Chapter 11

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Alex came home from his most recent trip in a particularly bad mood, his mother was recovering well but something happened with his brother's ex. He found Carla drunk in their home. She spent three days pretending to be drinking and coming on to him in some subtle and some not-so-subtle ways. Finally, she said she didn't care if he wasn't Anthony, she would screw him anyway. When he vehemently refused she became violently angry, and that was when he realized she was faking getting drunk.

Alex put her on a plane to the mainland to go live with her sister and told her she had six weeks to pay back the thousands she charged to his mother's credit accounts. Then he called Anthony and invited him to come to visit him at school when he got back stateside. Alex wanted to tell Anthony everything in person. Alex also decided he would only tell Bernie that Anthony broke up with his fiancée for good this time and would be visiting soon but nothing about Carla being a scheming, thieving cow. He didn't want to slander the woman his brother loved for years.

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Sitting in the last class of the semester, Bernie tried to pay attention to the instructor talking about the fall semester.

Due to a shortage of instructors, her three summer classes

were canceled, and the culinary students would be left on their own until fall.

Bernie could keep her job with the work study, but she would only get minimum wage plus tips in lieu of a living stipend because she wasn't taking classes. She had enough put back for either payment on her new van or rent for the summer, but not both, without touching her café fund.

She was still worrying about it when they were dismissed for the semester. Alex was working the afternoon, but she was off from the hospital coffee kiosk, so she wouldn't see him until tomorrow. When she got back to her boarding house, she found a new girl moving in.

Carly Sims was a perky, bottle blonde who seemed sweet, but talked so much Bernie was tempted to lie about going to work. She escaped of very bad relationship with a controlling boyfriend and was returning to college to finish the fashion degree she quit on when she got engaged. Amy gave Bernie a sympathetic look, then practically ran away to her night shift at a local geriatric home. Carly followed Bernie into the kitchen as she began to make dinner to take to Alex and Dr. Mahdif.

To get Carly off the topic of her horrible, controlling ex and his equally horrible brother who always creeped on her. Bernie asked, "So what's your favorite kind of cake?"

Carly looked at her with something like horror. "Oh, I never eat sweets, part of being a fashion design student is having to look just as good as the models who will wear your clothes. I mean it is fine for a food major like yourself to carry around twenty extra pounds, being fat shows how good your cooking is... but.. I..."

Bernie's shocked expression had her stopping, then Carly stammered, "Oh, I didn't mean to say you're too fat, I mean,

you look great all curvy and your natural cleavage is to die for... I mean... I'm sorry."

Bernie sighed, thinking what a shame it was a pretty girl like Carly was sucked into the body shaming culture of her study major.

"Carly, it's okay. I know you didn't mean to sound mean. You are going into an industry which demands women live at what most consider an unhealthy weight."

Carly folded her hands and looked at Bernie apologetically. "No, I really am sorry. Tony messed me up. Not just when he hit me or that other stuff, but he was always telling me how fat I looked."

Bernie gaped at her new roommate in horror, she couldn't help it. "Was he blind? I bet you don't weigh one hundred pounds soaking wet."

Carly chewed her lip and tears ran down her cheeks, "I weigh one hundred twelve."

"How tall are you?" Bernie asked quietly.

"Five feet, eight inches "

Bernie nodded slowly trying to remember what the chart Amy had shown her said, "Honey, I think you might actually be underweight. Amy is a nurse practitioner and nutrition student. She says it is your BMI that counts, not your weight. She has all these complicated charts. We could help you."

"But...but you don't understand," Carly started.

Bernie interrupted, "What I understand, as one abused woman to another, is that you have believed the lies he fed you. That the media fed you. You're a beautiful person."

As she packed the food, Bernie revealed, "My first year here, one of the other girls who lived here wanted to be a model. Lindsey was anorexic and bulimic. She had to leave

school the next semester because she perforated her esophagus. The others and I didn't realize she was sick."

Bernie's voice was soft with compassion. "I don't know if you do that kind of thing, but we girls need to look out for each other, especially girls like us who have been hurt."

Carly's lips trembled as wet trails glistened from eyes to chin. "I'll... I'll think about it."

Bernie nodded, and gave her a sweet smile, "Take your time. Speaking of time, I have to get my fiancé's dinner to him while it is still warm." She set a plate with small portions she made in front of Carly. "Eat it or don't, but I want you to know I'll cook for you anytime."

"Aww, thanks, you're so sweet," Carly sniffed the plate. "It smells amazing."

After Bernie left, Carly sampled the food, it was very good. As she ate, she made a call on her cell. "Hey Katrina, it's Carla. Opps, I mean Carly. I'm in," she giggled as she talked, but it was a vicious kind of merriment.

Katrina hummed knowingly, "I told you. The abused ex-girlfriend is the easiest way to get in good with the girlfriend."

"Yah, it worked. She totally bought the whole story. Thanks for the heads up that Tony's biyatch mom was going to have me arrested and sent back to Hawaii." Carla licked to fork before she put it in the dishwasher, laughing malevolently. "She's a really good cook. Alex is going to miss her."

"I can't believe Tony believes Bernie is a guy," Katrina snickered.

"Well, Bernie is a guy's name, when it isn't short for Bernadette. It's almost too easy. She's so sweet and naive. She said this whole bit about us girls gotta stick up for each other." Carla smirked as she looked at the few pictures of Bernie and Alex together. "Like I would ever help a fatty like her. I mean she's at least a size fourteen."

