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roses.
James reached for the roses and removed the
simple card attached to the ribbon that bound them
together.
"I'm sorry if I scared or hurt you," read James aloud.
"James," asked Alex.
James heard the frightened tone in her voice and
wanted desperately to hold and comfort her.
As
he looked up, he saw that the color had faded from
her face and the scared tone of voice had moved to
her eyes.
"That's it, you're going home and you're not
working after hours anymore," James declared.
"You're here, I'm not alone and I refuse to allow you
to tell me what to do.
I will do as I please,
James.
I didn't lock the door after Morgan left and
that's my fault.
Obviously, whoever it was feels
bad about it and wanted to apologize.
I have to
admit that it's bad timing considering, but he may
not want to get into trouble or get fired.”
"He should be fired or worse, Alex.
He should
never have touched you.
I can make this worse by
taking it to Jeff again.
I don't want to have to
worry about you.”
"Then don't," interrupted Alex icily.
She stood
there glaring at James as if he was her attacker.
"I
don't want or need a babysitter, James.
I want to
be able to come and go and do my damn job.
If
you have a problem with that, then maybe you
should have been here when I was hired.”
The color had returned to her face and the fire in
her eyes should have burnt down the building.; he
thought she looked glorious standing there fighting
him.
He couldn't blame her for wanting to do
things her way, but he couldn't let her jeopardize
herself.
"I can't let you do it, Alex.
There's no way, I won't
let you stay after hours anymore.
Please don't
make me pull rank," James pleaded not wanting to
further isolate her from him.
Alex grabbed the flowers and threw them in the
garbage.
"That is how much, I think of this
subject," she spit out, pointing to the garbage, "I
will do what I want, when I want and I will not let
anyone dictate their rules to me again.
Do I make
myself clear, Mr. O'Reilly?"
James stood there in shock at the tone in her
voice.
He didn't know exactly what she was mad
about anymore, but it was clear that it just wasn't
about the attack.
Alex grabbed her coat and purse
and again charged out of the office, wishing like hell
she hadn't come to Ashmore Valley.
"Maybe Tad was right," she said to herself as she
got into her car.

Chapter 5
The phone was ringing off the hook when she
walked in the door.
A glance at the answering
machine noted three messages as she reached for
the cordless on the coffee table.
"Hello," she answered.
"Where have you been," asked the voice on the
other end.”
"At work, Tad, that's why I'm here. "
"You're there to escape me, I thought. "
"Tad, don't do this again," she pleaded, realizing he
had or was drinking.
"So, how is life in the primordial soup?"
"Not that you really care, but fine.
I'm really
enjoying myself," she lied.
"That's great, I guess you won't be coming home
anytime soon then.”
"Tad, look, we talked about this.
I really need this
time to branch out and be independent.
Why
can't you understand that?"
"Because I love you; and I don't want you so far
away from me.
You belong here, not in some
backwater town catering to some filthy, backwater
rednecks," he bit out acidly.
Alex sighed at the familiar argument.
She truly
didn't want to argue with Tad, especially over the
phone.
Tad heard the sigh at the other end and knew that
he was pushing the right buttons.
He truly didn't
think Alex should be independent from him and was
determined to get her back at any cost.
He down
his fourth glass of scotch and moved in for the kill.
"Alex, I'm sorry, if I sound selfish.
I always thought
we'd be together forever.
Not apart, in two
different cities.
Do you forgive me," he begged.
"Of course, I do Tad.
But you know our
agreement.
Give it a year.
I'll be home then,"
she promised.
"No you won't," he said petulantly.”
"Yes, I will Tad.
This is just a breather. "
Tad gulped down another shot of scotch and stared
at a