UNINVITED

Chapter 10

    

“Is everything all right?”

     Swiftly, I turned around and faced Alec.
His brawny arm was over the back of the sofa, and he had reclined in his seat.

     I bobbed my head. “Yeah.”

     The waitress walked over to us again and collected the chinawares. “Should I get you anything else?”

     “I’m good,” I said.

     “Me too,” Alec drawled.

     “All right.” She packed up the plates and disappeared just like she had appeared.

     I sighed.

     Alec cocked his head and stared at me. Our eyes met when I looked at him. Trying to avoid his stare, I sat up, but we only ended up making another contact. He brushed his leg with mine. Accidentally.

     “Sorry,” he cooed.

     I pushed backward, sinking into the booth. “It’s fine.”

     “She’s wonderful, isn’t she?” he said.

     I knew quickly she was talking about his wife. “Yes, she is,” I murmured. I wanted to add that he was also wonderful, but there was no way of saying it without sounding flirtatious.

     He toyed with the strands of the napkin in front of him. “She’s the greatest thing that’s happened in my life, you know.”

     It almost sounded cliché. Tom had said that to me over and over. Plus, I’d heard it so many times on TV. Normally, actions speak louder than words. And it worked with the Bergers. I knew he meant what he said because he showed it too. Suddenly I imagined a horrible scene of him beating up his wife. I erased it. Why was I being so cruel? Alec would never hurt Amy, even in my worst nightmare. Was I wrong?

     I had thought Tom would never hurt me in the past. Thought he loved me too much to hurt me. Thought he was a gentleman until he started slapping my face and pushing me so hard that I broke a rib.

     People changed. Tom did. He changed for the worse. I wasn’t sure Alec would. But you couldn’t tell if someone would turn into a monster overnight. The brutal truth was that we never really know anybody. People weren’t static bodies that remained the same forever. They changed, and the change could sometimes be astounding. How could such a sweet caring family man turn into a monster in the blink of an eye? No easy answer there. My brain cells were numb from the countless times I had tried to come up with a suitable answer.

     But somehow I wished people were static. At least with a cat, I was rest assured of my safety. If Clara changed for the worse, I was sure she wouldn’t try to kill me.

     “I can tell she is. You really love her?” Stupid question, I thought.

     He said hastily, “With every fiber of my being.”

     His response was too terse, it sounded like he was obsessed with her and would do everything in his power to keep her. Was it obsession or love? Maybe both? I wondered what he’d do if Amy ever left him. Alec was a mystery just like his wife. The Bergers were by far the most mysterious couple I had encountered. Most of my friends had marriages that were easy to guess what was happening. You didn’t have to guess sometimes. They would just tell you—good and bad.

     But with the Bergers, there wasn’t any hint. Nothing you could stand on to surmise one or two. We sat for a couple of minutes. Then my mind screamed; what’s keeping her so long?