Not again! Alana looked at the picture in the paper Sunday morning and wanted to scream. She didn’t though. She sat very quietly next to her father on the patio. The picture had been taken the day before, right before she fell into the pool. She laid the newspaper down on the table, afraid her father would notice her shaking hands and comment on the fact.
Who had taken the picture, she asked herself. She couldn’t think of a single staff member who would be this disloyal. The only explanation was that one of the catering staff or another guest had snapped the shot during the cleanup yesterday afternoon. It was taken from a distance so her features were a little grainy. But it was easy to make out the participants in the episode.
Alana picked up the paper and studied the angle of the photo. She wanted to figure out who could have possibly taken it and where they had been standing. Unfortunately, it looked like it was taken from the driveway so it would be impossible to find out any information on who took it from that vantage point. Anyone could have been up on the driveway after the party.
Sighing deeply, she laid the newspaper on the table and took a careful sip of the hot coffee that had just been served to her. She ignored the fruit in front of her. Alana didn’t think she’d be able to eat anything since her stomach was in knots because of her frustration.
“Didn’t you go to ATI and ask for help with funds for the kids?” her father asked.
Alana nodded, still trying to keep in control of her temper. “Yes. I met with the president a few weeks ago.”
“How did that go?”
Alana thought back to that meeting. She remembered that man in the conference room and a half smile formed on her face. . She’d actually forgotten about how fascinated she’d been with that man. It had been Gus, obviously. She’d know his deep voice and broad shoulders anywhere now. She shrugged daintily in response to her father’s question. “I don’t know. I haven’t heard from him. I guess not well.”
“I think Elaine mentioned that Gus stopped by the orphanage and looked around. In fact, she’s the one that told me I needed to meet with him last week.”
Alana’s eyes snapped up to meet her father’s. “Elaine? The orphanage director?”
“The one and the same,” he confirmed, nodding his head but he didn’t bother to look up from his newspaper.
Alana’s mind reeled at that idea of Gus going through the building. She’d been with the kids a lot last week. Had she been there when he was touring the facility? “When did he come by?”
“I’m not positive. Last Wednesday, I believe. At least that’s when I got the call from Elaine. I was under the impression that he was there at the time of her call. That Elaine can be quite a dictator,” he said, chuckling at how he had jumped to contact Gus Attracelli immediately upon receiving the call from the orphanage director.
Her father’s cell phone rang and he quickly looked at the caller before answering it.
“Yes?” he asked the caller.
“No, I don’t believe so,” he said to the person on the other end of the line. “Yes, there’s definitely something brewing but you’d have to understand the issue to know it.” He hung up a moment later after saying, “I’ll see you later then.”
Ed Mason stood up and kissed his frozen daughter on the top of her blond head. “Don’t worry so much, Alana. You should relax a little more. Why don’t you go out with Gus and just get to know him? I think he’s an interesting man. You might be surprised by him.”
Alana smiled stiffly at her father but didn’t heed his suggestion. She sat at the table and stared at the bushes, noting that the chrysanthemums were about to bloom. They were extremely lovely this year. She wondered how the gardeners kept them standing so high, instead of them drooping off to the side. She’d taken a biology class one year that required a science project. She’d done a study on the fact that nature always produced in prime numbers and she’d grown different flowers, counting the number of petals as her example.
Alana shook her head at the silly memory. She didn’t understand why she was noticing the flowers when her life was again ridiculed in the newspapers. How in the world was she going to get people to listen to her when her picture kept showing up in the gossip columns? She had to do something about this!
A few minutes later, she heard footsteps along the patio. She guessed that her father had forgotten something. She was startled when a deep voice came from behind.
“Did you see the picture?” Gus asked, standing behind her chair.
Alana whirled around, her eyes hungrily taking in Gus’s form in jeans and a tee-shirt. She wished her eyes didn’t stray to his muscular biceps but more, she wished she didn’t know how strong they were and want to touch him again.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, her hand going to the top of her silk robe. She was only wearing a silk negligee underneath.
“I came to see if you were okay.” Gus wasn’t thrilled by his reception so far, but at least he hadn’t been thrown out the door immediately.
“I’m fine. Why would anything be wrong?” she asked, instantly worried that he could read her mind.
“Because our picture found it’s way into the newspaper again. You know it doesn’t mean anything, right?” He wanted to reassure her but didn’t understand why the pictures upset her so much so he couldn’t address her concerns directly.
Alana forgot the fact that she was holding her negligee closed and stood up. “That’s where you’re wrong. It does mean something. My friends and acquaintances read those silly articles and believe them.”
“Why?” he asked, confused.
“Because….because,” she sputtered, raising her hands in the air, “just because that’s what they do. They spend their time reading silly articles that aren’t true. But they don’t take the time to figure out what the truth is. They prefer the awful fantasy to the reality.” She turned away to pace the patio area. “I’m trying to accomplish something important and people stop listening to what I’m saying and ask me about these silly rumors. It has to stop!”
“I can’t keep people from taking pictures,” he said and sat down at the glass topped table. He poured himself a cup of coffee and relaxed, thoroughly enjoying the view of Alana clad only in a silk negligee. His mind was not on the conversation. He was too busy watching her lovely, sexy figure walk back and forth in front of him.