"Most women don't have the will to stay thin and pretty. Maybe Alex likes fatties and that is why he wouldn't date me... Look, I got a date in half an hour. So, what else do you need me to do?" Katrina asked.

"Nothing. Just keep getting your friend in the D.A.'s office to keep losing the extradition paperwork."

"Who do you think my date is with? I'm taking him a little special dinner at the office. By tomorrow, I'll be burning your file," Katrina promised.

Carla grinned evilly and resisted the urge to smash the picture of Alex and Bernie taken at a Valentine's Day party. She vowed, "I am going to ruin their family, and Alex's sweet little chef is just the first step."

"Don't eat too much of Chef Not-a-guy Bernie's gourmet cooking 'cause you're almost as good at putting things in your mouth as I am... Bye, big sis, love you," Katrina taunted.

Carla snorted. "I won't and F-Y-I, I'm better than you... Love you too, little sis. Bye."

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The rest of May passed without notice as Alex and Bernie both worked, but he never met her new roommate. While he waited for his usual, he told her excitedly about his brother Anthony flying in and about the huge Memorial Day BBQ his fraternity was throwing. She distractedly offered to make the desserts.

"What's wrong, babe? You're not with me tonight," Alex caught her hand as she returned his card and receipt.

"I might have to move home for the summer. I'm paid up on rent through June, but I won't get my housing stipend until September. And I won't be able to afford my share if we get the apartment," complaining, she frowned, and he swallowed his smile at how adorable she looked pouting.

"Bernie, I told you not to worry about it, I..." He held up her hand when she started to protest. "I know you don't want to be dependent on anyone. I understand that. When I asked you to marry me, I didn't say, and I expect you to pay your own way. The deal with your work-study is shitty. They left you in a hole for the summer because the University doesn't have the staff to run the classes. So, let me help you, and help us... Just for the summer, and in the fall, you can pitch in your share, if you want to."

"It isn't fair of me to expect you to take care of me," she sulked.

"Feed me and make me fat and we'll call it even." He grinned rakishly. "No amount of money could make up for how you make me feel and how good you take care of me. Living with you means more food for me 'cause I don't have to share with your roommates."

Bernie couldn't help the smile which peeked out from behind her worry, as she chastised, "You're so selfish."

Picking up his and Dr. Mahdif's coffees, he winked at her, "Yes ma'am, I am."

Hours later, Bernie pecked his forehead with a light kiss. His ice blue eyes glistened with sleep as he blinked at her, "What time is it?"

"Three-ish, you should have just gone home," chastising him, she smiled tolerantly as he stood up.

"And missed our last night to cuddle until after the holiday? No way." He sighed, "Another reason for us to find our own place and the sooner the better."

They left her car at the hospital and walked over to the Phi Delta Epsilon Frat house. A few of the brothers were up playing billiards when they went in. Bernie stopped to ask what she could make for the party before she followed Alex up to his room. He was already showering when she closed the door. His laptop was open on his desk; she didn't mean to snoop but there was a half dozen tabs open to luxury apartments which were way beyond her ability to even pay a fourth on. He walked in, wrapped in a towel, drops of water glistened on his golden tan as he toweled his caramel-colored hair.

"Oh good, which one do you like?"

"I... I can't afford any of them," she stammered.

He leaned across her and clicked one. "I didn't ask if you could afford it, I asked if you liked it. I like this one, five minutes from campus and a view of the hills..."

"No," Bernie said firmly. Her fingers flew over the keys until she found four listings in the price range of double her rent.

"No. Nope. No way." He scowled at the addresses. "Do you know how many gunshots, stab wounds, and assaults I treat from those neighborhoods?"

"I can't afford to go higher," she huffed and stood up, only to squeak in surprise when he sat down and pulled her into his lap.

He typed and another set flashed on the page. "How about one of these and we get a roommate to split it three ways?"

She eyed the addresses, "I can afford a third, but we are getting a roommate, you're not paying two-thirds."

"Fine, I know the perfect person, you'll love him." He grinned.

Bernie's brow furrowed in concern; her tone doubtful. "Him?"

"My brother. Anthony is coming to work for the state computer crime lab while he finishes his doctorate, and I won't have to worry about you with him." Alex smiled. "Please, Bernie. He's great I promise, a perfect gentleman, and he's going to love you. He already loves your cooking from the recipe book you sent Mom." Bernie looked back to the picture of a condo near the park where they ran every evening then at Alex. "And he won't try anything funny?"

Alex shook his head. "No, Anthony is a standup guy. That is why it was so hard for him to break up with Carla. They were together for years, but she took advantage of him, and our family and he had to do the right thing."

"The right thing?"

"Carla used our mom's identity to run up thousands of dollars in credit bills. We are pressing charges against her when she can be found and arrested. She's an identity thief and she is going to pay for what she stole. Just like you are..."

"What are you talking about?" She stared at him with wide confused eyes, the mesmerizing chocolate color lured him in to devour her.

He whispered, "You stole my heart, Bernadette Austen, and you're going to spend the rest of your life with me to pay for it." Then he kissed her with all his intent.

They never left his large desk chair. Behind her back as she straddled him naked, he heard his skype chime and barely managed to reach behind her to shut his laptop on his brother's call. Misunderstanding the movement, Bernie wrapped her legs around him so he stood and carried her to the bed. Laying her down, her auburn hair spread out like silk waves.

"Omigawd, you're so beautiful."

Adoration and love shined in her eyes. "I love you, Alexander."

"I love you, Bernadette."