, ever the gentleman, carefully took them away from her.
"I'll get these," he said to her, his eyes looking at her intently with a clearness that hadn't been there a few minutes ago.
"Thank you," Bri said with a warm smile. "I'm not used to this kind of treatment."
The tall engineer stepped in front of the vehicle, following her up the walkway. "I believe that a lady should be treated with respect," he mumbled, his empty stomach tightening around the butterflies that seemed to have suddenly developed there as he approached the Lopez front door. He wondered how Lexi would react to seeing him. Bri slowed her strides, allowing Mike to step ahead of her. He shouldered the backpack and used his free hand to knock on the front door.
Maria knitted her eyebrows together in confusion. "Why on earth is Marco knocking? He grew up here," she muttered.
"I'll get it," Lexi said, jumping up from her seat and bounding towards the front door.
"Meeko!" Antonio called out, following her through the living room, galloping as though he were riding an invisible horse.
Lexi opened the door, expecting to see her favorite brother and her best friend. Instead, the most beautiful pair of blue eyes stared back at her. "Oh… um…"
Bri, sensing the uneasiness, stepped over the threshold first, offering Lexi a hug.
"So glad you're finally here," Lexi commented, still embracing her best friend. She dared a quick glance at Mike, briefly locking eyes, but didn't speak.
"Nice to see you, too, Lexi," Mike said, a bit too quickly as he followed Bri inside.
"MISTER MIKE!" shouted the precocious little boy, who pretended to dismount his horse, and then scurry towards his grown-up friend, hand poised at his side as if ready to draw his imaginary revolver.
Mike set the two bags on the floor, quickly catching on to what the little boy was doing. Focusing his attention on Antonio gave him a reason not to look at Lexi, and so, he continued with the improvisation the child had obviously started. "Well, howdy, partner," he greeted, picking the child up. "Are you the new sheriff in town?"
"Nope… I'm the Long Ranger!"
Bri chuckled, amazed at how Mike kept his face so serious in spite of the little boy's humorous mistake. As the two continued their child-like conversation, Bri nudged her friend, mouthing her encouragement to her. 'Talk to him.'
"What happened to Marco?" Lexi asked, feeling conflicted about talking to Mike. She had planned on a telephone conversation today, but she hadn't counted on a face-to-face meeting.
"He's with Beverly so Mike offered to bring me instead," Bri explained, darting her eyes at the engineer, silently encouraging him to pick up the conversation from there.
Maria's high-pitched voice rang out from the kitchen, her plump body waddling into the living room. "Welcome home, Bri… Breakfast is ready fo… Oh, Mike… What a pleasant surprise."
"Hello, Ms. Lopez," he acknowledged, knowing she was as surprised to see him as Lexi had been. He had wondered what kind of a greeting he would receive from the older Lopez woman, but soon found himself engulfed in a warm embrace. "It's so good to see you. Are you hungry?"
"Yes, he is," Bri snickered. "His stomach has been growling since he picked me up."
"Good, breakfast is ready. Now come along," she said, returning to the kitchen.
"Mama, I'm gonna show Bri her room first. Mike can go ahead and eat though; I'm sure he's in a hurry to get home after shift."
Mike saw the exasperated look on Bri's face when she bent down to retrieve her bags. Unsure of what to do, he headed for the kitchen, lifting the child onto his strong back and pretending to gallop away with him.
"Yo-yo, Sliver, AWAY!" Antonio shouted, happy to have his friend back, but sensing some tension between his friend and his mom.
Mike gave the youngster a whimsical smile. "I think it might be… 'Hi-Ho, Silver, away,'" he suggested.
"Yea, that's what I said," Antonio replied, wiggling free from Mike's grasp and returning to his partially eaten food at the kitchen table.
"There's coffee over there," Maria said, pointing to the coffee pot on the stove while she prepared her surprise guest a plate of breakfast burritos. "I thought Marco was bringing Bri over."
Mike poured himself a cup of coffee, making himself at home in the familiar kitchen. He leaned his hips against the counter, blowing a cooling breath over the steaming mug. "He and Bri thought this might give me a chance to talk to Lexi. Maybe find out what I did wrong."
Maria placed the plate on the kitchen table beside Antonio, knowing the little boy would want Mike to sit beside him. "I knew something was going on, but… she wouldn't talk to me," Maria replied, refreshing her own cup of coffee. "Juice?"
