His Hired Girlfriend (12 page)

Alex widens her eyes in
shock. “What?”

Damn! There, not so nicely
after all.

“
I’ll be the honored
guest? The party is to welcome me?” she queries, pointing a finger
at herself.

“
Yup. To introduce you to
the neighborhood,” he says, giving her the apologetic
look.

Alex swallows. “Right. So
I will have to make an appearance?”

“
You’ll be
fine.”

Alex chews on her lower lip as they approach the others.
Yeah, she sure hopes she’ll be okay.

* * *

N
ine

How does one work this
blasted thing?
Alex wonders
as she stares at
her
Blackberry. She searches through the
menu, finds the call section, and starts dialing. She brings the
Blackberry to her ear and waits as the ringing noise
continues.

A moment later, she hears her brother’s voice
saying,
“Hello, Tim
speaking.”

Alex smiles. “Hey, Tim,
it’s me.”

“
Alex?”
A
chuckle.
“Man, you sound
weird and so far away.”

“
Of course I’m far away.
I’m in America.” Her stomach knots. Gosh, she misses her family
already.

“
You got there all right,
huh?”

“
Yeah, I’m here safe and
sound.”

“
Cool.”

“
Hey, how’s Mum and Dad?”
she asks, wondering if her dad is taking things easy or is he up to
his old, stubborn self again and working hard.

“
Dad is taking things
easy. Mum makes sure of that.”

Alex sighs with relief.
“That’s good. Is Mum there?”

“
Yeah. Hold on a
sec.”

A few seconds later, Alex hears her mum’s voice through the
phone.
“Hey, sweetheart. Glad
to hear your voice. I’m worried, you know. I know you’re a big girl
now. Your dad’s doing well. I make sure he eats. He went to see Dr.
Johnston today. He said your dad is making good
progress.”

“
I’m glad to hear
that.”

There’s a knock at the
door. Alex glances up and sees Kelly poking her head in. “Hey, are
you ready?”

“
Hold on a sec. Just
talking to Mum.”

“
Okay
,” Kelly says,
walking into the room and takes a seat on the side of the bed.
“Take your time.” She picks up a sports magazine on the bedside
table and flicks through it.

Alex turns her attention
back to the Blackberry.

“
Mum, I’m glad Dad is
doing well. I hope he’ll recover fully when I return. Anyways, love
you and Dad and everyone at home. Miss you already. Bye
now.”

“
All right, sweetheart.
You look after yourself. Love you.”

Alex grins and then
terminates the call. “I can’t believe I miss them
already.”

Kelly throws the magazine
down and pats Alex’s arm. “Sounds like you really love your
family.”

Alex nods. “More than
anything.”

Kelly cocks her head to one side as though she’s
considering something serious. She stands up. “Come on, missy.” She
pulls Alex to her feet and leads her out the door. “I hope you’re
not upset with Beth.”

Alex shakes her head. She
knows Beth doesn’t like her, but she’s not going to dwell on
that.

“
Nope, of course not,” she
replies, thinking back when Beth asked her numerous questions about
her personal life. Everything seems to fall back to her financial
status.

“
I think she’s just
watching out for Jay.”

Kelly glances at Alex with
interest. She laughs; that rich, smooth sound belongs to a woman
who lives her life to the fullest and is afraid of
nothing.

“
Yeah, she is,” Kelly says
with a hint of doubt in her voice.

Alex wonders if Beth truly
is that worried about Jay’s love life. Does she think it’s her duty
to find the right woman for him? Well, Alex could safely conclude
she is not the girl for Jayden in Beth’s eyes.

Alex once again couldn’t help marveling at the richness of
this gigantic house and the people who live in it. She is quite
stoked she has the chance to know them and stay with
them.

“
I hope at least one of my
dresses will fit you,” Kelly comments. “Silly of Jayden not to tell
you to bring dresses and gowns. After all, the party was his
idea.”

Alex opens her mouth as if she is about to say something.
But of course being shocked as she is right then, she couldn’t
think of what to say. Oh, my God! Jayden planned the party for her?
What the heck for? And he never bothers to mention it to her all
those times they chatted on Facebook? She’d have to ask him when
she sees him next. She doesn’t like parties, even normal parties
back home, either the BBQ type that mainly involves families and
close friends, or the loud parties some of her acquaintances threw.
Often she is so shy and so tongue-tied she never makes good
conversations with anyone—especially guys. If she gets invited to a
party, she’d be there at most half an hour, unless her family
happens to be there, and then she’d be out the door before anyone
catches her.

Kelly also said gown with the big “S” at the end. Gowns?
Does she mean evening gowns? Are there going to be cocktail parties
and the likes?

Uh-oh! This is going a bit too far, and here she was
thinking she’d only be here for a couple of weeks so he’d get off
the hook from matchmaking and marriage.

“
Whoa! This is very nice,”
she says once they are inside Kelly’s huge, elegant
bedroom.

“
Thanks,” Kelly replies, frowning slightly. She’s thinking
she must talk to Jay about what his real relationship with Alex is.
Who is she really? Where is she from? What happened to Sarah
Taylor? Since he returned, he had never once spoken of Sarah. Then
there was this morning. She thought Jay and Sarah were back
together after their fight, but instead of seeing the demanding
Sarah at the front door, she saw Alex. How confusing everything is.
She must admit though that Jay and Alex look good together. She
knows Alex would never hurt Jay the way Sarah had.
That,
she bets with her Louis Vuitton bag which cost her at least
a grand.

“
Okay,” Kelly says, strolling toward the walk-in wardrobe.
“Let’s see what I have that fits you.”

