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Post by Kpatch on May 15, 2024 7:52:29 GMT -5
Chapter 452a
Chloe had moved into the condo when she got to Chicago on Christmas. It wasn’t her plan, but it was a fallback position. She hadn’t been thinking straight and didn’t have a plan for where she was going or where she would stay, but here she was, in that lovely condo where she and Philip and Parker had spent some joyful Christmases. Thinking about Philip and Parker now, it almost seemed like it was a movie she had watched, rather than the life she lived. It felt so remote from where she was now.
It was January 2nd and Chloe was settling into bed, drifting off to sleep when a loud noise woke her up. Someone had walked through the front door. Her heart was beating wildly as she listened to the intruder whistling a cheerful tune. Burglars are usually quiet and don’t want to make their presence known, but this intruder sounded like they didn’t care who heard. A moment later she heard the TV go on and the sound of a bottle top opening. Sounded like a soccer game on TV.
She kneeled on the floor and felt for something under the bed. Philip always used to keep a baseball bat under the bed for safety and she hoped it was still there. Aha! She gripped the barrel of the bat and pulled it out from under the bed. She got up, slipped into her robe and opened the bedroom door as quietly as she could.
She peeked out and tiptoed down the hall from the bedroom to the living room where a man was on the sofa watching TV with his ankles crossed atop the coffee table. She thought she recognized him.
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Post by doolfan4life on May 15, 2024 7:57:47 GMT -5
Hello xander
I wonder if Xander will inevitably piece this family back together the way he helped Parker
I hope he does and that Philip remembers this when he realises xanders screw up with his shares
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Post by gapeach on May 15, 2024 7:57:58 GMT -5
I can't believe you are letting us hang like this. Is it George? Is it Phillip? Is it Xander?
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Post by André DiMera on May 15, 2024 8:18:31 GMT -5
Wonder who’s there, and why they have access to the condo.
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Post by doolfan4life on May 15, 2024 9:04:40 GMT -5
I thought Philip gave xander the keys to use the condo when he took the job there
Also the football game (this was referenced before)
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Post by Trey on May 15, 2024 10:49:37 GMT -5
It's gotta be Xander... and I hope that Xander can help make Chloe realize what a dummy she is being.
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Post by heroicmuse on May 15, 2024 17:38:17 GMT -5
I wonder who the visitor is. I'm glad Chloe didn't impulsively attack him.
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Post by Kpatch on May 16, 2024 5:46:41 GMT -5
Chapter 452b
Chloe peeked out and tiptoed down the hall from the bedroom to the living room where a man was on the sofa watching TV with his ankles crossed atop the coffee table. She thought she recognized him. “Xander??”
Xander quickly jumped off the sofa. “My god! Chloe! I had no idea anyone else was here.” He approached her. “What in the world are you doing here?”
“I’m staying here. What are you doing here?”
“Philip offered to let me stay at the condo when I started the job at Titan Media in November.” He looked around. “Philip didn’t tell you?”
“No, I guess he didn’t have a chance.”
“Isn’t he with you?”
“Um. No. I’m by myself. Or, I thought I was.”
He set the beer bottle on the coffee table and switched off the television using the remote. She put the bat on the floor. “I suppose I need to find another place to stay,” he mused. When Xander noticed Chloe fighting back tears, he came closer and put a hand on her shoulder. “What is it, love? What happened?”
Chloe fell into Xander’s arms. “I left Philip.”
“No!”
Chloe took a step back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“Not at all,” Xander uttered sympathetically. He took Chloe’s hand and pulled her toward the sofa. “Come sit. Tell me what happened. I mean, after everything you two have been through, why would you leave Philip?”
“Because. He deserves better. I destroyed our life and he can never look at me the same way. And I don’t blame him. I can’t look at myself in the mirror either. Both Philip and Parker are better off without me.”
“In what universe? You’re wrong, Chloe. Sorry for being so blunt, love, but they need you. Parker especially. I grew really fond of the little tyke.”
“He’s easy to love,” Chloe remarked as she wiped a tear with the back of her free hand.
“Then why are you here instead of being with him. He needs his mummy. And as for Philip, he was completely lost without you while you were in a coma.”
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Post by gapeach on May 16, 2024 7:49:54 GMT -5
Tell her like it is Xander. She needs to hear this from someone who has absolutely NOTHING to gain.
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Post by doolfan4life on May 16, 2024 8:18:52 GMT -5
Don’t be sorry for being blunt
Chloe needs blunt
You tell her Xander
I hope this knocks some sense into her
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Post by André DiMera on May 16, 2024 8:22:11 GMT -5
Personally, I’m glad Xander is being blunt with Chloe. Hopefully she’ll listen.
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Post by krw627 on May 16, 2024 8:45:11 GMT -5
Go Xander! Maybe he can get through to Chloe.
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Post by heroicmuse on May 16, 2024 11:52:05 GMT -5
I'm glad Xander is being brutally honest with Chloe. Someone needs to shake her out of this funk and back into reality.
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Post by fluffysmom on May 16, 2024 19:23:22 GMT -5
I'm glad that Xander is being blunt with Chloe. She needs to hear it.
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Post by Kpatch on May 17, 2024 8:08:30 GMT -5
Chapter 452c
“Why are you here instead of being with him,” Xander asked Chloe. “He needs his mummy. And as for Philip, he was completely lost without you while you were in a coma.”
“Maybe once, but not anymore. I want them to be happy, and I can’t make them happy. I can only bring misery into their lives. Lucas once told me that it was only a matter of time before I destroyed both of them, and he was one hundred percent right.”
“Chloe, if you don’t mind me saying so, you’re not thinking clearly. You need to stay with Philip and Parker and rebuild your life.”
“They’ll do much better on their own,” she rationalized. “You see, I keep having this dream over and over. Not a dream. Not a nightmare either because if feels too real, like a vision. Both Philip and Parker die and it’s my fault, just like Victoria dying was my fault. If I’m not there, at least they’re safe. They’re alive.”
Xander hardly knew how to respond to that. Chloe was clearly not in her right mind. Instead, he mumbled, “Poor Philip must be an absolute wreck. Losing you and Titan at the same time.”
“Losing Titan? What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t you hear? It’s all over the news.”
“I haven’t heard a thing. I guess I’ve been lost in my own world.”
“Shin’s taken over Titan,” Xander told her. “Philip’s out.”
Chloe gasped. “Oh no. Titan was his legacy. He loves that company. Is he—?”
“He’s rather stoic about the whole thing. But he didn’t say a word about you leaving.”
When Chloe grew quiet, Xander softly said, “I don’t pretend to know what you went through or what you’re going through now, but I do know what your life was like before the accident. Living in the pool house, I had a front row seat. You and Philip were like this ideal couple. Almost as perfect a pair as me and Sarah. The love between you was obvious to anyone who was within 10 feet of you. He’s a good man.”
“He’s the best man I know. But since when are you a fan of Philip’s?”
Xander laughed a little. “We didn’t always get on. I suppose you missed the the part where we became friends.” Xander remembered that Monday morning in early November when Philip confided that he nearly jumped off the roof of the Randolph Street building, the same day Xander informed Philip that Sarah was back with Rex—or so he thought. “We supported each other in the worst of times. I’ve gotten to know him as a boss and as a person. If you don’t mind me saying, I think you should go back to him.”
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