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“It’s only noon.” I glance at my cell to confirm.
“Yeah…and you need to get ready for your party, Mel.” She leans in close, whispering, “Whether you’re actually engaged or not.”
A chill runs down my body from head to toe.
“This is crazy.” Slapping my palm against my forehead, I close the office door and pace back toward Adrian. “What the hell am I going to do?”
Her thin brows are raised. “Not to get too much into it, but…are youworriedabout this whole thing with Jenson?”
There’s a certain edge to her tone. I glance at her. “Worried like…?”
“Like, he’s going to retaliate or…hurt you if—”
“Oh! No.” I laugh, maybe a little hysterically, and drop into my chair. “No, actually. I’m just having a hard time because of our history.” Over the past week, I’ve filled Adrian in here and there on what life was like before Jodie got sick. Really sick.
How Jenson and I were inseparable as kids, and how that shifted very naturally into a romantic relationship once we were older. How having to leave Harwinton broke my heart, especially when I left that voicemail on his cell.
It sounds like you were soulmates, she’d said.
Weresoulmates.Notaresoulmates.
“The thing is—” I bite my lip “—once upon a time, if you’d told me Jenson and I were engaged, I don’t think I would’ve been surprised. At all.” A blush heats my face as Adrian grins triumphantly at me. She’s now fully Team Jenson after hearing the whole story.
“Actually, it feels weird, like I’m living in a parallel universe. It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that this—tonight—is all fake.”
Adrian looks sympathetic, sitting down across from me. “And your aunt—I’m guessing you wish she was here, too?”
She’s right about that. It’s been tough to reach Jodie the last few days, and that’s been eating away at me, too. But there has been so much to do, both at work and in my personal life—like figuring out how to pull off a fake engagement party and trying on the dress last night at Jenson’s place.
That was maybe the worst of it. Being in his apartment, in the space he takes up, with everything around us reminding me of him. It just made me long for what we’d missed out on.
My cell buzzes once, then again.
And again.
It pings with a missed call.
Then a text.
I lean forward and snatch it, confused.
The name on the screen is Dr. Salazar, NYC.
* * *
“Hi.I’m here for Jodie Ann Atkinson. Is she okay?”
The words tumble out in a rush as the cardiology receptionist looks up at me, unfazed.
“Are you family?”
She’s new. I haven’t seen her before, and Jodie hasn’t been checked in as an inpatient in over a year. So she wouldn’t recognize me.
“Yes. I’m her niece. I’m also listed as her power of attorney.”
The nurse holds her hand out for my identification and quickly whips up a badge that I stick onto my chest.
“She’s in B-14, hon. Sweet woman, your aunt.”