Mike shook his head in response to the half-raised pitcher of orange juice. "No, thanks."
"As soon as you finish your breakfast, feel free to go sit on the front porch. There's more privacy there," she commented, dipping her head in the direction of her grandson. "Someone has to clean up the mess he made in the living room, right Antonio?"
"But I wanna play with Mister Mike," the child pleaded. "He's my Sliver!"
"Well, maybe 'Sliver' would like to spend some time talking to your Momma, young man. Now, do as you're told."
"Yes… ma'am," the child mumbled, his face shadowed in sadness. He shifted his dark eyes over at Mike, peering up at him through long dark eyelashes, so much like those of Lexi. "Will you play with me when you get done talkin' to my Momma?"
"We'll see," the engineer said, ruffling the little boy's dark hair.
Antonio stared back down at his plate. He had heard that expression before from the adults in his life and it always meant the same thing – no.
Upstairs, Lexi was fuming at her friend. "I can't believe you and Marco did this to me!"
"You agreed to talk to him, so go… talk," Bri replied, flinging her arm in the direction of the door.
Ignoring her, Lexi stepped over to the dresser. "All these drawers are empty," she said, giving her friend an unnecessary tour of the small bedroom. There are extra sheets and pillows on the top shelf of the closet. The bathroom is right across the hall, and the towels and …"
"Cut it out!" Bri jumped in.
"I just want to welcome you home, Bri. What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing, but you're avoiding talking to the most wonderful man you could ever hope to meet, and he's right downstairs in your kitchen at this moment. Now go!"
Lexi crossed her arms, defiantly. "Guess the two of you have been talking about me, too, huh?"
"A little… yes. And he loves you, Lex. But… he needs to know that you love him, too."
Lexi turned her head, straightening the fresh roses in the vase on top of the dresser. "And what if I don't?"
"Liar."
"Am not. I'm the only one who knows how I feel," Lexi retorted.
"And how exactly do you feel, Lex?"
Hesitating momentarily, looking out the window at Mike's truck in her driveway, Lexi thought back over all the nights she had spent sitting in that same truck, enjoying the company of a man she thought was paying her for her companionship instead of for a sex act. She had heard Bri talk about johns who had done that, but Lexi had never encountered one, until Michael Stoker came along. Then she found out that it had all been a lie, a ruse to set up a rescue for her. She thought she had moved past those lies, but when she found out that Mike had been talking to Marco about her and their increasing level of intimacy… Something inside of her snapped. She felt threatened, felt the need to protect herself from being hurt at all costs.
"Did you hear me?" Bri repeated.
"Yes, I heard you. But… I really don't know how I feel, right now."
Both women turned to look at the open doorway when they heard footsteps lumbering up the stairs. "Lexi… Mike is waiting downstairs to talk to you," Maria said softly.
"Okay," Lexi replied, sniffling. "I just need a couple of minutes."
"Fine… He'll be waiting on the porch. Bri," the older woman turned to look at her house guest. "Welcome to our home. Come get some breakfast while it's still hot."
"Thank you," Bri replied, turning to look at Lexi whose shoulders were slumping. "Don't keep him waiting, Lex," she said to her friend as she hesitated just outside the door. "A good man like Mike won't wait around for long. If you don't want a relationship with him, someone out there does… and she'll treat him right," she said, disappearing down the short hallway. She lightly ran her hand along the banister of the stairs as she descended, wishing that she could find a man as caring and kind as Mike Stoker who could find it in his heart to love her, too. One thing was for sure, if she ever had the opportunity, she wouldn't squander it away like Lexi seemed to be doing.
Lexi heard the front door opening and closing, and knew that Mike had walked outside. She could hear the indistinct chatter of her son, knowing the child would follow Mike wherever he went. She tiptoed into the next bedroom, the one she had had since she was born, and sat down beside the open window. This wouldn't be the first time she had eavesdropped on conversations being had on the front porch. She had done it many times when her brothers had been dating. Now she was listening to Mike talking to her own son and it felt like a knife stabbing her in the heart.
On the porch, Mike watched as Antonio crawled into the chair beside him… trying to mimic the way Mike had crossed one ankle over the opposite knee.
"Thought you had to clean up your toys?"
