Page 34 of A Powerful Attraction
She nodded. “Rashad gave her my number.” Tears filled her eyes. “I don’t know what to say, except that I understand.”
His chest rose and fell with a silent breath. “I should have told you about Heather right away. But everything—we—happened so fast.”
She nodded and stared at the ground. She swallowed hard. The silence extended between them as she collected herself. Finally, she looked up into his face. “I love you,” she whispered.
The words he’d been waiting to hear.
Alex spread his arms wide, and Sherry stepped into his embrace, absorbing his warmth and the familiar scent of his skin.
“I love you,” she whispered again.
“I love you too,amor. You’re all I think about. Every day. Every minute.Solo puedo pensar en ti.” He buried his face in her neck and squeezed her tight.
Pulling her across the threshold, he kissed away her tears. They made their way to his bedroom and curled up on the bed together. He just held her, rubbing a hand up and down her spine in a soothing refrain. She wanted to get closer because she had desperately missed having this closeness with him.
“You’ll wait?” he asked. “As soon as she’s better, we’ll get a divorce.”
He was holding out hope, but Heather had already given up. Nonetheless, Sherry nodded. “Yes. I’ll wait.”
She held on tight, wrapping her arms and legs around him as if her life depended on it.
15
On Friday afternoon, Sherry walked up to Gina’s desk. “Hi, is Alex in? I called his private line but he didn’t answer. I have some papers for him to sign.” She held up the documents.
“He left early. Rushed out of here a little after lunch.”
“Is something wrong?”
Gina shrugged. “He didn’t say, but it was definitely sudden. He told me to cancel his afternoon meetings.”
“Okay. I’ll get Rashad to sign off.” Gnawing on her lip, Sherry walked away. Once she got Rashad’s signature, she’d give Alex a call on his cell phone.
At the other end of the building, she walked up to Rashad’s receptionist, a heavyset brunette with a pixie cut. “Hi, is Rashad in? I have paperwork I need him to sign.”
“No. He left and didn’t say when he’d be coming back. Family emergency.”
Oh no. With both of them out of the office suddenly, that could only mean one thing.
Sherry went to her office, but for the next hour, she had a hard time concentrating, particularly after she tried to reach Rashad and Alex and neither one of them answered their phones. Unable to stand worrying any longer, she picked up her bag and rushed down the hall. Sailing past the receptionist at the front of the office, she called, “I’ll be gone for the rest of the day.”
She headed to the hospital, having no doubt that was where they were.
Sherry walked down the hall on wobbly knees. She hesitated outside Heather’s room and looked through the window. Alex and Rashad were in there. Rashad sat in front of the windowsill on a chair, elbows to knees, gripping his bent head. Alex sat in a chair beside Heather’s bed, holding one of her hands.
Last Saturday, Sherry had come to the hospital with Rashad and Alex. Today, Heather looked frailer than the last time Sherry had seen her, and there were extra machines in the room that hadn’t been there the last time she visited, confirming the dire situation.
Sherry quietly entered the room and let the door swing closed behind her. “What happened?”
Rashad’s head popped up. He directed his gaze at Alex to respond to the question. Alex glanced over his shoulder and then returned his attention to Heather.
“Her lung failed,” he said in an emotionless voice. “She’s on a breathing machine now. They’re not holding out much hope.” On the last sentence, pain, as thick as molasses, coated his voice.
Rashad winced and bowed his head into his hands again.
Sherry took one of the chairs and placed it beside Alex. He didn’t look at her. He kept his attention on his friend.
Sherry took his other hand and sandwiched it between both of hers. Their fingers interlocked with each other. If nothing else, she wanted him to know that she would be there for him in his time of need.
