Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
But I’m in love and my head is in the clouds. I said those three words to Dane just under a week ago after I put on a show in front of our poker buddies. I know it wasn’t the most romantic setting, but I was so overcome with emotion for some reason that I couldn’t contain it. It’s like my heart just couldn’t hold the words inside anymore, and I released them without any real thought as to what Dane’s reaction would be. I just know they had to be said.
He’s not said them back, but things have changed yet again with us. We’re closer for sure. He dotes on me more. Sends me sweet texts during the day, and makes love to me at night. He sends me flowers for no other reason than to say he was thinking about me, and he laughs and smiles more than I’ve ever known him to.
This is just so confusing, but there is nothing I can do but stay on this journey. I can’t not be in love with him, and I can only hope he’s going to get there one day. Not just the words, but the commitment to spend the rest of our lives together. It’s my most fervent desire.
The door to the conference room opens, and I look that way because the motion catches my attention. It’s my secretary, Leeza, and her eyes roam the table until she finds me. Her look is apologetic as she crooks her finger at me. Not once in the last six years since she’s been working for me has she ever disturbed me during a meeting.
I slide silently from my chair. Dane’s eyes come to me for a moment, but he doesn’t miss a beat in his discourse.
When I make it to the door, Leeza has stepped out in the hallway. I pull the door shut behind me.
“I’m so sorry to interrupt, Avril,” she says as she wrings her hands together. “But Mr. Jared Litener is in your office, and he says it’s an emergency that required I interrupt you. He says he has to speak to you urgently. I put him in your office.”
I go dizzy with dread. Jared is Jamie’s best friend and partner in their plastic surgery practice. There is no way in hell he’d ever show up here saying he needed to speak to me urgently unless it was something awful.
My legs feel wooden as I walk down the hall, and tears are already forming in my eyes. When I open my office door, Jared turns to look at me. His face is coated in misery, his eyes bloodshot. I haven’t seen him since Jamie and I broke up, but he became a good friend to me over the years.
I try to ask what’s wrong, but my throat closes up tight. A tear slips out and falls down my cheek, but I dash it away.
Jared walks up to me and takes my hands in his. His voice is rough and coated with heavy emotion. “Jamie had a brain aneurysm.”
A choked sound obnoxiously pops out of my mouth, and Jared squeezes my hands as he continues. “Um… there was too much brain damage. He’s on life support now, but there’s no recovery.”
“No,” I manage to sob out and then fall forward into Jared’s arms, my legs going absolutely weak. For as confident as I was in calling it quits with Jamie, I never thought I’d be faced with this.
“I came to tell you because obviously Jamie would want you to know, but more importantly… he named you as his healthcare power of attorney.”
This news causes me to jerk and pull back from him. “He what?”
“A decision needs to be made,” Jared says quietly. “He had an advanced directive and living will. He’s named you as the primary to make decisions on his behalf. He named me as the secondary.”
“I don’t understand.” My voice comes out in a warble, almost slurred. “Why would he…”
Jared looks uncomfortable for a moment, but then gives a resigned sigh. “He was going to propose to you, Avril. He had all of his estate stuff done up to give it to you, and he also wanted you to make end-of-life decisions. He had it all planned out because he was so confident you two would be together forever, but then he had that moment of fucking stupidity. I know this might not be the time to tell you this, but that woman he was with… she really came on strong to him. I know it doesn’t excuse what he did, but he didn’t go seeking anything. He loved you. He wanted a life with marriage and kids with you.”
Tears fall freely from my eyes as I try to comprehend what he’s saying. That I was so close to having everything I ever thought I wanted in life, and it was ruined by a moment of stupidity. I can’t even bear to think about how I am grateful for that moment of stupidity, because it brought Dane and me together. That seems like such a betrayal to Jamie, who now lays brain dead.