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On a napkin in front of the plate, I saw my name scrawled in marker, lest I wonder if it was for me. Were we labeling food now? I smiled, shook my head, and took a bite. It was delicious. When did he get me a cupcake? Who knew? I’d gotten lost staring at the market for a while—maybe he’d left and come back? Although, probably he would have told me if he left…
Michael came out of the gym, sweaty and mopping his forehead with a towel. The view was kind of amazing, maybe more so than the cupcake. I smiled at him and leaned backagainst the counter. “Who did you get to bring you this? It’s my favorite thing. So good.” I took the last bite.
He stared at me. “Bring you what?”
“Oh, don’t be coy. The cupcake you bought me. It was delicious.” Although maybe I’d eaten it too fast, because my stomach panged.
“What cupcake, Bridget?” He walked over to me. “I didn’t leave you a cupcake.”
I pointed at the empty plate and the note. “Then who left me the cupcake?”
The pain hit. Hard. I doubled over, gripping my stomach.Something is wrong.
“Okay,” he was saying. He said it several times.Okay. Okay. Okay. “Sit down. On the floor now. Look at me. I don’t know what’s happening. Maybe you’ve been poisoned. Look at me, Bridget Radford. This is going to be okay.”
He sort of blurred out, which was okay because the pain in my gut was so bad that I started to puke. Right then.
That was the last thing I remembered.
I heard the beeps and recognized the hospital—we spent enough time in them lately.Guess it was my turn.The thought crossed my mind as I roused to the sounds of pumps and beeps and whooshing. My lids felt heavy, and my throat burned like it was on fire.
Michael stared out the window, but I must have made a noise, because he turned around, his face serious. He was too far away for me to touch, and when I extended my hand to him, he didn’t take it.What is going on?I couldn’t ask. My throat hurt too much.
“I’m glad to see you’re awake, Bridget.” He cleared his throat. “Your sisters are on planes on their way here.”
Maybe I should have made the same deal that he made with Stephen. Only call my family if I’m not going to expire. Maybenot even then, because they shouldn’t be dragging small children to hospitals.
Still, he kept talking. His steady eyes seemed tired, but his face remained a mask. I struggled to keep up, although my groggy head was rapidly clearing. “This is terrible timing, and I’m sorry for that, but I see no point in beating a dead horse. Aren’t you sick of hospitals? I am. Since I answered your call for help, I’ve been shot, Stephen’s been shot, and you’ve been poisoned. My business has gone to hell. I think it’s obvious that being around you is the worst possible decision I could ever make. You’re just impossible to keep secure.”
What?I managed to sit up, despite the dizziness.
“So, I took the time to re-evaluate our situation. To reconsider things. That was your idea, remember? You said I should reconsider things. I decided on the treadmill today, before the cupcake fiasco, but it did prove a point. You’re just too much for me. I can’t take one more moment of you almost getting killed. I’ve told Zeke to hire someone else and he will. You’re bad luck for me, Bridget. When I’m with you, I’m a bad security agent. Maybe you’re bad luck to everyone? I know I obsessed over you for years, so it doesn’t make sense. But it’s like, the second I correlated the data, I wasn’t able to love you anymore. Roy will stay with you until Zeke and Max get here, then he’ll go. You can forget all of this ever happened. I have to ask though, how stupid did you have to be to eat that cupcake?Whencould I have gotten it? I thought you were smart, but it turns out you might be the stupidest woman in the world. I’m sorry. I’m just…done.”
My throat hurt so much, I could barely speak. He couldn’t mean it. It had to be a dream.He’d never speak to me like this. Not ever. Not my Michael. “Michael…”
If he heard me, he made no indication. He walked from the room without a glance back.
It physically hurt to cry, but I wept. I sobbed and I wailed. I knew it would happen. I pulled my blankets to my face and I sobbed until I was dry, until the nurses had to come in and beg me to stop. Until I gagged from it. Still, I couldn’t stop. They put something in my IV, but it only made my sobs more like hiccups.
“Your sisters are almost here, so I’m going to go,” Roy whispered. “I’m so sorry, Bridget. I didn’t know he could be this cruel.”
I needed to know something. I caught Roy’s arm, pulling him closer. Michael told me how he behaved when someone he cared about was in the hospital—he didn’t go away from them for very long. “Did he leave the hospital?” I asked.
“Yes.” He nodded. “Hours ago.”
It’s really over.Whatever sliver of hope lived in me died in that moment. He told me. He always stayed near the hospital when someone he cared about was inside.
I released Roy’s arm. “He’s probably right. I am bad luck. For all of you.” When he would have spoken, I shook my head. “Just go, okay? Thank you for everything. Be safe.” Michael only wanted me when he couldn’t have me? Once I admitted I loved him, he decided I was bad luck, and he didn’t want me around. I should have expected it, and I wasn’t sure if I felt more heartbroken, disappointed, or resigned.
Roy hesitated for a moment and then turned to leave. The world seemed colder than it ever had before.
I closed my eyes. The sedative finally hit me. My sisters were almost there. I could figure out how to survive another time. For right now, I wasn’t sure I wanted to, so I would float and pretend that waking up to Michael Li leaving me was a nightmare. Not something he would ever really do.
He’d reconsidered things.I am too much. He’s right.
I proppedmy feet up on the bench nearby and watched Zeke run through his vineyards while his children shrieked and chased him. One of them toddled more than ran, but the idea was the same. Hope sat next to me, so pregnant she would soon have to return to Maine to wait out the remainder of her term. But she’d stayed with me as long as she could. Her girls were inside napping. Layla drew at the table across from Hope, creating her latest label design.
They were terrified, which I understood. Not because of some danger coming for them, but because I was so lost to them, they didn’t know how to reach me anymore. A month had passed, and I didn’t really have anything to say. They offered to find me therapists, hypnotherapists, and even some woman who would heal me by banging on a drum? I politely declined all their offers, even if the last one sort of intrigued me.
