Page 88 of A Sudden Romance

By the time their lunch and learn ended, she felt dizzy as the pain in her head intensified. She normally favored the stairs, but she took the elevator from the fifth floor to the tenth floor. It deposited her in the lobby across from her office.

“Iris.” Her assistant, probably hearing her stilettos click against the tile, peered from behind the bouquet of red roses on the dark curved desk.

Valentine’s Day was tomorrow, but balloons and flowers had been in and out of the building the entire week. “Beautiful flowers.” Iris approached the desk and rested her hands on the glass transaction counter. A bit unstable, she’d better lean against something to regain her composure.

“You look pale.” Clover ignored the flower compliment as she stepped out from behind the counter. Although only in her forties, Clover always acted like Iris’s mom.

Iris shoved the edge of her silk blouse into her dress pants. “I think my heels are a bit high today.”

“You wear heels every day. You okay?”

Iris blew out a breath. She needed to push through the end of the day, but she’d better move things along so she could head to her office and take some pain medicine. “Any urgent messages for me?”

Clover strode back to the counter for her tablet and scrolled through it. “Your meeting with the consultants has been moved to two.”

“I’ve still got an hour and a half before that, then.”

“And the licensure initiative is still at four.”

“Perfect!” Iris slapped on the counter, but as she turned to leave, a throbbing pain gripped her lower abdomen. She yelped, wincing.

Clover grasped her shoulder. “I’m going to postpone your afternoon meetings.”

“We can’t.” Iris was part of a three-person project near the museum, but they had to meet with the consultants today. She could miss the meeting, but she was responsible for coordinating the work and drawings into a visual document. “I just need to take some pain medicine.”

If it didn’t work, she could postpone the licensure leadership initiative. She was supposed to share the progress report.

“Let’s get you to your office and get those meds into your system.” Clover aided her to her office where Iris slid out of the stilettos. When she’d settled Iris on the sofa, Clover left and returned with ibuprofen and a bottle of water.

“Thank you.” Iris took the medicine and tossed both pills in her mouth, downing them with two swallows of water.

“If this is related to your periods, I’d better clear your schedule tomorrow—you shouldn’t be working on Saturday anyway.”

Iris positioned the pillow on the sofa and lay back, closing her eyes. “Saturday was the best day for those meetings. Tomorrow is packed.” Postponing an entire day’s events meant she’d be drowning in work next week.

“As your assistant, it’s my job to ensure you take care of yourself.” Clover unbuttoned Iris’s collar. “Your mom won’t be happy when she hears you’re sick and work—”

“Don’t even think about telling my mom.” Iris put a hand on her now-throbbing forehead. “The last thing I need is Mom flying down to fuss over me.” Not that saying so would stop Clover. Clover had become good friends with Mom over the times Mom had stopped by to surprise Iris at work.

Iris knew better than to assume the pain related to her periods could be stopped with just two ibuprofen caplets. She was reminded when she sat through the meeting with the consultants and had to excuse herself twice to throw up. The period hadn’t even hit, and she was falling apart. She took Clover’s advice to cancel her last meeting of the day.

“I already canceled it.” Clover smirked. “I also cleared you for tomorrow.”

Grateful for her assistant, Iris could only nod. She had a great team of people at Perceive. If only her love life could be as successful.

Later that night, Iris agonized as she curled in her bed, holding a warm compress to her stomach. Her period had finally started two hours ago, but like every month, she had to go through a couple of days of discomfort during her menstrual cycle. Being sick always made her emotional, and tonight was no different.

She couldn’t help but think about Sabastian. She’d tried to erase him out of her mind, but she also wished she’d called him back when he tried to reach out.

Her friends had advised her to give him time. Did that mean she wasn’t supposed to call and see if he’d changed his mind? Was she supposed to keep waiting until fate played out?

Each passing day without him seized her with panic. The first person who made her feel whole had dumped her because of their financial backgrounds. It wasn’t like she’d bragged or kept all the money to herself. Her parents had taught her and her siblings never to be held captive by money. You could have it today, but it could slip out of your fingers the next day. They’d taught them the importance of giving. Of never letting money change the real you.

As she closed her eyes in the darkened room, she wanted to glance at the globe Sabastian had given her with their photo. But she had no strength to turn the night-light on. Even if she’d tried to forget him, the photos brought back memories of their time together.

As she drifted into segments of sleep through the night, she let her mind wander to all the men she’d gone out with. With most of them, she’d ended the relationship, and she hadn’t thought about them in the days and weeks afterward.

Something about Sabastian just made her want to give up everything if it was the only way she could have him in her life. She could see a future with him if they could sort out their differences. She’d donate the money if having it made him uncomfortable.

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