AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He side-eyed me. “No. Not Sofia. She was nice, but I like the bar. The name is...interesting.”
“La Oficina? Yeah. It was great when it first opened. We could always just say, ‘hey, meet you at the office,’ and anyone would think we meant we were working. The city smartened up, though, and now it has backfired.”
“Backfired?” he asked.
“Yeah, now everyone knows about the bar named the office, so you have to be careful. If you say you’re meeting someone at the office, people can assume—”
“Got it. So, meet you at work is the accepted vernacular.”
“Correct.”
“This is a strange city.”
“Your first time in Kansas City?”
He nodded. Even though I told him it wasn’t necessary, he insisted on walking me to the door of my apartment building.
“Thank you. You really didn’t have to—”
“Good night, Carolina.”
The temptation tosearch for him online had never won me over. Not even when I was a teenager and a devout disciple of his work. It had always, always been about the work, about the magic of his brain, never about the man himself. To me, he had only been a brain—a disembodied organ innovating genius advancements in medicine, improving cancer treatments for all patients. Back then, I knew, just knew it in my gut, that he would have savedherif he had been her doctor.
But now I had met him. The man, not just the words he typed onto a keyboard hundreds of miles from where I stood. He was also now my boss, and knowledge about him could only serve to help me in my professional relationship with him.Tell yourself whatever you need to do the deed, Carolina.
I got ready for bed and curled up with my tablet.
Surprisingly, there was quite a bit of information about him, probably because of his wife. Andrea Medina. According to the search engine, she was the daughter of a prominent philanthropist. They attended many of his fundraiser events in Maryland, where they lived, and in New York and Washington.
I found a picture of them at a charity event for children’s cancer research. She was leaning into him, her whole body pointing to him, and wearing a wide smile that spread to her eyes. He had his arm around her waist, and his head was bent as though she was whispering something in his ear. She was gorgeous. I had to admit it. She was a tall, slim, leggy, blonde with beautiful green eyes and delicate features.
He certainly had a type, so I didn’t have to continue to feel awkward around him. I’d barely admit it to myself, but there was the tiniest bit of a barely-there crush somewhere in a dusty corner of my heart. But knowing it would never be reciprocated actually made me feel better about working with him and seeing him day in and day out.
Then I saw it, and my jaw dropped—a picture of them holding hands walking in New York City. He held one of her hands, and she grabbed her enormous pregnant belly under a beautiful blue sundress with the other. They both looked incandescently happy. I smiled at the picture of them, hoping my future held that kind of love.
He had to be a good man if his wife looked that happy. I scanned the screen for a date on the picture; by my math, his child would be about eight years old now. I usually find it in horrible taste to search for celebrity children. Even if he wasn’t a true celebrity, I had the same feeling about looking up their child. But I wasn’t looking for a tacky tabloid. It was purer than that. I wanted to see the human manifestation of the happy couple in those pictures.
In the search bar, I entered:Andrea Medina and Dr. Hector Medina daughter. I smiled, thinking about a little girl with his tanned skin and her bright green eyes popping in contrast, but nothing came up. Next, I entered:Andrea Medina and Dr. Hector Medina son.
There it was—the first hit—a headline from two years ago. Intense grief snaked into my bloodstream and latched on to my heart. I forgot how to breathe for several seconds as I read the headline:Six-year-old grandson of prominent Maryland philanthropist dies in freak accident.Two years ago.
My hand came up to my mouth, and I couldn’t hold back the sickening feeling gripping me. I couldn’t bring myself to click on the link. When I searched for his family, I wasn’t expecting to see this kind of tragedy. I couldn’t bring myself to pry into his private life any further than I already had. His loss wasn’t for entertainment. I shut off my tablet and tried to fall asleep.