"Grandma said I could sit with you until my Momma comes out. Then I have to go back inside," the little boy responded.
"Oh, I see… So, you want to be the Lone Ranger?"
"Yessir… but I don't got no cowboy boots. I got o' pistol though," the child piped up, excitedly. "It shoots caps, like… pow, pow, pow!"
"Wow, your very own cap gun. What about a mask? The Lone Ranger has to have a mask," Mike added, already mentally calculating where he might be able to purchase a pair of cowboy boots for the youngster.
"My grandma is gonna make me a mask and Meeko might buy me a cowboy hat… If I ask him to, real nicely," he quickly added.
"Well, let me take a good look at those sneakers of yours," Mike said, reaching for the child's left foot. He saw the faded 5 on the underside of the shoe and grinned. He'd try to find a pair of boots as a surprise for the wannabe western lawman. "No… I don't think those will work for riding Silver. Definitely got to get you some cowboy boots."
"I'll ask my Momma," he replied. His face suddenly clouded over and Mike knew that the child wanted to talk about a serious subject.
"Whatcha thinking about?"
"What comes after Halloween?"
"Um," Mike thought for a moment, making sure he understood what Antonio was really asking. "You mean, what's the next holiday?
"Uh-huh."
"That would be Thanksgiving."
"Like with Pilgrims and Indians and a turkey?"
Mike chuckled a little. Children were very perceptive, and they certainly never forgot anything. "Yes, that's right."
"And then what?"
"I guess the next big holiday would be Christmas."
The little boy propped his elbow on the arm of the chair, resting his chin in the palm of his hand. "So I still have time to be extra special good this year?"
Mike snickered, placing his hand along the child's upper back, patting it softly. Obviously, his little friend had something very special he wanted for Christmas. "Yea, I'd say you have time. First, we'll have Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and then we'll have Christmas. There must be something mighty big that you want to see underneath your tree on Christmas morning…"
Antonio nodded. "I just hope I can be good enough to get one. I think I've been a bad boy."
Upstairs, Lexi's heart leapt into her throat. Why would her precious little boy think that he had misbehaved?
"What makes your say that," Mike asked the child, concerned.
"Well… 'cause my Momma's been sad so that means I've been a bad boy," he mumbled, obviously struggling not to cry.
"C'mere, buddy," Mike said, offering his hand to the little boy, helping him out of the chair and into Mike's lap. "I don't think it's you who's been a bad boy. I think maybe Mister Mike has been a bad boy."
Big brown eyes looked up at Mike, inquisitively. "Did you say you was sorry?"
Mike thought for a moment. "I tried to, but… I'm not really sure what I did that was bad," he tried to explain, being as honest as he could be with the five year-old.
"When you're bad, you s'posed to say 'sorry.'"
Upstairs, Lexi let her tears stream down her face, seeping into the corners of her mouth with their briny taste. "I'm sorry… Michael," she whispered to herself.
Mike offered his best smile to the child. "I know," he said, desperately needing to change the subject. "So, is this thing you want for Christmas something big?" He had a feeling he knew what it was, and he was determined to make this little boy's Christmas the best one he had ever had.
"Uh-huh," Antonio replied, his face brightening.
"And do you ride it?"
Antonio thought for a moment, covering his mouth with his pudgy little hand as he laughed. "Uh-huh… sometimes."
Mike rubbed his chin as if thinking long and hard for the right answer, feeling confident about the fire truck peddle car he assumed Antonio wanted. Marco had told him how the little boy liked to play fireman when he was outside with the water hose, helping Maria water her roses. "Let me think… Is it a pony?"
"No, silly… I don't have a barn for a pony to sleep in."
"Oh… yea… that could be a problem… Hmmm… so then where would this Christmas present sleep… at a fire station, maybe?"
Antonio grinned, obviously enjoying the guessing game he was playing. "Uh-huh, sometimes it would sleep at the fire station and sometimes it might even sleep with me."
Mike laughed, momentarily forgetting that his argument with Lexi was the reason for his visit to the Lopez home. He was enjoying his time with the precocious little boy. He knew that Lexi had no income, so Mike silently vowed to make sure that if Antonio wanted a peddle car fire engine for Christmas, then he was going to get it, even if Mike wasn't invited over to see the youngster's face on Christmas morning. He had grown fond of the child and would do most anything to make him happy. "So, if I see Santa Claus around town, and if you're extra special good between now and Christmas, should I tell Santa that you want your very own fire engine?"
