The Bodyguard

chapter 12

"Alexander! Hannah! Come look at these!" His mother's voice came from the living room. I looked at Alexander.

"She's not letting this go." He sighed.

"Letting what go?" I ask..

"The wedding." He sighs.

"Maybe we should hide." I laughed.

"Too late." He whispers. We walked into the living room.

His grandmother was sitting on the couch with a large photo album resting on her lap. His mother sat beside her, already flipping through the pages.

"There you are," Grandma said. "Come sit." She pays the couch next to her.

Alexander sat down first. I took the spot beside him.

"Grandma brought out the old wedding albums." His mother smiled.

"Your parents?" I looked at the album and then at Marcy. She nodded. "All the way back to their wedding." She says.

Grandma opened the album. The first picture showed a young couple standing outside a church.

"You look so happy." I smiled.

"We were," Grandma said.

She turned the page. There were pictures of the wedding ceremony, the reception, and their first dance.

"I've never seen some of these." Alexander leaned closer.

"Because you never ask to see them," Grandma replied.

I laughed. She turned another page.

"This one was taken right after your grandfather proposed." She looks at Alexander. I looked at the photograph. His grandfather was kneeling in front of her with a ring in his hand.

"He was so nervous." Grandma smiled at the memory. His mother laughed.

"Grandpa? Nervous?" He asks.

"Terrified." She laughs.

Everyone laughed. I looked at Alexander.

"I can't imagine him being nervous." He says. I smiled.

"Oh he definitely was." Grandma looked between us. Then she noticed the ring on my finger.

"You're still wearing it." Her eyes widened.

"Oh." I looked down. I had almost forgotten about it.

"It looks beautiful on her." His mother smiled.

"It does." Grandma nodded. Alexander looked at the ring. Then at me. I suddenly felt self-conscious.

"So." Grandma closed the album.

I knew that tone. I looked at her.

"So?" I ask.

"How long have you two been together again?" She asks.

"Eight months," Alexander answered.

"Eight months." Grandma nodded slowly. She looked at his mother. His mother smiled.

"And you're still not engaged?" Grandma looked back at us.

"Grandma." Alexander groaned.

"What?" She asks.

"We're taking our time." He sighs.

"Why?" She questions him. He opened his mouth then closed it. I tried not to laugh.

"I think they're waiting for the right time." His mother joined in.

"There is never a perfect time." Grandma shook her head. "Hannah, sweetheart." She looked at me.

"Yes?" I ask.

"If Alexander proposed to you tomorrow, would you say yes?" She asks me very seriously. My eyes widened. I looked at Alexander. He was staring at me. His mother was staring at me. Grandma was waiting patiently for my answer.

"I..." My mind went completely blank. This was supposed to be fake.nI knew that. Alexander knew that.

But sitting there with his family watching me, suddenly the answer felt much more complicated than it should have been.

"I don't know," I finally admitted.

"That's not a no." Grandma smiled. My cheeks burned. Alexander laughed quietly.

"You're enjoying this way too much." I mutter.

"Of course I am." She looked at me again. "He's a good man." She says. I glanced at Alexander.

"Yes. He is." I say.

"And he clearly cares about you." She states. My heart skipped. I looked away.

"I've watched that boy his entire life. He doesn't bring women home." Grandma continued.

"He's never brought anyone around the family like this before." His mother nodded.

"Can we please talk about something else?" Alexander looked uncomfortable.

"No," both women said at the same time. I laughed.

"Don't encourage them." He looked at me.

"I'm trying not to." I say with a chuckle.

"I think you fit in here." His mother reached over and squeezed my hand. Something inside me softened. I wasn't sure why those words affected me so much. Maybe because I'd never really belonged anywhere. I had spent years moving from place to place. Always looking for the next room, the next city, the next identity.

But here...

People were already making room for me.

"And that ring?" Grandma smiled.

"Yes?" I looked down.

"Keep wearing it." She says softly. I glanced at Alexander. His eyes met mine.

"Why?" I ask.

"Because I have a feeling I'm going to see it on your hand for a very long time." She smiled.

Alexander's mother smiled. Alexander shook his head. I laughed nervously. But when I looked down at the ring again, something strange happened. For the first time, I didn't immediately want to take it off. And that scared me.

The next morning, I woke up to sunlight spilling across the bedroom floor. I stretched beneath the blankets and turned my head. Alexander was already awake. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, tying his shoes.

"Good morning," he said.

"Morning." I replied. I rubbed my eyes and sat up. "Where are you going?" I ask.

"Into town." He says.

"For work?" I looked at him.

"No." He says. That surprised me.

"Then why?" I ask. He stood and grabbed his wallet from the dresser.

"I thought you could use a day out." He says with a smile.

"Out?" I stared at him.

"Yeah." He replies.

"Like... outside the house?" I ask.

"That's usually where people go when they leave the house." He smiled.

"I know that." I laughed.

"Just checking." He laughs. I threw a pillow at him. He caught it easily. "Very mature." He states.

"I haven't had coffee yet." I say.

"That explains the violence." He shrugs. I climbed out of bed.

"Where are we going?" I question him.

"To get coffee first." He says with a laugh.

