Chapter 17

Between Lovers

Chapter 17

© Lizzie 2003-present

 

            Once Jacob got to his Body Shop, he saw that the workers were already working. He pulled into his usual spot, walked to the office and sat behind his desk. He saw the receipts for three completed jobs, each totaling over two thousand dollars and smiled, ‘This is going to be one hell of a Christmas.’ he thought to himself. He put the receipts in their proper file folder, grabbed the large ring of keys and walked out to the back garages. After pulling the cars out for the other workers to begin on, he got to work on Alexandria’s car. The day before, he finished the first part of banging out the dent in the driver side door and there were still two more parts along with fixing the scratch on the trunk.

            At around one, Jacob broke for lunch. He went to his office and checked out the food that was ordered. He decided that he didn’t want the turkey/chicken salad mixture that Rosie, his receptionist was so fond of ordering from the local deli. ‘I wonder what Alex is doing for lunch…’ he thought to himself. He pulled out the business card she’d given him earlier, picked up his office phone and tried the cell phone number.

            “This is Lexi, I’m either in class, in a meeting or my phone is off for some reason. Leave a message after the beep and I’ll call you back at my earliest convenience.”

            The beep sounded and Jacob left his message, “Alex, its Jake. I was wondering if you had plans for lunch, but I guess you’re still in class. If you get this before two, call me and we’ll meet up.” He hung up the phone, picked it up again and took a chance called Alexandria’s father’s house.

            The phone rang three times before someone picked up, “Bradshaw Residence.”

            “I’m looking to get a hold of Alexandria.” Jacob said. There was a pause and Jacob could hear talking in the background.

            The person came back to the phone, “One moment please.” the lady said.

She spoke quickly to another person and the phone was handed to someone else, “Hello? Who is this?” the other person asked.

“Jacob Cartwright.” he said, “Can you please tell me…”

The person cut Jacob off, “Jake, how did you get this number?”

Jacob was confused, “Do I know you?” when the person laughed, Jacob knew who he was talking with, “Catty, what are you doing there?”

“I asked the question first.” Catherine said, “How did you get this number?”

“Alexandria gave it to me this morning.”

“How exactly did you come to be in Alexandria’s company this morning?”

“Funny thing…she actually came to me, but yesterday.”

Catherine gasped, “Tell me she’s not the one you had the date with?”

“Okay, I won’t tell you.” Jacob said, “I just need to know where she’s at since her cell phone isn’t on.”

Catherine was stunned. She never would have thought that Jacob would have a chance with Alexandria for one date, let alone for her to give him her father’s number, “She’s umm, at the Dance Studio on Fifty-first.” Catherine stammered, “She’s usually in the large studio on the third floor.”

“Thank you Catherine.” Jacob said

Right before he was about to hang up Catherine spoke up, “It would be best if you didn’t call here again. Erik is going to be here for the next two or three days and as you probably know, he and Alexandria don’t get on well.”

Jacob nodded his head as if he could be seen, “I’ll remember that. See you next Saturday at the Nolan house.”

“Next Saturday.” Catherine said before the line went dead.

Jacob hung his phone up, grabbed his jacket and keys before walking out of his office, “Rosie, I’ll be gone for a couple of hours. If it starts snowing again, lock up everything and close.”

“Okay, Mr. Cartwright.” Rosie said before going back to working on the books in front of her.

Jacob walked out to his car, got in and headed to the Dance Studio. Fifteen minutes later he found the right building, pulled into the parking lot, parked in the first spot he saw, walked towards the building and went inside. He walked to the elevator, pushed the up button and the doors opened. He walked in, the doors closed behind him and he pushed the button for the third floor. The elevator lurched to a stop and the doors opened. He walked down the hall, looking in the different studios to see if he could spot Alexandria before she spotted him.

He got to the last studio, looked in the room and saw Alexandria, another man and another woman in the room. He leaned again the doorframe and watched Alexandria and the man move together to Irish sounding music. The woman present sat in a chair tapping her foot to the beat of the music. Occasionally she would call out something and Alexandria and her partner would change what they were doing.

The man picked Alexandria up, spun her once over his head and placed her back on the floor. She did a spin and stopped when she saw Jacob. He couldn’t tell if she was happy to see him, but then she smiled and walked to him, “Roman…Cherry, let’s take five.” The man nodded his head and walked over to the other woman.

“Surprised to see me?” Jacob asked

“Yes, but a welcome one.” Alexandria said

“I called your cell phone the voicemail picked up.” he said lifting a hand and wiping some hair from her face.

“I turn it off during my rehearsals.” she said

“I figured as much.” he said, “So I called your house and Catty told me where you were.”

Alexandria laughed, “I bet she was surprised to hear from you.”

“She was. I’m sure she’ll be calling to ask you about it.” he said. he looked back into the studio, “I hope I wasn’t interrupting something…”

“I was just about to quit for the day.” Alexandria said, “Lunch calls and then I was going to run through some music for my interview.”

“Would you like company for lunch?” Jacob asked

Alexandria thought a moment, then smiled, “If you can get the rest of the day off, meet me at three thirty at Ye Ole Time Books and Coffee by my place. You do know where that’s at right?”

Jacob laughed, “Passed it on the way to work this morning.”

“Then I’ll meet you there at three thirty?” she asked

“Make it three forty-five and it’s a date.”

            “It’s a date.” She leaned over and lightly kissed his lips, “I’ll see you then.” she turned and walked back into the studio. Jacob smiled and headed back to the elevator.