AllFreeNovel
Share Us
After going over a few more administrative details, Lori gave her congratulations. “I look forward to you joining our staff. Goodbye.”
Martina stood at the side of the bed, her phone still in her hand. The offer couldn’t have come at a better time. There was no reason for her to stay.
The happiness she thought would flood her system seemed to simmer below the surface. Shouldn’t she be shouting from the rooftops? Something stood in the way of her happiness, and he was standing in the other room wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Rob made his intentions perfectly clear.
Suck it up, Martina. California, here I come.
“You’re really going?” Rob’s scratchy voice sounded from the doorway. She looked his way hoping to hell that she could muster enough gusto to walk out of here with her head held high and her dignity intact. “Just like that?”
“It’s not just like that. I’ve been planning this for a long time.” She didn’t even know why she had to explain herself. They were relative strangers.
“But what about…”
“What about what?” She didn’t know where this anger came from. Was it her pride that was wounded? “You and me?”
He looked defeated. Sad. She had never seen him so upset, even when he was in the middle of a body wrenching headache.
“There is no you and me, Rob. We are two adults who can enjoy each other’s company and have some fun. There’s no need for strings.”
He was ruining her moment. Her dream, her plan, had finally come to fruition. She would now be a caretaker, a healer, guiding people on their journey to a renewed life.
“I didn’t want you to find out this way.”
“Look, Rob…” She grabbed her bag off the bed and approached the door, ready to make her exit. “I get it. You were looking for a little fun. A distraction. A woman who would satisfy both you and Aleks whenever the time suited. And I just happened to be that girl. I was a sure thing.”
He didn’t say a word. Somewhere along the line she let him in and he stole her heart. But he lied, and now her heart was broken. “For what it’s worth, thank you. You did help me fulfill a fantasy that I thought would never come true.”
She pushed past him. She expected him to follow. To run after her and tell her she was wrong. He didn’t. He let her go.
When the elevator doors closed she wondered if she’d made the wrong decision. Was her place with Rob and not at the ashram in California? When she was with him she wasn’t searching. She wasn’t chasing after a dead person.
Mac. She was dead, and there was nothing Martina could do to bring her back. She’d watched her die a slow, painful death, cancer taking her at too early an age. Her sister. Her confidant. Her only family in the world.
She had spent the last two years chasing after Mac in her dreams. Chasing a ghost, hoping that one day she would finally catch up to her and figure out the reason she felt the need to chase her in the first place. All of that didn’t matter when she was with Rob.
Now it was over. She had a week to pack up her things and leave the country. She never expected the call to come on a Sunday night. Although there was a three-hour time difference. It’s funny that the only time she didn’t think about her plan was when she was with Rob. She knew what she had to do. People were waiting for her to make a difference in their lives. People that she would help, then usher through the gates of the ashram never to see them again.
Her presence in their lives wouldn’t be permanent. Her treatment wouldn’t be the ultimate solution to their problems, but for a small moment in time she could help them forget their illness and go home with a renewed sense of spirit and self. Exactly what she had been searching for two years ago when she first entered the ashram on her own.
Once her work was done she would send them on their way and move on to the next client. No attachments. No heavy sobs when the doctor says the tumor is malignant. No cleaning up throw-up or driving to and from chemo treatments. She would channel the calming energy that flowed from the universe, and she would use it to guide her clients to a possible recovery.
She didn’t like the idea of leaving Carrie and Amie, two friends she knew would be with her always. Something told her the new friends she would make just wouldn’t be the same. Then there was Rob. She would miss him. More than she wanted to admit.
Chapter 13
Martina parked her car in her tenant parking space for the last time. Tomorrow she would be on a plane to California. It was just a matter of waiting for the clock to tick by.
She’d packed just enough to last her a couple of months. She didn’t know how long it would take to find a place of her own, but once she settled she would return and clear out her Toronto condo. The last tie she had to her friends and a life with Rob.
She had just left Carrie and Amie. They’d had a final girls’ night, or afternoon. She rode the elevator, remembering all of the fun times she had with her friends. The yoga, the drinks and lingerie. The late-night confessions because of those drinks.
>
Saying goodbye had been tough. Tougher than she expected. These two girls were the first meaningful relationships she’d had in two years. And now, because of a plan she set in motion almost a year ago she had to leave them and risk loneliness again in California.
When she stepped out of the elevator she didn’t expect to see a man sitting in front of her door. He was sitting on the ground, head resting on his arms that were crossed over his knees. She would know that man anywhere. Rob.
He looked up and she melted. Her insides turned to liquid desire with a simple look at his solid frame, his chocolatey eyes and his strong forearms.