Alex clamps her lips together nervously as she follows
Kelly. The first thing that comes into her mind is that the
wardrobe is bigger than her parents’ master bedroom back home, and
only then does the
Oh, my
God
kick in.

Kelly has thousands of
clothes—designer brands. She wouldn’t be surprised if those
so-called “fashion boutiques” in Dunedin blush in shame when
compare with Kelly’s wardrobe.

Alex’s eyes are large with
wonder as she touches and gazes at the beautiful clothes. She feels
like she’s a child in a candy store.

Kelly goes through the
many dresses that are hung along one side of the wall. “Which one?”
she mutters to herself as she expertly inspects each one in turn.
“You’re smaller than I am, so I don’t know if there’s anything. But
of course I do sometimes wear a size smaller than I am. What size
are you anyway?” She turns to look at Alex. “And don’t just stand
there. Come here and help me pick.”

Alex hesitates. She
doesn’t want to mess up Kelly’s perfectly arranged clothing, even
though she wants to explore.

Kelly shakes her head at
Alex’s lack of response. She grabs Alex by the wrist and says,
“Wherever you’re from and whatever your relationship with my
brother is, I don’t care. I’m going to dress you up, and that is
that.”

Alex’s heart does a
startled kick. “What do you mean?”

Kelly bites her lip for saying too much
. Damn!
“Nothing,” she says quickly. “If I guess rightly, you’re a
size zero.”

“
What? I’m not a size
zero. I’m a size eight.”

“
No, you’re not. You’re a
size zero.”

“
Eight.”

“
Zero. Look at you. You’re
so slim. You’re a zero.”

Alex cocks her head to one
side. A size zero? That is truly ludicrous. Unless they have
different size system here in America. That makes sense
then.

“
Okay
, I’m whatever
size you’re saying,” she agrees.

Kelly nods in satisfaction
and turns to pick a green day dress. She brings it out and shows it
to Alex.

“
What do you
think?”

Alex touches the silk fabric. It’s smooth and soft under
her fingers. She loves the tiny frills and the pleats that gather
to one side of the shoulder. It reminds her of a Greek Empire
dress, only this one has less fabric, is shorter, and in a pale
leaf green instead of pure white or gold. She’s already falling in
love with it. She could never afford anything this
elegant.

“
I can tell you really
like it.”

Alex glances at Kelly.
“Are you sure you don’t mind? But what are you going to
wear?”

Kelly laughs out loud at
that remark. “You silly girl, I have hundreds of dresses I can
wear. Now, try it on.”

“
Now?”

“
Of course now,” Kelly
demands, striding out the door. “Hurry up. We don’t have much time.
We have to do your makeup as well.” She closes the wardrobe
door.

Alex quickly undresses
herself and puts on the dress. Once done, she hesitantly scrambles
to the full length mirror and stares at herself.

“
Oh, my God,” she breathes. This is her? She looks
different. She looks pretty. Gently, she touches the frills on the
dress and smiles.

“
Are you ready yet?” Kelly
bursts in.

Alex quickly turns to look
at the laughing intruder.

“
Well, well. You know, I
never look good in that dress. But on you, you’re a different story
altogether. Jay’s going to love this. I hope he knows how to
breathe properly when he sees a pretty woman.”

“
Why would he love this?”
Alex asks naively.

Kelly laughs as she drags
her back into the bedroom. “Time for your makeup.”

“
Oh, right,” Alex responds
as she is gently pushed into the seat in front of the
mirror.

* * *

Jayden never thought Beth would interrogate Alex as though she were
a suspect in a murder case. Alex keeps looking at him for guidance
every time Beth fires a question at her.

What does your dad do? What does your mom do? How many
siblings do you have?
What’s
your plan for the future? Where is New Zealand? What’s your
financial status? How many boyfriends have you had before you met
Jay?

As if any of that is important, Jay thinks gloomily. He
rests his head against the back of the sofa and closes his eyes.
He
can feel a headache
coming.

Poor Alex. Why is he
dragging her into his problems? What the hell is wrong with
him?

“
Heard your girlfriend has
finally arrived,” a voice says at the door.

Jay flashes his eyes open to see his dad, Tom McCartney,
standing there with his hands in the pockets of his trousers. Tall,
brown hair, and grey eyes—and right then dressed in a Zegna suit—he
looks handsome and powerful. He must have just returned from the
McCartney Grand Hotel.

“
Hey, Dad,” he greets.
“Yeah, Alex is here.”

Tom comes to sit beside
his son. “You don’t look too happy.”

Jay thinks his dad could
say that again. “Beth.”

“
Ah, Beth,” Tom says as if
that explains everything. “Has she mentioned Britney
yet?”

“
Yeah. I hope she realizes it’s not going to
happen.”

“
Don’t you mind Beth.
She’s only watching out for your future. A perfect
granddaughter-in-law means everything to her. And you know how much
she wants great-grandchildren.”

“
Yeah,” Jay replies. He
suddenly feels guilt mounting in his chest. Beth wants
great-grandchildren. It is his pleasure to provide her some. He
loves her despite her controlling ways.

“
There you
are,”
Gracie says from the door. “The two most important men in my life.”
She waltzes into the room and kisses her husband smack on the lips.
“I’ve missed you today.”

“
I’ve missed you, too,”
Tom replies.

“
The guests are
arriving.”

“
Already?” Jay mutters. He wonders if he should’ve cancelled
the welcoming party. Shit!
Double shit!
He knows
Alex is not prepared for this. After all, she was hardly prepared
for Granny Beth’s spiteful ways. He thanks God for Gracie’s
understanding. She seems to like Alex.

“
Don’t worry, honey,
everything is in order,” Gracie says. “Come along.” She drags Tom
by the arm and leads him to the door.