Grandpa’s abandoned TV station had long been forgotten, not only by our family, but by the entire world. Apparently there was a caretaking company who went by once every few months to look in on it, but that was all. I’d only met my grandfather a handful of times as he was always traveling, and he’d never mentioned his station once.
The sprawling land consisted of ample parking lots, two massive storage and set building structures, and the studio building. It had been set up in the sixties and seventies for everything from children’s shows to game shows to local news. It was a relic from a previous era.
But the neighborhood had taken some downturns over the years, and the once promising area was now nothing but warehouses, some mechanic shops, and a low income apartment complex near the highway.
When Grandpa passed away three years ago, Gary, Darlene and I had quickly toured the outside of the property and decided to leave it alone until the neighborhood perked up again.
Then last year a flower nursery and a couple of artist cafés brought a bit of new life to the area. Gary started looking into the mechanics of selling it at the same time Darlene began looking into the details of what it would take to fulfill the terms of the Will. Those were a little tricky.
I had attempted to stay out of it, but their plans went sideways on me the second I saw Alice.
I couldn’t even put a finger on what it was about her. She was so delicate, and clearly stronger than she looked.
She was soft-spoken, but wouldn’t take crap from me. She teased me. I’d always been such a big guy that nobody would dare do that. But she did. I loved that.
Alice was just wonderful in every way. Her energy made me feel lighter. Hopeful. Like I hadn’t wrecked my life by being a shady bodyguard back in the day. Like it was safe to lower my defences.
I loved Alice so much already and I knew I was going to smother her, spoil her, give her too much attention. Hopefully we could work out a way to make her be all right with that.
Pacing around the house like a caged animal, I need to burn a bit more time before leaving. It was impossible not to picture Alice in my home.
I’d never really thought of sharing my space before, but now it filled me with curiosity and excitement. Would she want to redecorate? Would she want to move things around? Where would she want to study?
Walking through the house again, I went through it with a more critical eye, trying to find spaces that Alice could make her own. There was plenty of room in the walk-in closet to set up one of those makeup tables with lights. There was a whole shelf in the bathroom that she could take over.
And I knew the perfect place where she could keep her books and
whatever she needed to study for school.
Now all I had to do was talk her into moving in and spending her life with me. Given that she’d just walked out and was furious with me, that might be tough.
13
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Alice
After an hour and a half spent calming myself among the stacks of books at the library, I took the bus to the therapist’s office. As I got off, I looked up to see Taylor’s car in the parking lot right in front of me.
He instantly ran over and draped a coat around my shoulders, taking my hands in his to rub them briskly. “Be angry with me. Yell at me. But please let me take care of you instead of wandering around out in the cold.”
His sweet gesture was touching, but I had so much to say that I knew I should wait until we were inside. I wanted to nuzzle my head into his chest, so he would throw his arms around me. I wanted to look up into those warm eyes, and see how much he cared.
But my anger wouldn’t let me. It felt like there was a wall between us that I couldn’t just ignore.
I turned to go into the small medical building, and we walked into the office of Dr. Gretchen Henry.
“I’m so glad you came,” she said warmly, shaking our hands and ushering us into what looked more like a cozy living room than an office. We were seated on a couch that was so small that it forced us to be close together.
Looking around at the warm, comfortable colors, the flower arrangement, and the soft lighting, I couldn’t help thinking that the room was its own kind of set. A space for people to let down their walls.
“So, Alice, Taylor, please just call me Gretchen. I’d like to start off by thanking you for coming today. The fact that you’re both open to working on your relationship is admirable.”
Taylor’s fingers were tapping nervously on his knee, as his eyes darted around the corners of the room, as if searching for the cameras.
For the first time on this crazy show, I felt exposed. Pretending to buy a car or a house was just a silly game. Pretending to be a married couple was much more serious. Almost disrespectful of the entire institution of marriage. Pretending to be a married couple in trouble, well, that was just too much.
“Alice, would you like to begin?” Gretchen asked. “Please share why you’re here today.”