After a quick check, she picked up the phone to call La Jolla. She was the fifth caller in the queue, so she started her laundry and straightened up the house while she waited.
Having cleaned her bathroom, she moved to her bedroom and started to remake the bed when someone came on the line. She spent the next hour being put on hold and passed around from person to person without being given any answers. Sitting on her bed and looking out over the ocean, she was finally told that someone would get back to her within the next couple of days.
At this point, she wasn’t holding out much hope. She was sure if he had been released it would have made the local news at least and she would have received a phone call from her attorney.
She decided to give Evie a call with an update before her friend ended up on her doorstep wanting to know the latest news about her neighbor. When she got downstairs, she grabbed something to drink and walked over to her chair to sit down with her feet hanging over the arm. “Hey, sexy lady, what are you wearing?”
Evie’s throaty laugh filled the line. “If you could see me, you’d run screaming from the room. We’ve been rearranging my office so that I can get another desk in here for Jesse. He claims I’m completely unorganized and has no idea how I built a successful business working like this, therefore, he cannot share a desk with me.”
Lexi could hear a male voice in the background saying something about shuddering at what her apartment must look like. Laughing at the thought of anyone thinking Evie was disorganized, she shook her head at the thought of how much a perfectionist Jesse must be if he thought the person Lexi looked up to as her organizational hero didn’t measure up.
“Carry on, Jesse. I’m going to get a coffee. You do your thing. Now tell me, what’s the latest with your rock star next door? I want to know everything.”
“What makes you think there is anything to tell?” Lexi started digging through the cushions in her chair, pulling out pens and other things that always got lost in there.
“Girl, I heard what he said to you. Did you go upstairs, and if you did you’d better have been up there all these days, otherwise why the hell didn’t you call me before now?”
“Come on, you know me. I don’t just jump into the sack. Besides, Hot Rock Star isn’t going to be around forever.”
“So? You need your pipes cleaned. Go for it. Have some fun.”
Lexi shook her head. “Pipes cleaned, really? Have you been talking to your grandmother?”
“No, why, should I? What did they do now?”
“Just the usual, they clogged up the toilets at the senior center to get a plumber out there. I think they’re going to start charging extra when one of the ladies calls in with a problem.”
Evie laughed. When she calmed down, she said, “We should be taking notes for when we are old. They do have a lot of great ideas, you’ve got to admit that.”
Lexi moved her legs from the arm and put her feet on the floor. “Yes they do but… ewwww.”
“What ewwww?”
“I don’t know there’s something gooey on the carpet, and of course, I just put my foot in it.” Lexi got a rag and started cleaning up the mess.
“What is it? Smell it.”
“I’m not going to smell it, that’s gross. Yuck. Anyway, guess who I cooked dinner for after we took a tumble in the ocean?”
“Seriously? You cooked him dinner? What was for dessert? You, I hope. Don’t make me come up there and give you a lecture.”
“God forbid. It was a really nice evening. We talked long into the night. Did you know he grew up in the Chicago area too? He’s a really nice guy, for a cocky rock star.”
“Lexi, Lexi, Lexi. Girl, what am I going to do with you? Kiss him already, jump him, rip his clothes off, have your way with him. Do it!”
“I didn’t say I didn’t kiss him.” Lexi’s brow furrowed at the silence on the other end of the phone. “Evie, are you there?”
“Ummm… yeah, I’m here. I just had to clean my ears out because I know I didn’t just hear my best friend say that she kissed the totally hot guy next door and wait until now to tell me. I think you’d better start talking and quick.”
“First I need to you promise me something.”
“Anything. You know that.”
“Don’t freak out on me and don’t tell anyone. I really don’t want anyone to worry for what could be nothing.”
“Of course, but spill.”
“I had some car problems. Someone put a hole in my radiator.”
“Shit-fuck-damn. Seriously? You don’t want me freak out about that?”
“There’s more.” Lexi jumped at the sound of something breaking from Evie’s end. “Are you okay?”
“No, I am not okay. How could I be okay? Is it him? Is there anything else that’s happened? You’d better fill me in quick otherwise not only am I on the phone, I’m coming up there. Talk. Now.”