Page 176 of Bossy Romance

I look to my left. Alexa’s eyes are closed. Her head droops, but it’s strange. It’s almost as if her neck can’t support the weight of her head anymore.

“Mom?” Rowan’s voice is starting to rise in panic. It’s jarring. Eerie. It’s a sound I never want to hear in my life again.

On the screen, people are singing and dancing but, in real life, there’s only the screams of my son and the still, lifeless body of his mother.

“Mom!” Rowan shakes Alexa. Tears are streaming down his face. “Mom! Mom!”

The truth hits me like a punch to the jaw. I shoot to my feet, launch over to Alexa and check her pulse. The moment I touch her hand, it’s cold. The moment I touch her wrist…

Nothing.

“She’s gone,” I murmur.

At my words, Rowan wraps his arms around me and sobs into my neck. I hold my son while my heart breaks and then I call an ambulance to take Alexa’s body away.

* * *

The night is still.

The house is quiet.

Rowan is in his room after crying himself to sleep.

There’s a knock on the door.

I don’t feel like getting up, but I push myself wearily to my feet and open the door.

My eyes widen.

I blink once. Twice.

Nova’s chest rises and falls unsteadily. “I heard,” she says. “My condolences about your wife.”

I stare at her.

Damn, after the day I’ve had, I’m not sure if this is real or a dream. Maybe I fell asleep on the couch. Maybe I conked out while I was putting Rowan’s clothes in the wash. The clothes that he wore while he was hugging his mother’s lifeless body. Maybe I’m in the laundry room, my head cracked open and blood spilling on the floor.

If I don’t get up, Rowan will be without his mom and his dad.

Two parents gone.

In a flash.

In a day.

I have to wake up. Rowan needs me. Now more than ever.

Nova fidgets with one of her braids. She’s got her hair braided again. See? This has to be a dream. Nova’s not wearing her hair like that anymore. Am I remembering a version of her that used to be? A version that always showed up when I needed her and came before I called?

“Adam,” she says softly.

What would I do if Nova were really in front of me?

My heart thunders.

My eyes get blurry.

I step forward.

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