Page 115 of Surprise! I'm Engaged To My Boss
There were fourteen hours left until the hearing.
We would have plenty of time and everything would work out.
*****
Nothing was going right.
Absolutely nothing.
Julian still took more than two hours to leave. His children began to cry, afraid that he was going to a new job again and that it would take a long time to return home. He patiently comforted each of them and made a thousand promises that he would be back the next day.
When we finally managed to leave, another wave of unbelievable bad luck came.
The weather forecast said that we would have clear skies in Denver. But of course, that night there was a huge surprise, and the universe decided to send a storm with all its might.
It took us a while to get a taxi, and once we did, the journey to the airport became a nightmare. It was already past 1am when we finally arrived. So, we could just board, right?
Wrong. Very, very wrong.
The sky looked like it was going to fall, and we were unable to take off. There was no forecast of the weather improving and, with the queue of private and commercial flights waiting for permission to take off, the forecast was that we would not be able to take off before morning.
As if the delay of hours in taking off was not enough, there was also a delay in landing. The pilot had to keep circling for almost an hour longer than planned until he got clearance to land.
Because bad weather seemed to have been something instituted at a national level that day.
When we finally landed, there were still two hours before the hearing was scheduled to start. Michael’s mother was there in her car to pick us up. She said that Sebastian and Logan would meet us at the courthouse entrance. Although they couldn’t help in any way, they wanted to be near their brother at that moment.
In normal times, the journey from the airport to the courthouse would take just over an hour.
There would be enough time. If we were in 'normal time' and not in a surreal streak of Camila's bad luck.
As a result of the rain, traffic was chaotic. The traffic app estimated that it would take us two and a half hours to get to our destination. I thought about calling Janet, but only then did I realize that my cell phone was dead. My mother-in-law always had hers with hers, but on this day, exceptionally (and ironically) she had forgotten it at home.
We were hoping that a great miracle would happen and ease the traffic ahead of us so that we could arrive on time.
Chapter fifty-four
MICHAEL
Caleb and Margaret were beaming, as if this wasn’t a court hearing but one of their social events. They were dressed elegantly, and Margaret held Alice in her arms like a trophy, in the pose of a proud grandmother, even though they were accompanied by a nanny—who was no longer Alanis.
My daughter stretched her little arms out toward me when she saw me, but Margaret wouldn't let me get close. That broke me.
But perhaps it was for the best. I had no chance in that case. Accepting the agreement was the greatest victory I could take that day.
I was sitting on the bench in the courthouse hallway across from the courtroom, and the Harrises and their attorneys were keeping a safe distance from me. It was about ten minutes before the start time when Janet arrived and sat down next to me.
“Sorry I'm late,” she asked.
Janet always arrived well in advance for her appointments; arriving just ten minutes early was considered late to her.
“Tell me that your 'delay' was in an attempt to find some new information that could save me.”
“It was indeed, but I couldn't. I've been trying to talk to Camila since early morning, but her phone is out of range. Have you talked to her?”
I cowardly hadn’t. Living without Camila was an idea I could no longer live with, but at the same time, I needed to stay away from her those days. I knew that crazy redhead well and I knew she would insist on trying to find ways to find information that would dismantle the arguments the Harrises had against me. And I couldn't allow Camila to risk herself anymore because of me.
And taking risks was all she had done since she met me.