Antonio straightened up, knitting together his light brown eyebrows. "No… I don't wanna fire engine for Christmas."
Now it was Mike's turn to arch his eyebrows in confusion. "Then what is that you want Santa to bring you?"
The little round face brightened up, all traces of the previous sadness and tears gone. "I want a daddy for Christmas."
Maria, who was walking through the living room in search of her grandson, rushed out the door having overheard enough of the conversation to know that she needed to interrupt it. "Antonio, I think I told you to clean the living room, didn't I? Let's go," she said, reaching out for her grandson's hand, her head turned away from her guest. She couldn't let Mike see her red face, didn't want him to know that she had overheard what Antonio had said.
She left Antonio in the living room, putting away his matchbox cars, while she walked up the stairs, stopping by her daughter's room. She saw Lexi sitting beside her open window and knew that she had overheard the request her son had made. "Lexi? You need to-"
"I know," Lexi replied, forcing down the lump in her throat. Should she pursue a relationship with Michael just so Antonio would be able to have a father-figure in his life? But then what would that do to the youngster if their relationship failed? She knew the pain of abandonment, of needing someone who wasn't there. How could she subject her young son to that kind of trauma? "I'm going down in just a minute."
Bri, having finished her breakfast, walked out onto the porch, frustrated when she realized that Lexi still hadn't come downstairs. "I'm sorry, Mike. She said she was coming down to talk to you. I don't understand her."
"Neither do I," the tall engineer said, standing up from his seated position. "But, I can take a hint." He walked down the steps towards his pick-up, then turned back around. "Tell her that…" He lowered his eyes. "Never mind…. Just tell Antonio that I'll be on the lookout for Santa Claus."
"I hope that you won't think I'm guilty by association," Bri commented, closing the distance between them. She shrugged her shoulders when he gave her a questioning look. "I heard that in a police station once, when I got arrested."
"You've been arrested?" Mike asked.
"Way too many times," Bri chuckled nervously. She couldn't believe how easy he was to talk to. There was genuine concern on his handsome face, no sign of judgment at all in his caring blue eyes. She was beginning to understand how easily Lexi had fallen for him.
"Not much fun, is it?" Mike asked as he leaned his hips against the driver's side door. He already knew the answer, remembering how he felt when he had been arrested for arsons he didn't commit.
"Nope, but they fed me and gave me a blanket. That was more than my pimp did for me, at times."
"I'm sorry for what you've been through, Bri. I'm glad that it's all behind you now," he said.
"I don't know if it's all behind me. I've still got a lot of issues, especially about men in uniforms."
"Oh?" the fireman asked, wondering if his own department blues had caused her any alarm.
"Yea, let's just say that I got arrested several times, but I didn't always get booked into the jail. A lot of times, I was taken to a secluded area of the county and… the arresting officers… um… called it negotiating the terms of my release, but… I called it something else."
"Did you report the rapes?" he asked, knowing that she had not given herself willingly to those men who took advantage of her when they were sworn to protect and serve.
Bri hung her head, surprised by her own boldness to share this with him. But he had shared intimate details with her, so she wanted to return the favor, to earn his trust. "Nu-uh… who would've believed me - a street whore - over well-respected cops?"
"I would've," Mike replied, never missing a beat.
"That's one of the things that makes you so special, Mike," she said, reaching up and wrapping her arms around his neck, then placing a quick kiss on his cheek without even thinking about what she was doing. "Thank you for bringing me here. I really appreciate it… and I appreciate you," she said, taking a step back, feeling a warm blush coloring her cheeks.
Mike was stunned by her display, but even more surprised by how the brief physical contact and the words of gratitude made him feel better about himself. "Take care and stay in touch," he called over his shoulder as he opened the door of his pick-up.
Bri stepped away from the truck, watching him back out of the driveway. She slipped her fingers into the back pockets of her jeans, smiling as she turned around go back into the Lopez home. But movement in an upstairs window caught her attention. The sight of Lexi staring down at her with a look of betrayal on her face as she closed the window and quickly vanished let Bri know that her friend had seen the exchange between Bri and Mike… and Lexi obviously didn't approve.
E!
