Part 12 (1/2)
”Sarah, this is Heidi.” Even with Alex's introduction, Heidi continued to hover over him. ”We used to live in the same building before I bought my house.”
”Which you've never invited me to see.” Heidi pouted prettily.
Alex cleared his throat and looked from Heidi to Sarah and back. ”Sometime, Heidi, I promise.”
”All right.” Heidi sighed and squeezed his shoulder in a way that made Sarah grit her teeth. ”But you promised. You heard him, didn't you, Sarah?”
”I certainly did.” Even to herself, her voice sounded faint.
”See? Sarah's my witness,” Heidi said. ”Well, Lex, I've got to run. It was great seeing you again. Call me ... my number's the same!”
With a swirl of auburn hair, Heidi slipped off into the crowd. Sarah kept her eyes fixed on the tray she was unloading. She refused to look at Alex. She wasn't going to make a scene, though the other woman had obviously been flirting.
”This burger looks great!” Alex enthusiastically tore open the grease-stained paper. ”Thanks, Sarah.”
”No problem.” She forced the lightness.
She nibbled her burger, though it sank like a stone into her stomach. Seeing Alex with the gorgeous Heidi hadn't done a lot for her appet.i.te. It was too bad, too, because the burger really did look great.
”I haven't seen Heidi since I moved into my house.” He sounded too casual. He washed down a handful of fries with some of his soda.
”Hmm.”
”I hardly even know her.”
Now she met his gaze. ”You don't have to apologize for talking to someone else, even if she could be a supermodel.”
”Her? No way. She couldn't model with a paper bag on her head.”
His exaggerated comment brought a small smile to her lips. ”Alex, I'm not blind. She was gorgeous.”
Alex shook his head and grimaced. ”She's got a big b.u.t.t. Huge, in fact. And her left earlobe was bigger than the other one. Disgusting. I could hardly stand to look at her. She's a hag, a troll. She's a troglodyte, Sarah.” He shuddered.
Sarah's smile turned to a laugh. ”You have such a way with words.”
”That's me.” He had no pretense of modesty. ”Mr. Eloquent.”
”She called you Lex.” The fact no longer bothered her.
Alex made a strangled noise in his throat. ”Reason enough to despise her.
Sarah, she came over to me. I didn't ask her to sit down.”
”It doesn't matter.” It really didn't. ”I don't own you, Alex. We've only been
seeing each other a short time. We haven't even agreed not to see other people.”
”Do you want to see other people?”
Their food lay uneaten while Sarah thought about what to say. Her next words
could be a big deal. ”No.”
He let out a sigh of relief. ”Me neither.”
”Don't rush into this--”
He stopped her with a kiss. ”I'm not rus.h.i.+ng into anything. If something's
worth doing, it's worth doing right. And you, my lovely Ms. Lazin, are definitely worth doing.”
A thrill shot through her at his innuendo. ”You're bad, you know that?”
”But it's a good kind of bad.” He winked.
They just sat there for a moment longer and stared at each other. The silly grin plastered on his face was a mirror of hers, Sarah was sure. Suddenly, the mall didn't seem crowded at all. Suddenly, the only person she could see was Alex.
Alex was glad they had finished. By the time they'd eaten lunch, found a present for Rivka, and started making their way out of the mall, the crowds
had grown even larger. Getting out at last was a relief, though being forced into such close proximity with Sarah had its advantages. For one thing, he'd been able to link his fingers with hers at the merest excuse.
”Thanks again for coming with me, Alex.”
They'd finally managed to escape the hordes of shoppers. They had just broken out of the building and had paused on the sidewalk to breathe in air untainted by the sweat of bargain-hunters.
”My pleasure.”
It had been, too. Though he hated shopping, especially in the frou-frou, delicate sorts of shops she'd dragged him into, being with Sarah made even porcelain clowns seem bearable. Not that she'd bought a porcelain clown, of course, and thank G.o.d. As much as he liked her, seeing her plunk down good money for such an atrocity might have dimmed his estimation of her.
She'd bought Rivka a delicate six-pointed star of stained gla.s.s. In vivid shades of purple, red, green, and blue, the star would look beautiful in the front gallery window surrounded by the hues of Rivka's paintings. It was a perfect choice, one that had made him think Rivka wasn't the only sister with artistic talent.
”Oh, no,” Sarah protested when he voiced his thought aloud. ”I don't have an artistic cell in my body. I'm the pragmatic Lazin daughter. It's like that old joke about sisters, you know? She's the pretty one, and I'm the smart one.”
”Does that mean poor Rivka's ugly and stupid?” He liked to see her blush at his teasing.