Chapter Four #2
Accepting the video chat, Lexi watched as Eleanor’s wrinkled face appeared on the screen, then said to her cheerfully, “Hey, Eleanor.”
Eleanor, her snow-white hair in a tapered pixie cut, crinkled her brown eyes through horn-shaped glasses and said in a shaky voice, “Aloha, Lexi.”
“Is everything all right?” Lexi couldn’t help but ask her neighbor, who liked using terminology from her native Hawaii whenever she could.
“Not really.” Eleanor took off her glasses, rubbing an eye. “Actually, I’m not feeling too well. Just a bit under the weather, I think.”
“Sorry to hear that.” Lexi narrowed her gaze. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Actually, that’s why I’m calling…” Eleanor put her glasses back on. “I’m afraid I’m not up to attending my support group meeting this afternoon.” She paused. “I was wondering if you could sit in for me… It would mean so much…”
So that’s what this is all about, Lexi told herself.
She suspected that this may have been a well-meaning setup by Eleanor to get her to attend the group for people who had lost spouses.
Though she was reluctant to swallow the bait, with other things on her plate, Lexi couldn’t bring herself to say no.
“I’d be happy to go in your place, Eleanor,” she acquiesced.
“Oh, wonderful.” Eleanor’s face broke into a big grin. “I know you’ll fill in nicely in my absence.”
“Hope so.” Lexi smiled softly. “Just text me the address and I’ll be there.”
“Okay—and thanks again.”
“Not a problem,” Lexi promised.
After the video chat ended, she chuckled at the cleverness of her neighbor in finding a backdoor way to get her to attend the support group. Never mind that I’m nervous about the prospect of talking to strangers about losing my husband and coping with it, she told herself.
LEXI WALKED INTO the Owenne Community Center on North Forty-Second Street, not quite sure what to expect.
Yes, she was familiar with bereavement support groups, knowing their mission was to help survivors deal with their grief and try to get past it with the strength-in-numbers approach.
It was more about just how comfortable she would be in that situation.
Maybe it would be too much and she would simply run right out the door.
When she stepped inside the small room with a big picture window, where the support group meeting was already under way, Lexi was hoping that she didn’t stand out like a sore thumb, with all eyes on her.
She noted that there were only four people present in the circle of chairs, which in and of itself caused her to relax a little more.
One was a slender, dark-skinned fortysomething woman with blond hair in a whisper pixie cut.
She was facing Lexi and speaking in a way that made Lexi believe she was leading the support group.
Next to her was a thin female with wavy red hair in a blunt cut.
Lexi imagined that she was in her early twenties and felt for her in that moment in losing a spouse at such a young age.
Sitting beside an empty brown armless accent chair was a medium-sized man in his seventies, with gray hair in an undercut quiff style and a mutton-chop beard.
Lexi could not see the face of a white male whose back was to her, but could tell that he was tall and slender, with raven-colored short hair, and was plainly dressed.
When the blond-haired woman noticed Lexi, she stopped talking and, after offering her a warm smile, said in a pleasant tone of voice, “Welcome. I’m Beatrice Hutchinson. Please have a seat and tell us your name.”
Lexi took the seat nearest to her, which happened to be right next to the man she had yet to see face-to-face. It was only when she looked into his intense gray-blue eyes that she recognized him, to her surprise.
Special Agent Cooper Reid.
He flashed her a crooked grin and said, seemingly as taken off guard as her, “Nice to see you again, Lexi.”
COOPER HAD TO admit that it had given him a start to see Lexi De La Garza walk in on the widowed support group.
He knew she was a widow—and perfectly suited to join them—having heard it directly from her own appealing lips.
But perhaps the last place he had expected to run into her again was there.
He himself had only been attending for the past six months, after hesitating to do so out of fear of feeling vulnerable in sharing his story of widowerhood.
Since then, he had grown more comfortable with the setting, though other people had come and gone during that time.
He wondered if they had seen the last of Eleanor Palakiko, who was a no-show for this afternoon’s gathering.
After Lexi said nervously, “Hi. I’m Lexi De La Garza. I hadn’t planned to be here, but I’m sitting in as a widow for my next-door neighbor, Eleanor Palakiko—”
Interesting. What a small world it’s turning out to be, Cooper thought, feeling even more engaged now that Lexi had joined the group—even if it was just a onetime appearance.
When she had laid out her loss without opening up any more than she was comfortable with, they went around the circle and everyone else did the same.
Cooper was just as moved at Lexi’s heartbreak as he imagined she was about his.
Both deserved a hell of a lot better when it came to matters of the heart and soul.
Maybe it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that they both could bounce back from it and find true love again.
After they disbanded and went outside, Cooper caught Lexi before she could get away, and asked hopefully, “Would you like to go for a drink?”
She met his gaze and seemed to think about it for a long moment, before responding in a gentle voice, “I’d love to.”
A grin played on his lips, as Cooper took that as a good sign that she was at least interested on some level in him, as he certainly was in her.