Chapter 7 – Lexi
seven
Lexi
I walk into the kitchen wearing my silk robe, my hair wrapped in a towel on the top of my head, wet from the shower. “Good morning,” I greet when I spot Trent sitting at the island with a bowl of yogurt and fruit in front of him.
“Morning,” he replies and I stop by his chair to kiss him. I wait a full minute before he realizes I’m here and then chastely kisses me. “You’re up late.”
I press the side of my phone and see it’s a little after seven thirty, before placing it on the top of the island.
“I know, it feels like I’ve wasted the morning away.
” I open the fridge to grab my homemade almond milk before heading over to the coffee maker.
“Chelsea couldn’t teach me this morning so I decided to sleep in.
” I pour the coffee in my cup and then add a splash of the milk to it, taking a sip. “It was glorious.”
The phone rings from the counter and I see it’s my father calling.
A picture of me and him, side by side, both of us smiling at my mother who was taking the picture.
“Good God, why is he calling so early?” Trent huffs and I reject the call, sending it straight to voicemail.
Not really wanting to answer it in front of him anyway, since he likes to sit down and time how long I talk to my family members.
“He knows I wake up early and I usually get busy during the day, so it’s the best time for us to talk.”
He rolls his eyes. “He’s always in your business, it’s overbearing,” he grumbles and I take another sip of coffee, but it tastes bitter in my mouth.
“Thank God we only have to see them a couple of times a year.” I put the cup down on the counter.
“You’re lucky I love you so much.” He laughs, pushing away from the island and leaving his plate there before grabbing his suit jacket and shrugging it on.
“Don’t forget we have dinner tonight with Bernie and his wife. ” He mentions his best friend.
“I know, at seven, right?”
“Yes.” He pulls his shirt cuff out of the sleeve and then goes to the next one. “The last time you dressed a little, how should I say this without hurting your feelings? It was a little slutty,” he declares and my eyebrows pinch together. “So how about tonight you dress better?”
“What are you talking about?” I ask him, remembering I wore a one-piece beige dress with little cap sleeves.
The front had a pleated skirt and, sure, it was above my knees but slutty is a stretch.
It went up to my neck. I didn’t even give off a hint of cleavage.
“Joyce said she loved the outfit and went out the next day to buy one for herself.”
He laughs at the statement. “She said that to your face, but in the end, she probably was talking about you to her friends.” I shake my head, looking down at my coffee that looks light brown because I didn’t put much almond milk in there so that I could limit the calories added in it.
“How about we go into your closet now and choose an outfit?”
He turns and makes his way into my bedroom and into my closet. He opens one of the closet doors and then the other. He takes out one of my tight beige skirts with a slit on the side and then tosses it to the side. “When did you buy that?” he mentions of the skirt.
“My aunt bought that for me,” I tell him, my aunt Zara owns Zara’s Closet and to this day she sends me clothes once a month that she thinks I would look amazing in. She does it for everyone, but I always look forward to it.
“Figures,” he mumbles, and for the first time ever, tears well up in my eyes.
I blink them away as fast as they came before he pulls out a light-pink skirt that is very loose and then walks over to the hanging shirts and pulls out a white silk button-down top.
“There, this is perfect, don’t you think? ”
“Yes,” I agree softly, “it’s very pretty.” He hangs it on the stand in the corner. “What shoes do you want me to wear with it?”
“Nude pumps would work and use the new Hermes bag I bought you.”
“Okay,” I say softly.
He comes over and wraps his arm around my waist. “You’re the best,” he says softly and I look up at him, “and you know we have to put our best foot forward.” I nod. “One of these days I’m going to be the head of the hospital, and I don’t want anyone to have a bad thing to say about my wife.”
“Of course.” I brush away the little piece of lint from his jacket. “I’ll try not to wear any foundation tonight”—I look up at him, eyes searching his—“to make sure I don’t get it on your shirt. You probably didn’t notice it on your shirt last week. You were probably busy and running out.”
“Yeah,” he says and I see his eyes change and then he smiles. “I should get going, I’m going to be late.”
“Have a nice day.” I look up at him and he kisses my lips.