"Now you're speaking my language!” I exclaim.

"Get dressed." He smiled. I grabbed some clothes and headed toward the bathroom. About an hour later, we were driving into town.

I looked out the passenger window as the countryside slowly gave way to small shops and restaurants. It felt strange not being followed, not looking over my shoulder every few seconds and not wondering whether someone knew where I was.

"You do this often?" I turned toward Alexander.

"What?" He asks.

"Just go into town." I reply.

"Sometimes." He shrugs.

"With your fake girlfriends?" I ask with a sly smile.

"You're my first." He glanced at me.

"Should I be honored?" I smiled.

"Very." He said with a laugh. I laughed too.

We stopped at a small coffee shop on the edge of town. The moment we walked inside, the woman behind the counter smiled. "Good morning." She said.

"Morning," Alexander said. We ordered our drinks and found a small table near the window.

"Okay. This was a good idea." I took a sip of my coffee.

"I know." He says.

"You're very confident." I said looking at him.

"I'm usually right." He states.

"That's annoying." I replied.

"You'll get used to it." He laughs again. I smiled. For the next hour, we talked about our favorite foods, movies, music and childhood stories.

Alexander told me about the time he'd fallen out of a tree when he was ten because he'd been trying to impress his older brother.

"You fell out of a tree?" I laughed so hard I nearly spilled my coffee.

"Yes." He said.

"Trying to impress your brother?" I question..

"I was ten." He states.

"That makes it even funnier." I laugh..

"You didn't have to laugh that hard." He shook his head.

"I absolutely did." I say. When we left the coffee shop, we walked down the main street. There were small boutiques, restaurants, and local stores lining both sides. I stopped in front of a window. A simple blue dress caught my attention.

"You like it?" Alexander noticed.

"It's pretty." I shrugged.

"Go try it on." He says.

"I'm not buying a dress." I looked at him.

"I didn't ask you to." He says.

"Then why would I try it on?" I ask.

"Because you like it." He states with a smile.

"You really don't understand how shopping works." I laughed.

"I understand enough." Before I could argue, he opened the door. "Go." He urges.

"You're impossible." I shook my head.

"I've been told." He laughs. A few minutes later, I stepped out of the dressing room wearing the dress. Alexander was waiting near the entrance. He looked up and froze.

"What?" I suddenly felt self-conscious.

He didn't answer right away.

"It looks good." He smiled.

"Just good?" I ask. .

"Beautiful." His smile grew

My cheeks warmed. I looked away. "You're only saying that because we're pretending to be together." I mutter.

"No." He stepped closer. "I'm saying it because it's true.” His voice was quieter. My heart skipped.

"I'll take it." I quickly looked back at myself in the mirror.

"I thought so." He smiled. When we left the store, he carried the bag.

"You didn't have to buy that for me." I said.

"I know." He replies.

"Then why did you?" I question.

"Because I wanted to." He looked at me. I didn't know what to say, so I smiled. We continued walking. A few blocks later, we stopped at a small restaurant for lunch.

The hostess smiled when we approached. "Table for two?" She asks.

"Yes," Alexander answered.

She looked at our joined hands. Then smiled. "Newlyweds?" She questions us.

I almost choked. Alexander looked at me. I expected him to correct her. He didn't.

"Something like that." He simply smiled. I stared at him.

"Congratulations." The hostess laughed.

"Thank you," he said.

We followed her to the table. The second we sat down, I leaned toward him. "Something like that?" I ask.

"What was I supposed to say?" He shrugged.

"The truth." I state.

"That we're pretending to be together?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly." I lowered my voice. He just shook his head and smiled.

The waiter came over and handed us menus. I opened mine. Then I felt Alexander's hand brush mine beneath the table. I looked up. He was watching me.

"What?" I ask.

"Nothing." He replies.

"You're staring." I state.

"You have a habit of noticing everything." He smiles.

"Occupational hazard." I shrug.

He smiled again. For a moment, neither of us looked away. Then the waiter returned. "Would you two like to hear today's specials?" He asks. We both looked away at the same time.

"Yes," Alexander said.

I bit my lip to stop myself from smiling. After lunch, we walked toward the town square. There was a small fountain in the center and benches scattered around it. We sat down.

"Today was nice." I looked at Alexander.

"It was." He says with a smile.

"I can't remember the last time I spent an entire day doing normal things." I sigh.

"You deserve more days like this." He looked at me.

"Maybe." I smiled. He reached over and gently took my hand. I looked down at our fingers. Neither of us spoke.

A family walking past smiled at us. The little girl looked at our hands. Then she whispered something to her mother.

"Congratulations." Her mother smiled.

"Thank you." I laughed softly.

They walked away. I looked at Alexander.

"Apparently, we're very convincing." He smiled.

"Maybe." I say. I squeezed his hand. Then I realized something. I hadn't been pretending. When I looked at him and felt that strange flutter in my chest.

I quickly looked away. Because if I admitted what was happening between us, everything would change and I wasn't ready for that.

Neither of us noticed the dark sedan parked across the street. Inside, someone watched us for several seconds before pulling away.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had the uncomfortable feeling that our quiet little day hadn't been as private as I'd thought.