“You know, maybe we should go away,” he suggests. “After you finish with the fundraiser, we should go away to St. Barts or something.”
“That would be nice,” I admit to him and he lets me go and walks out of my closet. I hear his shoes on the tile floor before the garage door shuts.
I exhale deeply and turn to walk out of the bedroom and back to grab my phone to dial my father. He answers after one ring. “Hi, baby girl,” he says softly, “how you doing today?”
“I’m good.” I push down everything and act like I’m fine. “Sorry I missed your call. I was in the shower.”
“No worries, I was just calling to check up on you. The family vacation is not the same without you here.” I close my eyes, trying not to think that I’m missing another family vacation.
“It just didn’t fit into Trent’s schedule, and I’m knee-deep in this fundraiser that’s happening next week. I just couldn’t leave,” I explain. “Is everyone there?”
“Yeah,” he says. “Your sister is here with the twins and one of them is sick, so we’re trying to help her out.”
I smile and the lone tear escapes my eye. “I am going to check and see when I’ll be able to go and visit her.”
“Yeah, she said it’s been a while since she spoke with you.” I know he wants to say more but he’s stopping himself.
“It’s hard with the time zones and stuff, but I’ll make more of an effort,” I assure him. “I have to go get ready so that I can be at the hospital by ten.”
“Okay, sweetheart, I love you.”
“I love you too, Dad. Give a kiss to Mom for me.”
“I will,” he says and I quickly hang up the phone. I wish I still had social media so I could see some of the pictures from vacation, but after we got married, Trent thought it was good for us to be off social media.
I walk over to the fridge and take out an egg. I think about making myself a bagel with the poached egg, but then I think of the fundraiser next week and instead grab the bag of spinach.
I pick up the phone as I sit down to eat, bringing up the auction group chat I have going.
Me:
Good morning, gentlemen, today is video day. Don’t forget to be there at the time you signed up for to make this run smoothly. I have a camera crew setting up, starting at nine thirty. See you all later.
I put my phone down and take a bite of my egg when my phone buzzes. I look down to see Kirby has answered me privately. I know it’s him because he is the only one who I stored under Bachelor Auction.
Bachelor Auction:
Not sure if it matters or not, but the guys moved around their times. Here is the revised copy. See you at three.
I look at the list, seeing he’s the last one for the day. I respond to his text.
Me:
Thank you. See you then.
I finish eating my breakfast before heading back to the bathroom.
Pulling the towel from my hair, I apply leave-in conditioner in it.
It takes me an hour to do my hair and makeup before I walk into my closet and pick up the skirt he tossed to the side.
I hold it in my hand for a couple of minutes before I open the closet and put it back inside.
Even though I know I can never wear it with him, I don’t want to donate it.
I push it to the back of the closet before closing it and heading over to my pants.
I move the hangers across the rod until I settle on a pair of dark-blue pants.
Shedding my robe, I then slip the pants on.
I walk over to the blouse closet, grabbing a blue silk one with long sleeves, and a sash around my neck to tie into a bow.
I tuck it in and button the blue button with the silver ring around it.
The blue of the shirt makes my blue eyes pop even more.
I’m the only one of the three of us who got the blue eyes.
My sister, Zara, has green eyes exactly like my mother, and Matty, my brother, is the stamp of my father with brown hair and brown eyes.
I smile thinking of them and missing them a little bit more today.
I tuck my hair behind my ears before sliding on my royal-blue shoes with a chunky heel. Nothing too high since I’ll probably be standing the whole time. When I pull up to the hospital, I reach over and grab the two shopping bags I have on the passenger seat.
I move my hip to the side to slam the door shut before walking into the hospital, heading straight for the office set up for the fundraising committee. I open the office door and put my purse down on the desk before turning back toward the conference room, where the camera crew is setting up.
“Good morning,” I greet them as I see the cameraman adjusting the height of his camera.
“I brought snacks.” I put the bags that are in my hands on top of the table, taking the boxes out of the bags and setting them up.
“I got some pastries and some muffins,” I tell them.
“There is juice and water as well.” I take the bottles out of the second bag. “Please help yourself.”